Info Out of Dallas Points to Weakness That Might Send Acuff into NBA Draft Free Fall

When it comes to the NBA, no radio station may be more intertwined with a team than Dallas-Fort Worth's "The Ticket" is with the Dallas Mavericks.

The radio station is packed with veteran hosts, many of whom have been there since its inception the week of the Dallas Cowboys first Super Bowl, while others came in shortly after following infamous departures by guys like Skip Bayliss and Dale Hansen.

Chuck Cooperstein, the long-time voice of the Mavericks is a former Ticket co-host. There have also been hosts from "The Ticket" who worked in sales and television production for the Mavericks and the current hosts have maintained strong relationships with the team along the way.

When Mark Cuban wanted something out, he just called up his buddies at "The Ticket" whenever he wanted. Same for Don Nelson and Donny Nelson. Jr.

Even with the Mavs under new ownership, certain hosts remain friends with head coach Jason Kidd, a relationship established when he helped Dirk Nowitzki, another friend of several hosts, win an NBA title.

It's the relationship with Kidd that makes the following information worrisome for the Hogs' Darius Acuff. The word on him from a Dallas Mavericks perspective is his limited development in college as a complete player may not allow him to be draftable in the Top 10, which is where the Mavs expect to pick.

"We all think it's just going to be Acuff because of his scoring prowess, but man, he has a deficiency on defense," Invasion co-host Donovan Lewis said just before the Sweet 16. "He really does."

While Acuff spent the season showing he can score in large quantities under any circumstance, he never showed dramatic improvement as a defender. Dallas has seemingly picked up on this, which is a problem because Kidd has a history of refusing to play people who can score, but not carry their weight on the defensive end. Picking Acuff would mean blowing a lottery pick on a player who will likely sit on the bench until he can learn to play defense.

"You know, you talk about what Kidd wants and why he won't play guys, and it's always pointed at the defensive end," Lewis said. "These dudes aren't really good on defense, so they don't get playing time. Right? Is that something? And if [Kidd] has a say in it, what he would say about him playing here for the Mavericks. I don't know. I would think you would go, man, that dude can put the ball in the hole. That's what you want, but it's the complete game, and [Acuff] has a lot of work to do on that."

The general rule of thought by coaches and executives is if a player can't learn to play defense in college, he isn't going to show up to the NBA and suddenly learn. Someone getting smoked on the regular by South Carolina's Meechie Johnson isn't going to step on an NBA court and magically shut down Lebron James or dramatically slow Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

"It's really not a thing to take a guy who's not really good on the defensive end to say, 'Well, we're going to teach you how to play,'" Lewis said. "You're not playing really good defense in college. Yeah, now take the step up to the NBA, and you just think automatically, 'Come on, you can teach that guy to do what he needs to do.'
"So I think those are serious questions that they're going to ask. But man, he is, he's raising his stock defensive deficiencies or not. His stock is raised, rising big time."

If the Mavericks end up at Nos. 5 or 6 and they don't take Acuff, there is a chance he begins to fall. This could be because other teams are wondering why Dallas passed on him or they have arrived at their own similar conclusion.

There are a lot of high quality guards in this draft. While they didn't score in college quite as prolifically as Acuff, they are bigger and play better defense.

Arizona guard Brayden Burries, who put up 23 on the Hogs in a blowout win, is one of several taller, often heavier guards under consideration when it comes to making the call on whether to pull the trigger on Acuff. Burries was someone Hardline host Bob Sturm definitely thought the Mavericks might consider, but offered a comparison for Acuff that might raise a few eyebrows within the Dallas organization to run alongside rookie Cooper Flagg, the first pick in last year's draft.

"If we go back to that big board, you see the Arizona kid, Brayden Burries, the shooting guard who is all the rage, and 10th on the big board is going up against Darius Acuff, who is the sixth man on the big board, which matches up perfectly with the Mavericks now, and the player of the tournament so far," Sturm said. "And honestly, all of [Acuff's] numbers on the offensive side are pretty sick. I certainly don't want to curse the young man with saying he's [Damien] Lillard, but his catch and shoot numbers, his off the dribble numbers, his finish at the rim going left, finishing at the rim going right. I mean, every way you look at his offensive game, it looks like he is a dude who gets buckets, and that is a very helpful thing."

The hosts went on to say there was no way Arizona was going to let Acuff beat them because they are too good. However, Sturm interjected that if Acuff is the Lillard replica people think he is, then he will still get his regardless of what the Wildcats throw at him, which turned out to be the case as the Arkansas guard finished with 28 points and only two turnovers in a high scoring affair.

Still, teams will start asking whether Acuff can score like that at his size in the NBA and some are going to talk themselves into projecting him to produce the same as bigger guards who currently score less. At that point the deciding factor is defense, so another guard like Burries, Houston guard Kingston Flemings or Illinois guard Keaton Wagler who reportedly stands at 6-foot-6, goes over Acuff and the slide begins.

Other teams become skiddish and the free fall continues until someone decides to be brave and give a small guard with questionable defensive skills a chance.

Yes, Acuff is still seen as a lottery pick, but if he goes below No. 6, this evaluation by the Mavericks will have been the red flag everyone should have seen coming.

"You got to start looking at all these guys as options," Lewis said. "And [Burries] plays the guard position where the where the Mavericks are lacking the most, to start seeing some of these individuals, if you don't have a dog in the fight, you see some of the individuals if you're a Mavericks fan, to see if maybe they can fit on the team. But Acuff, I think, is gaining a lot of steam, not just with Dallas, but in the draft in itself.

"So, even if you pick six or fifth or six, I feel like if you're at five, [Acuff will] be there, because it feels like the top four are pretty locked in as far as who's going to be selected in the top four. So between Nos. 5,6,7,8,9 and 10 is a lot of movement and there are a lot of guards in that area that will be available to pick. So Acuff, I feel like, is the belle of the ball as far as the guys that are still playing [in the Sweet 16] are concerned, but you're right. Illinois, Arizona, both have guards. You need to be on the lookout."

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