Dallas Mavericks

Almost Time

So yeah, I avoided this site after the Mavs went down in the post season. There were a lot of happenings going on not only in the NBA but with the Mavericks. But I don’t get excited until the season is about to begin.

As for the Mavericks, I think this could be one of their better teams in years. Keeping the core players from last season after picking up Butler and Haywood, we’ll see what they can’t accomplish with these players for a full season, or at least starting out the season with them instead of half way through it.

The Mavericks got thumped against the Wizards for their opening preseason game but Nowitzki played a little more minutes in game 2 against the Bulls and they came out on top. But remember, this is only the preseason, it really means nothing as it’s a chance to rotate the guys in and off the bench to see who makes the cut for the regular season.

So far though, the Mavs looking decent. Chandler put up some good numbers in their first game. Jones put up some decent numbers in the second game against the Bulls, if you compare the amount of minutes he played. Of course, if Nowitzki, Butler, Haywood and Terry keep doing what they do best, we can definitely count on the Mavs on top in their division at the end of the season.

A few notes though, it’s good to see Dampier replaced by Chandler as the backup center and Haywood our primary starting center. Seems to have more heart and drive to win and accomplish more out on the court than Dampier did.

Drik Ejected Against Rockets

Dirk scores 32 points, picks up his 6th foul 12 seconds after his 5th called foul, protests the call and is given a technical and ejected from the game.

But the Mavs still won 98-94. Kidd and Marion both contributed 14 points each.

Now the real action begins when the opening season is upon us. It was great seeing the replacement refs in action but a new agreement puts the old refs back on the court for the start of the regular season.

Preseason

So I probably won’t be posting much during the preseason games, it’s just preseason which literally means nothing to me. It’s always experimental lineups that we usually see. It was good to see Marion post 26 points in his debut, following up with 15 in his second game.

Josh Howard still is out along with a few others. I’ll probably report back when the Mavericks play against the Cavs two games in a row in the coming week and finishing the preseason against Houston, that will probably determine how we’ll supposedly playing against a team (the Cavs) that most are saying will be destined to go to the Finals and against Houston, which likely won’t be as big as contenders this season since Yao is out with an injury.

Honestly, I don’t see Shaq helping out any, the Suns thought they would get that type of support from the big guy and they didn’t even make the playoffs. It’s clear Shaq just wants another ring before he calls it quits and the Cavs likely have a chance, unless they can’t get past the Celtics or Magic, which is highly probable if Garnett stays healthy and Carter can assume a bigger role than Turkoglu made while in Orlando.

The Mavericks are currently 2-1 in the preseason.

Opening Preseason Game Vs Orlando Magic

Tonight the Mavericks host the Orlando Magic for their pre-season opener at home. This will be an interesting game. Both teams had some overhauls of their rosters. The Mavs lost Bass to the Magic who will now be playing against us possibly in this opener. We’ve added Shawn Marion to our lineup and the Magic are now without Turkoglu who was a big part of their winning season and getting to the finals this past year.

Although they’ve added Vince Carter to their lineup and lost a few other players, I don’t think they’re going to live up to last years team, although the Magic will be a good team, I think the shake-up will take some time to readjust for their remaining players.

As for the Mavs, I think they got better despite losing Bass and now with Tim Thomas who would have helped us off the bench, the Mavs have 3 (4 if Josh Howard actually stays healthy and lives up to his potential) All-Stars in their starting lineup with Terry coming off the bench.

It will be interesting game nonetheless and I’m actually predicting the Mavs will win this opener.

What’s In Store For The Mavs

So there’s been a lot of happenings around Mavland. Lots of player transactions which resulted in a lot of familiar faces sticking around but a lot of new faces we’ll be seeing this coming season.

With the Mavericks already over the grand old luxury tax imposed by the NBA, Stackhouse, George and Bass are just a few of the familiar faces no longer with the team. The newcomers are Shawn Marion, Drew Gooden and Tim Thomas, along with Rodrigue Beaubois, Ahmad Nivins (still unsigned) and Nick Calathes (still unsigned) who were all draft picks.

Gerald Green, Ryan Hollins and James Singleton are all free agents. I honestly hope the Mavs can keep Hollins around, the others really wouldn’t make an impact to the team.

As for the starting lineup, we can probably count that it will be Kidd, Marion, Howard, Nowitzki and Dampier. Jason Terry will continue to come out as the 6th man and Drew Gooden will be a versatile player who can back up Nowitzki and Dampier.

Tim Thomas being a 3 point specialist could come off the bench in hopes to get some easy baskets in little time, as he averaged close to 8 points a game in 20 minutes on average playtime each game.

Little Jose will continue coming off the bench and maybe get some more starts as well to back up Kidd. Hopefully Kidd can continue to mentor Barea to possibly take over the PG role while Kidd deeparts from his playing days in the NBA in the next few years that he has left.

Overall I believe the players we picked up makes the Mavericks a better team than last year and even the year before. If Gooden stays healthy along with Josh Howard staying healthy and Tim Thomas can put up some decent numbers, I can see this team being a threat to the Denver Nuggets and maybe rebounding to be a contender in the tight Western Conference. I’m not even so worried about Denver any longer, everyone should realize that the Lakers just got better picking up Artest and retaining Odom, so that’s the team to beat this year.