3 reasons that could cause the Mavericks to miss the playoffs again this year

2. The Dallas Mavericks won't get as much out of their youth as they need

The Dallas Mavericks had a wildly successful draft night, as they added Dereck Lively II and Olivier-Maxence Prosper to an already promising young core in Josh Green and Jaden Hardy.

Not to mention the Mavericks' addition of 24-year-old forward Grant Williams this off-season, which makes it very clear that Dallas has a unique blend of talent under 24 to hopefully pair with Luka Doncic once he enters his prime.

That being said, young players don't always hit the track running from the get-go and can be extremely volatile.

Dereck Lively II showed his future potential as the Mavericks' starting center in the NBA Summer League, as he had some monstrous throw-downs and was an excellent rim protector. However, he also has leaps and bounds to go in terms of developing his offensive repertoire.

Olivier-Maxence Prosper flashed obscene defensive versatility at Summer League, but we have yet to see his offense translate at the NBA level. Jaden Hardy still has very noticeable flaws, such as his decision-making and inconsistent passing, that could potentially prevent him from getting as many minutes as most Mavs' fans think this coming season.

Josh Green looked good last season, but after his elbow injury, he had sporadic stretches of playing well and also pretty bad. Green's game on both sides of the ball almost looked like it would abandon him at times during his rough stretches, despite them being more infrequent than his good stretches.

The point being is that none of the Mavericks' young talent that is showing promise is even close to proven commodities in the NBA yet. Josh Green and Jaden Hardy had just one productive year in the NBA each, and Dallas' rookies have yet to even see an NBA floor. By no means are Dallas' playoff hopes guaranteed if their young talent plays drastically worse than expected.