Back on Dec. 13 all of the signs were there for the Dallas Mavericks that this was coming

On Dec. 13, the Dallas Mavericks had their media day. I wrote this ...

DALLAS - Lamar Odom said one thing you want to know, and one thing you need to know.
What you want to know is that Odom plans to keep his reality TV gig, meaning theKardashians will be coming to Mavericks games.
"That's what I do," Odom said Tuesday morning at the team's media day.
What you need to know: "If [the Mavs] thought winning a championship was hard, defending it is tougher," he said. "It's tough. If any team can do it, this one can."

We care about these things.
We should also care about how much longer Dirk has. How many more prime years does the greatest player in the history of the franchise have remaining?

"I don't know that question is that important to anybody but you," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle chided me. "You are talking about something that is in the future."
Coach, Dirk is 33. Don't worry about the future when your Hall of Fame forward turns 34 in June. You just go with the now.

The hyper-compressed NBA season is near, and we should all plan on the Mavs again being "around it" as one of the few teams with a legit chance at the title because of Dirk. But to expect them to win it again is a bit much because their actions were about the future rather than today.

"Dallas let the goods get away," NBA analyst Chris Webber said Tuesday during a conference call. "Tyson Chandler is the reason they won the championship. He was a game changer.... First of all, they proved me wrong; they won a championship last year. Why would you change that? In my opinion, Tyson Chandler was the Defensive Player of the Year. He made the most impact

"For all the years we watched Dirk, he's always been great, so I don't want to say he didn't get better last year. The difference last year was not Jason Terry; it was Tyson Chandler."
Mavs GM Donnie Nelson and Prime Minister Mark Cuban earned a few years' worth of appreciation and latitude from this town and the basketball world for putting together the title team. They did it, and it was nothing but fun. Most NBA cities would kill for a run like that.

Their decisions to bring in Odom, Vince Carter, Brandan Wright and Delonte West may offset the departures of guys like Caron Butler, J.J. Barea and DeShawn Stevenson. This roster is deep, versatile, capable and will win a lot of games. There may even be some upgrades in those moves. These are go-for-it-now decisions that suggest they know their future is today.

The decision to let Chandler go does not.
Athletic, active 7-foot men are not plentiful on this earth; so, when you get one that can actually play, you keep him. He was the best center in franchise history. There was a reason the Mavs traded for Chandler only a few weeks after locking up Brendan Haywood two summers ago and then he became the starter - Chandler is better.

How can the Mavs possibly replace what he did? As presently constructed, they can't. Haywood is a big body who can guard the interior reasonably well, but Chandler covered more ground than anyone on the team, and altered what the other teams could do.

The Mavs can only duplicate his defensive presence if they land Dwight Howard, who according to an ESPN report, is willing to be traded only to the Mavs, Nets, Magic or Lakers. Don't hold your breath Superman will actually come here. Ever notice that big-time free agents always love the Mavs except when it comes time to sign with the team? (That's another column.)

Letting Chandler go made the most financial sense as the team tries to be cap-responsible in two years when the new NBA rules really become punitive for the franchises that exceed the limit.
The rub is that Dirk is 33. To do anything but keep Chandler is to not give Dirk the very best chance at winning another title. Modern-era NBA history says there is only one guy to be The Man for his title-winning team after this age, Michael Jordan. This includes Magic and Bird.

Dirk may be able to hit 20-footers well into his 80s, and he may be in wonderful condition, but he will be this age for not too much longer. When he gets old, and he will, that's it. Assume when he's done we won't see his replacement for another decade.

But that is the future, and Carlisle and the Mavs aren't worried about that.
Except when they are, which is why Chandler isn't here, which is why asking the Mavs to defend their title may be tougher than even Odom thinks.

@MacEngelProf
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Dallas Mavericks' defense of NBA title never had a chance

As much credit as Mark Cuban deserves for helping create an NBA championship team, he deserves equal parts blame for helping to destroy it. He had one more year of Dirk Nowitzki in his prime and he elected to take one of the best NBA players ever and surround him with a collection of old guys and disguise it as "going for it".

The Mavericks never had a real chance to defend their NBA title.

Oklahoma City Thunder 95
Dallas Mavericks 79 

Thunder lead this series 3-0. Game 4, which is not necessary, is Saturday night in Dallas.

No NBA team has ever won a playoff series down 0-3. 

"They threw a great game at us and we needed to be a lot better than we were," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said after the game.

There is no way in hell these Mavericks will become the first. This is an old team that knew the score before this series began, and once they fell behind 0-2 they were done. There is pride, then there is foolish pride. 

"The Mavs just aren't good enough to beat OKC," TNT analyst Charles Barkley said after the game.

Back on Dec. 13, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle chided me when I asked him about Dirk Nowitzki being 33, nearing the end of his prime, and the team not electing to re-sign so many parts of the title team. "I don't know that question is that important to anybody but you. You are talking about something that is in the future."

He is right. I was.

The problem now is this is what the future looks like: Down 0-3 in the first round, and an old team preparing to turn another year older.

@MacEngelProf
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The Dallas Mavericks should start Ian Mahinmi

DALLAS - Was going to wait on this until after Game 3, but considering your Dallas Mavericks NBA basketball team is down 0-2 against the OKC Thunder this has a post-haste feel to it.

I ASKED Dallas Mavs coach Rick Carlisle how he felt about the production his team has received from the center spot in this series.

Mr. Carlisle said: "I don't know the numbers off the top of my head."

Here you go: Brendan Haywood is averaging 3 points and 3.5 rebounds in the first two games.
Ian Mahinmi averages 7.5 points and 4.5 boards.
Third center Brandan Wright, who provided some energy in limited minutes during the regular season, appears lost so far. 

Carlisle continued: "Our centers combined were very productive during the regular season and were a positive factor for us. They have done some good things in this series and we want those guys to be active and generate extra possessions for us and have a physical presence. They are very clear on what we are asking of them."

After watching starting center Haywood play 10 minutes and collect 2 points and no rebounds in Game 2, and then seeing former Mavs center Tyson Chandler win the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, it has become rather apparent that Ian Mahinmi is the better man in the middle for the Mavs.

The Mavs never run a set play for their center, and if that guy scores it's on putbacks or bunnies. They want defense, rebounding and high effort. They get that from Ian Mahinmi.

He's more active. He can cover more ground. He's more athletic. His upside his higher. Haywood is a decent bruiser type off the bench, but appears to be easily taken out of the game.

"It all started early on in training camp when we knew Tyson wasn't coming back. I knew my role was going to be bigger and throughout the year I have been getting more and more confidence," Mahinmi TOLD ME. "I am comfortable in those situations now. I feel the confidence of my coaches and my teammates now."

 

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Did the Dallas Mavericks steal the Thunder's idea?

DALLAS - The free t-shirt for fans attending playoff game is not a new thing, but since no one can get enough of free it's an idea that will never be antiquated.

In Oklahoma City in Games 1 and 2, the Thunder put these t-shirts on every seat in Chesapeake Arena. It created a very Blue Out sort of look. Very post modernistic art appearance.

The Mavs are going for the exact same look for Games 3 and 4 at the American Airlines Center.

This morning at the AAC, the good folks at the arena are placing a blue t-shirt on every seat. The appearance is nearly identical to Chesapeake Arena.

 

 

 

 

 

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Oklahoma City Thunder's Thabo Sefolosha channels his inner Crash Davis

DALLAS - As a native of Switzerland, OKC Thunder guard Thabo Sefolosha may not be well versed in the timeless baseball movie, "Bull Durham", but he speaks Crash Davis very well.

Because this doesn't make us feel old, the movie was released in 1988, when Sefolosha was 4. 

It was Crash Davis who said: "You're gonna have to learn your clichés. You're gonna have to study them, you're gonna have to know them. They're your friends. Write this down: 'We gotta play it one day at a time.' 'I'm just happy to be here; hope I can help the ballclub.' 'I just want to give it my best shot, and the good Lord willing, things will work out.' "

This morning at the Thunder shootaround, Sefolosha let fly this winner, "Taking it a game at a time and not looking back and not looking forward. We try to take it day by day and worry about this game."

Thank you, Crash.

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