I despise the Mavericks, maybe not as much as I do the Jazz or Lakers but they run a very close race with the Spurs for my #3 most hated NBA team. However, they are legit and a team that should be taken seriously. But Mav fans, you are gonna keep hearing about the past until your team does something in the playoffs. Believe me, I know as a Boston Red Sox fan - all I heard during the 2004 playoffs was their past playoff history and the Curse of Bambino ****. But they won the WS and that stuff is hardly ever mentioned now (or at least it wasn't mentioned last year in the playoffs, never mind the fact they got swept by Chicago ).
There are a couple of on-going narratives about the mavs ability to win a championship. The one that I addressed was the lack of a dominant low-post player on the Mavs by wondering who that player was on Detroit, yet they won a championship and have kicked the beejesus out of the spurs twice this year (mavs only once ). I seem to recall that Detroit, Bulls didn't have dominant low-post players. Certainly detroit doesn't now, sheed is more of a perimeter player than dirk. He has tossed up 253 3pa's versus 165 for Dirk this year for example. And has 115 ftas' versus 341 for Dirk. Sheed is far from an inside player it seems. ------ Another thread is that they mavs don't play enough defense. The difference has become pretty debateable imo. It doesn't seem to be borne out by the stats. The spurs look to be clearly superior defensively by 3.5ppg. Detroit less so actually by ~1.5ppg. The mavs in the top 10 is fine imo to win a championship since their offense is much better than the spurs. In the last 10 games it's houston, dallas, spurs, detroit for example. A teams reputation IS made in the playoffs, but unless you have something going for you in the regular season you won't make much noise. And a teams reputation doesn't do squat once the playoffs begin except for HFA. That one will be a key.
i would say their are 3, maybe 4 teams with dominant post players right now: san antonio, miami, and indiana/houston/clippers. of those, 1 is considered an elite team. the game is evolving, the rules have changed to favor perimeter players and teams who can get into the lane. granted, the mavs don't have a dominant low post threat, but they do have players who take the large majority of their shots from inside of 10 ft. and really, i think that translates just as well in the playoffs as a dominant low post game.
This is a point that I addressed in my post. I never said it was impossible to win a championship without a low-post player...just that it's difficult to do so. Those Bulls teams were quite possibly the only championship teams to rely primarily on a perimeter offense. They were an aberration...and also quite stacked from 1 to 5 and had a player with the greatest competitive drive in NBA history, and is undoubtedly one of the top 3 players of all time (arguably #1). The Pistons team in 2004 had an extremely well balanced attack. While I agree that Rasheed shoots too many threes, it doesn't mean he lacks the ability to play in the low post. Watch him play...he has the talent to play very good offense in the low block if he needs to. Dirk on the other hand doesn't have that option once people consistently start getting hands in his face. EDIT (just to clarify): I'm not saying this current Mavericks team isn't legitimate, but the team's lack of low-post offense will be exposed as a weakness in the playoffs. There have been teams that've compensated (and succeeded) by excelling elsewhere, but by no means is the absence of a low-post big man something trivial. Time will tell whether this current squad can overcome it.
the mavs are good, but im not sure they are legit championship contenders. You cant really compare the mavs to the pistons. Even though the pistons dont have a true low post player, they do have the wallace boys who are just nasty inside defensively. Dirk is a good offensive player but thats about it. He doesnt play any D or make his teammates better. Until the show me differently the mavs are just a good regular season team imo.
with all due respect, what exactly do you define by making your teammates better? i've never really understood this. do you mean that the mavs aren't capable of winning with dirk? do you mean dirk doesn't make his teammates better in the sense of starbury, baron davis, or steve francis? in that case i point you to the mavs 39-10 record and their 50+ win seasons since dirk became their best player. or do you simply mean he's not a stat stuffer? in that case, i'd point you to KG, kobe bryant, tmac, and lebron james who either struggle to get to the playoffs or can't even get out of the first round. if you simply mean that their isnt that much of a drop off between dirk and the player coming in to replace him, i point to the 26.8 PER that ranks 6th in the league. now if you simply mean he doesn't make his teammates better in the legendary sense of Bird/Johnson/Jordan, I could see your point. but tell me this, before nash went to phoenix and had success there, who thought he made his teammates that much better?
He means that he demands SO much attention on offense and defense that the game becomes easier for every other person on the court at that moment wearing the same jersey as him. ie. Duncan.
Nice long rant. But its still the REGULAR season. I remember last season too how Mavs were O so super hot and then the playoffs started. They looked like a completely different team. Dont bring up "the Mavs center rotation...." garbage and bring up weak stats. That's a weak center rotation Mavs has and is very expoitable in playoffs. What has changed so significantly about this team than last year's? You still have Dirk as your star player to go to, and as long as that is the case, I am not sure Mavs are going to hold the trophy anytime soon, since he is reduced to a jump shooting star in playoffs. It's the same story every year.....Mavs fan have high hopes for their team based on tremendous regular season only to see it all fizzle in playoffs. Reminds of the annual "It's our year" Jazz banners of the 90s. I will say this though. If Dallas would trade Dirk for a more legitimate playoff performing star, they would have an excellent chance at winning the whole thing.
I don't like the Mavs. But I don't hate them like I do the Lakers. So I think I still retain some objectivity here. I think the people who say that the Mavs aren't legit because they 1. are just a regular season team 2. don't have low post threat 3. don't play defense just do it either out of hatred or blind repetition of past reputation. First, the Mavs did'nt have a center and didn't play defense but still got quite deep into the playoffs just a few years ago with Nash, Dirk, and Finley. This team lost Nash and Finley but has a much deeper and more balanced roster. Second, as someone has pointed out, the Bulls didn't have any low post offense and they dominated the 90s. Okay, they had Jordan and Pippen. But that just says that if you have good enough perimeter offense, you can overcome the lack of inside offense. And we haven't even addressed the rule changes. And And what about the Pistons? No not this one, the original Bad Boys. The best I can recall, they were led by a couple of guards. I think Rockets fans tend to overrate the importance of low post offense because we have such a great tradition of great big men. Third, the Mavs are playing decent, if not great, defense now, enough to be a legit contender. They have some good perimeter defenders. And AJ is tranforming this team. So yeah, they still need to prove themselves in the playoffs. But I think they have as good a chance as anybody to go to the Finals. This is actually a surprise to me. I thought we were better than them at the beginning of the season.
Those other guys you mentioned don't have the talent around them that Dirk has. If you replace those any of those other guys with Dirk, I think those teams get worse. If you put one of those players on the Mavs, they would stay about the same or possibly get better. That being said, I don't think Dirk needs to be that dominant for Dallas to win. I've seen a lot of Dallas games where their most impressive runs come with Dirk on the bench. You have other guys like Terry and Stackhouse who have won games this year on last second shots. Howard, Harris, and Daniels can also create their own shot. They are built similar to the Pistons. No dominant superstar, but a lot of all-star caliber players. Their starters aren't as good as Detroit's but their bench is the best in the league. I really think teams with balance are more likely to be contenders with the new rules. The rockets management needs to wake up and get better role players around T-Mac and Yao.
Interesting thread. As much as I dislike the Mavs, some of you naysayers are so biased against them there's no point in answering you. Count me as a skeptic, not a naysayer. A huge win streak like theirs is very impressive, but it won't mean a thing 10 games from now. They will cool off, then we can take another look. Looking at a team during a 12 game winning streak isn't the best time to objectively analyze them. The key questions for me are: Will the players still be listening to Avery at the end of the season? Right now, it looks like he has their respect and has toned down some of his more excessive animated behavior. The second main question is will his emphasis on defense stick when the playoffs begin. Last season, with only part of a season under Avery, the Mavs reverted back to their natural comfort zone in the playoffs, which was lax defense. Has tough defense really become their comfort zone now? We will find out in the playoffs. If so, this team has potential. Not only that, their free-wheeling offense isn't so free-wheeling any more. It's more structured. This will be a plus in tense playoff games where every possession becomes valuable. The Mavs are versatile, talented and deep. If they play hard on both ends come playoff time, they are obviously a title contender. Maybe that's a big if. Their chemistry will be tested when they lose a close playoff game. Will they point fingers at each other or does Avery have enough control over them to stifle that? Looks like KMart's career game ends the win streak tonight.
