It's an exciting time for the Mavericks with a lottery draft pick inbound on Thursday and free agency starting just nine days later.
And yet, this is no time to be Pollyanna.
No matter who they draft with the No. 9 pick, it's not going to vault them ahead of many competitors in the Western Conference, if any. Certainly, it won't throw any fear into Golden State or San Antonio.
The Mavericks are in the dreaded rebuild mode knowing that the 2017-18 season might be another difficult one.
They are correctly targeting the seasons after that for making their climb up the relevancy ladder.