How Celtics, Mavs built around homegrown stars to reach NBA Finals

How Celtics, Mavs built around homegrown stars to reach NBA Finals originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

How do you construct a championship-caliber roster? Having the No. 3 pick in the NBA Draft is a good place to start.

The 2024 NBA Finals will feature two teams built around the No. 3 pick in three consecutive drafts — Jaylen Brown (selected third in 2016) and Jayson Tatum (2017) in Boston and Luka Doncic (2018) in Dallas. It’s been a long road since those drafts for both the Celtics and Mavericks, who have gone through multiple roster iterations while trying to build the best supporting cast for their homegrown stars.

How each team landed on the current group that propelled them to the NBA Finals is an intriguing lesson in roster-building.

We’ll start with Dallas, which made it to Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals just two years ago before bowing out to the Golden State Warriors. Of the Mavs’ nine top scorers from that 2022 postseason, only three are still on the 2024 roster: Doncic, Maxi Kleber (who just came back from a shoulder injury and averaged 4.4 games this season) and Dwight Powell, who’s averaged just 2.9 minutes per game this season as an emergency backup big man.

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That means the Mavs essentially blew up their entire roster around Doncic, beginning their overhaul with a point guard swap. Jalen Brunson signed with the New York Knicks in 2022 free agency, and Dallas sent Dorian Finney-Smith, Spencer Dinwiddie and draft picks to the Brooklyn Nets for Kyrie Irving ahead of the 2023 trade deadline.

Dallas missed the playoffs in 2023, however, and was just three games over .500 in early February 2024. Then came a pair of lower-profile but crucial frontcourt deals: Grant Williams and Seth Curry for Charlotte Hornets forward P.J. Washington, and Richaun Holmes for Washington Wizards big man Daniel Gafford.

Washington has blossomed into the Mavs’ third-leading postseason scorer behind Doncic and…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/celtics-mavs-built-around-homegrown-172052207.html

Author : NBC Sports Boston

Publish date : 2024-05-31 17:26:40

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