My prediction for the Mavs offseason

[Rogue]

He may have in the past, but I'm sure after having been bounced around, he has realized by now, its not about him. And even if he thinks so, he has never been a guy to go forcing a bunch of stupid shots either. He has always been a pretty smart player. Not having to deal with Howard's bonehead plays every game would be a nice thing.

Marion may be a good fit for our team, but it's by no means a good deal for us to get him at the expense of Josh Howard, who is still a pretty worthful bait that may bring us much more than Marion, besides Marion isn't worth what Josh earns. Unless we can get Chris Bosh in exchange, in that scenario it would be Josh&filler for Bosh, plus another trade of Stack for Marion as a condition.

[Rogue]

Stack and Damp's expirings are obviously not enough to meet the demand of Suns, but a small addition of talent may very well make this deal done, probably that talent will be the rookie Donnie picks on the draft night, though I wouldn't be surprised if the Suns accepted JJB or Smokey.

Although Dallas is located pretty close to Phoenix, the teams of Mavs and Suns are seperated into two different devisions, the relation between Suns and us are not quite the same as those with our devision rivals in Rockets and Spurs, so the Suns won't reject an offer from us only if our offer can also improve THEM as well. Shaq's trade has already been proven a fail, after firing Porter and picking up run-and-gun, the Suns won't have so much demand for a huge presense in the paint. Josh Howard and JJB both can add more warmth to Suns than Shaq in a small ball system.

Anyway Shaq will definitely upgrade our team a lot, and Donnie has to make some active moves on that front, but the expirings of Stack and Damp are clearly not enough. Smokey&Damp or Stack&Damp&JJB, either of which will be a good deal for both teams.

[Lars]

Tear it apart. Plan to get back into contention once Lebron enters his decline.

[Rogue]

That's been Ghazi's MO all season. Bring up a player, like Wallace for example, and it's "Gerald ing Wallace will not put this team over the top, injury prone, lateral move" blahblahIsuckDonnie's blah.

Maybe some of Ghazi's proposals are a little bit unpractical, but no one can doute his love for the Mavs. His starting 5 isn't too far from real except for Vince Carter, out of whom the other 4 are almost around our hands, it just requires to re-sign Kidd and to trade Josh Howard for Gerald. Damp and Stack are bound to be shipped this summer, hopefully they will get us Shaq for the ideal speculation. Besides, I don't think Carter is a very big upgrade over JET.

[Rogue]

Tear it apart. Plan to get back into contention once Lebron enters his decline.

2nd round = 2nd round, best wishes for the Rockets though.

[Ghazi]

I agree Findog. Our Dirk is a top 6-8 player IMO. Was top 3 2-3 years ago but has somewhat slightly (slightly!) declined and new superstars have emerged.

the problem with that is that means theres 5-7 players better than him, and 3-4 of them have superior rosters. if you're the 2nd best player in a series, and your roster is inferior, and you don't have home court, that's a landmine that our beloved Dirk cannot overcome.

I do feel Dirk is better than Melo though, so this year was a case of being the best player on the court and simply having inferior supporting casts.

so for the Mavs to actually be championship contenders, Dirk needs A LOT of help to overcome the 5-7 superior players and 3-4 of whom have superior rosters. Not the Chris Kamans of this world, not the Mike Millers of this world, probably a player or two that is at least borderline all-NBA talent and then another star.

many le teams in the past have typically featured at the very least two borderline all-NBA caliber players. What Dirk did in 2006 was remarkable, as he was the only such player on the Mavs.

Josh Howard and JET don't even sniff an all-NBA team, that's why they're not adequate supporting cast.

when the mavs won it all in 06, they were. but that team was laden with scoring depth, dirk was at the absolute top of his game, and it was a downtime in the NBA..

times have changed. im not greedy fro a le at this point. I'd settle fr 2nd place. just being realistic, hard to win a le in an era featuring the 2nd greatest player of all time.

a t least we have 06 though.

[Ghazi]

ah yes, a comittment to playing defense.

its almost as if the mavs experienced a regression to the mean.

defensive efficiency prior to kidd trade 17th

after the ASB the mavs were playing good enough defense to vault into 8th as far as to efficiency. this is one of the reasons i still believe the mavs actually played well after the kidd trade last year, they were simply unlucky whether it was a close loss here or there, dirk missing 5 games, and J-Ho deciding to mail it in in February.

this year it was back to 17th. as the offensive efficiency rised as the year progressed, the defensive efficiency dipped. it was a give/take hence the mavs low margin of victory (point diff of 48 win team)

championship teams generally are top 4 in defensive efficiency. i expect that trend to be upheld this year when Cleveland wins it all.

but there are some examples of teams that win with offense assisted by good but not great defense (like 06 mavs). if 09 lakers win it all that would be another case of not needing the greatest D in the world if your O is that much of a juggernaut. i expect this is a route the mavs would have to take with Dirk as their best player. at the very least you must be a top 10 defensive team, and the offense must be top 2-3 to offset the fact that your defense isn't elite.

[Rogue]

Our defensive play is pretty much a business of the coaches rather than the players IMHO, Donnie has tried a variety of defenders like Buckner and Hassell, but those defensive patches have never got their places in our system. The Rockets have a pretty good defense, which can date from JVG's first year with the rockets. And their good defense is also relevant to the legacy of their former defensive assistant coach, who has been working for the Celtics since he left Houston in the summer of 07. So the awesome defense works of Celtics and Rockets are more from their training camp than the efforts of some individuals like Battier and Posey.

Avery Johnson raised defense to an unpresedented height in his administration on Mavs, and our defense did develop a lot. His emphase on defense finally paid off in the playoffs of 05-06 season, in which we demolished 4 opponents in a row and won the championship, which was the first one in the history of our team, and also the only one so far.

[sribb43]

This year's pick cannot be traded. You can't go consecutive years without a first-rounder.

true but the mavs can draft for someone else then trade the rights of that player in a deal

[Rogue]

Shaq's prime has already been out-raced half a decade by his age, but he still has some dusk light that can give us some warmth we need. The remainer of his warmth would only get wasted if the Suns insist to keep him for one more year, which is a considerable amount of time compared to the years he still has to play in NBA. Many other teams also have strong interest on Shaq, but most of them don't have so much assets to make this deal done.

For example, the Spurs are also crying for a good center to share some pressure in paint with Duncan, but they can only plan on Sheed who is much cheaper than Shaq. It would be ideal if we can get Shaq without losing any too much talent, we shouldn't hesitate for even one second if the Suns accepts the package of Stack&Damp&JJB, 3 or 4 seconds need to be spent thinking twice if they ask for Smokey&Damp. Anyway Donnie may as well make a trade in this summer to bring us a good center like Shaq, before he gets stolen to Cleverland by Cavs, who also have a couple expiring garbage contracts that can be used to negotiate with the Suns.

[Rogue]

This post is made only to keep this great thread afloat.

[monoslyab1k]

Hope Warriors get a top 4 pick, trade Dirk in a package for the #1/Randolph/some of their bad contracts

Draft Thabeet

Make a move for Ramon Sessions or Raymond Felton

Resign Gerald Green

Sessions/Felton
Gerald Green
Shawne Williams
Anthony Randolph
Thabeet

Face it, even if we do make good trades, all it means is 55 wins and a 2nd round exit. It's best to throw in the towel and come back again in 5 years, and that's a lineup that's competing for a le in 5 years.

[Rogue]

Hope Warriors get a top 4 pick, trade Dirk in a package for the #1/Randolph/some of their bad contracts

Draft Thabeet

Make a move for Ramon Sessions or Raymond Felton

Resign Gerald Green

Sessions/Felton
Gerald Green
Shawne Williams
Anthony Randolph
Thabeet

Face it, even if we do make good trades, all it means is 55 wins and a 2nd round exit. It's best to throw in the towel and come back again in 5 years, and that's a lineup that's competing for a le in 5 years.

Innovation is the biggest power to drive our society moving forward, but the disarster is always inevitable once it gets abused. Even though our team has been around a mortal caliber in recent years, we still hold the core rosters that gained the championship in 06. Devin Harris is the only pivatol guy we lost since our champion run in 2006, but Jason Kidd can only be considered an upgrade over Devin, though Jason is older than Devin by many years.

The fact of the matter is, we do not have any power in paint that can make our team compe ive in the post season. Defense always turn tougher and much more physical when the post season comes, which makes it more difficult for shooters to glean points, also gains more importance to the existance of a decent center in the paint. On the defensive end, Dampier is still worth being considered passive, but he can hardly be considered any more than a crap on the other end of the floor.

If Donnie gets smart for a couple of days in the summer, and take these smart days to make some moves that can infuse something we need into our squad, like Shaq, then the next 2-3 seasons will still be bright for our boys in blue.

--- MR

[Rogue]

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMa...tradeId=plluw7

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMa...tradeId=r9qlab

[Indazone]

Colonel Sanders prepared just for Rogue

[Rogue]

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMa...tradeId=oczk7n

Dampier&Caroll&Wright ---> Clippers
Mavs <-------------- Zach Randolph



Josh Howard ----------------> Lakers
Bynum&Walton&Josh Powell ---> Mavs

[Rogue]

The Lakers get an upgrade at their SF, while we get a decent center even though he is not very consistent, due to his injuries. If the Lakers got beaten in finals by Cavs, say if they let the championship slip from their hands again, they would also consider making some changes. The inconsistent Bynum would be the first one to be shopped, and the Lakers can get the best bargain from Mavs over any other potential buyer, as the Mavs are in urgent need for a center. If we failed in plan A of landing Shaq, then Bynum would be a good choice for plan B. The trade with Clippers has no other purpose except dumping our salary to realize the one with Lakers.

[Rogue]

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMa...tradeId=p9hgdo

Considering the bad performances in this season, it is already not a practical mission for the Raptors to retain Bosh after the summer of 10. Rather than losing him without anything back, trading him for the most possible benefit is certainly a better choice for Raptors.

From Carter to T-Mac, the Raptors have never built any pure love for this team in the minds of their franchise players, who are always sheared away by other teams once their contracts expire in Toronto. Just to leave the Raptors starting to rebuild, to go on with such a circle indeed.

So there's no wonder Chris Bosh has become a target to many teams, while there is still not any rumor around any other star-level player whose contract also expires in the summer of 10.

Although the Raptors made the playoffs a couple of times in the past seasons, they were just vistors rather than contenders in the platforms of playoffs. To the Raptors who have no hope in recent seasons, Josh Howard is more likely to be considered an expiring contract than an infusion of talent, but JJB is surely a terrific talent that can be taken into their long term plan.

[Ghazi]

Hollinger's projections puzzle me sometimes. A team w/ Bosh/Dirk on it would NOT go 41-41. IMO at least.

[Ghazi]

[Rogue]

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMa...tradeId=p4dc6c

[dallaskd]

I'm counting on at least 7 players leaving. I don't see us getting any signifigant player unless Howard+expiring contacts have any trade value. The draft isnt really worth moving up in either.

[Ghazi]

Why can't some mediocre teams just do us a favor and let us absorb all their contracts.

Philly? Iggy is good, but not a franchise player. Elton Brand signing was a BIG time mistake. Let Cuban take on those contracts and give you a brand new slate. You got some nice young talent anyway w/ Williams and Young/Speights. Get real, no team whose best player is Iggy is gonna do . And no team who is paying Elton "cancer" Brand until 2013 is gonna do either.

Charlotte? Where the do you think you're going? Wallace getting paid until 2013? Okafor getting paid until 2014? They're good players, but are they foundations of a team that can challenge the mother ing King in his prime? to the no. Let us save you some salary, and maybe you can come back in 5 years when Lebron's athleticism has declined.

Give one or the other the 2009 #1 if you ing have to.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMa...tradeId=rdtu32

Unfortunately, this requires two things.

1. Cuban deciding to open the outta his wallet.
2. Mediocre teams being smart and realizing that they're not gonna do , might as well cut your losses and start a new rebuilding cycle.

[Rogue]

Why can't some mediocre teams just do us a favor and let us absorb all their contracts.

Philly? Iggy is good, but not a franchise player. Elton Brand signing was a BIG time mistake. Let Cuban take on those contracts and give you a brand new slate. You got some nice young talent anyway w/ Williams and Young/Speights. Get real, no team whose best player is Iggy is gonna do . And no team who is paying Elton "cancer" Brand until 2013 is gonna do either.

Charlotte? Where the do you think you're going? Wallace getting paid until 2013? Okafor getting paid until 2014? They're good players, but are they foundations of a team that can challenge the mother ing King in his prime? to the no. Let us save you some salary, and maybe you can come back in 5 years when Lebron's athleticism has declined.

Give one or the other the 2009 #1 if you ing have to.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMa...tradeId=rdtu32

Unfortunately, this requires two things.

1. Cuban deciding to open the outta his wallet.
2. Mediocre teams being smart and realizing that they're not gonna do , might as well cut your losses and start a new rebuilding cycle.

That's why Pop got pissed of by Gasol's trade, or the robery of Gasol. The fact of the matter is, even though two teams reach an agreement on a trade, and the trade doesn't have anything against the rules, it still might get aborted by the offcials if it is an excessive detinue, like the Gasol one.

[Rogue]

While this trade seems a little bit feasible, and very acceptable to both teams.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMa...tradeId=ooeqzu