Improving the Dallas Mavericks??

   The Dallas Mavericks are in an envious position
as they prepare for the college draft on Thursday.
The Mavericks are fresh from last weekends win
over the Miami Heat for the Championship of the
National Basketball Association. Their current team
will most likely remain the same for next season, so
that will allow Dallas to season the Thursday selection
for a year or two. When it comes to drafting college 
talent for the professional game the Mavs do not have
the best of credentials, judging from past performances.
They are the current champs, but the future starts on 
Thursday and as Satchel Page once said, 'Never look 
back, someone could be gaining on you.'
  Here is a re-cap of the first-round selections of the 
Dallas Mavericks since they came into being in 1980.

             Dallas Mavericks Draft Day History

1980- Kiki Vandeweghe of U.C.L.A.- Refused to play in Dallas and was traded to Denver.
1981- Mark Aguirre of DePaul & Rolando Blackmon of
      Kansas State.
1982- Bill Garnett of Wyoming- Played two years & traded.
1983- Dale Ellis of Tennessee & Derek Harper of Illinois.
1984- Sam Perkins of North Carolina & Terence Stansbury of
     Temple.
 1985- Detlef Schrempf of Washington, Bill Wennington of        St.John's, & Uwe Blab of Indiana.
 1986- Roy Tarpley of Michigan- played 6 years & banned for 
       drug abuses.
1987- Jim Farmer of Alabama- played one year & released.
1988- Traded away first round pick.
1989- Randy White of Louisiana- played 5 years.
1990- Traded away first round pick.
1991- Doug Smith of Missouri- played 4 years and drafted by
        Toronto in expansion draft.
1992- Jim Jackson of Ohio State- played 4 years and traded 
        to Nets in nine player swap.
1993- Jamal Mashburn of Kentucky- played 3 years.
1994- Jason Kidd of California & Tony Dumas of Missouri-KC
1995- Cherokee Parks of Duke & Loren Meyer of Iowa State.
1996-Samaki Walker of Louisville- played 3 years.
1997- Kelvin Cato of Iowa State- traded on draft night.
1998- Robert Traylor of Michigan- traded to Milwaukee for rights to Dirk Nowitski.
1999- Leon Smith of MLK High School in Chicago- never played for Dallas.
2000- Etan Thomas of Syracuse- never played for Dallas/sent to Washington in 8 player trade.
2001- Traded First Round Pick.
2002- Traded First Round Pick.
2003- Josh Howard of Wake Forest.
2004- Traded First Round Pick.
2005- Traded First Round Pick.
2006- Maurice Ager of Michigan State- played 2 years and traded to NY Nets for Jason Kidd.
2007- Traded First Round Pick.
2008- Traded First Round Pick.
2009- Byron Mullens- Oklahoma State- traded to OKC on 
      draft night.
2010- Traded First Round Pick.  

    The Dallas Mavericks used their first round pick to select Jordan Hamilton of the University of Texas,...BUT then traded him to the Portland Trail Blazers. Dallas will receive two players in the deal. Rudy Fernandez, a shooting guard that will provide immediate help for Dallas, and Petteri Koponen, who is currently playing in Italy. Fernandez was a key player in the playoffs before the Blazers fell to the Mavericks. He is expected to fill the gap left by DeShawn Stevenson and Peja Stojakov, both are not expected to be re-signed by Dallas.