Where this Mavericks offseason ranks among the others since 2011

The Mavericks had a hotly debated offseason this summer, one that will likely keep them right back in the playoff race next year but also one that was disappointing after the team missed their top free agent targets yet again.

We asked our writers to answer this question: “Where does this summer rank among the past offseasons since winning the championship?” Here’s what they thought.

Doyle: I think it's too early to say. On the surface, I think the team has done a nice job. But some of us thought bringing in O.J. Mayo was an alright move. We know how that turned out. Time will tell how this summer shapes out. As for right now, it's certainly not the worst. And thank goodness they didn't go after Dwight Howard.

Danny: Nothing will top two summers ago with getting Chandler Parsons and bringing back Tyson Chandler. This one comes slightly in third behind 2013, getting Monta Ellis and Jose Calderon. This was solid, but it wasn't a home run. Of course, this is all pending how the Mavs look on the court.

Ian: Probably near the bottom of the pile, but ahead of the ill-fated 2012 summer when Dallas brought in Darren Collison and O.J. Mayo. I've alluded to it already, but what sets it back for me is that the decision to let Chandler Parsons go is the least defensible move the team has made over that span. They let Monta Ellis go because they thought Wes Matthews fit their team better. They let Tyson Chandler go because they felt confident they'd get verbal agreement from DeAndre Jordan(which they did). Both those moves were also made with Parsons himself in mind, by the way. To then turn around and let him walk to pursue a pipedream scenario that would have really only made you marginally better than you would have theoretically been anyway is something I don't think I'll ever understand.

Kirk: Second worst only to DeAndre backing out. Dirk Nowitzki is no spring chicken and the team as constructed has some serious problems if you really look at the roster.

J.C.: Better than last summer. Better than the summer after winning. Better than the marquee. Probably on par with getting Tyson back and starting Monta Ellis. They have the makings of a core four post-Dirk: Anderson, Matthews, Barnes, and Powell. It's not the 76ers or Timberwolves, but that's not a bad start, and not good enough to keep Dallas from making a big move either. It's a playoff team with some youth. The next championship Mavericks team is going to take a few years to build.

Josh: Not as bad as the DeAndre summer but perhaps tied with the 2012 Darren Collison-O.J. Mayo summer. I say that only because both off-seasons were in intriguing because of the acquisition of younger players who needed new roles.

It's kind of unsettling that the same reasons we're using to justify Harrison Barnes here (he was a top recruit out of high school! He lit it up in college! He had a drastic role change in the NBA!) are the same ones we used when the Mavs signed O.J. Mayo four years ago.

I'm not saying Barnes is going to be Mayo part two, but there is an unsettling amount of uncertainty with a young and talented roster that still all revolves around the health and production of an aging Dirk Nowitzki.

Sound familiar?

Akshay: The summer that saw the Mavs re-acquire Tyson Chandler and steal Parsons from Houston is still the best summer since the title. This is really close behind the summer of 2013. During that offseason, Dallas made Dwight Howard their top priority, but struck out. The Mavs instead brought in Jose Calderon, Monta Ellis and Samuel Dalembert to fill out their starting lineup alongside Dirk and Shawn Marion. That team ended up being tons of fun, taking the eventual champion Spurs to seven games in the playoffs. This team won't be as offensively gifted as that squad, but it could still be fun and it's definitely younger and athletic.