What the Dallas Mavericks Need to Do to be Successful Post-Dirk Nowitzki
The Dallas Mavericks are obviously in a rebuilding phase of their franchise but they need to speed up the process before the fans completely stop showing up. Unlike in 2011, Dirk Nowitzki cannot single-handedly carry this team anymore and the German legend's career is approaching the end. Therefore, Mark Cuban and the upper management of the Mavericks needs to get the NBA franchise back to the top, even after Nowitzki is retired.
Foremost, Dennis Smith Jr. is a budding superstar and a player that the Dallas Mavericks can unconditionally rely on, moving forward. Going forward, trying to take fliers on veterans like J.J. Barea and Devin Harris will no longer work with a team that is this bad. Wesley Matthews' signing was only going to work if the franchise put together the team that they originally intended to, meaning that DeAndre Jordan would have also joined. Instead, Mark Cuban is currently left with a mess that is comparable to some of the messes that show up to his television show, "Shark Tank".
Making a trade before the 2017 trade deadline for Nerlens Noel was a great idea. The Dallas basketball team needs pieces to rebuild the foundation of their roster for the future. Harrison Barnes received way too much money from Dallas but he is a capable wing scorer, who can grow into a great complementary player to a superstar. In the backcourt, Seth Curry and Yogi Ferrell have shown random flashes of brilliance. Dwight Powell is a decent role player for the frontcourt due to his athleticism.
Headed into this season's trade deadline, Dallas needs to consider getting rid of players like Matthews, Barea, and Harris and add more young players with potential for the future, as well as advantageous draft picks. Looking ahead to the 2018 offseason, Seth Curry, Devin Harris, Wesley Matthews, Josh McRoberts, Nerlens Noel, and Dirk Nowitzki are all unrestricted free agents. Curry and Noel are players to consider keeping and the other players can be let go of. Unfortunately, even the aging legend Dirk Nowitzki can be let go of, unless he takes a cheap deal to stay in Dallas and retire as a Maverick. While looking at the rest of the NBA's free agents that could make Dallas a lot better in the future, they have to see what they can try to do with restricted free agents, Clint Capela, Julius Randle, and Jabari Parker. Additionally, Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton are unrestricted free agents and both Orlando Magic players are young pieces that could help build this franchise back up to prominence.
I hope that the Dallas Mavericks are just as successful or even more successful than they have been with Dirk Nowitzki navigating the ship.
