With a frenetic summer signing period finally slowing down, we have finally have a chance to evaluate how everything has come together for teams across the league. Five franchises in particular stood out because of the collection of talent they acquired both in the draft and free agency. In this series, we’ll look at not only why these teams “won” their summers, but the work that’s now required in order to mold their new-look rosters into a cohesive units.

What the Dallas Mavericks got right

If you’re still judging the Mavs by their inability to lure impact free agents, this offseason was yet another loss. But perhaps the only fair way to grade Dallas is how they bounce back from being left at the free agency alter in order to build a competitive playoff teams. This year, more so than any other since this annual process started after their championship in 2011, may have been their best work yet.

On the surface, the Chandler Parsons-Harrison Barnes swap is a loss for Dallas. Parsons was a Swiss-Army knife on offense for Dallas, capable of attacking closeouts, running pick-and-rolls and coming off screens. Barnes was a fourth, and sometimes fifth, option on a loaded Golden State team. Barnes may prove to be as effective as Parsons was in a bigger role -- which will likely include an opportunity to act as the ballhandler in a much higher volume of pick-and-rolls -- but as of right now how Barnes will fair is a total unknown.

But whether or not Barnes can handle a workload similar to Parsons may not matter, for two reasons. Firstly, Barnes has a track record of durability that Parsons can’t match -- something that will likely shift even more in Barnes’ favor given the recent string of knee issues Parsons has faced. Parsons has played in over 70 games just two of his five years in the league, with his career high for games played in a season being 76. Barnes, on the other hand, has averaged 76 games a season during his four-year career. Given Dallas’ stated goal of fielding competitive teams around Dirk Nowitzki until he retires, adding players expected to contribute major minutes with a track record of durability isn’t very sexy, but it definitely matters.

The Mavs have also built a roster that should be able to compensate if Rick Carlisle fails to get more out of Barnes than we’ve seen from the young wing thus far. Nowitzki can’t carry the load like he used to, but the Dallas contingent of combo guards should combine to confound defenses under Carlisle’s guidance.

Newcomer Seth Curry put up gaudy numbers in Sacramento (45.5 percent from the field, 45.0 percent from 3) despite that franchise being a total disaster, something that may be the biggest understatement I’ve ever written. Jonathan Gibson, a European pro who light up summer league in Las Vegas for the Mavs, is also in the fold. They’ll join returning vets Deron Williams, Devin Harris and JJ Barea -- the latter of whom propelled the Mavs into the playoffs last season with a phenomenal closing run. None of those guys are first-option scorers on par with the league’s stars and even pseudo stars, but in the hands of a wizard like Carlisle, they can propel a competitive offense even if Barnes falls flat on his face.

The final piece of the Mavs' offseason puzzle that fit perfectly was the acquisition of Andrew Bogut, essentially given away as part of the Kevin Durant aftershock. At this point, we know Bogut’s routine. He’ll miss games, struggle against certain personnel packages and wear out a coaching staff over a handful of years. But years of data also show that Bogut is really, really, effective when it comes to bolstering a team’s defense -- something the Mavs could use after finishing in the bottom half of the league (17th, according to our RealGM rankings) this past season.

Questions that will need answering

- What will Carlisle do during the time Bogut misses?

Like death and taxes, Bogut missing somewhere between 10-15 games a season is an inevitability. For a team like Dallas, whose playoff hopes will not have much margin for error, finding suitable production in Bogut’s absence will be a key factor. As of right now, only Salah Mejri and rookie AJ Hammons qualify as true 5’s. Dwight Powell can and has played center as part of some funky lineup combos Carlisle rolled out. Newcomer Quincy Acy could, in theory, do the same. At 38, taxing Nowitzki for long stretches at the 5 seems like a bad idea, but short shifts there against the right personnel could be doable.

But unless additional moves are made, there will be pressure on Carlisle to once again turn to his basketball MacGyver routine and manufacture production at a crucial spot with the limited resources he has available.

- Will the team be able to pull the plug on Barnes if he is failing to adjust to a bigger role?

Dallas did not give Barnes a max contract in order to replicate the role and production he had with Golden State. The optimism behind this signing is that freed from the shadow of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, Barnes will show off skills he was unable to develop or showcase. If Barnes seizes this opportunity, the Mavs will look like geniuses.

There are 95 million reasons, however, that things will get a lot dicier if Barnes proves incapable of moving past the player he was in the Bay. The pressure of that money will affect both Barnes and the Mavs coaching staff/front office. If Barnes struggles when given the freedom to expand his game, will Carlisle have both the willingness and authority to scale back his role? And how long with Barnes’ leash be?

No team wants to pay a player max money to be a spot-up shooter and adequate (but versatile!) defender. But if Dallas waits, to the detriment of their offensive success, until it’s painfully obvious that is what Barnes is, it may cost them games they can’t afford to give away. How both Barnes and the team handle this situation will be in an interesting subplot in the Mavs' upcoming season.

The Synopsis

The Dallas front office has always counted on Carlisle to bail them out after they swing and miss on big free agents. In the hands of an ordinary coach, the Mavs offseason would likely be an uninspiring precursor to a lottery appearance. But when viewing this haul through a Carlisle-colored lens, there’s excitement in thinking about the quirky solutions he’ll find to make this all work. And this roster may actually give Carlisle more quirky tools at his disposal than he’s had for a few seasons.

That said, it’s unlikely the Mavs make a deep playoff run, even if young players like Powell and Justin Anderson take huge leaps. Yet given the prospects of this team before Durant’s defection to Golden State gave them new life, piecing together a team capable of 45 wins and perhaps a trip to the second round is a major coup. In order to hit such marks, however, Carlisle will once again have to take this new collection of misfits, castoffs and unheralded young talent and meld them around his aging star.