Amigos' NBA Previews: Dallas Mavericks

Recent Past They've been pretty damn good for a while now, haven't they? Usually get past the first round, occasionally to the conference finals, and they even made it to the finals that one time. But they've not gotten Mark (or Dirk, for that matter) his ring, and the window seems to be sort of closing.

Offseason
The big move was Marion, a potentially very nice add that ought to see them play Dirk at the 5 quite a bit this season. Not much else, really. Quinton Ross, Tim Thomas, and Drew Gooden joined up, and Jason Kidd stayed. Nobody notable left, as far as I can tell, but I'm usually wrong.

Probable lineup Jason Kidd, Josh Howard, Shawn Marion, Dirk, and Erick Dampier. JJ Barea, Jason Terry, Quinton Ross, Drew Gooden, and Tim Thomas as key subs. Or some variation on this, anyway. I'm interested to see how this works out.

General Overview Since making the finals, the Mavericks have seen the crop of elite teams sort of drift away from them, and now they're pretty firmly in that crop of sub-elite damn good teams. But the Marion move has brought new optimism, in that it sort of allows Kidd, and really the Mavs as a whole, to return to their roots.

Kidd's fucking old, and definitely not worth...whatever his contract is...but the Mavs weren't really going to bring in anyone else, despite the very quiet Chris Paul rumors. And Cuban's made of money, so...whatever. Kidd's alright, as long as you don't expect too much out of him. And Barea's proven to be a very competent backup, and a guy that can occasionally get hot and really kill teams. So, while I wouldn't say they're anywhere near the NBA's elite at the point guard spot, they aren't awful. The big issue here is on the defensive end, where anyone somewhat quick is going to kill Kidd at this point. Oh, I didn't mention Beaubois. Yea, Beaubois is sort of cool. I don't know how much he'll feature, but I'm pretty sure I'd like that guy if he didn't play for Dallas. But oh well.

At the two, you have a number of options. Howard can play there, Terry can play there, Ross can play there. I'm not really sure how they'll work out the rotation, in terms of how much they'll end up with Marion at the 3 (and Dampier at the 5), and how much they'll decide to sort of bump everyone up a spot and put in Terry (which seems like the best lineup). But that sort of versatility is definitely worthwhile, and a coach like Carlisle seems likely to be able to utilize that to his advantage. Howard and Terry obviously give you different things here, and that will rotation will likely depend on matchups and such, but this is definitely a pretty strong spot for this team.

Small forward and power forward are almost blurred together here, with both Marion and Dirk as sort of in between guys that have played from 3 to 5 in their career. Howard can play here as well, and so you figure this is where the Mavericks are going to win a lot of games. But, then again, when they aren't able to maximize production from these spots, you sort of worry about their chances. And then there's the question of how the Marion-Dirk lineup is really going to guard some of the stronger offensive fronts in the league, particularly the Lakers. And then you realize that this is sort of why the Mavs are sub-elite.

Oh, center, again, they're versatile here. Dirk will get a lot of minutes at the five, in the more interesting, offensive lineup. And then you'll have Dampier here, who can be alright. Am I going to write a whole paragraph about Erick fucking Dampier? No. No I am not. So, I'll just sort of wrap shit up here, and say: Dallas Mavericks=nice team. There. Fin. Okay, not "fin".

If they were a hip hop act Because they're held in pretty high regard by a lot of people, but then you sort of check the stats and realize they didn't really end up doing all that much, despite..everything. And because, other than Hasselhoff, I'm pretty sure Dirk really digs the Beastie Boys.

Guessing how they'll do They'll get out to a pretty nice start, then sort of fall back, finishing somewhere between fourth and sixth in the West. I'll say they get knocked out in the first round.