By – Zack Cunningham

We’re another week closer to the NBA Draft Lottery (now 11 days out from May 15) and another day closer to finding out who the Mavericks are going to hopefully bring in as the third and final piece to their new “Big 3”, a term coined by general manager Donnie Nelson during exit interviews last month.

There hasn’t been a whole lot of change in terms of who is predicted to go first overall or second except for maybe the order. Deandre Ayton has been the consensus No. 1 mock draft pick for months with Luka Doncic close behind.

However, with the Phoenix Suns bringing in Igor Kokoskov as the first-ever NBA head coach born outside North America (he also coached Doncic on the 2016-17 Slovenian national team), there’s a chance Phoenix, if the Suns pick first, could take Doncic there, thus pushing Ayton to No. 2.

At this point, every bit of speculation that can be conjectured at this point has already been said. It’s probably better to just kick back and watch the Warriors and LeBron steamroll towards a fourth-consecutive Finals meeting and weep for the Raptors (and Dwayne Casey … who stopped LeBron in 2011, but is failing to do so this year).

However, all this being said, if you’re still eager to read about head coach Rick Carlisle’s mindset heading into next season, Dwain Price with mavs.com has a revealing piece here for your consumption. Price has been a solid addition to the Mavericks official beat-writing unit.

Also, Price has a piece on Doug McDermott. The 6’8 sharpshooter was a revelation for Dallas post-All Star Break last year and wants to return to the Mavericks. Here’s to hoping they work it out.

Bobby Karalla has always been an astute Mavs’ observer and he brought up some wonderful memories from Dallas’ 2003 WCF series against the Spurs (we’ll just ignore Dirk’s injury in that series for the moment … because, you know, nice things).

It really is crazy to think that things that are common in the NBA now were things the Mavericks were running 15 years ago under Don Nelson. I still don’t think the NBA could handle a full-speed Dirk barrelling in from the 3-point line today.

Oh how’s Nelson doing these days, you ask? Well, he’s playing poker and smoking pot.

One final thing before we head into the weekend. Look, I’m not really one for pipe-dream speculation, however, in the case of Mike Fisher’s two-part Paul-George-to-Dallas-can-happen-like-this piece, I’m all ears.

It should be noted that Fisher isn’t saying this is likely or even probable. It’s just giving the details of what would need to happen for it to be conceivable. If that’s still not your cup of tea, well, there are other links to be clicked, but it’s worth your time.

Have a great weekend, #MFFL!