After falling 4-2 to the Spurs in the first round last week, the Mavs have now lost in the first round of the Playoffs 3 of the last 4 years. Obviously there will be many people in the metroplex calling for ownership to "break up" the Mavs, and to trade Dirk in order to start over the rebuilding process. I disagree with this outlook. I mean, the Mavs just became the 4th team in NBA history to have 10 consecutive 50 win seasons. This is a good team that can be great. I think the Mavs are much closer to a championship right now than people think. I think we have a roster full of guys who can contribute to a championship team. We have an athletic big man who can run the floor, grab rebounds, and dunk the ball with authority (when he plays). We have a superstar who can hit big shots and has proven he can take over ball games. We have an All-star caliber player on the wing who can hit shots and penetrate to the basket who can, on occasion, also take over a game. We have a very exciting young guard who proved in Game 6 that he can be a future star in the league who can execute the most difficult offense in basketball to defend- the pick and roll.
However, there are some serious problems for the Mavericks going forward. It stands to reason that if the Mavs do nothing this off-season there is little reason to expect them to get to much better next year. Changes will come this off-season if for no other reason than Cuban has to do something to get this team deep into the post-season where they belong. Cuban , however, has a tendency to put a premium on big name players and coaches (Kidd, Carlisle). For the Mavs to move up in the NBA standings, Cuban needs to let go of this big name mindset and get the people in here who will get the job done. I have a laundry list of issues the Mavs have but I don't have time to put them all here (Terry's shot selection and offensive schemes). Here are 3 major issues that need to be addressed this off-season for the Mavericks to succeed.
1) The Coaching situation. Anybody who watched the majority of the 1st round series knows that this is a huge issue. Carlisle made numerous personal changes that were simply inexplicable. The decision to start Damp the first 4 games. The unexplainable decision to sit Caron Butler the ENTIRE 2nd half in game 3. Never putting Roddy B in the entire series until Game 6, and have him single handedly bring us back before benching him in the 4th quarter while our lead was squandered away. Playing Jason Kidd 40.5 MPG while he did absolutely nothing on the floor.
Carlisle had me scratching my head throughout the post-season. I feel like Carlisle went into the series saying he was going to win or lose with the guys he's had in Dallas for the length of his tenure and that was just how it was going to be. I can't figure out any other reason why guys like Haywood, Caron, Roddy B, Stevenson (arguably our best perimeter defender) and even Najera sat on the bench watching guys like Kidd, Terry, and Damp play the majority of the time. Carlisle is going to be a guy worth watching for the first part of the off-season to see if he stays head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. I would bet that his track record gets him another year in Dallas, but I'm not so sure that's the best decision for us.
2) The Point guard situation is a complete mess. Jason Kidd is not the player he used to be and I am extremely frustrated by the announcers continuing to call him a superstar and referring to him as a key for the Mavericks. We are a better team without him on the floor. Period. He is one of the worst defenders we have, if not the worst. His offensive contributions come from knocking down an occasional 3-pointer, telling Dirk where to stand for a lob pass, and swinging the ball for a shot for Caron or Jet. Any PG in the league can do this. I understand the intangibles Kidd supposedly brings to the table. The leadership and floor general attitude. He can still be a leader playing 15-20 minutes a game and mentoring our young guards, Beaubois and Barea. But the real issue with Kidd is that I don't know how much of a leader he is or how much he even wants to be in Dallas. He skipped the post game interviews after Game 6 ( not a huge deal IMO), but he also skipped the Mavericks post year team meeting and really hasn't been heard from since the game. This isn't a good thing coming from your "leader". I think it is time to try and sell somebody else, Lakers maybe, on Kidd's strong points and get him out of town. The trade to get him here has been a complete disaster since it happened and there's no point in keeping him just because of his name. If he's willing to accept playing 15 mpg and being a mentor then I'm all for keeping him, but I don't see it happening.
3) Finding Fresh blood. The Mavericks were the oldest team in the NBA Playoffs this year. We need some fresh, young legs to get us running again. Roddy B is a great start. If you watched him in Game 6 you saw some of the same stuff I've seen throughout the year. He's a good long rang shooter, and an explosive driver. He can finish at the rim over the big men and make an occasional nice pass. He's more of a scorer at this point than a full PG but I think that's fine. He's a better fit right now for Jason Terry's role than Jason Terry is. We also need to paying a close eye to Free Agency this year. There are some big name FA's available and I guarantee you Cuban will be calling them. I don't think we realistically have a shot at Lebron or Wade, but there are some names we should keep an eye on. Joe Johnson, Chris Bosh (Dallas native), and David Lee are 3 that I covet badly. All 3 would be huge additions to our team. We also do not have our 1st round pick this year, as it was sent to the Nets as part of the Jason Kidd deal.
The Mavs have been extremely frustrating to watch the last couple of years, but we have a core group of guys that are more than capable of making a long post-season run. Our first priority obviously needs to be trying to resign Dirk and Haywood for the next few years before looking elsewhere. Hopefully Cuban and the Mavs will make the correct adjustments in the off-season that will allow us to reach our full capabilities starting with the coaching and our PG situation.
1.) Rick definitely had a lot of people scratching their heads. It seemed the substitute rhythm he got during the season went out the window once the playoffs started. But can you really blame him for not putting all his faith on unproven players? No offense to guys like roddy and jj even Haywood are not playoff proven.
ReplyDelete2.)You hit the nail on the head with this one. J Kidd is not J Kidd anymore, more J.Kidding, you gotta be kidding me he played that much in the playoffs. Rick did a terrible job of having and giving guys like roddy and jj what they needed to be more successful. I believe those two need to be put in situations where they can grow into leaders since the pg is by nature a leadership position. J. Kidds time has come and gone, I believe you have outlined a great way to help solve the pg issue. Question though, do you think JJ or roddy have the intangibles it takes to be a solid enough pg to help win a championship?
3.) Enjoy reading your blog, keep it up.