With the Draft Lottery and the Combine all happening last week, the question I posed this time was simple: who is your current draft crush? We may ask this one may times over the next few weeks. Keep in mind it doesn’t HAVE to be Dallas Mavericks related either.
Brent: Zuby Zuby Zuby! Just so I can say that when he checks in the way the Kaiser Chefs would. Gosh, I am old.
Zuby Ejiofor is my current pick. He’s a Garland native and tested with a massive 7’2” wingspan. He also seemed interested in the
Mavericks and might be there at 30!
Bryan: Morez Johnson and Ebuka Okorie have taken over the hearts and minds of the people. Morez being Center height at 6’10.25” in shoes and Okorie having a 6’7.75” wingspan were pretty big combine developments for both players. I dream of a Mavericks team full of skilled athletes and defenders under 25!
Michael: I have gone on the roller coaster of everything from “who’s that?” to “I like him way more than I thought” to “don’t you dare start liking the guys under 6’4″” to “that’s THE guy – how do we trade up?” to “this guy wants to be here, I just know it” to “I really like this dude; but I’m going to hate him when he’s playing for the Clippers”… With that many destinations in my GPS, I decided to just go back home and wait a little longer!
To actually answer the question though, Wagler and Brown Jr. Wagler has been there for a while, but I suddenly (and possibly irrationally) feel like Brown is healthy – the one thing that concerned me – so now he’s jumped way up the list.
Ben: It’ll probably be Wagler for me up until the draft. I’m a little worried about his athleticism but he’s got NBA-ready moves with the ball. He feels like a slightly less explosive Shaun Livingston, and that’s a player I’m interested in.
Tyler: A guy who I found myself liking more and more over course of combine week was Cam Carr out of Baylor. He made obvious headlines when he recorded a seven-foot wingspan while standing just 6’4”, and then proceeded to test very well and dominate the scrimmages late in the week. Baylor was gross this year, but Carr went and showed he wasn’t held back by the situation.
Matt M.: The more and more I think about it, I really like both Lebaron Philon and Dailyn Swain. Philon delivered in big games and is a guy I trust with the ball in his hands. He creates. He can do that thing that god NBA guards do, get the defender on his hip and dictate the rest of the play from there. He makes 3-pointers. On Swain, he’s just so athletic. He can get downhill, he can defend, and he’s not a ball-stopper. Lots of upside with Swain, I think. These guys could be perfect trade-down targets if all the guys the Mavericks want really badly are gone before the ninth pick. Marshall your resources and get after it.
Matt: One draft pick? That player could become anything! The skies the limit. Ah, but TWO draft picks? My draft crush is trading down. At 9, Dallas seems unlikely to be able to nab any of the truly top-tier guards in this draft. Not to say a guy like Philon or Burries can’t be great, but taking them at 9 also feels like leaving a little value on the table if you could be taking them at 12. The dream is to swap the 9 pick with an OKC team who has too many picks to even consider adding to a roster that’s already a title favorite – that means acquiring the 12th and 17 pick, STILL getting to draft Philon and ALSO a guy like Allen Graves, who is this year’s mid-round darling. Dallas needs to take as many swings as they can in these early roster-building years, especially with how bare our draft cabinets are moving forward.
Kirk: I went from being open-minded about players to falling head over heels for Mikel Brown Jr. Pair his size and willingness to shoot and he’s the guard for me. Unfortunately, there’s no way he’s going to be there for the Mavericks at nine and I’m going to have to find another love.
