Dallas Mavericks: Revisiting the 2008 NBA Draft

As we take a look back at the Derrick Rose draft, what did the Dallas Mavericks do in the 2008 NBA Draft?

With the NBA Draft set to take place next month, we here at The Smoking Cuban have decided to look back at each of the past drafts since the Dirk Nowitzki era has started. With nine drafts behind us, we now turn to the draft of 2008.

The draft was headlined by an athletic point guard out of Memphis named Derrick Rose and an undersized power forward out of Kansas State named Michael Beasley. After that, 2008 provided solid players in both rounds that would be in the league to stay.

Notable Players Drafted in 2008

Top Five Picks (Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, O.J. Mayo, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love)

Danilo Gallinari– Rd. 1, Pick 6 (NYK)

Brook Lopez– Rd. 1, Pick 10 (NJN)

Roy Hibbert– Rd. 1, Pick 17 (TOR)

Serge Ibaka– Rd. 1, Pick 24 (SEA)

Nicolas Batum– Rd. 1, Pick 25 (HOU)

Mario Chalmers– Rd. 2, Pick 34 (MIN)

DeAndre Jordan– Rd. 2, Pick 35 (LAC)

Goran Dragic– Rd. 2, Pick 45 (SAS)

State of the Mavs

The Mavs entered the summer of 2008 on a sour note as they went into the playoffs as a seven seed set to face a New Orleans Hornets team led by Chris Paul and David West. The series lasted just five games as the Hornets eliminated the Mavs in the first round.

Dallas pulled off one of the biggest moves in franchise history just a few months before the draft at the trade deadline when they brought Jason Kidd from New Jersey to Dallas. Dallas replaced Devin Harris with the future Hall of Famer Kidd in hoping to take the next step in getting back to the Finals.

The Mavs went into June looking to build upon the core they had put intact.

What the Mavs Did

On February 18th, the Mavs owned their first round draft pick in the 2008 draft. On February 19th, they sent that first round draft pick to New Jersey in the deal that brought back Jason Kidd. The full trade looked like this…

New Jersey sends Jason Kidd, Malik Allen, and Antoine Wright in exchange for Devin Harris, Maurice Ager, Trenton Hassell, DeSagana Diop, Keith Van Horn, 2008 first round pick, and 2010 first round pick.

A total of EIGHT players and two draft picks were moved in the deal that would alter both franchises and their futures. Dallas not only gave up that summer’s first round pick, but their first rounder two years later.

With the 51st pick in the draft, Dallas selected Shan Foster out of Vanderbilt who never played a game in the NBA.

What the Mavs Should’ve Done

What the Mavs should’ve done with this first round pick is exactly what they did…in my opinion of course. With the opportunity on the table to get one of the best point guards to ever play the game without giving up your superstar in Nowitzki or a main member of your rotation outside of who Kidd would replace, you have to take the deal.

Kidd returned to Dallas to play a total of five more seasons with one of those seasons ending with a championship, the only one in Mavericks history.

Now you could look at that pick and think about a player that could still be on the roster today like DeAndre Jordan, Serge Ibaka, or Nicolas Batum, but none of them gave the certainty that a Jason Kidd did.

Next: Revisiting the 2008 NBA Draft

Even though it was at the price of five players and two first rounders, Jason Kidd was worth it.