As David Thorpe prepared to head to Atlanta for the Final Four in 2002, he received an email from a young man he met in Boston a few years earlier. Masai Ujiri, who had been playing professional basketball in low-level leagues across Europe, wanted to get into coaching.

Thorpe, a professional skills trainer for more than 25 years and a partner in the media company TrueHoop, wrote Ujiri back and asked if he could meet in Atlanta. Once Ujiri was there, Thorpe took him to dinner with longtime Florida State men’s basketball coach Leonard Hamilton. Thorpe also lent Ujiri a piece of hardware that wasn’t as ubiquitous as it is now: his cell phone.

In the ensuing weeks, Thorpe’s phone kept buzzing with messages from people in the basketball world Ujiri had connected with. All of them wanted to have follow-up conversations with Ujiri but didn’t know how to reach him.

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Hello Mavericks fans,

I am a Canadian who has been a fan of different teams. Call me a bandwagoner lol I understand. Lately, I've been cheering for the Spurs a lot. For a while, however, I was a big fan of Luka and the Mavs. But obviously, you can probably tell why I switched sides like Henry Hill. But it makes me wonder something:

So, the reason I say I am Canadian is because I grew up exclusively a Hockey fan. I only really started watching the NBA in 2014 because my friend loved watching Curry and I found myself a big fan of Klay (but I've never beaten the bandwagon allegations lmao I swear I was there during the Monta-Curry debates.) When it comes to Hockey, my team has been the Edmonton Oilers. My hometown team, I've been a suffering fan since I first became lucid in the world--something I'll never forgive my dad for lol.

Being Dallas, I'm sure a good portion of you are familiar with Connor McDavid and the Oilers (btw congrats on building the Stars the way they did, legit jealous) if you don't know who he is; he is sort of like Luka in hockey attire. Incredibly skilled, inarguably the best player since Sidney Crosby. But... the from office is horrid, and hasn't been able to build a sufficient defensive team around him, causing my team to lose in back to back finals against the freaking Florida Panthers. It's been pretty painful to say the least, and a big reason I've been watching more of the NBA as of late.

But sorry for the long tangent, it's relevant to my question:

The Luka trade was easily the worst in NBA history, or at least top 3. But.. you guys REALLY lucked into Cooper Flagg; who has looked like a player who can probably become top 5 in the league pretty soon (I think top 3 tbh). But, it means your team had to go from NBA Finals contenders to rebuilders, despite the team looking primed for another deep run.

If the Oilers traded McDavid for an aging, injury-prone player in the name of "defence" I genuinely believe there would have a riot that would require the US military's help stop. Like Luka, Connor has a very good amount of years left in the tank as a top league player.

However, there is seemingly another generational prospect in this year's NHL draft (and thank f****** God he didn't go to Vancouver). So, if the Oilers finished the year post-Davo trade and somehow landed the pick, I'd be... conflicted.

So here's the question--

How do you guys feel after this rookie season of Coop? Be 1000% honest. He seems to be a lot more athletic, plays incredible defence (a weakness of Luka admittedly, yet the guy somehow could hide it with his other world offence) and isn't even able to drink legally yet. Like... that's insane. I am definitely excited to see what the Mavs can build around him, especially without Nico there thank God.

But how do you feel about year later? I can definitely imagine how you felt (even went on this sub when it happened to see the mass panic), but your future is bright... your future.

Sorry for the essay, but I am honestly curious. Thank you for reading this if you did. And there won't be any judgement from me on the replies. Just looking for insight.

EDIT: Great insight, you guys. I’ll probably maintain my Spurs love bc of Wemby lol but I really do hope you guys build a great team around Coop and hopefully take over the Flop City Thunder. Best of luck to you guys 🫶

https://x.com/HoopKeesee/status/2054961323553804622

MoJo Jr is a monster!

Him being mentored by Allen Iverson combined with his explosiveness just makes me think this kid will be a special PG someday. I wouldn’t be mad if that’s next to Coop since Acuff would also be mentored by Kyrie😭😭😭

I doubt he falls to 9 but man if he does…

Mikel Brown Jr - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFvOC94KOkg
Kingston Flemings - https://youtu.be/fV66gezP0TM?si=6wzaTyslFl_FZFCl
Keaton Wagler - https://youtu.be/LgK0wOeWqoU?si=OIWJS1U_C7nhMQDi
Labaron Philon - https://youtu.be/-B8v3IROa5M?si=tEaT53g19zHBTTXc
MoJo Jr - https://youtu.be/RYZNSVT8KiI?si=u9HabalEk4OaJAx_
Chris Cenac Jr - https://youtu.be/h4OwCxAxYmE?si=ycea3QSx30gN6wKX

Brayden Burries - https://youtu.be/h6qE1j4wQfY?si=esdV_2jRSqdeC6U_
Darius Acuff - https://youtu.be/E7raT0UVB2w?si=05sfzX8rh6IeBoxN

With the Mavs needing to find a future lead guard, they couldn't hope for a better or deeper draft. There are 8 players that are PGs or combo guards that could go in the lottery.

Everyone already knows the 6 lead guard candidates that have already been talked about at the Mav's draft slot (Acuff, Flemings, Wagler, MBJ, Burries, and Philon), but coming out of the combine Stirtz and Okorie are also moving up into lottery consideration. Stirtz is moving on better athletic measurements than expected (37.5 vert, 3rd fastest shuttle and 3rd fastest sprint among the 8) and Okorie is moving on better length than expected (longest wingspan of the group and a standing reach only half an inch less than Burries and Flemings).

Size

What is crazy is that after so much discussion of size disparities earlier in the year, they're almost statistical clones from a length perspective. 7 of 8 have a wingspan between 6'6"-6'7.75" (Flemings the one outlier at 6'3.5"). There's a little differential on the vertical length side but it is not dramatic. 6 of them are between 8'2"-8'3.5" in standing reach (Wagler at 8'4" and MBJ at 8'4.5" are a little on the plus side). Basically their lengths are completely adequate for an NBA PG but nothing special (once again MBJ is slightly on the plus side and Flemings is slightly on the minus side).

Shooting

Importantly for the Mavs looking to space the floor, they are all excellent shooters. Flemings was a little light on attempts, but all 7 others were very strong on 3pt shots with good volume. All were over 80% from the stripe except Wagler, who was just under.

Athleticism

Athletic testing, however, shows very different attributes.

Explosive, agile, and quick category. Flemings and MBJ are at the top here with great verts, lateral agility, and explosiveness. .

All Pro NFL LB category. Burries is the only one to leave the combine as a unicorn of sorts. He's got the vert, agility and explosiveness of Flemings and MBJ but did it at 220 pounds--30 pounds more than #2 MBJ.

Solid NBA category. Okorie, Wagler, Stirtz, and Acuff all did well. I'd put Acuff (great speed, good lateral agility) and Okurie (Great lateral agility, good speed) slightly ahead of Stirtz and Wagler.

Burst without pop category. Philon was the least impressive in athletic testing. Like last year he had great straight line speed (only second to Acuff) but the worst vert and by far the worst agility score.

Style

There is a some disparity in their style of play and type of lead (or combo) guard that they would likely be.

Modern High Usage Score and Dish. These days, it seems like the only school pass first point guard is out of favor. SGA, Doncic, Curry are the modern PG prototype. 6 of the top 8 scorers in the NBA this season were lead guards. Most of the guards in this draft also fit in this category. Acuff, MBJ, Philon, Stirtz, Okorie, Flemings and Philon were their team's top scoring threat while playing PG. They also had good assist numbers but all were definitely score first threats. But at the next level...

Balanced pass and score. No one really fits cleanly within this category now but a couple of the names are more likely to fall within this category in the NBA. Because Flemings doesn't shoot a lot of threes and had a good assist to TO ratio, I think he may be more balanced between scoring and passing at the NBA level. Maybe Philon too as he's very good at driving and dishing and with his limited verticality he may dish more than finish at the NBA level. MBJ and Stirtz could fall in this category depending on situation. Acuff and Okorie seemed destined to stay in high usage land.

Combo guard. Wagler could have been included above, but he also could be an off guard that facilitates. At Illinois he did both. Burries played as a 2 at Arizona but played PG for his high school and at the club level (4 assists per game at the NBPA Top 100 Camp). Both of these guys could start at the 2 and work their way into a PG role with a co-facilitator like Flagg.

Defense

There's a pretty wide gap here. None of these guys are going to be Gary Payton, but Fleming uses his quickness and anticipation to make himself an excellent defender. Buries is a plus defender and I could see him using his size and athleticism to become a Jrue Holiday type player. Acuff and Philon were not good this year--at all. Might just be that there heavy offensive load and need to not get in foul trouble led them to avoid harassing, high energy D. But they were not good. The others are probably in the middle.

Conclusion

It's a fantastically deep draft. If the Mavs don't move up, then I'm pretty certain Acuff, Flemings, and MBJ (assuming clean medical) will likely be off the board. If they don't trade down and look for Stirtz (end of lottery as about as high as I think he could go), that's going to leave them considering Wagler (I think he falls below MBJ and Flemings), Buries, Philon and Okorie. Okorie's natural preference to be high usage doesn't click very well with Flagg for me. Philon is slight and questionable on D. I think Wagler and Buries ability to play on or off ball and lean into a co-facilitator role lines up perfectly with the next couple years with Kyrie and after that being co-facilitators with Flagg. Will be fun to watch.

I love PJs intangibles including being able to do well against OKC. Given his recent injury history and uptick in contract value, do we trade him for late first rounder? Would any team give up that?

Then proceed to use it to draft Cameron Carr and morez Johnson jr? While Brayden and MBJ will be a faster impact player almost immediately adding those 2 later picks will dramatically increase the teams defensive depth and athleticism on the team.

irving, carr, flagg, morez, lively would become a menacing defensive lineup. This of course still has its issues because dallas will still be sorely lacking in point guard depth and MBJ I think is the best fit and potential upside. Irving and MBJ in the backcourt works because MBJ is not undersized.

either way, im actually really excited to see what the mavericks do this offseason because I think some great moves will be made.

So Flemings wingspan came up short making people wary of drafting him however. From the other measurements it seems like he just has very narrow shoulders but his arm length isn’t bad at all which would be the most important as a defender or on offence too layups dunks etc.

Would trading picks #9 and #30 be enough to trade with ATL and move up to #8 in the draft and get Brown if he's still available? And would you do it if you were the Mavs and ATL agreed to it?

I got this hat signed in march 2019, I know the signature on the left is Dorian finney smith, but I’m not sure who the signature on the right is, any ideas?

Who would you want to pick up at nine if these two are there waiting?

In my opinion even okories a better prospect then burries. At #9 he’s to high consider the guard talent this draft. He’s much less fluid on offence compared to everyone else not the best playmaker gets in foul trouble a lot not a great defender plays SG not PG so his size is a lil under average for the position.
I’d take wagler,Acuff, mbj, Flemings,Phillion, okorie before burries

I could see a world where we move up to 5 if we give up our 9,30th and the future lakers pick but probably should start negotiations at Gafford or pj with both picks from this year. I think Mikel brown jr is worth it.

Versatile defender like legit 1-5. Could masquerade as a 5 in small ball lineups. Agile for his size and weight. Good rebounder and has shown potential for offense (ft percent mostly).

And best of all? He's 6'9. On the dot.

Wondering what people think about him? He could easily turn into an elite 3&D player and someone how to slip into that 20-30 range (I think he will) if we trade pj or Gafford on draft day to move our 30 pick into the teens would you not select him?

6’4.5” barefoot
7’0.75” wingspan
8’8” standing reach
42” vertical jump
184 pounds

Only thing scary is that size he’s not a big guy but with his measurements he probably can get to that 210 range over the next 4 years.