First off, I haven’t published anything in a few weeks because A) the Mavericks didn’t have a draft pick, so why waste time talking about something that is irrelevant to this team, and B) I didn’t want to get my hopes too high for the inevitable “Mavs don’t sign a big-name player” announcement. Sure, I could’ve written about Reggie Bullock, Sterling Brown, and Moses Brown, but it would’ve been just another regurgitation of something written by a more credible source.
Today, the focus is on the fans, their expectations, and why many MFFLs feel like they’ve been let down once again after the frenzy of NBA free agency.
A few months ago it was reported that, during a talk with St. Mark’s School of Texas alumni, owner Mark Cuban said that the team’s focus heading into the off-season was getting a second scorer. “We need a second scorer,” he said plainly, which is the absolute truth. Fast forward to the middle of August, and the team has yet to get the one thing they said was their focus. Now, this isn’t to say that Bullock and Brown aren’t going to be great additions to the squad, but when the team’s owner sets an expectation, and doesn’t follow through, it shouldn’t come as a surprise when fans voice their displeasure.
For whatever reason the radio voice of the Mavericks, Chuck Cooperstein, decided to chime in with a hot take on fans bitching about the front office:
On the one hand, Chuck is absolutely correct. Many fans believe that the roster is made up of Luka, and a bunch of guys who simply cannot get better. There does seem to be a perception that everyone (aside from Luka) has reached their peak, and can’t be contributors on a team trying to be a contender (or at the very least make it out of the first round). However, Chuck’s remark doesn’t touch at the heart of the matter, which is the front office’s (Cuban’s) failures to deliver on plan A, plan B, plan C, and so on.
Fans are not inherently upset with the signings of two wings who shot 40% from deep last season, but rather they are upset that the ONE THING ownership said the team NEEDS didn’t get addressed. At all. Sure, there’s hope that Goran Dragic gets bought out and signs with Dallas, but time will tell if Toronto even buys him out at all. Right now fans are having to completely ignore the last two years, and pretend that Dennis Smith Jr. is still that electric player that was drafted 9th overall in 2017, but there’s a reason he’s still unsigned.
With Mavs Summer League starting this afternoon, perhaps there is a hope that the team already has their secondary scorer/playmaker, and fans just don’t know it yet… But that remains to be seen.
Although the front office did address a few holes in the lineup that (in one man’s view) will make the team better, fans have every right to be frustrated that the ONE THING Cuban said his team needed to help get the most out of their generational talent didn’t get done. While it can be safely assumed that Cuban did just about everything he could to bring in talent, the fact remains the Mavericks have done little to nothing in terms of lightening Luka’s load.
Mavs Daily 