The Association: Dallas Mavericks

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League bids final farewell to living legends

May 12, 2017 | by NBA News

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Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce have now officially retired from the NBA.

Both players announced earlier in the 2016-17 season of their intentions and now it has become a reality. Yes, next year will be a very different league without these two players who have done so much, not just for the NBA, but for the cities they have played for. Dallas for Nowitzki and Boston for Pierce.

Nowitzki leaves behind an illustrious career spanning from 1998-2017 with career averages of 22.0 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 2.5 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.9 BPG in 1,353 games played. His accomplishments includes an NBA Championship in 2011 along with the Finals MVP, as well as the 2007 Most Valuable Player Award.

Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, addressed the media last night stating it was a no-brainer that Nowitzki's jersey number, 41, will be retired effective immediately. He also said it was a matter of 'when' and not 'if' Nowitzki will be inducted into the Hall of Fame when he becomes eligible.

Likewise for Pierce, his career spanned from 1998-2017, with 15 of those years with the Celtics. He had career averages of 20.0 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 3.6 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.6 BPG, playing a total of 1,319 games. Pierce won the 2008 NBA Championship whilst with the Celtics and was named the Finals MVP. He was also a 10-time All-Star and made the All-NBA Second Team back in 2009.

Other retirements in the league include arguably one of the greatest sixth-mans to ever play the game, Manu Ginobili. Ginobili played 15 seasons, all with the San Antonio Spurs, and won 4 titles with them. He was also voted as a two-time All-Star and won the Sixth Man Award in 2008.

Below is the full list of player retirements as announced by the league officials yesterday morning.

In other news, Phoenix Suns head coach, Earl Watson, has decided to resign from coaching duties and retire from the game. Despite barely in the job for two seasons, and only at the age of 37, Watson cited family commitments as the reason to step away. The Suns posted a record of 4-10 last season and will now have all summer to find a replacement.

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Wizards win lottery, gets #1 pick

July 5, 2017 | by NBA News

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The Washington Wizards are laughing themselves all the way to the bank after landing the number 1 pick in the upcoming 2017 NBA Draft.

Just when things couldn't get any more worse for the Dallas Mavericks, who traded their 2017 first-round pick to Washington as part of the John Wall trade back in February, Mavs Nation will now have a tough time to swallow knowing they traded away the number 1 draft pick, and potentially an even more promising superstar than Wall. To add salt to their wounds, Dallas still owe another three years' worth of draft picks to the Wizards.

Washington, formerly Dallas' pick, was an outside shot with only 11.1% to win the top spot, however they defied all odds, overtaking the Jazz and getting the number 1 pick. Owner, Ted Leonsis, was over the moon, "We've got a young group of core and this pick will definitely change the franchise and plateau us into title contentions for many years to come. We did a great job last season and the basketball gods have truly blessed us.", Leonsis said after winning the lottery.

Washington will now have first choice at an incredibly deep draft, touted by many scouts. The draft class includes the likes of Harry Giles, Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball, Jayson Taytum, Josh Jackson, and Dennis Smith Jr. as the consensus #1 pick. It'll be interesting if the Wizards decide to select him as the future point guard of the future with Ricky Rubio, whom they acquired in the trade, already at the helm.

Below is the full breakdown of the draft order and the lottery odds prior.

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Coaching Changes

July 12, 2017 | by NBA News

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In a flurry of transactions across the league, players aren't the only ones changing teams this offseason. In fact, it's been a busy day for the head coaches as a series of coaching changes were made.

Here is the full breakdown:

• 76ers acquire Mike Budenholzer from Hawks (2 Yr / $8.08M)
• Cavaliers re-sign Tyronn Lue (4 Yr / $20.55M)
• Bucks re-sign Jason Kidd (2 Yr / $8.05M)
• Jazz re-sign David Joerger (4 Yr / $17.23M)
• Hawks acquire Erik Spoelstra from Heat (4 Yr / $10.09M)
• Heat acquire Tom Thibodeau from Timberwolves (2 Yr / $5.77M)
• Knicks acquire Frank Vogel from Magic (3 Yr / $11.09M)
• Pistons acquire Nate McMillan from Pacers (3 Yr / $7.16M)
• Pacers acquire Terry Stotts from Trail Blazers (3 Yr / $9.29M)
• Trail Blazers acquire Kevin McHale from Knicks (3 Yr / $9.91M)
• Timberwolves acquire David Blatt from Kings (2 Yr / $6.35M)
• Pelicans re-sign Alvin Gentry (2 Yr / $3.95 M)
• Nets hire Lionel Hollins (2 Yr / $4.83M)
• Magic hire Connor James (1 Yr / $1.72M)
• Suns hire Jeff Hornacek (2 Yr / $4.97M)
• Rockets hire Kuba Gooding (1 Yr / $1.50M)
• Kings acquire Mike D'Antoni from Rockets (2 Yr / $3.97M)

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Mind you the above coaching changes was one of the dumbest logic I've ever seen. Poor effort 2K!

Like seriously the amount of 'coach acquisitions' is just ridiculous. Furthermore, just one of the many few examples; the Nets overachieved last season, so instead of re-signing Kenny Atkinson, they decide to hire Lionel Hollins - the same guy they fired prior to hiring Atkinson. Like wtf??

Sigh, I really don't want to control all 30 NBA teams

/rant

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2017 NBA Draft Recap: Wizards select Dennis Smith Jr. with #1 overall pick

July 19, 2017 | by NBA News

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#1 WAS | Dennis Smith Jr. | PG #2 MIN | Harry Giles | PF #3 UTA | Markelle Fultz | PG #4 PHX | Lonzo Ball | PG #5 PHI | Malik Monk | SG #6 NYK | Jayson Tatum | SF #7 SAC | Frank Ntilikina | PG #8 MIA | Josh Jackson | SF #9 ORL | Jonathan Isaac | SF #10 PHI | Terrance Ferguson | SG #11 DEN | De'Aaron Fox | PG #12 IND | Melo Trimble | PG #13 MIL | Frank Jackson | PG #14 ATL | V.J. Beachem | SF #15 HOU | Malcolm Hill | SF #16 PHX | Bennie Boatwright | PF #17 BOS | Ivan Rabb | PF #18 NOP | Marques Bolden | C #19 POR | Bam Adebayo | PF #20 WAS | Grayson Allen | SG #21 TOR | Isaiah Hartenstein | PF #22 DET | Lauri Markkanen | PF #23 DEN | Allonzo Trier | SG #24 BKN | Tyler Lydon | PF #25 CHA | Josh Hart | SG #26 UTA | Caleb Swanigan | PF #27 LAL | Miles Bridges | SF #28 TOR | Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk | SG #29 SAS | Thomas Bryant | C #30 PHX | Jonathan Jeanne | C #31 UTA | Devin Robinson | SF #32 DAL | Justin Jackson | SF #33 SAC | Jalen Brunson | PG #34 MEM | Alec Peters | PF #35 NOP | Devonte Graham | PG #36 PHX | Keita Bates-Diop | SF #37 BOS | Jarrett Allen | C #38 LAL | Omer Yurtseven | C #39 ORL | Dwayne Bacon | SG #40 UTA | Rodions Kurucs | SF #41 NYK | OG Anunoby | SF #42 CHA | Chris Boucher | PF #43 IND | Nigel Hayes | PF #44 HOU | Edmond Sumner | PG #45 MIN | Dillon Brooks | SF #46 ATL | Frank Mason III | PG #47 MIL | Carlton Bragg Jr. | SF #48 SAS | Luke Kornet | PF #49 TOR | Jaron Blossomgame | SF #50 WAS | Kyle Kuzma | PF #51 HOU | Johnathan Motley | PF #52 BKN | Dedric Lawson | SF #53 OKC | Malik Pope | SF #54 UTA | Monte Morrisr | PG #55 BOS | London Perrantes | PG #56 NYK | Amida Brimah | C #57 BOS | Kennedy Meeks | C #58 OKC | Kris Jenkins | PF #59 UTA | Luke Fischer | C #60 SAS | Steve Hammond | PG

The future is now for the Washington Wizards as they select NC State standout, Dennis Smith Jr.

Smith will join a very promising Wizards squad consisting of Bradley Beal, Otto Porter Jr., Gorgui Dieng and Ricky Rubio. As to whether or not, Smith would replace Rubio for the starting point guard role, Wizards coach Scott Brooks said "It's something we'll have to discuss with those two. But ideally, the plan is for Smith to eventually run the point and hopefully Ricky can mentor him through the initial stages of his career. Ricky is a professional and I'm sure he's totally cool with that."

Duke big man, Harry Giles was selected second by the Minnesota Timberwolves and it is expected he will fill the starting power forward spot, giving the T'Wolves a promising yet deadly core that already includes Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine, Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns.

Probably the surprising pick of the night was Kansas forward, Josh Jackson, who fell to the 8th spot. Though the Miami Heat will have no complaints about it as Jackson will join a solid core with Josh Richardson, Justise Winslow and Hassan Whiteside.

During the draft, there were many trades however most were very small except for one - the Charlotte Hornets acquired Khris Middleton from the Bucks. Despite an injury plagued season, the Hornets have the utmost confidence that Middleton will be able to return to form and he will join an already talented Hornets squad that has the likes of Kemba Walker, Nicolas Batum, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.

Below is the full breakdown of deals that went down during the draft along with the draft selections from each team.

To Miami Heat	To New York Knicks
8th Overall Pick	6th Overall Pick
Courtney Lee
To Charlotte Hornets	To Milwaukee Bucks
Khris Middleton	13th Overall Pick
Matthew Dellavedova	Marvin Williams
To Milwaukee Bucks	To Phoenix Suns
Miami's 2018 first-round pick	16th Overall Pick
Tyson Chandler
To Chicago Bulls	To Charlotte Hornets
Jeremy Lamb	25th Overall Pick
Marco Belinelli	Chicago's 2018 second-round pick
To Oklahoma City Thunder	To Los Angeles Lakers
Luol Deng	27th Overall Pick
To Cleveland Cavaliers	To Phoenix Suns
Jared Dudley	30th Overall Pick

Full draft selections:

Spoiler

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Bobby Karalla-USA TODAY Sports

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The Mavericks were able to salvage of what has so far been, a miserable offseason, after knowing that they gave up the number one pick, and signed Serge Ibaka to a 3 year, $46.49M deal. Ibaka will immediately thrust into the starting power forward spot, a position that was a glaring hole after the retirement of Dirk Nowitzki. However, Ibaka wasn't exactly Dallas' first choice at the power forward spot. In fact, it was Blake Griffin, who turned down the Mavs offer and stunned the league by joining the Los Angeles Lakers. After Kevin Durant's departure last year set the media into meltdown, Griffin's move is surely bound to send shockwaves, dividing the city of Los Angeles. It has even irked some of his former Clipper teammates, namely Austin Rivers and DeAndre Jordan tweeting out cryptic messages.

As for Ibaka, he politely said there were no hard feelings and totally respects the Mavericks for their decision. "It's all business at the end of the day, they're there to do their job and I'm here to do mine. All we can do now is to get on with our lives and I'm confident this is the start of a beautiful relationship", Ibaka addressed the media.

Dallas also signed shooting guard, Tim Hardaway Jr., and power forward, Thomas Robinson, to two year deals, both with team options at the end of the 2017-18 season.

With new players coming in, unfortunately Dallas had to let go of its' own free agents in order to accommodate for room. As a result, the Mavericks decided to part ways with Jonathan Gibson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Nicolas Brussino, and Daniel Ochefu.

Although not landing a superstar this year, Dallas have set themselves to make a splash during the 2018 free agency with a projected cap space of $42 million, where the depth of talent is expected to be much greater than this offseason. But for now, one can only hope that this current roster will perform much better than the last. After all, there aren't any draft picks coming this way for a while.

You can see the full player movements in free agency below.
* Mavericks signings highlighted in blue.

• Warriors re-sign Stephen Curry to 5yr/$161.22M deal
• Warriors re-sign Kevin Durant to 3yr/$108.19M deal
• Rockets sign Patrick Mills to 2yr/$10.62M deal
• Clippers re-sign Chris Paul to 4yr/$147.36M deal
• Magic sign Nate Robinson to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Warriors sign Joffrey Lauvergne to 2yr/$6.76M deal
• Pacers sign George Hill to 3yr/$87.70M deal
• Trail Blazers sign Jeff Green to 3yr/$17.03M deal
• Mavericks re-sign Andrew Bogut to 1yr/$1.65M deal
• Bulls sign Brandon Jennings to 3yr/$9.56M deal
• Grizzlies sign Terrence Jones to 2yr/$5.49M deal
• Pistons sign Tony Snell to 1yr/$1.12M deal
• Pistons re-sign Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to 4yr/$89.31M deal
• Bulls re-sign Taj Gibson to 4yr/$29.91M deal
• Heat sign Tony Allen to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Kings sign P.J. Tucker to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Hawks sign Steve Novak to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Clippers sign Andrea Bargnani to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Pacers sign Josh Smith to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Warriors sign Derrick Williams to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Nets re-sign Bojan Bogdanovic to 5yr/$43.97M deal
• Lakers sign Blake Griffin to 4yr/$126.31M deal
• Mavericks sign Serge Ibaka to 3yr/$46.49M deal
• Raptors re-sign Jared Sullinger to 3yr/$36.76M deal
• Celtics re-sign Amir Johnson to 4yr/$16.99M deal
• Bulls re-sign Michael Carter-Williams to 3yr/$27.84M deal
• Kings re-sign Arron Afflalo to 2yr/$7.47M deal
• Mavericks re-sign Deron Williams to 1yr/$1.62M deal
• Kings re-sign Ty Lawson to 2yr/$9.79M deal
• Hawks sign Jordan McRae to 1yr/$1.12M deal
• Nets re-sign Chris McCullough to 3yr/$4.81M deal
• Hawks re-sign Paul Millsap to 3yr/$108.19M deal
• Raptors re-sign Kyle Lowry to 3yr/$106.89M deal
• Nuggets re-sign Danilo Gallinari to 4yr/$86.23M deal
• Pelicans re-sign Tyreke Evans to 4yr/$62.26M deal
• Pelicans re-sign Jrue Holiday to 5yr/$60.25M deal
• Warriors re-sign Shaun Livington to 4yr/$12.01M deal
• Raptors re-sign Patrick Patterson to 3yr/$16.57M deal
• Kings re-sign Darren Collison to 3yr/$19.04M deal
• Suns re-sign Alex Len to 3yr/$15.38M deal
• Celtics re-sign Kelly Olynyk to 2yr/$6.58M deal
• Bulls re-sign Doug McDermott to 2yr/$4.31M deal
• Rockets re-sign Tyler Ennis to 4yr/$7.24M deal
• 76ers re-sign Nik Stauskas to 4yr/$15.22M deal
• Warriors sign Marreese Speights to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Hawks sign Gary Neal to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Grizzlies sign Marcus Thornton to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Jazz sign Kevin Seraphin to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Clippers sign Ian Clark to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Heat sign Nick Collison to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• 76ers sign Kay Felder to 1yr/$905k deal
• Mavericks re-sign Devin Harris to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Pistons sign Lance Stephenson to 2yr/$4.86M deal
• Mavericks sign Tim Hardaway Jr. to 1yr/$1.50M deal
• Jazz re-sign Gordan Hayward to 5yr/$161.22M deal
• Warriors sign Nene to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Heat sign Miles Plumlee to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Lakers sign Tony Wroten to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Knicks sign Vince Carter to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Warriors sign Thanasis Antetokounmpo to 1yr/$905k deal
• Timberwolves sign J.J. Redick to 2yr/$21.24M deal
• Nets sign J.J. Hickson to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Clippers sign Rasual Butler to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Hawks sign Anthony Bennett to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Mavericks sign Thomas Robinson to 1yr/$1.60M deal
• Knicks sign Mario Chalmers to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Clippers sign Thabo Sefolosha to 1yr/$1.01M deal
• Nets sign Rudy Gay to 3yr/$78.10M deal
• Knicks sign Malcolm Brogdon to 1yr/$905k deal
• Wizards re-sign Shabazz Muhammad to 1yr/$1.48M deal
• Knicks sign Michael Gbinije to 1yr/$905k deal
• Wizards sign Zach Randolph to 3yr/$6.29M deal
• Wizards re-sign Otto Porter Jr. to 5yr/$134.35M deal
• Magic sign Derrick Rose to 3yr/$80.48M deal
• Wizards re-sign Trey Burke to 1yr/$4.59M deal
• Trail Blazers re-sign Mason Plumlee to 1yr/$3.37M deal
• Pistons re-sign Reggie Bullock to 1yr/$3.31M deal
• Kings re-sign Ben McLemore to 1yr/$5.38M deal
• 76ers re-sign Nerlens Noel to 1yr/$5.85M deal
• 76ers sign Rajon Rondo to 3yr/$23.59M deal
• Suns sign Jeff Teague to 2yr/$17.98M deal
• 76ers sign Andre Iguodala to 3yr/$36.97M deal

[LopaKa]

Oh man that's gotta hurt knowing you gave up the #1 overall pick :doh:

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Quote: Originally Posted by LopaKa

Oh man that's gotta hurt knowing you gave up the #1 overall pick :doh:

Definitely. Now I know how the Clippers felt after the Baron Davis trade