Season Preview: Dallas Mavericks

Quang: coming into last season, i didn't think the mavs would even sniff their success from the previous year where they reached the finals. i thought that they relied too much on one-on-one play, as evidenced by having the second fewest assists in the league, and i didn't think they rested on their laurels and didn't improve their team enough in the off-season. i was almost certain this would come back to haunt them. but strangely, it was the mavericks who came back to haunt the rest of the league as if dirk nowitzki either knew what they did last summer or had become ghost dad. according to wins and losses, last year, the mavs were the best team in the league. however, according to the playoffs, the mavs were tied with the raptors as the tenth best team in the league. what happened? the golden state ghostbusters weren't afraid of no mavs and bounced them out of the playoffs. the mavs' season ended with them falling short of 70 wins despite winning 67 in the regular season.

this year, the mavs will try to regroup. i assume. i guess there's an off chance that they think oj mayo is the missing link and therefore delay regrouping for another year to secure his rights, but for argument's sake, i'm going to proceed as if this is not the case. anyways, in the off-season the mavericks added eddie jones and trenton hassell but otherwise, their team remains essentially the same. whether or not this is a good thing is up for discussion. obviously winning 67 games is no fluke, though apparently neither are their struggles against the warriors. but the fact remains that dallas fields a deep team with many talented players. dirk is the reigning mvp and no playoff upset can take that away from him. devin harris is a player on the rise in that he's generally on the rise from the floor after having fallen down trying to draw an offensive foul. jason terry and jerry stackhouse are reliable scorers and crafty veterans. further, the mavs even have the self proclaimed second best center in the league, erick dampier, who for the second straight playoffs played fewer minutes than desagana diop. this logically makes diop the best center in the league giving dallas quite a tandem. lastly, josh howard has developed into the mav's second option and plays like he's still mad about being the last pick in the first round of the 2003 draft. so far he's more than proven his worth. consider that since drafting howard, the mavs have only lost 91 games, which translates to a winning percentage of .723. conversely, during the same time span, those teams that did not draft josh howard have lost a total of 4,788 games. that's 1,197 losses a year! pathetic.

one last interesting thing to note: after looking over john hollinger's recently published player efficiency ratings, he expects seven of the best 10 mavs to regress this year. the only maverick who he predicts will actually improve their efficiency rating by more than .3 is devin harris. whether this is a sign of bad things to come or just an indication of how well you have to play in order to win 65+ games is unknown. it's something to consider, but come playoff time, i still expect that the mavs will be very much a factor. and if they aren’t hopefully they blow it in as spectacular fashion as they did last year.

Joe: The epic collapse in the first round of the playoffs proved a lot about this team. The fact is that they can't win when it counts and Dirk Nowitzki is severely overrated. But alas the sportswriters decided to award him with the MVP when by the time he received the hardware it was painfully evident that it wasn’t deserved.

Since I dont really feel like writing about this team - Im gonna take this time to bitch about the MVP award: This idea that the MVP should be on a high performing team is absolutely preposterous. There is already an award for high performing teams – it’s called a record. That record can get you the title of Division Champion, it should not give the best player on the team an advantage at being awarded the League MVP. I’ve heard people say that the most "valuable" player isn’t necessarily the "best" player. What kind of fuzzy math is that? In what other sense is that true? Under no circumstances should Kobe or Lebron not be MVPs, not only are their numbers better than Dirk's but their teams are WORSE. Awarding Dirk (and Steve Nash before that) the MVP because "their teams are great" is like giving someone a head start in a race and then placing obstacles in the way of their competitors, then praising them for winning the race by a nose. It's ridiculous and in my opinion the last three MVPs should be vacated.

Plus Dirk Nowitzki has Josh Howard on his team ... and Josh Howard is better than him.

Dhivy: The Mavericks face some serious mental hurdles after being defeated in the first round of the playoffs last year. Fortunately, mental hurdles require less physical exertion to clear and they hurt less if you fall. Plus, you can always run around them and just pretend you won the race. They’re mental, for Pete’s sake.

Dirk Nowitzki was not held in high regard when he was first drafted, and scouts have begun to sour on one of Dallas’ draft picks: Nick Fazekas. The two share a remarkably similar skill set, and Dirk should serve as the perfect mentor. If injuries or age start to slowdown Jerry Stackhouse, look for Fazekas to be a very important cog in the Mavericks’ plans. While Dampier and Diop are horrible offensively, they bring the toughness and defense that a team need to contend in the West.

In my mind, the biggest thing holding the Mavericks back is their point guard situation. Jason Terry and Devin Harris are good players, but Avery Johnson wants to see them run the offense and distribute rather than look for their own shot. Harris is incredibly quick and can get to the rim at will, but Terry’s postseason was highlighted by lazy threes and turnovers. Defensively, Harris is one of those guys who will jump backwards upon contact rather than play actual defense.

Finally, we get to the real story of the Mavericks: Josh’s Howard’s headband. The way he wears it seems to defy gravity. How does it stay on while perched so high? The headband even seems to irritate Howard at times, who has been known to throw it after calling technical-inducing timeouts. Garbage Points got an exclusive interview with Josh’s headband and when we asked if it was easy being such an annoying accessory, the headband responded, “No sweat!” That’s right, I finished with a pun.

Achilles Heel

• Devean George (q)
• Devin Harris (j)
• Jason Terry (d)

Unsung Hero

• Maurice Ager (q)
• Eddie Jones (j)
• Nick Fazekas (d)

Bold Prediction

• In yet another controversy surrounding Dirk Nowitzki, he wins his second straight MVP even though his team fails to win a single game. (q)
• The Mavericks will blow the Warriors out by 40+ in their first meeting of the season. Pundits will mistakenly refer to it as a "measure of payback" (j)
• Jerry Stackhouse will be suspended one game for a flagrant foul on Shaquille O’Neal. It will be at a Hornets-Clippers game. (d)

Favorite Moment

• The Mavs sign 44-year old Kevin Willis late in the season a move to "give the team another big man for the postseason". In the postseason he doesn't play a single second and becomes the oldest player to be eliminated from the first round of the playoffs by an 8 seed. (q)
• I'm sure at some point during last season Avery Johnson refered to his days playing with "The Ad-Mir-Ayl" (j)
• Dirk Nowitzki winning the MVP award with his team eliminated from the playoffs. (d)