Jamison and Fortson do not give them any inside defense. People here at CC.net seem to have a raging hard-on for Fortson, a journeyman 6 ft 7 PF/C who has, to my knowledge, never played for a playoff team, just like Jamison.
While the Mavs are a formitable squad, their play has simply been lacking. Perhaps it is a premature judgement on my behalf. Though, without a certain key contributor from seasons past, they may face some future difficulties.
They will crush every team offensively in the regular season. But will they be able to keep it up when the pressure is on in the playoffs? Should be interesting...
- The Fortson Factor - Danny Fortson will be a non-factor. He will either get injured in preseason and miss most of the year, or it will happen sometime shortly thereafter. It's like the sun rising - you just grow to expect it. - Dirk and Antawn - Yes, Antawn can play...but he's going to get a lot less shots than before. How many scoring threats do they need before they try to get a defensive scheme going. Much like the Texas Rangers, the Portland Trailblazers - all O and no D will not get you very far. It surely won't put you over the championship hump. San Antonio, LA and the Kings will still give them fits on the defensive end. They lost their only two stoppers in Griffin and Bell too.
Dvauthrin, 1. Jamison is not going to play the post on defense Dirk will. You’re right it does not improve their man to man defense at all but it does address a problem on offense and that is an extra weapon in the post. 2. Fortson is has a very large body and is 6’8” 270 lbs. Fortson may not be the greatest defender in the world but he does improve the Mavericks defense just by limiting the other teams number of shots per offensive possession. Together with Dirk and Antawn the Mavericks turned a weakness (rebounding) into a strength. If you will remember in last year’s play-offs, one of the things that really killed the Mavericks was giving up 3rd and 4th shots during one possession. If you can at least limit the number of shots per possession to one you have improved your defense. 3. The Spurs minus Duncan or the Lakers minus Shaq do not have close to the same amount of talent that the Mavs, T-Wolves or Kings have. Certainly Duncan or Shaq can take over and lead their respective teams but with a limited supporting cast it is certainly no slam-dunk for either. 4. Of course the Mavs and the T-Wolves have a lot to prove. This is a prediction not a history lesson. I think with all of the improvements made to both the Mavs and the T-Wolves that they will be the two best teams in the NBA this year. Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki are both MVP caliber players on teams that make the play-offs every year that have made obvious up grades to their teams so I don’t think that this is a stretch, particularly with the Mavericks since they were the 2nd best team in the league last year. 5. Minnesota maybe but no love for Dallas? Come on give Dallas their due since they were better than Minny last year and were the 2nd best team in the league. And I don’t know how you can call Minnesota’s front court atrocious when the have a Kandiman at center, Spree at the small forward and KG at the power forward. That front court sounds pretty damn good to me. I just really think that Malone and Payton are way past their primes and with all of the fiasco surrounding Kobe that the Lakers might not get off to the start that everyone invasions. Plus I hope that those 4 can each play 48 minutes because there is absolutely nothing for LA on the bench.
Although I don't think the Mavs will win the NBA Championship anytime soon...Dr. Jack Ramsay doesn't know what he's talking about! He says crap about the Rockets too!
The exact same thing was said when they acquired Juwan Howard and later Nick Van Exel. It is funny that neither player had a problem getting their shots in Don Nelsons offense. No Maverick seemed to have a problem with it. Don Nelson will have his offense feed the hot hand regardless of who it is. Antawn will get plenty of shots in this offense as will Dirk, Finley and Nash.
Too bad NVE and Howard spent only a year and a half or so as Mavs... I wonder how long before Jamison and Fortson get jettisoned. Antwan will get plenty of shots because the Mavs will give up points on defense so quickly. I guess that's all that matters to Nelly, is the shots factor.
I suspect that Antawn will not be going anywhere anytime soon. He is young (27 years old) and he plays a position of need at an extreamly high level. If you look at his numbers they are all-star caliber. Of course only time will tell if he works out but all the early indications are that they will. The Mavericks saw that with both NVE and Howard that the enviroment created by Cuban plus all of the winning does wonders for a players attitude. Both came in with a reputation of negitive baggage and both left as model citizens. I believe the same will apply with Antawn and he will be with the Mavs for a very long time.
They can bring in as many hired guns as they want....you aren't going to win 5 or 7 game series against the Kings, Spurs, and possibly the revamped Lakers that way. All of those teams can put as many points on the board as Dallas, and have the team and individual defensive talent to grind it out, wear them down. Again, with Bell and Griffin gone, the defense is going to be not only no better off, but worse in my opinion.
IMHO, Eduardo Najera is still the best defensive player on the Mavericks. A championship caliber team needs a C and/or PF with the defensive abilities of a Parish/McHale, Olajuwon/Thorpe, Laimbeer/Rodman/Mahorn, Cartwright/Grant, even an ancient DRob. If Eduardo is the defensive equivalent of Kurt Rambis, the Mavs aren't the offensive (nor defensive) equivalent of Magic, Scott, Worthy and Jabbar. Gimicky zones won't forever conceal a lack of defensive presence (dare I say dominance?) at the C and PF spots. 4th seed, 2nd round exit.
Don't forget Josh Howard, who will play significant minutes this season for Dallas. He is their defensive guy this season and will take all of Bell's minutes and more. They are really high on him. Also, Abdul Wahed will get some minutes for defensive purposes. Nellie would not have let Bell get away if he didn't believe he has someone better in Howard and Abdul Wahed. The key will be Fortson and.....injuries.
I think the Mavericks played pretty good defense against the Spurs in the WCF. There were many possessions where they were able to keep Duncan in check only to let the Spurs get the offensive rebound. Do you recall all of the 3rd and 4th chance points the Spurs had in that series? That points to bad defensive rebounding and the Mavs just got a lot better in that area.
A few facts to think about with Dallas. Rebounding is a key with them and the WCF against the Spurs prove it. The Mavericks lost that series 4 games to 2. In that series Tim Duncan averaged: 15 rebounds a game 4.7 offensive rebounds a game He had higher averages only against the Nets who most agree would not be one of the top 4 or 5 teams in the west. Here is where it really gets interesting. In the 4 games that the Mavericks lost in that series they lost the rebounding war: Game 2 – Spurs 51 rebounds and 11 offensive rebounds. Mavericks 41 rebounds and 8 offensive rebounds Game 3 – Spurs 59 rebounds and 19 offensive rebounds. Mavericks 36 rebounds and 7 offensive rebounds Game 4 – Spurs 49 rebounds and 14 offensive rebounds. Mavericks 40 rebounds and 14 offensive rebounds. Game 6 – Spurs 44 rebounds and 9 offensive rebounds. Mavericks 42 rebounds and 8 offensive rebounds If you notice how close the rebounding was in game 6 then it is easy to understand why that was the one game out of the 4 losses that the Mavericks should have one since they lead all but the final minutes of the game. The Spurs won that one because of a ton of offensive rebounds in the 4th quarter and Steve Kerr’s last minute three point shooting. In the 4 losses the Mavs were out rebounded by an average of 11 rebounds per game. In the 2 games that the Mavericks won in that series they won the rebounding war in both games. Game 1 – Mavericks 46 rebounds and 10 offensive rebounds. Spurs 37 rebounds and 7 offensive rebounds Game 5 – Mavericks 42 rebounds and 11 offensive rebounds. Spurs 38 rebounds and 9 offensive rebounds That is a difference of 6.5 rebounds a game in the Mavericks favor for the 2 wins. The Spurs shot .451 from the field in their 4 wins and .464 in their 2 losses. The Mavericks shot .418 from the field in their two wins and .418 in their 4 losses. So for all of those that want to discredit the rebounding stats you can’t point at shooting percentage and claim that as the difference in the Mavericks winning and loosing in that series because there just is not much difference from the Spurs or the Mavericks in that category. So take a look at what the Mavericks gained in the Golden State trade. Fortson – good offensive and good defensive rebounder Jamison – good offensive rebounder averaging 3 a game for his career. They have lost nothing in the way of scoring only the style of scoring has changed to a more balanced attack with Jamison’s post play. Add the the fact that Dirk is a very good defensive rebounder and I think it is clear why I think the Mavericks could be poised to win a championship this year.
I had arguments with you about this earlier crash, but so far it appears I was wrong about Fortson. I'm not ready to jump on the championship bandwagon yet, but if Fortson can do for the mavs what Rodman did for the bulls, I could certainly see them making a run for the title.
