The draft ended up shaking out in a way that the Mavs nearly had their choice of the top level point guards. Minnesota selected Trey Burke and that started a ripple effect which led to the top point guards being taken off the table. When it was time to make the pick, the Mavs selected Kelly Olynyk and ultimately traded his rights to the Boston Celtics.
As part of the deal to obtain the 13th pick, Boston gave Dallas two future second-round picks, both coming in 2014. The Celtics (drafting for the Mavs) selected Lucas Nogueira <and his fantastic hair>. If you're still following, the Mavs then traded Jared Cunningham and the 18th pick from the Atlanta Hawks.
The Mavs ultimately decided that Shane Larkin out of Miami would be their man.
Larkin can thrive in an uptempo or traditional offense. He can shoot from deep, with a true shooting percentage of 60.5 percent. Based on his 5-11 size, he struggles to get to line and finish at the rim. With his struggles there, the fact he had a TS% like he did shows he can shoot the rock. With his size and ability to move, he thrives in the two man game. That was something the Mavs were desperately lacking a player who could work off of Dirk Nowitzki.
He was measured with a 44-inch vertical leap at the NBA combine and averaged the sixth-most points as a pick-and-roll ballhandler (6.4) in the NCAA last season. Larkin is also an effective perimeter shooter. He shot 40.6 percent from 3-point range in 2012-13.
The rub is his size. He was able to work through that at the collegiate level, but he will need to show that he can work through it at the highest level. The Mavs will be counting on their ability to maximize an undersized guard in J.J. Barea and parlay that into success with Larkin.
The numbers mentioned with Larkin were important, but the salary numbers are also important. The Mavs were able to shed Cunningham's salary for the coming year: $1,208,400. The problem is they aren't totally free of the full money. Cap rules make it to where there has to be a roster charge in place, the total of $490,180. Now, they saved a total of $374,500 by moving from 13 to 18. If Larkin stays, which he likely will, the Mavs saved a total $1,092,720 with the maneuvers of the night.
The Mavs needed to trim $3,830,00 to be in position to sign Dwight Howard to a max contract with a first-year salary of $20.51 million. With a few days until July 1, they are $2,737,280 short.
It was an interesting first round of the Mavs. They found a piece who could do rather well in their system in Larkin. Larkin found a situation in Dallas that could prove to be incredibly strong for him.
Bryan Gutierrez writes about sportsmen. He also attended Ball So Hard University, studying ideologies of Clark Kent. You can follow him on Twitter @BallinWithBryan.
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