I do what I can. Seriously though, you have to admit that the Rockets may have been better off keeping Asik and trading Dwight for a power forward. They may not be able to get Aldridge, but even if they get a guy like Cousins, that might be a good front court. Cousins and Asik that is.
They have no depth at all, they might very well have the worst bench in the entire nba, they have a solid starting 5, well 4 and from there they have minimum contract scrubs, like they're going to play jefferson as their backup 2 and 3 bad (a guy who earned his place on the worst players in the nba lists), which is actually worse than our attempt to use garcia as that, aminu as their backup 4? yeah right, awesome, mavs fans have greg smith as the 9th/10th player on their rotation.... Which is of course what happens when you build a team with cap space and then pay minimum contracts to fill out your rotation, there's a reason they only get minimum contracts, we did it last year, your depth blows when you do that.
Tyson Chandler's "dominant defensive force" didn't help the Knicks accomplish anything in the east. He has missed at least 16 games the last 3 years, with 27 missed last year. Last year he averaged 8.7 pts, 9.6 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks in 30.2 minutes. Samuel Dalembert gave the Mavs 6.6 pts, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks in only 20.2 minutes while playing in 80 games. So is Tyson Chandler really going to significantly upgrade their defense there? Chandler Parsons is a good player who still has plenty of great years left barring injury, but he isn't going to improve a huge amount just due to still being young like some people seem to think. Harden is actually younger than Parsons. I just don't recall the media loving Parsons this much when he was a Rocket. Sure he got some praise for being a nice player, but some media is acting as if the Rockets lost an all star and the Mavs added one. Conversely I can't imagine that the media would be predicting the Rockets as favorites if they had matched that terrible contract on Parsons without adding anything else. The media also seems to completely forget how much Shawn Marion and Vince Carter contributed to the Mavs success. It's like they think the team added Parsons and Tyson Chandler without losing anything. Which is part of what makes Cuban's cracks about Rocket's chemistry so funny. Look how much of his roster got changed this season! As for pushing the Spurs to 7 games with that significantly different roster; the Rockets know from being the only team to push the Lakers to 7 games on their way to the title a few years back, it means very little the next year when predicting how your team will do.
Which is why Tyson was glad to leave. That says more about the Knicks than it does about Tyson or the Mavs. Yes, definitely. Tyson is a much more dominant defensive force. Agree. I think Mavs will miss VC more than Marion, though. Marion's age was showing...he wasn't the dominant defender he had been. and VC's defensive showing was underappreciated. Yes, indeed. NO TEAM has had the roster turnover the Mavs have had the last few years.
He was injury prone and his defense was solid, but unspectacular in a much weaker conference. Maybe he can recapture his dominant form in Dallas, but I don't consider it a given. Dalembert had more blocks in 10 minutes less playing time per game, and only missed 2 games all year. Dalembert is slightly more foul prone and defense of course isn't just about blocked shots. I'd agree that a healthy Tyson Chandler is an upgrade, but I'm not sure it's a huge upgrade, when factoring in how many games Tyson Chandler is likely to miss due to injuries based on recent history.
Show me what list says Jefferson is one of the worst players in the NBA...this whole post seems like such wishful thinking. Rockets bench is all recent D-League players and Euroleague players. Felton, Jefferson, and Aminu all started on NBA teams last year and Harris closed games for the Mavs while Wright had a PER > 20. Come on man...
Well.... pretty much every news media has Mavs > Rockets. Writers say " Mavs can score but their defense is terrible " hmmm... sounds just like how Houston is being labeled. Carlisle is the difference maker that puts Dallas on top in their eyes.
There's the Spurs forums, which complained he sucked, then the Warriors that complained he sucked, then there was the Jazz that thought having a player that sucked suited their purposes, then of course the rather amusing worst 25 players in the nba piece (http://www.complex.com/sports/2014/02/25-worst-players-in-the-nba-right-now/), whose headline player is of course, raymond felton. Wishful thinking is the belief that "no one else wants them and minimum contracts suffice" for bench talent is going to be successful.
Say what you want, but it's actually possible they end up with a better record. Last year they were the most competitive team to challenge the best in the west in the playoffs. Ellis can be a chucker but still a good player. Dirk is still solid. They add: Jameer Nelson, Tyson Chandler, Parsons & Aminu. Jameer is a veteran, he knows how to play. Tyson Chandler is also still very good and he's still tall and you can't teach that. Parsons is very good offensively and Aminu is a good defender. Harris & Jefferson are veterans who can can be relied upon and Crowder has his moments. That's at least 8 mostly veterans and two good young guns. They will definitely make the playoffs.
Media acting like them losing VC, calderon,and Marion was no big deal. They didn't get much better if any. Lets see if parsons can hit clutch baskets like Carter did for them. Dallas better hope old dirk holds up because he's the mavs only star player and hope TC isn't a shell of himself. Answer Houston.
I agree...Dallas looked very well during preseason. I wanted us to pick up Jameer, but he wanted to start so he went to the Mavs. Our bench is weak. QUOTE=AvgJoe;9280632]Obviously you haven't seen a single Dallas preseason game. LOL I agree Felton is awful, but he's not even Dallas' backup PG. Starting is Jameer Nelson, backup is Devin Harris. To answer OP's question. I think it comes down to injuries. Dallas has more older and injury prone players than us, but our bench is very weak, if anyone on our starting lineup is injured, we will see a significant drop in performance. If both stays healthy, I think Dallas will edge us by maybe 1 or 2 games, unless Jones develops a lot over the season. Since he hasn't shown much improvement from his preseason games, I doubt that will be the case.[/QUOTE]
He wanted money. Dallas gave him 2m and a player option, knowing the Rockets they probably offered him the min and a team option or partial guarantee on the second year.
