Kevin Stacom: Inside an NBA Draft Room — The Drafting of Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson
Kevin Stacom, Sports Analyst
Kevin Stacom: Inside an NBA Draft Room — The Drafting of Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson
I think this draft will also hold some attention of Providence College basketball fans as Devin Carter appears to be in a good position for tomorrow’s NBA selection process. READ Kevin Stacom: Devin Carter’s Trending for the Upcoming NBA Draft
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I was with the Dallas Mavericks for 23 years (1998-2021). One of the first drafts I was involved in (‘98) was the drafting of Dirk Nowitzki, but none was more dramatic and successful than in 2018 with the acquisition of Luka Doncic with the 5th pick and Jalen Brunson with the 33rd pick
I chose this particular draft as an illustration of the process as it depicts that no matter how much hard work goes into the preparation it’s just as important to be able to react well and be creative in a highly pressurized situation.
We entered the night of that draft (2018) with the 5th in the first round and the 33rd pick (3rd pick in the 2nd round). As general background information, there are 30 teams in the NBA, and there are normally 60 draft picks over two rounds - so in a perfect situation, each team has two picks, one first round and one second. The first-round picks, per the collective bargaining agreement, receive three years of guaranteed money on a sliding scale from about $10 million/year for the 1st pick, descending to about $2 million/year for the 30th pick. The 2nd round picks can be but are not required to be guaranteed contracts.
I usually did not participate in the international scouting, but what I usually did once I was in Dallas in June for the draft was get together with our international guys and try to get up to speed on who were some of the top guys that they had rated. We had a great crew, guys from Ethiopia, Argentina, Italy, Lithuania who crisscrossed each other on just about every international tournament in Europe, Africa, South America, Canada, and even China.
Our General Manager, Donnie Nelson, was always very much up to speed with the international game since back in his Golden State Warriors days with his father, Don Nelson, he had brought over Sarunas Marciulionis from Lithuania, which marked the initial period where international players began to establish themselves as staples in the league.
When I got out to Dallas for that draft, there was almost unanimous agreement among the international scouts that Luka Doncic was the best of the foreign players available. As mentioned, we had the 5th pick, so the challenge was determining, at that time, what were our chances that Doncic would still be there at #5. There were no dominant generational talents like a LeBron or Wembanyama from last year’s draft, so everything seemed up for grabs, There were some underlying reservations about Luka’s athleticism but we also knew every NBA team had just witnessed his great performance in the European Championships.
The Phoenix Suns had the 1st pick that year, and we thought all our great plans were in jeopardy as they had just hired the Russian coach who had just coached the Slovenian National team that Doncic had starred on. Luckily for us, the owner of the Suns was a very avid Arizona alumnus and basketball fan who insisted that his basketball people adhere to his wishes and drafted Deandre Ayton from the University of Arizona. We dodged a major bullet.
Next up at #2 were the Sacramento Kings who were being run at that time by Vlade Divac a native of Serbia who, of course, was very aware of Doncic’s reputation as a prodigy in neighboring Slovenia. For whatever reason, they passed on Doncic and went with Marvin Bagley from Duke We were shocked and elated at the same time.
Now, only two picks stood in the way of us obtaining our next “franchise” player since Dirk Nowitzki (drafted in 1998). We were under a lot of pressure coming off a 33-win/49-loss season, and we all knew a mistake here would put all our jobs in serious jeopardy.
Atlanta was picking 3rd, and somehow, someone on our staff received the intel that there was an active, heated debate among their staff over choosing Doncic or Trae Young from Oklahoma. My friend Pete Babcock, who was the GM of the Atlanta Hawks back in the Ted Turner and Jane Fonda days, told me that they always struggled with attendance since all the consultants came back with the same recommendation when they were about to build their new arena- that it should be built somewhere in the northern burbs around Marietta Georgia and not downtown Atlanta. Turner and Co felt a lot of pressure to not abandon downtown Atlanta - and along with a deal that included the city giving him the land for free, the naming rights (from Philips) covering just about all of his construction costs while retaining all the concessions and parking revenue, Turner chose downtown for the new arena.
I mention all of that because we heard that the owner eventually interceded in the argument of Doncic vs Young in Young’s favor because he believed a well-publicized American player would be a better draw for fans than a relatively unknown European player. That left the door open for Donnie Nelson to pounce and make the call to see what Atlanta would accept in a possible trade of swapping the 3rd for the 5th pick. There are only 5 minutes in between picks in the 1st round so things have to be coordinated quickly between GMs, the owners, and the league.
Also, there is no time for contractual paperwork to pass hands- your word is your bond, and all decisions are final and irreversible. The deal was that Dallas would surrender the following year’s 1st round pick for the privilege of trading up to Atlanta’s #3 spot. So now the stage was set - Atlanta would pick Doncic at #3, and we would choose Trae Young at #5 and the trade was announced by Adam Silver a few picks down the line. We knew we had to get up to #3 since we were pretty certain Doncic would not get past Memphis at #4.
But the night was not over and we still had our 2nd round pick, # 33, to deal with. High 2nd round picks are deemed to be very valuable because you can get a similar talent at times as you can with a player in the 20’s with the added benefit of not committing the team to a multimillion 3 year guaranteed contract. Owners like that.
As we get down to the end of the 1st round that night, Donnie Nelson turns to me and says, Stakey, who do you like? I told him I had Brunson ranked #19 in the 1st, so for me, I’m sticking with my rankings, and I’m in for Brunson at #33. Well, the best description of the response in the room was the proverbial skunk at a lawn party. The head coach, Rick Carlisle, was vehemently opposed to Brunson, stating he didn’t need a point guard and that he was committed to giving our backup Yogi Farrell an expanded role.
On top of that, our owner, Mark Cuban, happened to be standing next to me and was shaking his head slowly back and forth to express his disapproval of my suggestion. A short time had passed, and now we were into the 2nd round with about ten people throwing out names. Pressure was mounting since there were only 2 minutes in between 2nd round picks, and now that was all the time we had left.
Finally, Donnie came back to me and asked again what I thought. I was getting a bit defensive but I actually meant it- look, I get all the doubt, it took me 3 years to figure him out - he’s not the typical Uber athlete for that position, and not the typical looking NBA body at that position. I offered up the comparison of Fred VanVleet, who was in Toronto at the time. And I quickly added he was on two NCAA Championship teams, having just won one, and had an almost 3 to 1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Again, with the head coach and the owner‘s opposition matched only by the dead silence from the others in the room, an unexpected ally piped up from the back of the room.
Unbeknownst to me the team psychologist was very impressed by Brunson’s interview which prompted him to belt out “we need more guys like Brunson around here- we need some character and some balls on this team.”
I said to myself, “ Thanks, Doc, I’m dying out here.” That was enough to give Donnie some comfort to go ahead and choose Brunson with the 33rd pick.
As my old friend, boss, and teammate Don Nelson said, “All you scouts like to repeat about the times you were right, but never when you’re wrong”
That’s true, but thank God that I was right at that time.
So, if you happen to be watching the Draft tomorrow night it might add to the intrigue if you’re aware that there’s a lot going on behind the scenes as teams scramble to adapt as each player is erased from the board and they must decide if they can trade up or is it best to stand pat and role the dice that their guy will still be there.
At least a lot of us will be watching intently to see where Devin Carter lands somewhere high in the 1st round!