[AderitoParticipant]

Mavericks fans will get a glimpse Wednesday night of what might have been for the Mavericks had Donnie Nelson gotten his way.

The president of basketball operations was a big fan of Milwaukee’’s Giannis Antetokounmpo going into the 2013 NBA draft.

He made his sentiment known to owner Mark Cuban, who was receptive, sort of, but when it came time to make hard choices, Cuban elected to go with a plan that the Mavericks had set in place and passed on Antetokounmpo with the 13th pick, which they eventually traded down to the 18th pick and, where they got Shane Larkin.

“He’s making us look bad for sticking to our plan,” Cuban said Tuesday. “That was Donnie. That (taking Antetokounmpo) is what Donnie wanted to do and I said we should stick to the plan. The whole point was that I wanted to stick to the plan and Donnie was like, this guy’s going to be good. I’ll risk everything that he’s going to be good. I said, I believe you Donnie.

“But still, what if all of the sudden we find out that so-and-so (free agent) is dying to come to the Mavs and now you don’t have the cap room. That’s why we put together a plan and our consolation wasn’t too bad.”

Nelson said he was a fan of Antetokounmpo – averaging 11.9 points and 5.9 rebounds for the Bucks – leading up to the draft, but he also understands that general managers can’t always get every player that they like.

Cuban added that, as always, it will be hard to accurately evaluate the 2013 draft for a few years. Their consolation prize, by the way, was including Larkin in the trade that netted Tyson Chandler.

“You play the game, you take your chances,” Cuban said. “It’s always in hindsight that you look good or bad. Let’s put it this way, everybody was saying our Jason Kidd trade was horrible until 2011. So you just don’t know.”

[HitsterParticipant]

 A few teams must regret passing on the Greek Freak and the thought of him and Dirk in tandem would have been an interesting one.

To be fair the teams just above the Bucks in last year’s all drafted guys who are now NBA starters apart from Bazz at the T-Wolves. A case could be made that MCW, Steve Adams, Kelly Olynk and Giannis have made a much bigger impact than any of the guys who went in the top 10 apart from Oladipo.

 

[HitsterParticipant]

 A few teams must regret passing on the Greek Freak and the thought of him and Dirk in tandem would have been an interesting one.

To be fair the teams just above the Bucks in last year’s all drafted guys who are now NBA starters apart from Bazz at the T-Wolves. A case could be made that MCW, Steve Adams, Kelly Olynk and Giannis have made a much bigger impact than any of the guys who went in the top 10 apart from Oladipo.

 

[juves4783Participant]

cuban should of been reading euroballer’s posts…he told us so.

[juves4783Participant]

cuban should of been reading euroballer’s posts…he told us so.

[phila9012Participant]

 I wish the timberwolves would have taken him instead of shabazz, but that would never go our way. I could see it in 3 years rubio, lavine, wiggins, antetokoumpo, and a center we draft this year because hopefully they tank the year and look to the future. Wiggins is our do over, hopefully they dont mess it up again.

on topic, at least Mark Cuban is willing to admit he over ruled his GM and admit he was wrong. Most owners dont like to admit they were wrong. Also it gives a little insight into how hard it is to be a GM, they have to deal with a coach who wants a guy to win tomorrow, an owner who wants to do good for the next season or 2 and the GM who is trying to look 3 or 4 years down the road and takes responsibility for putting the team on the floor

 

[phila9012Participant]

 I wish the timberwolves would have taken him instead of shabazz, but that would never go our way. I could see it in 3 years rubio, lavine, wiggins, antetokoumpo, and a center we draft this year because hopefully they tank the year and look to the future. Wiggins is our do over, hopefully they dont mess it up again.

on topic, at least Mark Cuban is willing to admit he over ruled his GM and admit he was wrong. Most owners dont like to admit they were wrong. Also it gives a little insight into how hard it is to be a GM, they have to deal with a coach who wants a guy to win tomorrow, an owner who wants to do good for the next season or 2 and the GM who is trying to look 3 or 4 years down the road and takes responsibility for putting the team on the floor

 

[CU.LIONSParticipant]

It is Ironic when you think about it. The one team (Dallas) that should have known that taking a 6’11 skillful European at 18 years old would be well worth the risk, since the last one they drafted (draft day trade actually) like that worked our pretty well.

[CU.LIONSParticipant]

It is Ironic when you think about it. The one team (Dallas) that should have known that taking a 6’11 skillful European at 18 years old would be well worth the risk, since the last one they drafted (draft day trade actually) like that worked our pretty well.

[i’m jus so offendedParticipant]

 I still can’t believe Danny Ainge threw out Scottie Pippen comparisons for this kid before the draft, yet somehow passed on him for an unathletic, 3pt oriented, no defense playing 6’11" white dude. 

[i’m jus so offendedParticipant]

 I still can’t believe Danny Ainge threw out Scottie Pippen comparisons for this kid before the draft, yet somehow passed on him for an unathletic, 3pt oriented, no defense playing 6’11" white dude. 

[HitsterParticipant]

I agree that if Danny Ainge rated him highing then why didn’t he draft him especially as he had drafted a big the previous year in Sullinger.

The thought of Giannis at the T-Wolves is very interesting, the K-Love trade would probably still have happened but Wiggins, Pekovic, Rubio and Giannis would be a very good core going forward.

Also Giannis was the classic sort of player that a team might have looked to trade up and get like when the Spurs moved up to nab Leonard in 2011.

[HitsterParticipant]

I agree that if Danny Ainge rated him highing then why didn’t he draft him especially as he had drafted a big the previous year in Sullinger.

The thought of Giannis at the T-Wolves is very interesting, the K-Love trade would probably still have happened but Wiggins, Pekovic, Rubio and Giannis would be a very good core going forward.

Also Giannis was the classic sort of player that a team might have looked to trade up and get like when the Spurs moved up to nab Leonard in 2011.

[Ebown5Participant]

There should be no shame in passing on Giannis. After all, he was a major risk pick at that time.

Sure, he is the obvious pick now, but it is about what you knew then and not what you know now.

In retrospect he should have been taken in the top 3, if not first. 

[Ebown5Participant]

There should be no shame in passing on Giannis. After all, he was a major risk pick at that time.

Sure, he is the obvious pick now, but it is about what you knew then and not what you know now.

In retrospect he should have been taken in the top 3, if not first. 

[khaled_a_dParticipant]

Mavs gave promise to Saric and he decided to withdraw from the draft and honestly I think he will be very good NBA player
Then we waited for MCW but Sixers grabbed ,most Mavs fans know that ,now we are told that Giannis was Nelson choice but Cuban decided to trade down to save 400k $ from cap?I mean it doesn’t seem that we had a bad scouting with our 1st lottery pick in years we just threw it away .that is disappointing

[khaled_a_dParticipant]

Mavs gave promise to Saric and he decided to withdraw from the draft and honestly I think he will be very good NBA player
Then we waited for MCW but Sixers grabbed ,most Mavs fans know that ,now we are told that Giannis was Nelson choice but Cuban decided to trade down to save 400k $ from cap?I mean it doesn’t seem that we had a bad scouting with our 1st lottery pick in years we just threw it away .that is disappointing

[Author]

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