00:00and the letdown was felt throughout the metroplex and we have someone joining us here on Sean and
00:05RJ who was in the room for all the coverage Mavs insider for the Dallas Morning News Mike Curtis
00:12here on DFW Sports Station Mike good morning thank you for the time could you feel the
00:18disappointment from the Mavs new brass sitting right there a few feet away yeah they were first
00:24of all thanks for having me they were right there in front of me it wasn't as noticeable as I
00:30thought
00:30it was going to be honestly I thought I was going to see like head drop I thought I was
00:36going to see
00:36somebody put their hand on their heads or something similar to that but I think Messiah Ujiri and Mike
00:44Schmidt they're pretty confident they can find someone in that in that 90s range if they choose
00:50to keep the pick there's a lot of things that can happen between now and next month's draft so
00:55we'll see what happens but we did talk to Rolando Blackman he did have like a smirk slash grimace
01:03on his face but he was a ninth pick right was he the ninth pick yeah he was the number
01:10nine pick
01:11too so I think that that's the way he he reconciled it like you can get a really good pick
01:17in this
01:17draft it's going to be really deep I'm just curious to see how the pieces fall give our audience an
01:22education if you could on Mike Schmidt's and your opening impressions of talking to him yesterday
01:30yeah yeah so yesterday was our first time talking to him since he was named general manager obviously
01:35he's replacing Nico Harrison's day-to-day role my first impression is that this is a guy who's
01:43all about basketball um he knows talent he's he's he's always been known as a talent evaluator
01:50um the NBA draft is his specialty um I think he's he's going to be able he can point out
01:56obviously the
01:57top 10 through 14 picks and and notice talent but where I want to see him kind of flex his
02:06muscles is
02:06what what is he going to do when Dallas is on the clock at 30 and 48 because they also
02:11have those
02:11two picks in this upcoming draft and it's those picks that that that kind of show how good you
02:17are as a talent evaluator you want to get a guy um like a Pascal Siakam which Masai Ujiri found
02:24in the
02:2420s you want to get a guy like Oji Ananobi who can be a contributor on a playoff team a
02:31really big
02:32contributor that I know New York um bribed without in these last two games but um you want a guy
02:38who can
02:39be like a diamond in the rough who can who can pay off in the long run Mike Curtis joining
02:45us here 105
02:46the fan do we know the kind of style of play uh of a team that he would like to
02:52have
02:54um not at this moment he didn't really get into the minutia of what kind of team he wants to
03:00put
03:01what kind of team he wants to have but he does want to build around Cooper flag
03:04um he didn't identify the type of position that he's looking for whether it be point guard forward
03:11wing we know they definitely have a need at the guard position um we saw last year they need an
03:18additional playmaker someone who can get their own bucket and get their teammates involved um shooting
03:24would be a added bonus because this team was near the bottom in three-point um attempts last year
03:32obviously and when you have like no you're only consistent three-point shooters max christie and
03:38clay thompson and you're depending on those guys night after night um you got to have somebody else
03:43who can space the floor um obviously Kyrie Irving is going to help a lot with that um but they
03:49need
03:49they need to hit on this lottery pick and that I think that lottery pick needs to needs to be
03:53able
03:53to shoot as well Mike is this GM hire a big gamble like you know when Nico was hired we're
04:00kind of
04:00making some shoe salesman jokes well this this hire could come with uh well he was uh he was a
04:06draft
04:06analyst this is this is a ESPN anchor guy who's now supposed to be running the Dallas Mavericks is
04:11he well respected throughout the league how how do you think the rest of the league is looking at this
04:16yeah I think he's well respected for his basketball acumen that that's that's that's um a given
04:23what I'm interested in seeing is how does he work well with people how does he um how will he
04:29work
04:29with the coaching staff um how does he get along with um obviously the players um from what I from
04:36what I noticed yesterday he's very personable um I I walked up and chatted him up for a couple of
04:41minutes after we spoke to him obviously he came from Portland and um he was assistant general manager
04:48there but what I'm curious in seeing is how does he how does what what does his leadership style look
04:55like
04:55um because when you're general manager you everyone's looking at you obviously Masai Ujiri
05:02gonna be the top guy and he's gonna have final say but on a day-to-day um Mikey's gonna
05:08be the guy to
05:09lead this franchise um with day-to-day basketball operations so that's what I'm curious to seeing and
05:14yes I mean he's only in his fourth day so he still has to get back to Dallas and get
05:20himself settled
05:20which which he spoke about um yesterday but I'm curious in seeing how he kind of handles this new
05:27role yeah that's what I was going to ask you is the follow-up how is this going to be
05:30divvied up
05:31because when the news breaks that Ujiri is hired I'm like okay he's the general manager his handprints
05:37fingerprints all over this team sure how do you think this is going to be divvied up with a GM
05:43hire
05:44yeah I actually asked Masai that yesterday um we got to speak to him briefly um after the number nine
05:52pick was announced um he wanted to kind of delegate all media responsibilities to Mike yeah um but
05:59I think well the way he answered he explained it to me that the roles are going to be it's
06:07going to be
06:07collaboration at every level um I think Mike is going to have the leeway to go out and
06:13scout players go out and make recommendations say hey I think we should explore this trade but I
06:19think ultimately Masai is going to have the final say um obviously Patrick Dumont was heavily involved
06:25um this last year I think he wants to be able to let the new front office do their thing
06:31and not have
06:32as much say so um so I think Masai is ultimately going to have a final say on all basketball
06:38decisions but
06:39I think Mike is going to be able to be in a position to um have a little bit of
06:43influence as well
06:44Mike Curtis Dallas Morning News was at the lotto in Chicago Mavs ending up with number nine
06:49and after that some Mavs fans were not happy with the way they ended the season Mike a little bit
06:57a
06:57little bit too much winning can you recall the end of the of the Mavs season out loud too much
07:03winning
07:03well the Mavs fans have a right to be upset that the tank quote unquote was not executed as much
07:11as it could have been to end up at nine yeah I remember the end of the season vividly I
07:18remember
07:18seeing Cooper Flagg kind of tap into this new gear and try to score um as much as he could
07:25on a nightly
07:26basis obviously um they were gunning to get him that rookie of the year and I think he really made
07:31a
07:31big impression during those final um 10 games or so but I'm looking at the schedule now they won
07:37they won three of their last nine there was that win against Portland where you have Marvin Bagley
07:42go off for 26 and 9 I think Brandon Williams had a really big game that game as well he
07:48gets up when
07:48he goes back to Portland because obviously that was his first NBA team you got the win against the
07:53Lakers which I'm pretty sure a lot of people at that point they were riding that home losing streak
07:59yeah um and it they wanted to get some momentum going and some morale boosters um and then obviously
08:07the season ending win against Chicago um so when you look at three wins like that I mean a lot
08:14of
08:15those three were morale boosters but in the end it may have hindered them from getting what they
08:20wanted ultimately in the NBA draft but you can never you can never tell with these these things it's a
08:26lottery who's to say that if they even lost those games would they be in the same position maybe they
08:32maybe they stand pat still at eight or nine um maybe they jump into the top four like Memphis and
08:39and Chicago um I know they benefited from that last year um I think it was last year when Chicago
08:46had the
08:46coin flip and I think because of that loss against the Lakers or a loss at the buzzer um that
08:53was the
08:54difference in them getting um that was a difference for the Mavs especially getting number one the number
09:01one pick so you can never tell with these things but I think the fan base has a right to
09:06feel how
09:06they feel let's talk about some of these prospects everyone is hyping up this draft especially with some
09:13of the new tanking rules expected next year uh people have been lining up for these prospects for a
09:19while Mike let's talk about some of the talent that could be around the Mavs selection
09:25yeah for sure obviously with number nine um I think there's two tiers in this draft obviously you have
09:32the top top four with all the big the big three and also with Caleb Wilson um but then you
09:38go to
09:39the next four you you have this tier of guards who can really fulfill what the Mavericks need
09:45they need another guard to pair the Cooper flag to kind of alleviate some of that um ball handling
09:51pressure um Kyrie as well I think Kyrie's a guy who can play away from the ball so at that
09:58number nine
09:58spot can you get a guy like Mikel Brown Jr. from Louisville who may be available um will Braden Burries
10:07at that spot be available um I think it's really going to depend on what happens from one through eight
10:13um and if there's any movement if there's any opportunities to kind of move into that that
10:20selection or kind of I don't think they'll move down but you never know with the new front office
10:25what they want to do um trade-wise but I think at that pick Mikel Brown would be a really
10:30safe bet
10:32um obviously I think I think a lot of people saw the clip circling around um locked on Mavs was
10:37here
10:37and they were able to talk to him and he said he liked Dallas he said it's one of his
10:41favorite cities in
10:42the NBA so I think the big the big thing about him he's a guy who's able to come in
10:47and um kind of man
10:49that that that lead initiator role he can shoot um which is really important but I think a lot of
10:55concerns revolve around his back and how he wasn't able to kind of be as effective um late in the
11:01season so we're at the combine and he's going to go through all his evaluations a lot of these guys
11:06are
11:06going to get interviewed um by several teams ultimately when the team gets back to Dallas
11:12they're going to have pre-draft workouts so yeah I'm curious to see how this thing shakes out too
11:17if those four guards are gone and they get to nine do you think is is Phylon too big of
11:25a drop uh
11:26from a tier or is that is that a trade down type guy or is that an option no I
11:33think he's definitely
11:34option when you look at what he did Alabama like 22 and 5 that's that's really good production
11:41especially from the three-point um three-point range I think he shot 40 percent um can create
11:47his own shot um I think he had splits like 50 40 80 um I think he also has really
11:53good defensive
11:54potential so I I wouldn't be mad at that pick at all I know um some people probably prop up
12:01some
12:01of the forwards before him um like Axel Lindeborg who played played at Michigan just coming off a
12:07national championship um a name that I'm seeing a lot that Mavs fans I don't I'm not sure would be
12:14happy with is Native Mint out of Tennessee but um I don't think that's a that that's a bad pick
12:21at
12:21number nine um for the Mavericks especially when your positional need is a guard Mike they are glowing
12:28about Kyrie teaming up with flag I got destroyed by a lot of Mavs fans last week for some of
12:35my Kyrie
12:36trade ideas uh percentage chance percentage chance that Kyrie Irving starts the season on the Mavs next
12:43year uh that's a really good question so based on what we um experienced earlier this week or at this
12:54point of last week um during Masai Ujiri's uh press conference I think Masai definitely wants him back
13:00yeah um that that was one of the things I wanted to kind of take out of their press conference
13:06what
13:06does he think about Kyrie Irving especially as a fit next to Cooper Flagg and when I asked him that
13:11question before I could even get out the rest of my question he said oh man oh man I dream
13:19like you
13:19dream even though obviously I'm not dreaming of um anything dealing with the Mavericks but um you
13:26can tell the passion in his voice and the passion on his face that I think he wants to see
13:32what it
13:32looks like with Cooper paired with Kyrie um obviously he he's he's been he's been in this game for a
13:38while
13:39so he knows um talent and he knows how pieces fit together and I think he he can see the
13:45value in
13:46having a veteran who can get his own shot who can create for others um who can still finish at
13:52the
13:53rim we got to see what Kyrie looks like because obviously he's gonna he's gonna be coming off a
13:57year and a half um without basketball so that's going to be the big thing but I think Masai and
14:03and Mike they're they're going to take this summer to evaluate what they have um especially with these
14:08veterans they have coming back to the roster Mike thank you so much for the time man we appreciate it
14:13keep up the great work yeah anytime fellas I appreciate y'all for having me
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