Thoughts on our beloved Mavs tonight

[Ghazi]

I'm disgusted. I know NJ shooting that well from behind the arc is an anomaly, and I know good teams lose to lottery teams here and there, but you will NEVER find a contending, elite team lose by 24. It just doesn't happen!

I don't think.

Bleh, very pissed about this loss. We need to bounce back against Washington/Memphis and then split @ Utah/@ Portland.

It's clear that this teams' talent level is not good enough to win a le... I know I know, most people have seen this for a while now.

We need a trade.

SOMEONE CHEER ME UP

[Findog]

When the Mavs were in the mid-nineties and Frank the Car Man hired Don Nelson, I was happy. Not because he was inheriting a 20-win team with a bare cupboard, but because Nellie knew talent and I knew that after so many years of failure, we wouldn't be a 20-win team for long. Sure, insert obligatory Spurs taunt here about how Nellieball can't win a le, but Nellie is a basketball architect. He knows talent, and he knows how to use it. The Mavs have not had that kind of architect overseeing the roster since he left.

I don't want Cuban to turn this thing into the NBA's version of the Oakland Raiders. If there's one silver lining to the Kidd/Harris trade, it's that maybe Cuban wakes the up and realizes he's not a GM. Overall, I'm happy with Cuban as the owner, despite this huge cluster . An owner that is financially committed to winning is a good thing, probably about as valuable as a franchise player. Hopefully he'll let go of his ego and hire a basketball man and let that basketball man assemble the roster.

[icem]

what a great trade...







for new jersey

[Ghazi]

I just feel this teams problems extend beyond the production gap between Kidd and the hypothetical production Harris would've provided us this year.

J-Ho isn't the same player he was 2 years ago, Dirk is playing at a very high level but not at the level he was 2 years ago, Stackhouse is completely done... the role players aren't exceptional.

So, it seems like the team's problem is that most of the core played it's best basketball a few years ago... and the role players aren't as good as they were a few years ago... and I don't know if there's anyway to rectify that.. and it pains me

[mavs>spurs2]

Did you watch the game? Harris' newfound badass all star play more than makes up for missing a few bench players from 06. And Findog posted this earlier, look at Dirk's statline for the past 15 games and tell me if hes declining.

[Ghazi]

^ We definitely don't know whether Harris would've blossomed like that here.

Regarding Dirk, I'm speaking from a PER standpoint, which may be an irrational way of looking at it... but his true shooting % and PER are not what they were 2 years ago... the're still pretty damn good, elite even... but the slight decline can make a 3-4 game different in an 82 game season.

[Findog]

Harris still here without Avery would be good for about 18-19 a game and 4-5 assists. Not what he's doing in Jersey, but better than what we have. Kidd ironically is finally doing what he was brought here to do without Avery. That obviously doesn't salvage the trade, and you're right that the team's problems go beyond the perceived gap between Kidd and Harris.

Josh's regression is a major issue; the team was constructed in such a way that he's supposed to be the #2 option but you rarely get that kind of production from him. Most night his play is that of a third or fourth option. Remember when he used to get compared to Scottie Pippen? His game is a rich man's Tayshaun Prince, not trying to be The Man like he's D-Wade.

[Findog]

Did you watch the game? Harris' newfound badass all star play more than makes up for missing a few bench players from 06. And Findog posted this earlier, look at Dirk's statline for the past 15 games and tell me if hes declining.

It makes me so angry that Dirk is playing about as ing well as he ever has but the team is worse. We're wasting his prime.

[Findog]

^ We definitely don't know whether Harris would've blossomed like that here.

Regarding Dirk, I'm speaking from a PER standpoint, which may be an irrational way of looking at it... but his true shooting % and PER are not what they were 2 years ago... the're still pretty damn good, elite even... but the slight decline can make a 3-4 game different in an 82 game season.

Harris just needed a coach who believed in him and was willing to let him play through his inevitable mistakes. The Nets were not a contender when he arrived and Frank handed him the keys. He's better as a result. Avery is a dictator and wants to hold his players hands.

[mattb_25]

I think that if Cuban gets a new gm, that they can pull some together and bring the mavericks back to a winning team. He's just got to cut this crap about how this is the best mavs team we've ever had or that our 3 can play with the other best 3 we have. Right now I believe we only have 2 players doing anything in Dirk and Jet. But that's really the only people who seemto be playing good. We have DG starting for our team for s sake...

[mavs>spurs2]

PER is so misleading because Dirk is out there for the majority of the game, so the team's success will reflect greatly on his PER. We're obvioulsy not having that same success. But you're right about Devin being an unkown factor if he were still here, but I'd place my money on 17-20 ppg and a much improved Dallas Mavericks team with a more fluid offense and better perimeter D. A pass first PG just doesn't fit in a system where he has no one to pass to, IMO. Dirk is more of a guy who likes the iso as opposed to running off screens and cuts, meaning his game doesn't rely as much on having a PG like Kidd.

[Ghazi]

My heart aches for Dirk, Terry, and Kidd ... I just get a sense that they try, and care!

But not for that cursed J-Ho though... one gets a sense he doesn't try, and doesn't care!

[Ghazi]

I'm fearful of Dirk potentially mentally shutting it down if the team continues to be mediocre.

[Findog]

My heart aches for Dirk, Terry, and Kidd ... I just get a sense that they try, and care!

But not for that cursed J-Ho though... one gets a sense he doesn't try, and doesn't care!

That's pretty much how I feel. Oh how I wish we could package Josh and the rest of the garbage for something tangible.

[mavs>spurs2]

Packaging Josh for anyone in the same neighborhood talent wise would pretty much insure about 5-8 more wins and a good probability of getting out of the first round. Dude's a cancer, his game has regressed, and were much better off without his services.

[Findog]

Packaging Josh for anyone in the same neighborhood talent wise would pretty much insure about 5-8 more wins and a good probability of getting out of the first round. Dude's a cancer, his game has regressed, and were much better off without his services.

Josh makes me so angry, I'd ing give him away at this point. He's getting millions to play a game, he was blessed to fall to a good team instead of having to carry a team, and he doesn't seem to give a crap, win or lose. He's checked out mentally on this franchise, and that's unforgivable. You get $8 million a year or whatever it is, you're paid to give a . If playing for the Mavs is so bad, then demand a trade and say you don't want to be a part of the franchise anymore. Nellie did the same thing when he checked out mentally but still continued to "coach" the team and get his paycheck. Have the balls to ask out.

[mavs>spurs2]

Josh makes me so angry, I'd ing give him away at this point. He's getting millions to play a game, he was blessed to fall to a good team instead of having to carry a team, and he doesn't seem to give a crap, win or lose. He's checked out mentally on this franchise, and that's unforgivable. You get $8 million a year or whatever it is, you're paid to give a . If playing for the Mavs is so bad, then demand a trade and say you don't want to be a part of the franchise anymore. Nellie did the same thing when he checked out mentally but still continued to "coach" the team and get his paycheck. Have the balls to ask out.

You're exactly right, and with Donnie's "we love our team" at ude, Josh demanding a trade is probably the only way we ever get rid of him. Someone in this situation needs to step up and grow some balls, whether it's Donnie or Josh.

[Ghazi]

[endrity]

Josh could care less, he has lost his fire. Check the highlights of game 7 vs. SA and tell me if he has played like that since. Once or twice maybe, but not in the last year that's for sure.

And Findog, they WASTED Dirk's prime. If he was more like KG he would be gone now, maybe to Portland or Cleveland and actually try to win a ring.

[Ghazi]

The front office has made a plethora of unrectifiable (I dunno if thats a word ) blunders during Dirk's prime, no doubt.

But in his prime, he did make the Finals (AND SHOULDVE WON DAMN BENETT SALVAOTRES WHISTLE ) and win an MVP.

There have been far more wasted primes than Dirks.

[Ghazi]

But THIS particular season sure looks like a waste of one of Dirk's last prime years, no doubt.

[Ghazi]

At this point, it's hard for me to get excited unless a trade is made.

I was pleased during that 11-2 stretch with well played losses to LA and San Antonio, yet at the same time, it was hard to get excited because the brand of basketball didn't look, and wasn't, elite.

From here on out, this team may have nice little 5 game win streaks, stretches where they go 8-2, etc etc... but the tone has been set for the season. A slightly above average, unspectacular brand of basketball... that is who we appear to be, and will continue to be.

And this bothers me

[Brickhouse]

And to think that some were actually excited about Josh-poor-man's-Stack-Howard coming back.

Josh and his stepback jumper have returned in full glory!!

[Ghazi]

^ I wasn't that excited!

and I don't think we're better w/o Josh Howard... but I don't think we're better w/ Josh Howard, either.

In other words, he's expendable, and should be shopped for a piece that would actually have an imprint on the game when he's playing.

[DaDakota]

Cuban and his meddling SCREWED the Mavs chances...they go from championship contender to also ran with one stupid trade.

Monumental failure on his part.

DD