Why Tyson Chandler should have been paid

The Dallas Mavericks are weeks into their offseason, and now part of the water-cooler discussion of possibly landing Los Angeles Lakers free agent center Dwight Howard.

Sounds great. Hope it happens. Dwight's going to have to take $30 million less to leave the Lakers, but who knows? Right now he is stepping away from basketball and trying to figure out the "right to be happy" ... whatever the hell that means. 

Plan on this - an additional $30 mil that he can get only from the Lakers is going to make him more happy.

From the Things I Can't Let Go Files: All the Mavs had to do was pay Tyson Chandler the four-year, $58 million deal two years ago and let everyone else other than Dirk Nowitzki go.

Jason Terry, Jason Kidd, DeShawn Stevenson, J.J. Barea all could have fallen off the books and while their absence would have been felt it's nothing like losing a competent 7-footer. These guys are impossible to find, and some take forever to develop.

Chandler may never be a scorer - the man has zero offensive game - what he does defensively remains a giant hole the Mavs have never come close to replacing since he left.

Chandler is currently getting his fanny kicked by Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and is calling out teammate Carmelo Anthony in the process. Even if the Knicks lose, and they will, and Chandler continues to get worked by Hibbert, he will, it does not diminish just how badly the Mavs miss him in the middle of the floor.

He was an All-Star for the Knicks last season and was named the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year. Yes, it helped he played in the East and in the New York market. He was recently named to second-team on the NBA's all-defensive team.

Two guards and small forwards come and go, but athletic big-men who can guard the rim, help on switches and provide as much positive denfensive energy and leadership such as Chandler are hard to find.

It took Chandler about nine years in the NBA before he fully developed into a major player. He is 30, and should be in this window for a few more seasons. 

The Mavs could have two of those, but elected for financial flexibility instead. 

If that flexibility can't lure Howard, what was the point? 

 

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The Dallas Mavericks: To Dwight Howard or not to Dwight Howard

The Los Angeles Lakers are dead, and now it does appear that center Dwight Howard may hate it so much in SoCal he may actually take less money just to get out of town and away from Kobe Bryant.

Howard got tossed from the Lakers series-ending loss against the San Antonio Spurs, after which he called the season a "nightmare".

Despite his enormous physical gifts and ability the best thing for both sides may be for Dwight to just leave. At least that's according to LA Times columnist Bill Plaschke; I tend to agree with this point of view.

At the very least, D12 with a coach like Mark D'antoni doesn't work, and this is nothing to say about his Dwight's relationship with Kobe.

If you are the Dallas Mavericks, do you even try? Yes, yes, yes and yes. The guy sounds like a giant baby/head case but he is only 27 and a physical freak so the Mavs have to pursue this fantasy if possible.

The Lakers can offer Dwight a deal of five years at $117.9 million. The most the Mavs can offer is four years, $87.6 million. Dwight is really going to have to hate L.A. to leave $30 million on the table.

The Mavs are going to have approximately $34 billion under the cap space, and they desperately need a defender and rim protector. Maybe Tyson Chandler? OK, cheap shot but Howard is just 27 and would only be around for four years.

This much is for certain - whatever team D12 plays for it has to be about him. Or close. Dirk Nowitzki is not going to care, provided Dwight brings it and cares.

There may not be a better coach for D12 than Rick Carlisle. He respects players, and consistently has displayed the ability to coach players of all personality types without losing them.

The rub is D12 has a limit, and he is not a fan of being pushed too hard. Orlando Magic coach Jeff Van Gundy may have been a punchline, but he leaned on Dwight to be better and he was. Howard's best seasons came when Van Gundy rode him. In the end, however, all of that pushing cost him his job.

Then there is the issue of D12's body, which is beginning to show signs of not being able to hold up.

Add it all up and you have a dicey situation for a max-contract player.

Either way, if Howard elects to becomes a free agent the Mavs have to call.

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How the Mavericks' offseason changed in just a snap

The Dallas Mavericks'' offseason begins at the end of this week, and right now this team is staring into a giant, vast empty space of .500 if something dramatic does not happen.

The secret 0.0002% percent prayer that Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard was going to sign as a free agent with the Mavs took a dramatic turn for the worse. When Lakers guard Kobe Bryant suffered a torn Achilles a few days ago, the Lakers officially became D12's team.

The grand plan of Howard playing Kareem to Kobe's Magic did not play out the way the Lakers envisioned, but this dramatic injury changes everything.

Potentially, the Mavericks could have told Dwight, "Here is a max deal, and we are going to build around you with Dirk in his twilight" and it could have sold.

Now Dwight can see the Lakers as eventually his. Perhaps he was going to remain with the Lakers regardless, but the chance of him just saying "Screw it" and leaving for less just to get away from Kobe took a major hit in this new world.

On the other side, there are reports that Monta Ellis is going to opt out of his contract and become a free agent. He made $11 million with the Bucks this season.

If this happens, and the Mavs are serious about this, then potential free agent O.J. Mayo is gone.

Ellis is only 27, and averaged 19.5 points and 6.1 assists this season. Offensively, he is a major GO. He is one of the better scorers in the league. Defesnively? Not so much. That may be a rub with defensive-oriented head coach Rick Carlisle.

The Mavs are going to have money this summer to spend, and many holes to fill.

Ellis is the more realistic option than D12.

 

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Depressing stats for Dirk Nowitzki

Not that anyone is noticing, but the Dallas Mavericks lost at home on Wednesday night against the Brooklyn Nets. The Mavs are 32-36, and four wins behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the eighth seed in the Western Conference.

There are many reasons for this reality - cough-cough Tyson Chandler cough-cough - but one of the bigger is the decline of Dirk Nowitzki. He is either not looking for his shot, the ball is being forced out of his hands, age (34), the recovering from his surgery thing, etc. All of the reasons are legit, but what we are seeing is the worst season for Dirk since he was a rookie.

Dirk is averaging 16.4 points per game, his lowest since he was a rookie in 1998-'99 when he averaged 8.2 points.

The most alarming number is that he is averaging just 13.2 shots per game, his lowest since that first season. That figure is tied with guard O.J. Mayo to lead the team. This shouldn't even be a contest; Dirk should he averaging around 16 to 17 shots per game, which is the approximate average for his career.

Against the Nets, he had 10 field goal attempts (made 8) while Chris Kaman and Mike James each attempted more shots. That's insane.

Right now Mayo leads the team in scoring at 16.7 points per game.

The last time Dirk didn't lead the Mavs in scoring was 1999-2000 when Michael Finley had that dinstinction.

You want to win more, get the ball in the hands of your best player and let him do his thing.

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Former Maverick helping his team make a playoff push

Forward Dahntay Jones didn't do a lot in his brief time with the Dallas Mavericks before he was traded to Atlanta, but on Wednesday night he did his former team a major solid by knocking out Kobe Bryant.

The Lakers have been hot of late, and were into the eighth seed in the Western Conference thanks largely to Bryant. But the Lakers are now in serious dog-doo and may miss the playoffs for the first time since 2005 thanks to a former Mav.

The Atlanta Hawks were leading the Los Angeles Lakers by two late on Wednesday night when Kobe went up for a long jumper with Jones guarding him. Kobe turned his left ankle on the play is out indefinitely.

The question whether the play was dirty. Looked clean to me.

  

 

 

 

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Mavericks trade Didn'tKnowHim for He'sInTheLeague?

The Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team remains cleaning up their own mess of blowing up their title team to make a run at Deron Williams, who is busy being overrated with the Brooklyn Beyonce's.

At the NBA's trade deadline today, the Mavericks dealt swingman Dahntay Jones to the Atlanta Hawks not for Josh Smith but for guard Anthony Morrow.

Hello, Western Conference Finals.

Morrow is 27, and in 24 games this season has averaged 5.2 points and 1.1 rebounds. The 6-foot-5 guard has played for the Golden State Warriors, New Jersey Nets and Hawks since he entered the league in 2008. Most really good players play for four teams in five seasons. He has dealt with hip and back injuries this season.

Jones was part of the trade last summer with the Indiana Pacers that also brought in guard Darren Collison. In 50 games this season, Jones has averaged 3.5 points and 1.4 rebounds.

Both players have expiring contracts.

The move does nothing. The Mavs are obviously going all in with their love-fest for Los Angeles Lakers prospective free agent, center Dwight Howard.

Not sure if D12 is going to be enticed by: "Listen, Dwight, we've got Anthony Morrow. You are all that's left."

 

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The number the Dallas Mavericks need to hit to make the playoffs

Since the Dallas Mavericks decided not to blow it up and opted for a revamped roster than a destroyed roster the playoffs are a possibility.

The Western Conference is not the same Western Conference it was a few years ago when the eighth-seeded team won 50 games; the playoffs are viable for the Mavs.

The last time the Mavericks did not make the playoffs was the 1999-'00 season, when they had great players such as Gary Trent, Robert Pack, Rodrick Rhodes, Cedric Caballos. How did that team ever lose?

This season, making the playoffs is a major score. The playoffs. Period. That's it. No Finals. No West Finals. The West quarterfinals would merit a parade. 

A safe number for the Mavs would be 43 wins to secure the eighth seed.

Below is a look at the number of wins for the eighth-seeded team in the Western Conference in each season since 2000:

’12: Utah 36 (lockout shortened)
’11: Memphis 46
’10: Oklahoma City 50
‘09: Utah 48
’08: Denver 50
’07: Golden State 42
’06: Sacramento 44
’05: Memphis 45
’04: Denver 43
’03: Phoenix 44
’02: Utah 44
’01: Minnesota 47
‘00: Sacramento 44

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Lamar Odom wants to apologize because it's not his fault

Not that this will change a thing about the trade that brought Lamar Odom to the Mavericks, which turned out to be a lemon, but the new member of the L.A. Clippers apparently wants to apologize to the Mavs and team owner Mark Cuban.

On Friday during the LA Clippers' media day, ESPN NBA guy Ric Bucher tweeted: "Lamar Odom, unprompted, told me he'd like to apologize to Mark Cuban and Mavs fans for not being himself. Felt it was beyond his power."

What a great line - "Hey, sorry - but the reason I robbed the bank is because of something beyond my power."

BTW: Odom averaged 6.6 points and 4.2 rebounds with the Mavs last season; both career lows.

Odom's meaning, while likely sincere, would be fine and a very nice and sincere olive branch had Odom had the sense to just stop and not add the, "Felt it was beyond his power" line of crap.

 

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Dallas Mavericks preseason sked features ... uhhh ... other teams

Preseason football got you down?  Don't worry, because here is some good news: The Dallas Mavericks professional basketball club has announced its own version of fake games - the 2012 preseason schedule is out.

As Mr. T said, "I pity the fool!"

The Mavs' eight-game preseason schedule opens with a pair of games overseas against international clubs; this should be a good place for Mark Cuban to spew his anti-Olympic rhetoric. Generally speaking, the foreign crowd really, really hates the Olympics.

The preseason schedule features only four games at the American Airlines Center, and really none of them are against competition you will be fighting to see. 

Only the possibility of Hornets rookie center Anthony Davis appearing against the Mavs generates any real appeal. The rest is rather blah ...

10/6 Mavs at Alba in Berlin, Germany
10/9 Mavs at FC Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain
10/15 Mavs v. Rockets in Dallas
10/17 Mavs v. Suns in Dallas
10/12 Mavs at Hawks in Atlanta
10/22 Mavs v. New Orleans in Dallas
10/24 Mavs v. Thunder in Wichita, Kansas
10/26 Mavs v. Hornets in Dallas

The Mavs begin their regular season on Oct. 30 against the L.A. Lakers in LA where Dwight Howard is expected to pledge to sign with the Mavericks* next summer. 

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* That may not actually happen.

Breaking down the Dallas Mavericks schedule & march towards Dwight Howard

The NBA has released the full 82-game schedule for every club, even the Charlotte Bobcats. Unlike last season's 66-game sprint that featured back-to-back-backs, and double headers, this schedule will return to the normal pace. (Personally, I really liked the 66 game deal).

For Dallas Mavericks fans, circle these games:

10/30 at Lakers. Season opener where Steve Nash will laugh in the Mavs face as he rides Kobe Bryant's back off the court.

11/3 Charlotte. Home opener. Not sure if this counts in the standings, but this should be the ideal chance for Chris Kaman to go for 40 and 10 and OJ Mayo to score 50 points.

11/9 at NY Knicks. Tyson Chandler now Jason Kidd. That's a nice kick to the groin.

12/8 at Houston. The Jeremy Lin Show; the question is whether Lin will be starting the game on the bench by this point.

12/12 at Boston. Jason Terry will want this game so bad it may cause his head to explode.

12/20 Miami. The greatest team in any sport ever will come to town.

1/14 Minnesota. With Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio, the Wolves could be one of the sleepers in the West.

1/18 OKC. The Thunder should return to spanking the Mavs.

1/20 at Orlando. The Mavs are praying Dwight Howard is still with the Magic.

2/9 Golden State. My God; are the Warriors still in the league?

2/20 Orlando. Dwight Howard Bobblehead night at the American Airlines Center.

2/26 Milwaukee. It's the rare buy 1 get 3,000 free tickets promotion.

3/20 Brooklyn. Yeeeeah ... Deron Williams may want to sit this one out.

3/26 LA Clippers. Yeeeah ... Lamar Odom may want to sit this one out.

3/28 Indiana. Imagine the reception Ian Mahinmi will receive playing against his old team. Get chills just thinking about the indifference.

3/30 Chicago. If Derrick Rose is actually upright for this game and not hurt as a result of his endless attacks at the rim, a good ticket.

 

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