The Dallas Mavericks have faced a lot of skepticism this summer in terms of what their ceiling will be next season, as many in the national media are doubting this team can be a legit contender next season with Kyrie Irving set to miss an indefinite amount of time rehabbing from a torn ACL.
While die-hard fans and players have no doubt that the Mavericks can soon get back to being one of the most feared teams in the Western Conference, the Mavericks' inability to offload some of their frontcourt depth for more help at the guard position is drawing criticism at the national level, even though Dallas did sign D'Angelo Russell with the Taxpayer's MLE this summer.
Long-time ESPN writer Kevin Pelton recently came out with his offseason grades for all 30 teams in the league, and he gave the Mavericks a B- in his rankings, citing both their aforementioned inability to make a trade for more help in the backcourt as well as Cooper Flagg and P.J. Washington both being pushed to more perimeter roles offensively as his main reasons Dallas didn't draw a higher grade. Pelton is certainly an accredited hoops head, but he's blatantly ignoring and not mentioning one of Dallas' best pieces of business this summer by giving them a B-, as the Mavericks nailed Daniel Gafford on a three-year, $54 million extension earlier this summer.
ESPN snubbed Gafford's extension in their Mavericks offseason grade
This was one of the best value signings in the NBA this offseason, as Gafford signed for slightly under a number that would have made him ineligible to be traded for six months, and he's undoubtedly worth $18 million annually, as he may have even been able to finagle a $20 million annual salary or higher if he hit the open market next summer.
Because of the flexibility the Mavericks still have to trade Gafford for backcourt help this season if they do find they truly have too much of a logjam in their frontcourt, Pelton is severely overrating how much of a negative impact it is for Dallas to have not traded Gafford or someone else in their frontcourt this summer.
A rating of B+ or even a B would have been much more fair for the Mavericks this summer, as there's no denying this team didn't go out and trade for the absolute best stopgap point guard, as their were younger options on the trade market compared to Russell, who also could've maybe complemented Irving better once he returns from injury.
However, the Mavericks re-tooled their roster well if they really want to buy in to the identity of having a massive and versatile frontline, and giving this team anything lower than a B for their offseason rankings is a little harsh, as Dallas also re-signed Dante Exum to help with on the perimeter defensively as well as with the playmaking Irving will be leaving behind, which was another move Pelton didn't mention in his critiques.
More than anything, it seems Pelton isn't bought into the identity the Mavericks have chosen to hang their hats on, as it seems he would clearly like a roster to be more balanced in terms of their positional depth. However, the Mavericks and many other teams in the West have elected to be a little more versatile in the ways in which they can roll out bigger lineups, so we'll ultimately see if Pelton's neglection of the Gafford extension ends up proving to be a fair take on Dallas' offseason, or if the Mavericks end up having one of the most daunting frontlines in the NBA next year.
