Dallas Mavericks: Revisiting the 2004 NBA Draft

Today we revisit the 2004 NBA Draft for the Dallas Mavericks, and the trade that brought us our lottery pick of the year.

As our trek through the land of the lost—also known as the Dallas Mavericks draft history—continues, we take a look at the 2004 draft. The ’04 draft class should be remembered as a pretty solid group of players, but looking back, it is hard to compare any draft to the 2003 draft class.

In a year where Dwight Howard was headlined as the next Shaquille O’Neal, it is easy to forget how many solid players were actually taken. There were no more Lebron James’ or Dwyane Wade’s left in 2004, but many of the names that were taken are recognizable household names still today.

Did the Dallas Mavericks make a splash in the 2004 NBA Draft? Was there a player worth jumping for? Or did we trade our picks away for more veterans?

Notable Players Drafted in 2004

Dwight Howard –  Rd. 1 Pk. 1 (ORL)

Shaun Livingston – Rd. 1 Pk. 4 (LAC)

Devin Harris – Rd. 1 Pk. 5 (WAS traded to DAL)

Luol Deng – Rd. 1 Pk. 7 (PHX traded to CHI)

Andre Iguodala – Rd.1 Pk. 9 (PHI)

J.R. Smith – Rd. 1 Pk. 18 (NOH)

Anderson Varejao – Rd.2 Pk. 30 (ORL traded to CLE)

Trevor Ariza – Rd. 2 Pk. 43 (NYK)

State of the Mavs

The Dallas Mavericks were coming off another great season in which they went 52-30 while achieving the 5th seed in the west conference. The team did struggle a lot with chemistry issues as Dallas acquired a number of players prior to and during the season. The lack of continuity seemed like an issue so they made some changes.

The Mavs made a lot of moves in the offseason leading up to the ’03-’04 season including trading for eventual 6th man of the year, Antawn Jamison. They also sent away the newly acquire Nick Van Exel and Raef LaFrentz along with many others for Jamison, Danny Fortson, Antoine Walker and Tony Delk in two separate trades.

The good news from the season was that Josh Howard and Marquis Daniels both made their way on the scene for Dallas and proved to be solid role players for the squad. That along with the Big 3 of Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, and Michael Finley caused for another solid regular season.

The bad news was that, despite a solid year, the Mavs fell to the Sacramento Kings once again, losing the series 4-1 in the first round. Changes were definitely in the works, especially with Mark Cuban and Don Nelson at the helm.

What the Mavs Did

The Dallas Mavericks were ready to make some changes for this season as many trades turned out to be less than stellar for the flow and chemistry of the team. Luckily, one of the players the Mavs felt needed to go was now the defending 6th man of the year, Antawn Jamison.

The Mavericks traded Jamison to the Washington Wizards for Jerry Stackhouse, Christian Laettner, and the rights to the #5 overall pick, Devin Harris.

This trade turned out very well for the Mavericks as the next year’s team had great success using Stackhouse and Harris well in the system.

The Mavs then traded away their 2nd round, #50 overall pick, Vassillis Spanoulis, to Houston for the rights of the #55 pick, Luis Flores. Flores never played a game for the Mavs, eventually landing in Golden State followed by Denver before heading overseas.

The Mavericks again landed a lottery pick in the draft via trade, but this time it was much more successful grabbing a solid player in Devin Harris.

What the Mavs Should’ve Done

It is hard to argue with the Mavs choice of Harris, who made an immediate impact and was able to fill in when the franchise ultimately missed out on re-signing Nash for the future. Harris helped lead the team year later to our first NBA Finals appearance as well.

As far as other options go in the actual draft class, players like Luol Deng, Andre Iguodala, and Al Jefferson may look better on paper or even look better now, but the Mavs knew that they would be in need of a point guard and Harris filled that role well.

For the 2nd pick, the Mavericks had already taken on too many contracts for the year and did not need another player to add to it, so even the player they did trade for with the Rockets was never going to earn a roster spot that year.

I believe that the Mavericks made a great move in this draft. Harris was a great player for us early on and became a bit of a villain after the loss to the Heat but ultimately made it back to the Mavericks and we are happy to have him back.

Next: Dallas Mavericks: 5 Predictions for the Offseason

Stay tuned for more draft coverage of the years 2005 and on as the Dallas Mavericks get into more of their questionable draft history. Also take a look back at our previous draft analysis here: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003.