Dallas Mavericks’ 2015 Point Guard Big Board

Nov 22, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is interviewed before the game between the Houston Rockets and the Mavericks at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

The off-season provides tons of fun for the fans, even with no games going on, as your favorite team will try to fill any glaring holes or strengthen that roster even further to advance the championship plan. From the NBA draft, to free agency, to a possible new head coach, it’s a wild 3 months of no professional basketball.

Therefore, The Smoking Cuban offers our thoughts, and actually pretend to be Donnie Nelson, the general manager for the Dallas Mavericks. Why not? Three of our starters are staring right in the face of free agency!

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Do we need an upgrade for the squad? Or should we stay the course, and resign our soon-to-be free agents from the currently 45-28 squad? (You might want to write a letter to Dirk Nowitzki expressing gratitude for taking a huge pay-cut deal last summer before we move on.)

And along those lines, we should also be thankful that Mark Cuban will be looking to build a contender, letting the cash flow to hit the open market. Donnie Nelson, we envy you.

With that in mind, here comes the super early off-season to-do list for the Dallas Mavericks. They’ll be doing most of their work in free agency, which as usual, will be nuts. We’ll be focusing on what will likely be their top priority, the point guard position.

It goes without saying, no position has been more loaded with talent than the point guard spot is currently in league history. Ever.

But looking at the free agency waters this upcoming off-season, you might have to move that fact aside. From the perspective of HoopsHype‘s ranking of the top five floor generals set to potentially part ways with their respective teams, none of them exceed the Player Efficiency Rating of 18. Goran Dragic could be an exception here, securing a PER of 21 with the Miami Heat after his move from the Phoenix Suns. But season averages matter here.

If the Mavs want to bring Dragic to town they’ll have a tough time doing it. The Miami Heat gave up two future 1st round picks to get him and Pat Riley will do whatever it takes to keep The Dragon in South Beach. And if first-string superstars LeBron James and Chris Bosh could be convinced to play in Miami, what makes you think Dragic is going to deny the beach, a friendly tax code, playing under Erick Spoelstra and of course, Pat Riley himself? Plus if he wants to finally be the man, this is the perfect place for him.

But there are other options.

Brandon Knight and Reggie Jackson, both possible candidates, have a lot in common. Both are still young and both moved on to their respective new teams at the deadline. Also they will hit free agency as restricted free agents, meaning the Suns and Pistons can simply match any offer sheet they sign to keep them.

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Do these two fit the criteria to be the Mavs’ starting point guard? Don’t bet against it, ’cause they do. Especially Brandon Knight, who put up borderline All-Star numbers during his stint with Milwaukee Bucks prior the trade. It’d be interesting to see how the Mavericks would build around Chandler Parsons and Knight in the future. But let’s put a hold on that idea and look at another option first.

Patrick Beverley of the Houston Rockets.

It’s complicated talk to put Beverley in this conversation, though he would be an ideal fit with Monta Ellis. The Dallas Mavericks would need to pry him from a division rival as a restricted free agent, the same thing Cuban did with Parsons last year. Without the $15 million a year deal, of course. Would Daryl Morey let Cuban get the best of him again?

The Mavericks have been chasing their second ring since winning it all in 2011 by following a particular formula. But that formula assumes Dirk can still carry the team and score a load of points; things you couldn’t realistically expect from him next season. So is bringing in one of the best perimeter defenders in the league to run the show enough? Can Beverley be the leader at point? Alas, we think not.

Obviously, Rajon Rondo is one of those top five potentially available floor generals, and the common knowledge regarding his inability to make free throws explains why his PER has suffered over his career as an NBA player. Though his superstar days might be a thing of the past Rondo is still widely considered to be a terrific playmaker, even though his 6.3 assist per game is way lower than his career average.

Perfect fit and on-court bond playing alongside Ellis have to be put under consideration too for us to decide Rondo’s future. Only one of the two belongs with this team. And our pal, Tim Cato from MavsMoneyball helps us with this:

"“I’ve been saying since January that it’s unlikely the Mavericks stick with a Rondo-Ellis backcourt beyond this season. While Ellis has had an incredible year and a half in Dallas, his style of play and poor defense makes him a terribly difficult player to build around. In theory, the perfect fit next to him is a 3-and-D point guard with enough ball skills to make up for Ellis’ shortcomings there, but players like that basically don’t exist.Rondo is also hard to build around, but given a choice between the two, I believe the Mavericks would bring him back. Simply put, it’s much harder to replace defense and rebounding than it is to replace scoring.”"

Complicated still, Rondo demands a max contract. Should we bring him back with an 8-digit number on hand with the particularly low market at point guard? For $10 million a year, we will have a deal. If not, the Mavericks will be left searching for his replacement, a difficult task.

Dallas Mavericks Point Guard Big Board

1.) Rajon Rondo

2.) Brandon Knight

3.) Goran Dragic

4.) Patrick Beverley

5.) Reggie Jackson

Next: Today in Mavs History: Roddy Goes for 40 Against Ellis, Warriors

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