duncan228
10-06-2009, 03:08 PM
It's Hoopsworld, but it has quotes.
Cuban Making No Predictions (http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=13974#)
The Dallas Mavericks are a team that's hard to envision without actually seeing some games take place. They have only one true center on the roster in Erick Dampier, and they're going to run a lot of small ball with Shawn Marion at the four. Marion, though, is capable of doing so many things well, that even when they're smaller the Mavs will cause all kinds of match-up problems for the opposition. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been surprised by Marion's versatility, even after seeing him run against the Mavs for so many years.
"Matrix is just so much more athletic and so much more flexible offensive and defensively than anyone we've had," Cuban tells HOOPSWORLD. "I didn't even know he had a post-up game, but in practice they've been posting him up. Obviously, we know with him and Josh Howard out there, J-Kidd, we have the ability to switch so many different positions, and all we've been working on is defense. I'll be really interested to see defensively what we do."
Actually, the Mavericks have gotten bigger in some ways, with Josh Howard now switching over to the shooting guard position and Marion starting at the three. Cuban is quick to point out that the West is smaller overall, with Yao Ming (injury) and Shaquille O'Neal (traded to Cleveland) both out of the picture.
"There aren't a lot of teams in the Western Conference that have true shot-blockers, especially with Yao out," says Cuban. "We're not really so small, and we're pretty athletic and it's going to be hard for teams to match up. Then you bring Drew off the bench, of Damp, depending on the match-up, Tim Thomas can play the five and Dirk at the four, and all of a sudden we can move pretty well and shoot pretty well. When Roddy (Beaubois) gets to the point where he can have some playing time, I think he makes us even tougher. He's so long and so tall that he'll be able to guard multiple positions, too."
Cuban is never shy about expressing his opinion, but when it comes to predicting where his new-look Mavericks could finish when the dust settles on the 2009-10 season, even their owner is reluctant to guess.
"We'll find out. I'm not going to make any predictions. It's hard to say. How old is Derrick Fisher now? He's older than Jason Kidd. I think it's really going to be about who stays the healthiest more than anything else, and how quickly we can learn to play together. The x-factor for us in beating those teams is our defense. I'll tell you the stat of the day that I saw somewhere. We were 17th in points allowed last season, but we were top of the league in team's free throw percentage against us. If teams had just shot their average we would have been ranked 11th in the league. So maybe this year they'll shoot under their average and we'll be ahead of the curve."
This last was said in a half-joking kind of way, but Cuban is certainly right about defense being the x-factor for Dallas. As much as anything else, head coach Rick Carlisle points to defense as the way the Mavericks will get back to the elite level they enjoyed in 2006, when they advanced to the NBA Finals.
Cuban Making No Predictions (http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=13974#)
The Dallas Mavericks are a team that's hard to envision without actually seeing some games take place. They have only one true center on the roster in Erick Dampier, and they're going to run a lot of small ball with Shawn Marion at the four. Marion, though, is capable of doing so many things well, that even when they're smaller the Mavs will cause all kinds of match-up problems for the opposition. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been surprised by Marion's versatility, even after seeing him run against the Mavs for so many years.
"Matrix is just so much more athletic and so much more flexible offensive and defensively than anyone we've had," Cuban tells HOOPSWORLD. "I didn't even know he had a post-up game, but in practice they've been posting him up. Obviously, we know with him and Josh Howard out there, J-Kidd, we have the ability to switch so many different positions, and all we've been working on is defense. I'll be really interested to see defensively what we do."
Actually, the Mavericks have gotten bigger in some ways, with Josh Howard now switching over to the shooting guard position and Marion starting at the three. Cuban is quick to point out that the West is smaller overall, with Yao Ming (injury) and Shaquille O'Neal (traded to Cleveland) both out of the picture.
"There aren't a lot of teams in the Western Conference that have true shot-blockers, especially with Yao out," says Cuban. "We're not really so small, and we're pretty athletic and it's going to be hard for teams to match up. Then you bring Drew off the bench, of Damp, depending on the match-up, Tim Thomas can play the five and Dirk at the four, and all of a sudden we can move pretty well and shoot pretty well. When Roddy (Beaubois) gets to the point where he can have some playing time, I think he makes us even tougher. He's so long and so tall that he'll be able to guard multiple positions, too."
Cuban is never shy about expressing his opinion, but when it comes to predicting where his new-look Mavericks could finish when the dust settles on the 2009-10 season, even their owner is reluctant to guess.
"We'll find out. I'm not going to make any predictions. It's hard to say. How old is Derrick Fisher now? He's older than Jason Kidd. I think it's really going to be about who stays the healthiest more than anything else, and how quickly we can learn to play together. The x-factor for us in beating those teams is our defense. I'll tell you the stat of the day that I saw somewhere. We were 17th in points allowed last season, but we were top of the league in team's free throw percentage against us. If teams had just shot their average we would have been ranked 11th in the league. So maybe this year they'll shoot under their average and we'll be ahead of the curve."
This last was said in a half-joking kind of way, but Cuban is certainly right about defense being the x-factor for Dallas. As much as anything else, head coach Rick Carlisle points to defense as the way the Mavericks will get back to the elite level they enjoyed in 2006, when they advanced to the NBA Finals.