DALLAS _ Now that the thrill of the Dallas Mavericks' acquisition of the next great Euro import is fading, you should know this is still a lottery team.
At least the Mavericks, unlike the local baseball team, are not scared to admit they are rebuilding.
We are still two years away from this team making the playoffs, because this team still needs a few more players.
A lineup of Dennis Smith Jr., Luka Doncic, Harrison Barnes, Dirk Nowitzki and a center-to-be-named-later is an improvement, and it's not cracking the top eight of the NBA's Western Conference.
NOTE TO READERS: If either LeBron James and/or Kevin Durant sign with the Mavs, this column is immediately null and void.
Doncic is 19, and he is not going to lead a 24-win Mavs team into the playoffs next spring.
"He's going to get his rear end handed to him," Mavs president Donnie Nelson said a few hours after pulling off the trade with Atlanta to acquire him.
Yep, because virtually all rookies do, and the Mavs are going to lose more than they win, even if their new center is DeAndre Jordan.
Because the Mavs have been unable to sign notable free agents, they are approximately $38 trillion under the NBA salary cap.
The Mavs are going to make a big jump only when they find a real big man, or big men. Nerlens Noel was a Lamar Odom-sized fiasco.
The best big who may be available is the man (child) who famously told the Mavs yes. Then said no. Actually, he never told them anything.
Jordan just cowardly ghosted the Mavs, only to say later he had to be a man about it.
He is reportedly mulling whether to opt in on the final year of his contract with the L.A. Clippers that will pay him $24.1 million next season. He has until Friday to make his decision.
That's right, the NBA's most exciting season, free agency, begins Saturday. No point in a calendar has been any worse to the Mavs than July.
You may recall it was Mr. Jordan who famously agreed to becoming the Mavs' center in 2015. He verbally agreed to a max contract with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, only to back out a few days later and re-up with the Clippers and specifically his "Lob City" teammates Blake Griffin and Chris Paul.
"He is who we thought he was," Cuban said in November of that year, before the first game of his former prized free agent recruit.
Which explains why Cuban went completely Shark Tank on D.J. to try to sign him.
Paul now plays for Houston, and The Blake Show is in Detroit.
The Clippers posted a winning record last season but missed the playoffs. They aren't going anywhere any time soon.
Jordan averaged more than 15 rebounds per game last season, because that's what he does. He is athletic, a decent rim protector and a rebounder.
He developed from a second-round pick out of Texas A&M into one of the better rebounding centers in the NBA who has made a ton of cash. For him, that's enough, even if he could have been so much more.
Despite his God-given skills, he never has been interested in being more than what he is. He will turn 30 next month, and the Mavs will know what they are adding: a guy who plays pretty hard, grabs some rebounds, likes to live the NBA lifestyle and is a bit of a child.
He's also better than anything the Mavs have on their roster in the middle.
And he would be the best big man available on July 1, which includes New Orleans' center/forward DeMarcus Cousins.
Hands down Boogie is one of the most entertaining bigs in basketball to watch, and he reportedly is recovering on schedule from an Achilles injury that he suffered on Jan. 27.
He's also a rather large head case.
After this pair, the options for the Mavs finding a big are not exactly realistic, great or plausible.
And the only way for the Mavs to make a jump into the playoffs ahead of schedule is to acquire a big in the middle.
Or LeBron. Or K.D.
Doncic figures to be a great foundation piece next to D.S.J., but the Mavs now need a big.
See you in the 2019 lottery.
