Draft night is officially done and it sure was one to remember for the Mavericks. Donnie Nelson and the front office were as busy as ever with drafting players, making trades and then signing two undrafted players after the 60 picks were completed. Nelson spoke with the media close to midnight on Wednesday night. Here are some of his most interesting quotes.
“Always tough to say goodbye to close family and friends. Seth and Callie (Seth’s wife) were that. The Curry family has been close to the Nelson family for a long time… It’s a chance for them to reunited with Doc (Rivers), and we wish them nothing but the best.”
The Mavs went out and signed Curry twice, so there must be a good connection between the two parties. The opportunity for Seth to go play for his father-in-law is… great? Personally, that seems like it’d be a bit sticky, but in my experience of seeing Seth up close, it doesn’t seem like much gets him too worked up. I think he’ll be able to roll with his wife’s dad yelling at him in practice.
“In return we get Josh Richardson, which we’re really excited about. (He’s) an electric, young, defensive-minded two who can play some three. We think he’s going to be a real nice addition to our ballclub.”
Richardson certainly is someone the Mavericks needed with his size and defensive versatility. The Mavericks leaned so heavily on the Dorian Finney-Smith and Maxi Kleber to be their best individual defenders over the course of last season; it was very important to get someone else who can be a plus-perimeter defender down the stretches of games.
“We made attempts to trade up, it just didn’t materialize. We had quite a few trade back options, but we felt like Josh Green was the man for us at 18 and we pulled the trigger.”
It would have been interesting to see what the cost might have been to move up and who they might have targeted. One would think that it would’ve included pick 31 as well, so considering how everything turned out tonight, I think Dallas made the right choice to stand pat at 18 and then make the moves they did over the rest of the night.
Earlier in the night, first round pick Josh Green spoke with the media and shared his thoughts about the night he was drafted into the NBA.
“I’ve always watched the Mavericks from a young age. They’ve always been dominant in the Western Conference. For me to say that I’m a part of the organization is crazy. It’s an unreal feeling… I was super pumped, and I loved the Mavericks. It’s something I continued to stress to my agent — what are the Mavericks thinking, what about this. So I’m stoked right now.”
Alright, Josh. Unfortunately, your first move as a Maverick is to take a lie-detector test because I’m not sure you were “always” watching the Mavericks growing up in Australia. We appreciate the kind words but “always dominate the Western Conference”??? Have you seen how the nine years following the championship have gone? We’ll let this one slide since you seem so happy to be here.
“I need to focus on the things the team needs. I feel like in my position in the role which the team will want me to play, I don’t think I need to do anything outside of that. I think if I’m able to play defense, continue to work as hard as I can, hit open shots and do what the team needs to do, I feel like that happens.” (Improving his game)
This is good to hear from a young player. The Mavericks didn’t select a guy who expects to come in here and dominate with 25 points a night. It seems like the organization clearly communicated the role they’d need him to fill and he’s prepared to work his tail off to be able to do just that. It remains to be seen if he’s going to get many important minutes with the team in win-now mode, but it’s for sure a bright spot that they have another guy committed to playing defense and hitting open shots when they come to him.
Pick number 31 Tyrell Terry out of Stanford is definitely “small” at 6-1 and just 17o or so pounds. The sharpshooter will need to put on some weight to be able to hang in the NBA.
“I think the biggest thing for me to prepare myself for this big step is to add size and strength, but also improving my mental habits. I started doing meditation and reading books. I think it did a lot for me as far as being prepared and keeping a level head.”
“When I started to realize I was a pretty prolific shooter in my opinion, that’s when I started studying film of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, those type of guys. Obviously, Seth Curry was a member of the Dallas Mavericks last year. So I think I could see myself in a similar role as that. By studying the ways he’s able to get his shot off and the way he’s able to maneuver on the offensive end is something I’ve been studying.”
Both of these comments from Terry certainly indicate he is very self-aware and mature. He knows he’s a great shooter, but his size is going to limit his impact in the NBA unless he studies up and bulks up in order to succeed. Seth Curry was listed as just one inch taller and 15 pounds heavier than Terry, but that size makes a big difference when you’re trying to battle through big NBA bodies to free yourself up for a shot off a screen or when you’re trying to drive into the paint.
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