I'd like to have a pure basketball discussion thread about the Mavs without polemics, if that is possible here. Avery Johnson said, or strongly implied, before the season that he wouldn't be driving them hard each and every game because of what happened last year. Well, it ain't working and this leads me to another point: The talent on the Mavs last year was not that of a dominating 67 win team. The reason they won that many games was because of AJ's ability to keep them focused and on task through the long grind. They actually had a 50-5 stretch! It wasn't overwhelming talent that they could switch on when needed, like the old Bulls. The Mavs had/have loads of talent, but not 67 win talent. That leads to another point: AJ is the heart and soul of that team. It isn't Dirk; it isn't Josh Howard; it isn't Jet Terry. It's the coach. Therein lies the problem: If AJ isn't driving them hard, the Mavs will struggle. This 3-6 stretch should really be 3-8, but the Raptors and Rockets cratered games away. Looks like AJ doesn't have any choice but to crack the whip and start screaming again because their squad isn't programmed to play well if he doesn't.
They are fatally flawed with the 1-2 whammy. 1. No low post threat. 2. No dominant on court persona from their superstar. I can't think of a team that has ever won a championship without at least one of the above. Dirk is a great, great player. But he is horrible on the low block. He just can't hack it down low. It's his greatest weakness. And the second thing is he is not dominant enough on court to push his teammates to play better. They are good but not great. I don't believe they will win a championship without a serious change of chemistry.
Duck Fallas! EDIT: Oh, sorry, didn't read your post until now, I saw Dallas in the title and that just triggered my reaction.
Dallas sux...oh wait, they really do...I keed... Regardless of what Mav fans may think and say, you're analysis is right...AJ needs to be the old AJ for them to click... Talent, but no one true leader on the team, IMHO...Of course, since they're in our division, I hope the continue their crappy ways... ..."And I hope they die in hell"... in my Samuel L. Jackson voice...
Here is the problem: -Dirk has one hell of a jump-shot, even though I hate his ****ing guts, but no matter how pretty of a jumpshot he has, it can only take the team so far. He needs to attack more and develop a low post game. -Jason Terry (god I hate this guy) thinks he is the second-coming of Kobe Bryant! He acts like Kobe, plays like Kobe, but problem is, he isn't anywhere close to Kobe's talent level. Trade him now! .......I can't believe I was able to get through that without calling Dirk a p*ssy and J-How a douchebag..... Man I hate the ****ing Mavs! .... Plus, Jerry Stackhouse takes a dump at the free throw line every time he is there! HAHAHAHAHA!
Poor redefined is looking for another team right now. I suggest the Patriots. And no it's not possible to rationally discuss Mavs basketball on this board.
they are trying to make dirk a facilitator like Duncan... it's just not working because that's not dirks game. he is what he is a jump shooter. he is a finisher not a playmaker. dallas does not have a playmaker... every player on that team is a finisher. avery trying to make harris a PG to penetrate and break down the D well he doesnt have the vision... dirk cant be duncan. josh howard isn't good enough to be like Tmac and distribute.
This is IMO a very good discussion topic, but that could be because I live in Dallas and have to listen to propaganda day in and day out. I really think Dallas suffers from a couple of different issues: 1. Dirk is just not the player the media has made him out to be. He doesn't play D, he doesn't play to his height, doesn't handle the ball very well, can't maintain his balance when moving into the lane, shoots the ball well but doesn't seem to do so in big game situations (and the put back against the Spurs the year they went to the finals doesn't qualify as shooting well in a big game...it was an anomoly - that was an offensive foul and the city of Dallas was ready to hang him up to that particular play for his poor performance). I'm not sure that I view Dirk that much differently than I viewed Peja a few years ago in Sac. The big difference between the two is that Dirk is the "superstar" on his team and Peja was 1 of 3 (or more like a glorified role player). Do people really think he compares to Kobe, Duncan or Tracy? Dirk has arguably had more talent surrounding him than any other "superstar" in the league and has done absolutely nothing with it...Nash, Van Exel, Finley, Howard, Jamison, Stackhouse, Walker, just to name a few. 2. Is there really a true #2 option on that team? The closest they come is Howard and while I think he's a good player, Dirk + JHo < Yao + TMac and < Duncan + Parker and < Nash + Stoudemire. I could argue that they are < Kobe + Odom. They do have a nice bench and someone always seems to step up, but without a legit #2 and a sketchy #1 under bright lights, I don't see how the will ever win it all. I really think they should have traded Dirk for Shaq back when they had Nash. I think there would be three TX teams with Rings now. Another interesting tidbit, I was listening to their radio guys a few nights back and the ball had been passed to Dirk. He failed to notice a mismatch and gave the ball up. The announcers went nuts because "Dirk passed up a scoring opportunity". I don't disagree that something of this nature could be frustrating if the player in question was a 2nd or 3rd year player, but we're talking about a freakin' "superstar". Shouldn't every matchup on the floor (with a few notable exceptions) be a mismatch for a 7 foot guy who shoots lights out from beyond the foul line and is somewhat athletic? In 25 years of following the Rox, I have never heard Gene or Bill or Calvin or anyone question Tracy or Hakeem or Moses or Clyde for passing up a shot....NEVER. When your own announcers feel like your superstar needs to capitalize on a mismatch or he's not going to score, you have deeper problems than you might want to admit. Another couple of comments and I'm done....IMO the best team they've ever had was the team with Nash, Finley, Dirk and NVE (I think they had Jamison as well). I thought they would win it all that year because NOBODY had an answer for Nick coming off the bench, why they didn't keep him around for another season is beyond me. If I were Cuban, I'd try and ship Dirk to Portland for some of the GREAT young talent floating around up there. That team is going to be really, really good in a couple of years.
Isn't this exactly what we were last season? JVG led us to a nice record despite losing our #1/2 options in long stretches. It was JVG's hard work of over preparing the team and defensive lock-a-beech-down scheme that got us to that record. I think Dirk is like Tmac in a sense.. they both aren't very vocal leaders (or at all). Except Dirk looks like a caveman.
If I were portland, I'd never trade anyone on my team for dirk, id puke everytime i had to watch him do some sick back down his man and throw up a turnaround shot.... not to mention him choking in the playoffs. Im still shocked that he won mvp last season
They lack a leader. Dirk is not cut out for it. If Josh Howard is your best player, then you are in trouble.
No I am not. And I'll stick with the Cowboys, thanks. This team is fatally flawed. Reasons include the coach, lack of athleticism, having a one-dimensional team on the court at all time (either all offense or all defense), having Terry and Harris playing at the same time, key players not performing, Dirk not playing like an MVP, the list goes on.. What's wrong with Avery Johnson? Well, he's gone psychotic. Right now he can't decide who he wants on the court. He's changed things around too much too often. The guy is a great motivator (only reason this SAME team won 67 games last year) and a teacher, but I can't explain what he's doing right now. He publicly came out and told the press that Devin needs to start playing better and that Terry is the best pg on the team right now. Well, how was Harris playing when Jones was starting? I would say pretty damn well! After Jones went out with an injury, Harris didn't lose a beat for a while. AJ replaced Jones with both Ager and Hassell in the starting lineup. After seeing enough of that nonsense, Avery went ahead and went back to what he knows and trusts, Jason Terry as his starting guard. This move has taken Harris out of the game completely because he's now the 4th option on offense. He needs to get Jo Howard involved as well as Dirk. He hesitates while driving and his instincts have been taken away. Terry and Howard run the plays now. This change coming from a coach who said before the season that he has complete confidence in Harris and will let him solely run the offense. Both Terry and Harris are fearless and good at doing their own things. Jason will make his shots when he needs to and Devin will defend and drive to the basket. I can't explain it, but it just doesn't work while they are playing together. Everything was fine when Terry was coming off the bench. Just look at the numbers they were putting up. Now they aren't doing ANYTHING. Both have been taken out of their respective games ever since of the switch. Oh yeah, Ager and Hassell are now completely out of the rotation. This is mind boggling because they can actually defend. There is no proper system on the floor. They run nothing but isolations or high pick and rolls, which leads to a jump shot after jump shot. The defense is very chaotic right now too. I have never seen so many mismatches before and can't explain how Diop or Bass end up guarding players like AI on a regular basis. About having one-dimensional players on the court, this was already discussed. There is no low post threat. Diop and Dampier cannot score. You cannot rely on them to score. They are there just for defensive purposes, grab the rebound, and block shots. They do that very well. Dirk, Bass, and Terry play zero defense. What I hate is how Bass is a pf, yet comes in and plays alongside Dirk. I thought the whole point of having an offensive player like Bass is to sub Dirk and only Dirk out. Dirk is a sg trapped inside a power forward's body. You can't rely on him to play BIG because he just won't do it. Jones and George are the best defenders on the team, but they aren't going to solve any of these other problems. Jerry Stackhouse is playing like a damn Rafer Alston. It's real frustrating. He likes to shoot, shoot and keep shooting, even when it's not going down. He isn't athletic, he's slow, can't defend, and causes way too many turnovers. I don't know how he gets the minutes he does. This is Avery's fault. Josh Howard disappears in the second half. I don't know where he goes. He gets 25 points in the first half and here I am thinking he'll finally get over 30, which is his career high, and you know what he ends up with? 27!! Come on, this is unacceptable. Something tells me that there is no game plan that all of a sudden came into existence over halftime by the coaching staff to stop Howard. This team can play better and win games. The truth is this team isn't going to win a championship anytime soon with this roster. I do expect changes to be made. I also expect Avery to get his thoughts together and figure out what's best for this team. Dirk could've won 2 more games for the Mavericks by himself. So I'm not worried about the comments of his passing up key opportunities in games. Last night against the Spurs and on Saturday against the Hornets he had good looks from the 3 point line to win the game in the last second. Both of those shots didn't go in, obviously. I don't want to rely on last second shots for a victory, but most of these games have been pretty close. I'm sure if both those shots fell in we wouldn't even be having this discussion. Nobody likes to seal a win that way, but remember, nobody was worried when they came back from 24 and 17 point deficits back-to-back against the Raptors and Rockets. I don't know how'd I'd be feeling right now if those 2 shots did go in. I'd definitely have more confidence in both Dirk and the entire team. I applaud Cuban for wanting to keep this roster intact and having confidence in this team, but it's just not going to work!
The whole point was doing it with at least 1 of your top 2 options being out for long periods of time and practically scrubs and Rafer as your supporting cast. I still think he did a pretty good job.
Nowitkzi 4 KG would have=2 rings minimum... They will live and die by that softy who provides no impact on the low block on either side of the ball. They will also make the mistake of making a major trade for an aging star. There run is done if they trade J. Howard.
KG is also a choker, He disappears everytime the pressure is on KG seems like a tough guy only because he screams and whines everytime he does something (or see something)
Maybe when it comes to scoring. I can see that argument. But not on the glass, defensively, and physically. If Dirk isn't scoring what use is he?
dirk shot 50% from the floor last year. for comparison yao shot 51.7% from the post. i think when you can shoot 50% from anywhere on the floor, the need of having a post game is kinda overblown.
