Earlier in the year Mavs' fans worried that the Rockets would add a piece to Yao-McGrady and be an insurmountable playoff obstacle. More recently, when Artest boo-boo'd in his nest, Dallas worried that he would wind up in Houston. Currently, the fear most frequently aired in Lone Mavs Fan Forum is that Houston will intentionally tank, do the lottery and, like San Antonio pick up a Duncan equivilent. At least Houston still makes someone nervous. WAB
The only problem with that: there is no real Duncan equivalent in the draft. But the league does have reason to fear: WHEN HEALTHY, this Rockets team with Yao/McGrady as its core is a force to reckon with. It is good news to hear that Dallas fans are worrying, though...they know something the rest of the league has seemingly forgotten
That was my question. There haven't been many rookies since Duncan that have made that kind of impact. Actually, he lead them to a title. No rookie has come anywhere near doing that since.
I'm secretly hoping that Dallas beats out San Antonio and wins the Southwest Division and the Rockets get the eight seed. Only time will tell though.
I knew that phrase was bogus even as I typed it. Nevertheless, that San Antonio scenario has been mentioned on a couple Mavs' boards. As with all teams, a few wins in a row can rectify nearly everything. Even the Knicks and Nets are now feeling good about themselves. WAB
Well they shouldn't worry because the rox suck ass. Maybe the rox do good next year, maybe not. Who knows with this club.
There is no "Duncan" in this draft, but pretty much any top 5 talent that isn't a complete bust would help this team tremendously.
The draft pool this year really sucks. There are no real potential superstars available, and it's even hard to find anyone person that could crack a starting lineup in their rookie year. Any smart NBA GM right now would be planning well ahead of time on how to work the free agent market, which is far deeper and much more interesting than anything the draft will have to offer.
from the couple texas games i've seen lamarcus aldridge "looks" like a future stud. it's hard to compare anyone in this draft to duncan because he was a ready to go senior. lamarcus has the size, wingspan, athleticism and a pretty good jumper. i don't care how weak you perceive this draft to be (didn't know so many scouts were on here), any of the top 3 players -- aldridge, morrison, gay -- could come in and give us that 3rd significant piece, especially aldridge. i need to watch some more. p.s. he's also from dallas.
Picking up LaMarcus Aldridge and trading Swift for a good swingman would help the team tremendously. Unless Swift shows some signs of becoming an all-star calliber player, we really dont have the time to allow him to develop. Maybe trade him for a sign and trade of Bonzi Wells, Ronald Murray, or James Posey over the summer. Yao/Deke Aldridge/Howard Tmac/Bowen/Bonzi Bonzi/Head/Anderson? Alston/Sura?/Span? Better size and athleticism.
I would love to get Bonzi Wells over here. He's an extremely tough player who does a little bit of everything. He'd be our new pitbull while being extremely athletic to boot. He's got baggage, though. But he's seemed to put it behind him so far this year. Murray and Posey are trash, though. Murray's just major trash.
there are still a good group of guys in this year's draft. i've seen aldridge play a lot, and a handful of times in person. this guy will be an excellent nba player. if channing frye can put up 14 & 6 as a rookie, i don't even want to know what lamarcus will do. shelden williams is also a terrific prospect. he can be that banger alonside yao that is desperately needed. williams will be a double-double everynight with a couple of blocked shots as an nba player.
I only wish this draft were so promising. Our needs, IMO, focus mostly on SG and PF, with SG the bigger issue. At the moment, everyone we have at the position is either undersized or has one foot into retirement. In the draft, there's a fair number of forwards, a dismal selection of points, and virtually no centers. In no way is this draft deep enough to make trading down worthwhile. Also, I would assume we will have both McGrady and Yao back on the court after the ASG, giving us 2 months of what should be at least 0.500 ball. I'd venture a guess that we'll be looking at the #9 pick. Keep in mind there are 11 teams that are stinking it up right now and the league's bottom 8 teams are 3.5 games within each other. This would be a competitive year to tank and there'd be little reward for it. I would consider dealing the pick right this instant while we look like a top 5 lottery squad and bring in an athletic swingman that can play both ends. I don't mean Artest by that. Thinking more along the lines of Michael Pietrus, Trevor Ariza, or Josh Childress. Evan
certainly no duncan, but redick looks good, he's a sr. this year so he'll be coming out for sure. play head at the point and you get yao swift t-mac redick head but i think the real reason Why Dallas Fans Fear Houston is because they know they overpaid for damp "the west's best center" and their best player will suffer the same fate as barkley and malone and won't be able to take them to the promise land.
