New Mavs are the old Suns

[Flux451]

I used to despise the Mavs. Now, I only dislike them. The fans, well, I still loathe them...worse then Lakers fans. At least Lake fans have braggin rights.

The Mavs will be high energy and offensive minded this year (duh). Like the Suns of past, all O and no D. Adding Gooden solidifies my thought. But I am interested in seeing this new Mavs team. I have always liked Kidd. Ever since the Spurs/Nets playoffs. He is the epitome of PG. Mavs losing Harris shed some intense hate for the team.
Now the Mavs have Marion. I always liked watching his high energy and above the rim play with the Suns. He has the ugliest shot in the world, but I looked past that. But, I used to be happy he wasn't on our team when he would make bone-headed mistakes. Stackhouse and George. While not doing much recently, I still had a lingering bad taste.
Gooden was a fun player to have for a hot min. He had his moments of motivation and intensity.

Despite not wanted any of these three players on the Spurs team, I still think it will be interesting to see them gel. Add Howard, Dirk, Hobbitsis, Terry, Humpries and Hollins and you have an uptempo, energetic, high scoring team. Just like the Suns, I disliked them as rivals, but enjoyed watching them at a distance.










P.S. FTL, FTM, and FTS for life ese!

[Ghazi]

I hope you're right, since the Suns should have won it all in 2007. But I don't see many similarities

1. The Mavs probably won't have the fastest pace in the league like the Suns generally did.
2. the Mavs can very easily be a top 10 defensive team.
3. The Mavs probably won't have the best offense in the league (Lakers)
4. Mavs probably won't jack up AS many three's as those Suns did
5. Carlisle is vastly different than D'Antonio when it comes to philosophy, although he probably won't be able to run a slow paced, grind it out half-court team due to the roster, he won't implement run and gun either.

Some similarities though... may see a lot of smallball this year with Marion/Dirk... buttt don't see many others.?bbb

[Culburn369]

I found this and couldn't figure out where to lodge it. This seemed ok. It has some hilarious it--especially toward the end & the last sentence is priceless. I did not add the bolding.
http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/PaulCoro/58693


Quote:
Squeezing in some orange

Camp is about to start. Cardinals, that is. The Suns go camping in San Diego in two months. Until then, the Suns information comes in morsels. Such as:

* It sounds like Steve Nash will be making things official on his extension Monday. There was the obvious paperwork to sign and some physical examination to do. The latter is probably a safeguard, considering that the extension is uninsured because of his age.

* Their returns were likely anyway but would you have felt stronger about Alvin Gentry getting a head coach contract done and Grant Hill getting a new contract done if you knew they had become investors in the third Majerle's Sports Grill in Goodyear? The third establishment with Suns assistant coach Dan Majerle's name is opening Monday west of Dysart and McDowell. The second one, in Chandler, included Suns broadcast analyst Scott Williams as an investor. The downtown one was once ranked by Sports Illustrated as one of the nation's top 25 sports bars.

* Lots of names get tossed around for the Suns' 13th roster spot (well, 14th until Sasha Pavlovic is waived or traded). It's probably going to be a while, unless some quality player steps forth and says he wants to play in Phoenix for the minimum. The expectation is that the Suns will go with a point guard or center when they do make a choice, with a big seeming more likely. Goran Dragic was not fabulous in his first NBA Summer League appearance but all they want is to be able to rest Nash for 18 minutes a game. Of course, that's all Mike D'Antoni, Terry Porter and Alvin Gentry have wanted to do. Gentry has some the closest, getting him down to 33.2 per game after the All-Star break with the aid of being out of it at the end. The Suns might need an emergency banger, who can throw a big body against post-up players and rebound because Lou Amundson is the only Suns frontcourt player who is considered to be a strong rebounder. The interesting dynamic to consider is whether they land a quality guy and try to wedge him into the rotation or aim for a role player who will not be an issue if he is not playing. The Suns could bring some non-guaranteed guys, like summer point guard Zabian Dowdell, to camp and preseason and see who gets waived elsewhere before opening night. Taylor Griffin, 10 for 32 in Vegas, didn't seem to help his cause for the spot.

* Is it too late to talk summer league? It ended a week ago tonight but perhaps not enough was said about the job Earl Clark did on top pick Blake Griffin in that last game on Sunday. The best thing Clark showed all week was his defensive versatility but he saved his best defense for last. If Griffin made a shot, it was a tough contested one or it was against someone else because Clark was rotating to another man or resting on the bench. He didn't let Griffin get where he wanted. He stopped his attempts to drive. He blocked a lean-back jumper. He fronted him on the post. He denied and thwarted alleyoop tries. On the other end, Clark averaged 11.3 points and shot 38 percent. He still showed a propensity to take long two-point jumpers and to get stuck in the air when he drives. Well-coach defensively, Clark might have a bigger transition coming offensively as he moves from the Louisville system, albeit a fast, pro-style one, to the freedom Phoenix's system will give him.

* All that said about Clark, a lasting summer league memory will be Clark inbounding the ball in backcourt to a referee, who had to dodge it as it rolled out of bounds. It wasn't like he didn't know the ball was live. The ref had just given it to him. It's right up there with Lopez hoisting a 3-pointer at the end of the last game and getting it counted because Kevin Pinkney intentionally goaltended it. Lopez called for the ball at the line and looked over to the bench for Majerle's approval but the coach was shaking hands with Anthony Houston, one of his assistants. The shot did have more of a chance than the 10-foot lefthanded hook Lopez tried earlier. Summer league is a place to experiment.

* Even though he did not start playing well until the second half of summer league, Dragic still ended up ranked fifth in assists per game (5.4). He also averaged 12.0 points, the best among the Suns' regulars (Alando Tucker led but only played one game by design to show his good health). On the flip side, Dragic was 0 for 6 on 3-pointers and averaged 3.2 turnovers per game. Dragic is in Slovenia now to train with his national team, which will play in the European Championship in September. We'll see how his court time works out now that Sasha Vujacic has joined a team that already had Beno Udrih.

* Matt Barnes landed in a good place. He will back up Rashard Lewis in Orlando and maybe get some other minutes in a smaller lineup. He will be on a better team and make more than he did with Phoenix, getting about $1.6 million with a player option for a second year. Barnes gives a team versatility and effort but just how many facial cringes will his on-court decisions draw from Stan Van Gundy? And who will Gentry yell at now when Nash messes up?

[pauls931]

I don't see how adding marion hurts their chances or makes them any more suns like. He's the only recent sun who played defense outside of bell.

[DAF86]

I think Suns' style would be the best for this core of Mavs players but I don't see Carlise using it.

I'd like to see a line-up of:

Kidd
Terry
Howard
Marion
Nowitzki

Dirk would be D'antoni's dream center.

[pauls931]

This is killin' me, I'm actually interested in seeing what the mavs do this year. Their front office actually made some changes that make the team better. Wish I could say that about my team. btw... the Mavs!!!

[ElNono]

2. the Mavs can very easily be a top 10 defensive team.

What?

[DAF86]

What?

Hey, there are only 30 teams on the league, and 20 of them suck. So they might have a chance of getting there.

[ElNono]

Hey, there are only 30 teams on the league, and 20 of them suck. So they might have a chance of getting there.

I think on the defensive side they actually regressed with the guys they signed up. That said, at least Gooden is a good rebounder.

[BUMP]

What a re ed thread.

They should have a screening test on ST, to test for stupidity, before you make a thread

[Chieflion]

Is the OP insulting the Mavs?

[Flux451]

Is the OP insulting the Mavs?

No, I am being genuine.

[Flux451]

What a re ed thread.

They should have a screening test on ST, to test for stupidity, before you make a thread

Yeah its up there with the Chump that started threads like Pele is overated... and Memphis making playoffs with Iverson.

I took my piss test, came clean.
Don't like what you see then get the out.

[hater]

Come on. The mavs are not that pathetic. They are actually a decent team. Nowhere close to elite, but a merely strong team. Probably still good enough to beat us without our 2nd best player. but that's about it

[BUMP]

Come on. The mavs are not that pathetic. They are actually a decent team. Nowhere close to elite, but a merely strong team. Probably still good enough to beat us without our 2nd best player. but that's about it

Didn't we beat you guys with Parker?

[hater]

Didn't we beat you guys with Parker?

Parker is our 3rd best player if you consider the defensive side. Of course you are a mav fan, what would you know about Defense. I'll let it go this time

[BUMP]

Parker is our 3rd best player

Thanks for playing, have a good night

[hater]

the only similarity I see from these Mavs and Suns is that their best player plays no defense. Teams built like that will never win anything more than a meaningless Conference le.

[Flux451]

Didn't we beat you guys with Parker?

Still looking at the past? We have a new look this season my friend. Right now on paper we are looking alot better then the Mavs.

[DAF86]

Thanks for playing, have a good night

Everybody is saying (even me) that Manu is the Spurs 3rd best player 'cause he has been injured since the '08 playoffs but the last time we saw a healthy Manu, He was getting MVP votes, so you never know. If he manages to stay healthy all season he hasn't shown any signs of slowing down.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

I don't know about them being a great defensive squad with that line up, but they won't be the Suns. What killed the SSOL Suns deader than the dodo is that they couldn't rebound on top of their defensive woes. Even when their "bigs" weren't bailing on a play early to get out and start the next fastbreak, they were too small to get in there and bang with the traditional centers and PFs when it came to rebounding in a crowd.

I don't think Carlisle will be that damn free wheeling, and with the addition of Gooden, the Mavs are going to be a pretty good rebounding team, especially if they throw any line up with Howard at SG and Marion at SF. Outside of Dampier they don't have anyone to really clog the paint, but they will be able to hit the boards.

To recap, top 10 D? If they do then it will because there are only nine good defenses in the league. Suns? Far from it.

[dirk4mvp]

Parker is our 3rd best player if you consider the defensive side. Of course you are a mav fan, what would you know about Defense. I'll let it go this time

No one's ever accused Manu of being a lockdown defender either.

[jacobdrj]

Rick Carlisle would NEVER have a Sun-like defenseless run-and-gun team. He would sooner commit suicide.

[DAF86]

No one's ever accused Manu of being a lockdown defender either.

But he isn't a bad one either, and he makes a lot of things happen on that end: game changing: Steals, blocks, flops, etc. And he was untill now our second best rebounder behind Tim.

[hater]

No one's ever accused Manu of being a lockdown defender either.

Manu'd D >>> Parker's D