Mavs Update

Now that we’re 8 games into the Mavs season—and they are 7-1—it’s definitely time for our first Mavs Update.

I’m so happy with this team. They remind me of the team I feel in love with four years ago: an uptempo young team who just goes out and plays hard every night, and is damn good too. That’s not exactly what they are, but at least that’s what they remind me off. Last year they had too many older me first guys whose games weren’t quite comfortable in the half court, but were too old to run up and down all game. And we know what kind of defense they played. Now they have turned into…
 A team of young, quick, and talented guards/small forwards. Devin Harris, Josh Howard, Marquis Daniels, and Jason Terry have just looked fantastic out there. They go out, play hard at both ends of the floor, don’t try to do too much (that’s very important), and find ways to hurt teams. Don Nelson never really realized that to have a truly great uptempo team, it starts with a defense that can generate turnovers. That’s the best way to get a fast break going. Now—whether Nelson really intended this or not—we have a team that not only can, but loves to play that style of harassing, in your face defense that generates a lot of turnovers and leads to a lot of fast breaks.

And I still say that Marquis Daniels is one of the scariest looking people I’ve ever seen in my life. Those eyes are just EVIL looking. I’d be too scared to play hard against him. Especially for a guard…he’s very intimidating.
 A team with solid veteran leaders who are playing to win, but can still play. Never in my life did I think I would write the following words, and it scares me to write them down, but at least so far, Jerry Stackhouse has been a great addition to this team. He comes in off the bench, and for the first time in his career plays hard at both ends of the court, only tries to score 30 when he has too or when he’s really hot, and in general plays a more all around game than he ever has in his career. It’s like he’s finally realized/wants to do more than score 30 a night; it’s like he wants to do whatever his team needs him to do to win.

Finley was also playing very well before he got hurt; he wasn’t just settling for whatever jump shot the other team gave him (he even had some highlight film dunks! How many years has it been since we’ve seen that from Finley?). Alan Henderson has been a superb addition; the man comes in, rebounds and plays hard, hits a few people, scores if you throw the ball at him, and sits back down.
 A team with a solid, respectable center. I was worried about Dampier…like many professional pundits, I was one who questioned his desire, work ethic, whatever. I said I would have been thrilled to get ten points and 8 rebounds a game out of him. Well, he’s averaging 9.3 points, 8 rebounds, a block, and half a steal while shooting 51% from the field. And this is while he’s getting used to his new team. If he could get those numbers up to 12 pts, 9 reebs, and 2 blocks, I would say he has more than earned his fat contract. He’s also played hard and—quite frankly—looked happy out there. I’m surprised at his blocks; I’ve seen about three games, and he’s had at least two if not three blocks in all the games I’ve seen. The days of the Queens shooting 100 layups on us are now over. He also gives them a legit low post threat in the half court, and is athletic enough to keep up with the rest of the team when they break. In other words, he’s been everything the Mavs have hoped for.
 A team that finally has a Superstar that looks like he’s ready to put this team on his back and carry them. Dirk has looked awesome so far this season. I’d always thought that Dirk would end up being the best Second Best Player on a team ever. As in, he’s the best of a class that includes Scottie Pippen, Kevin McHale, James Worthy, David Robinson (sorry David fans…but Timmy was THE MAN, not him), etc.. Guys who were incredible second best players on their team, but were never good enough/mentally strong enough to be The Man on their teams. With Dirk, it was the mentally strong enough that I always wondered about. I never got the super-competitive feel from him, the “I want to rip my opponent’s heart out” desire that true champions (Bird, Magic, Jordan, Isiah) have. I always felt like Dirk was happy to shoot his jumpers, get his 8-10 rebounds, win 50 games, and talk about winning a championship. And last year…he looked TOTALLY lost and confused last year. He definitely took two steps back last year. I was starting to feel after last season like my suspicions about him had been confirmed.

This year, however, it feels like he wants this to be his team. I think he was embarrassed after last year; I think he realized that he played poorly and timidly, and that the rest of the league was starting to overlook him when it named great—or potentially great—players. I think that bothered him. I think it hurt in that last year, there were too many big name guys—Walker, Jamison, Finley, Nash. You didn’t know for sure who The Man was. I think that he likes the fact that there is no doubt at all that this is HIS team, that there are no excuses for anyone else, that there is no doubt about who will be taking the last shot. I think he knows that this team will go as far as he can take them, and for the first time in his career, he welcomes that challenge, and has decided to show everyone that he will take them farther than many expected them to go.


I think Dirk still shoots too many jumpers—this is an extremely well balanced team, but the bottom line is that it will still go only as far as Dirk’s jumper will take them—but I think Dirk has finally grown up a LOT this year. And trust me my friends; it’s a beautiful thing to watch.

So do I think they are going to win a championship? No…I’m not that impressed. I still think this team loves its jumper too much; I still think that they don’t have a shut down, championship-style defense (though it is much improved); I still think (will always think) that they are coached by a crazy man. All that keeps me from thinking that they are TRULY a championship contender.

That being said…

Maybe. And this year…who knows? With Denver already ravaged by injuries and looking totally lost, Minnesota having to listen to Latrell ludicrously demand $14 mil a year (he’s kidding, right? Surely he’s stoned), Indiana tearing itself apart, Detroit looking less than spectacular (I’m telling you: they got lucky last year), and people starting to realize that Miami is an Eastern Conference contender, but not really a title contender, then why not the Mavs?

They probably shouldn’t win a championship, but Detroit shouldn’t have won one last year, either. And this is a team that’s good enough to make you wonder, and fun enough to make you want them to pull it off.

So remember…the NBA…it’s FANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNTASTIC!!!