As the Debbie-downer of Mavs Moneyball, I found it fitting to put pen to paper and explain in excruciating detail why tonight was an absolute disaster for the Dallas Mavericks. The best analogy I can find is discovering your dog learned how to sit on command (trading back two spots in order to shed Davis Bertans’ salary) before proceeding to poop on your mink rug (drafting Dereck Lively II at 12).
First, it’s impossible to contextualize tonight without remembering the hype and hope that fans had leading up to the draft. I heard and read that the Mavericks would be foolish to move the 10th pick unless a star level player was coming back in the deal.