The Dallas Mavericks are currently hot trash. The team has issues throughout the roster, starting defensively but extending to the other end, too. They’ve lost seven of nine games, including a blown 26-point lead and Friday’s 118-106 failure against the New York Knicks. You know this if you’ve watched them play; the good stretches have been encouraging but too intermittent to matter. And the spots in between have ranged from bad to, uh, badder.



I could write a few hundred more words about how Dallas has been, but let’s fix them instead. That’s more fun, more productive. A 2-7 record is bad, but it’s not so bad that this season isn’t redeemable. Dallas won’t make the playoffs, but the team was never going to. They could surge back toward .500, toy with the playoff race, and ultimately fall short, humbled but proud of rallying. That’s still what Dallas wants. Gambling on that top-five pick – which the new lottery...