More Mavs Draft Thoughts

Before reading post this post please take the time to enjoy Taylor's Draft Review below.

I also really liked the move the Mavs made in last night's NBA draft for the following reasons:

1. Does anyone else remember the hype this kid had coming into the league after the 2008 Summer Olympics? If you don't, you may want to watch this youtube clip as a reminder of what NBA fans believed they were getting when 22 year old Rudy Fernandez dunks over Superman Dwight Howard:

2. Rudy Fernandez is a proven commodity and as any sports fan knows, even the best college or foreign prospect can turn into a bust (see Gregg Oden, Michael Beasley, Sam Bowie, Darko Milcic...). As Taylor eluded to in his piece below, Rudy Fernandez was one heck of a player his rookie year. Unfortunately for Rudy, the Trail Blazers chose to modify Rudy's role after his highly-praised rookie year from the slasher he proved to be so good at to a spot up perimeter player similar to the role Peja has thrived in which has in turn reduced the effectiveness of Rudy's athleticism. The Mavs have plenty of spot up shooters which will allow Coach Rick Carlisle to unleash the reigns of the young gun and let him penetrate and collapse the defense for his great shooting teammates such as Dirk and Jet to name a few.

3. According to Donnie Nelson, foreign players take at least three years to find their "NBA feet". The first year to grasp the different style of play the NBA is built on opposed to the high flying Euro game. Donnie compares their second year to an American players' rookie year where the players learn to play a faster, more disciplined game. And in their third year, the Euros are finally ready to put two and two together and begin to fit into their team roles. Rudy is going into his fourth year, so according to Donnie Nelson's philosophy, Fernandez should be ready to bloom.


4. Finally, the Fernandez acquisition gives the Mavs great flexibility in their backcourt before the uncertainty of this summer's free agency and prepares them for the pending NBA lockout which seems inevitable. First, this move gives the Mavs flexibility in the case they are not able to sign one, or either, of their backcourt free agents Junkyard Stevenson and JJ Barea because Rudy is a 6'6 guard who can play point guard (which he played for Spain's best professional and Olympic national team for five years), shooting guard, or small forward when the team wants to play small. Secondly, the Rudy piece gives the Mavs a deep backcourt in the case the lockout delays the season causing more games to be played on back to back nights (or back to back to back nights which happened often in the strike-shortened 1999 NBA season). If this were to happen the Mavs would absolutely need all the depth they could get because as a veteran team their goal is not to win 72 games in the regular season but rather to gain favorable seeding and rest up their starters for the playoffs as we have seen the Spurs, Lakers, and Celtics do so often in the past decade so by having a deep backcourt the Mavs will be able to save Kidd and Jet's legs for another glorious championship run.