It seems like Dallas will be one of those teams that looks offensively good on paper. Personally, I look at their roster and notice a glaring lack of a really strong inside presence to anchor the team. Thus, when their shots are consistently falling, they'll look awesome. On the other hand, on those nights when the shooters just aren't connecting, they'll look pretty awful.
Does any team have the answer for Duncan and Shaq? Who can Dallas trade for that will be able to shut down Duncan and Shaq? That is the dumbest statement ever. And no, all of those players do not play the same position. I am guessing that Antoine Walker will come off the bench which will instantly make the Mavericks stronger. Are you guys saying that you would be pissed if you had a player like Antoine Walker coming off the bench. If you guys acquired Antoine Walker you would be claiming that you are among the West elite now. The Mavericks now go nine deep with good players and the Mavs second string would probably be competitive in the East.
great, now i can expect to hear the headline, "walker, texas ranger" a million times this week and every time toine gets game high. i think the guy is a cancer and is a big part of the reason we lost in the wc, he didnt impress anyone playing 40 seconds during the all star game. sure, they have 120 pts on paper, but adding walker adds -5 to each other player on that team. i used to like dallas' unselfishness with dirk, nash and finley, and the spark from nve, even with players like najera, they all had hustle. but now with jamison (who aint that bad by himself) AND walker (who if you havent noticed is the player i dislike the most) they just contracted something terminal that destroys their ability to play team ball. maybe im wrong and nelson will do something about it, but if jamison and walker play the same game that they had on their former teams (especially walker) the mavs just wont be able to coexist. however, i will congrat cuban for making an exciting group of players, but i chide him for destroying a potent, balanced team.
In the past when the shots were not falling, the mavs could not get a rebound to save their lives. Now, they have 4 guys that can go double digit rebound almost every night. Shaq and Duncan are dominant and LaFrentz could guard neither. AWalker, Jamison, Fortson, Dirk and Bradley have a much better chance against them than LaFrentz, Bradley, Dirk. Also, teams like the Wolves, Spurs and Sac will not be able to put their 2nd tier centers on the floor because they will get abused. Shaq and Duncan will have to guard a player on the perimiter and will not be able to help out nearly as much. All that being said, it only works if AW comes in and plays the way Nellie wants him to. Stressboy
I agreed you need defense to win a title to a point, the thing is I think Dallas has reached the point to where it dosent matter a whole lot. As long as theyre not Texas Tech bad on defense they should be okay. This team was very close to winning it all last season with basicaly 0 defense. Now they add Jaminson and Walker to arguably the best offense last season, thats just amazing. Nobody can stop Duncan or Shaq, no doubt about it. But if Dallas gets into an uptempo game what team can hang with them? As long as they keep their unselfish attitude than I dont see a team that could outscore them 4 times out of 7. Time will tell
I wouldn't necessarily say that Walker is a ball hog. I actually think he is a pretty good passer. The last three years I believe he averaged more than five assists per game which is pretty good for a power forward. The problem is that in Boston, the only two scoring options were Walker and Pierce. Both players got their shots. It will be interesting to see how Walker fits in with a team that has at least three other scoring options.
Maybe Dallas wanted Cato all along but could not get Houston to take La Frentz? Maybe Dallas will trade Jamison or Walker to Houston for Cato once league rule allows?
The more I think about it, the more I see this trade for Dallas as "stockpiling" talent. I mean, Dirk will not play center; he will play powerforward. So that means that either Jamison OR Walker will play the 3 spot and one of them will be coming off the BENCH. Sure, late in the game you could go with all 3 in that lineup but still you are missing defense and rebounding there. To me, this trade is all about getting as much "talent" as possible. By trading LaFrentz, Welch and Mills they were able to parlay those 3 players into ONE star athlete. In the NBA, it is all about QAULITY over quantity. I would not be surprised to see either Walker or Jamison delt later this year before the trading deadline for a Center/PF that is a solid defensive player. Dallas was not able to get that C/PF with the talent they had before (pre-summer), but now they are acquiring more "DESIRABLE" assets in Jamison and Walker to make the deals they want in the future.
It's amazing how Cuban can bring in quality player after player. He must be sweetening the deal by offering the teams shares of his businesses or maybe air time on his HD channels.
Understandibly, everyone's talking about the Mavericks' side of this deal, but what I'm wondering is what the hell were the Celtics thinking. Who's going to be their 2nd option? Who's going to keep defenses from completely keying in on Paul Pierce? I just can't understand why they would do this without getting more reliable scorers in return. Also, Dallas isn't going to do much more with that line-up. I'm not convinced all those guys will mesh well together. We'll see, I guess.
Do you honestly believe that the Mavericks are missing rebounding when they put a lineup of Dirk, Walker, and Jamison on the floor? Dirk averages 10 rebounds a game, Walker eight, and Jamison seven, not to mention they would still have Danny Fortson on the bench and all he does is rebound.
Walker blows. He's selfish, shoots far too many 3's poorly, can't play defense to save his life, and has a serious attitude problem. It's sad, because he could have been a great point forward if he were smarter with a smaller ego. At times last season, Walker held the team back immeasurably. When Pierce needed the ball, Walker was often reluctant to give it to him, preferring to jack up fade-away 3's with a hand in his face. Why does Dallas want the bozo? The only way Walker contributes is by scoring. Which is the one thing Dallas already has in abundance.
do some of you guys watch basketball? walker has been horrendous the last two years. he has a lot of talent and could thrive in a free-wheeling offense but watching him play for the celtics the last two seasons has been ugly. the celtics came out better than dallas. dallas did the move for cap reasons, lafrentz's contract has a long ways to go while walker's is almost up.
Boston's starting lineup pg- Marcus Banks sg- Kedrick Brown sf- Paul Pierce pf - Vin Baker C - Lafrentz Mavericks second string pg- Travis Best sg - Tony Delk sf - Antoine Walker pf - Eddie Najera C - Fortson/Bradley (depending who starts) Boston probably wins that battle, but not by much.
if you think that's the dumbest statement ever, you haven't spent much time here yet! agreed that no one stops duncan or shaq...but they can be slowed down. and when they're not, their teams win.
Assuming that Dallas is not trading anyone away (a BIG assumption ), they will play Dirk, Walker, Jamison, Finley, and Nash as their starting five. True, there's no real center there. But they don't need an offensive center there anyway. Everyone of those guys can create his own shots. (And sharpshooting Delk still has some gunning in him.) On defense, there aren't too many good offensive centers in the league other than Shaq and Yao. So, Dirk would be serviceable against stiffs centers. When they play guys like Shaq, they can throw Fortson in plus Bradley's five fouls. Walker is very overrated, mainly because of his shot selection, and he doesn't have much D in his game. But he is a good rebounder and a good passer. He has a reputation of being selfish. But the Mavs Big Three have set a culture of shared glory. So maybe he'll behave there, or he'll be out. Talentwise, the deal is clearly in Dallas' favor, while it's true that Walker is not addressing their real need. But they are not giving up anything that will create a greater need. The biggest thing for them is getting rid of LaFrentz's contract for Walker's shorter one. I suspect that what Boston really wants is not Raef, but Welsch. Welsch has great potential and may turn out to be a very good player alongside with Pierce.
