After losing to the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks’ season came to an end. Dallas missed the playoffs last season, but they turned things around this season and made the NBA Finals for the first time since 2011.
Before the trade deadline, the Mavericks acquired Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington, and at that point, they became contenders. The Mavericks worked their way through the West; however, they ran into the best team in basketball, the Boston Celtics.
On Friday, Mavs GM Nico Harrison addressed the media. Harrison, who, like head coach Jason Kidd, received an extension from Dallas, is proud of the team but knows they must continue to improve.
“You know, we’re committed to building a winning organization that has championship aspirations,” Harrison said. “I’m proud of the coaches, the staff, the players… You know, really want everybody to come back 10 to 15% better mind, body, spirit, and I think if we do that, we’re going to be proud of the results for the next year.”
While Harrison believes Boston was the better team, he felt the Mavericks, whose best player Luka Doncic was battling injuries, were a tired team in the Finals.
“I feel like we were really in the playoffs since March 7th,” he said. “Just we were fighting just to get into the playoffs and not be in the Play-In. I think after a while, you have that grind from March 7th, and then we had three really tough series. I think after a while, we didn’t have the same juice in the Finals that we did in the first few rounds, and I think it just wore on us. Give those guys credit; they’ve had to go through their trials and tribulations to be where they have, but they were the better team for sure.”
What do the Mavs need to do to improve? They have a young roster and a young core.
Take a look:
Dereck Lively II: 20 years old
Jaden Hardy: 21 years old
Josh Green: 23 years old
Luka Doncic: 25 years old
PJ Washington: 25 years old
Daniel Gafford: 25 years old
Derrick Jones Jr.: 27 years old(unrestricted free agent)
Kyrie Irving: 32 years old
Harrison believes they have the players to get the job done.
“Really, I think we have the pieces,” Harrison said. “I think we just need to get better ourselves… We’ve always been looking to make it better, so we’ll continue to do that. But the core is intact. If you look at our top 7-8 players that play the biggest minutes, I don’t see anything happening with that.”
Derrick Jones Jr., who signed with Dallas last offseason and started 66 games, will be an unrestricted free agent, and Harrison says the team’s priority is to bring him back.
“I mean, I don’t know how we’re going to do it, but he’s a priority,” Harrison said. “He’s priority 1A and 1B. Think he fits in with our team. He loves it here, and we have to figure out obviously the dynamics to get him to stay, But yeah, that’s a priority, and we’ll do what we have to do to get it done.”
Dallas appears to have the pieces to compete moving forward. Of course, they have Doncic; while Irving will be a year older, he’s still playing at an elite level, and the young talent should continue to improve.
The Mavs don’t have much cap space. However, Tim Hardway Jr. and Maxi Kleber are two guys they could possibly trade to improve the roster going forward, so we’ll see what happens, but for now, Dallas is in a great place.
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