Believe it or not, Eddy Curry — yes, that Eddy Curry — played significant minutes in the Mavericks’ opening-night win over the Lakers on Tuesday.
With Mavs big man Chris Kaman out due to injury, Curry was expected to start. Instead, Brandan Wright took the opening tip and played pretty well against the Lakers’ bigs.
But — in what has to come as a surprise to many Knicks fans — Curry made an impact off the bench for Dallas, less than a week after bring claimed off of waivers.
Darren Collison scored 17 points, Brandan Wright added 14, and the Dallas Mavericks spoiled the Lakers debuts of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash with a 99-91 victory over Los Angeles on Tuesday night.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Darren Collison scored 17 points, Brandan Wright added 14, and the Dallas Mavericks spoiled the Lakers debuts of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash with a 99-91 victory over Los Angeles on Tuesday night.
After failing to land Deron Williams, the Dallas Mavericks must shift their focus to trying to make the trade of the year by landing Dwight Howard.
Going after Howard would certainly be a massive risk, but it’s a risk that the Mavericks desperately need to make. The first issue the Mavericks must address is the lack of valuable talent they have to offer the Orlando Magic in return for Howard.
The most tradable talent the Mavericks have are the young prospects who they just drafted—Jared Cunningham, Bernard James and Jae Crowder.
The problem with those players is that while they have a lot of potential, they have yet to prove anything in the NBA. Trading such a talented player in Howard for those players would be a major mistake for the Magic to make.
In terms of tradable assets, the most valuable commodities the Mavericks can offer the Magic for D12 are future draft picks in addition to the young players they have on their roster.
The Mavericks don’t have a lot of cap space, which doesn’t help their chances of trading for Howard because they won’t be able to tack on additional contracts the Magic might be trying to get rid of, like Hedo Turkoglu and the $23 million they owe him over the next two years.
A major reason why trying to trade for Howard is such a risk for the Mavericks is because Howard has already come out and said that if he doesn’t get traded to a certain team—speculated as the Brooklyn Nets—he will just play out the year and then enter free agency.
Based on Howard’s intentions, it’s clear that even if the Mavericks were able to trade for him, it would be a one-year commitment for him, which is why a trade for Howard isn’t valuable enough for the Mavericks to pursue.
If the Mavericks want to have Howard as their center for the start of the 2012-13 season, they’ll have to give away the future talent that they have on their roster, and with the threat of Howard leaving at the end of next season, that’s a very risky move to make.
A potential trade that the Mavericks could offer the Magic that works financially for the Mavericks would be to offer the Magic Shawn Marion, Brandan Wright, Jared Cunningham, Brendan Haywood and their 2013 first-round pick in exchange for Howard.
While it might not be enough for the Magic to bite on, if the Magic don’t get a lot of reasonable offers from other teams, the talent the Mavericks can offer is better than receiving nothing in return if Howard leaves at the end of the 2012-13 season.
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I opened my eyes this morning to Tyler Conway’s contention that since Deron Williams slipped away, it’s time for the Mavericks to rebuild.
I’m going to have to respectfully disagree.
A few days ago I finally publicly pontificated about the record playing in my head since before last summer’s bloodletting—when the Mavs blew up a championship team on a wing and a prayer.
Yes, I had a feeling deep down inside that this whole path was a very bad idea and boy, how I hate to be right sometimes.
However, all is not lost. It may indeed be very soon but not just yet. The Mavs have specific weaknesses thanks to last summer’s shenanigans, and if you can address those weaknesses, great things can still happen before Dirk rides into the sunset.
In addressing Tyler’s specific points, I simply don’t see things the same way.
1) The team has no trade chips.
I do agree that there are no trading chips, but that can be overcome. The Mavericks had a very respectable draft and the free-agent market has a number of excellent prospects beyond Williams.
2) No one left on the free-agent market is actually worth their market value.
And Williams is? I’m a big “bang for the buck” guy. Some players are certainly overpaid, but everything is relative. It’s true that Steve Nash and Jeremy Lin aren’t worth what Deron Williams is, but did we somehow miss out on Williams signing for almost, gulp, $20 million a year?
How is it then that Nash isn’t worth $12 million, leaving nearly $8 million for other needs? The same can be said for Lin, whose production admittedly diminished somewhat after he initially lit up the Garden—stats that Tyler describes as “below average.”
Eight million doesn’t seem like such a bad deal to me for Jeremy and remember, he hasn’t even put in a full season as a starter.
Lin and Nash also have incredible star power which shouldn’t be ignored. In addition, a Nash/Dirk combination has no adjustment period as the two already have a warm and fuzzy friendship. Most importantly, can either of these guys put up numbers that are anywhere in the neighborhood of Deron Williams for half the price? Most certainly, yes.
There are obviously other options ranging from Dragic to Andre Miller and beyond. My next choice would be Chauncey Billups, if he can return from injury. He was also playing at an age-defying level before going down and his leadership skills and all-around game are undeniable.
3. The Mavericks are incredibly old and aren’t winning a championship regardless of who they acquire.
If that’s true, then why empty the bank account for Williams? The Mavericks are indeed old, but they were old when they won the championship. While Dirk had injury issues last season and wasn’t in great shape as the season started, ultimately he played at the same level he has for years.
Of the most important cogs in the wheel, only Jason Kidd has shown significant decline and he won’t be running the show anymore. In fact, Nash, Lin or a healthy Billups would be an upgrade to the Kidd who helped the Mavs win the championship.
There is young talent on the Mavs as well, not a new superstar, but lots of potential. I am a firm believer that giving significant time to Brandan Wright will yield big dividends. The three draftees should get significant opportunities with Jason Terry gone, along with the presumable exits of Brendan Haywood and Ian Mahimi. And let me proudly shout, I think Yi Jianlian has potential too. He’s only 24, inexpensive and played decently for the Nets
He has a good outside shot and if he could work on his inside game and get his FG percentage up, who knows? Otherwise, if the Mavs can use the extra money saved by not signing Williams to bring in a good young solid all-around player such as Kris Humphries, all is definitely not lost.
There will come a time to rebuild; sadly, it shouldn’t have been last year, but based on who the Mavs still have and who is still available, it doesn’t have to be right now. Looking at the championship team and taking chemistry out of the mix, you can actually plug the holes pretty well and even make a couple of upgrades. So for now, I’m going to put my pick and shovel away and hope for some exciting news.
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The Microscope is your recurring look at the NBA‘s small-scale developments—the rotational curiosities, skill showcases, coaching decisions, notable performances and changes in approach that make the league go ’round.
The beginning of the end for Dallas
The Dallas Mavericks are cooked, and after witnessing the premature ending of Dallas’ season in real time on Thursday night, Mike Prada of SB Nation put forth an intriguing notion regarding the precursor to Dallas’ Game 3 loss:
To me, though, there was a distinct moment when the Mavericks went past the point of desperation and faded into the night. It was the moment when, having been beaten down at their own game, they had no choice but to play Oklahoma City’s. That was when the series was lost.
Well, more accurately, it was two moments. One came in the second quarter, and one came midway through the third quarter. These were the moments when Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle punted and played what I called the “cry for help lineup” on Twitter — a hyper-small lineup of Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Vince Carter, Shawn Marion and Dirk Nowitzki that had played less than seven minutes together all season.
…
In playing Kidd, Terry, Carter, Marion and Nowitzki together, Carlisle was essentially making the same declaration [Chuck] Daly did [in 1991]. That was the moment when Scott Brooks and the rest of the Thunder should have known they had broken the Mavericks’ spirit. Once the Mavericks sacrificed their identity in the name of desperation, the job was done.
In a general sense, I agree with Prada’s premise. Dallas using Nowitzki in lieu of one of their usual centers was indeed a sign of desperation on Carlisle’s part, and was legitimately indicative of Dallas’ offensive struggles. But with all due respect to Prada, I’m just not entirely sure why this one instance, which happened to come during a devastating loss, was all that unique, or all that representative of some soul-crushing turn of the tide.
According to Basketball Value, Carlisle had used Nowitzki as his sole big on the court for a total of 35.6 minutes over the course of the series, largely due to the fact that Brendan Haywood, Ian Mahinmi and Brandan Wright had been rendered useless by the Thunder and their own limitations.
Carlisle is, and was, a man lacking in better options, but not logic. Dallas wasn’t getting anything, offensively or defensively, out of their three centers, and as an added bonus, these new configurations often forced Scott Brooks to make his own corresponding lineup decisions.
Could Brooks afford to stick Serge Ibaka on a smaller player, and risk being attacked from the perimeter? Yes. Could Kendrick Perkins sufficiently defend Nowitzki, or at least prevent him from going bonkers? Close enough. Should OKC counter by going small as well, or does that negate some of their own strengths? Sure, and hardly.
Carlisle’s gambit didn’t pay off, but all he really did was shelve a crew of irrelevant big men for the sake of hopefully creating more offense. In fact, this move wasn’t all that different from his decision to insert J.J. Barea into the starting lineup mid-way through last year’s NBA Finals.
Good coaches aren’t shy about making lineup changes, and though this specific situation apparently called for a configuration we didn’t see much out of Dallas in the regular season, I don’t think that’s reason enough to view experimentation as an albatross.
The New York Knicks are still jogging in place
We’re now three games into the Knicks’ series against the Miami Heat, and enough should be enough: Mike Woodson’s team is still being derailed by very basic fronting action in the post, is still completely unable to get any scorer involved in the offense except for Carmelo Anthony, and still incorporates the bare minimum of productive offensive action.
Woodson did well to build on and extend the Knicks’ earlier defensive successes after he took over as head coach, but this is getting ridiculous. The stagnation, which at this point seems traceable to stubbornness more than anything else, could be easily avoided, and yet here we are, watching the Knicks barely tread water and waste valuable opportunities against the Heat’s lesser lineups.
Running an NBA offense isn’t easy by any means, but Woodson is making the process of adapting to defensive pressure far more difficult than it has to be. How is it even remotely possible that a full NBA coaching staff has failed to make any strategic movement over the course of three games?
The immortal home of J.R. Smith
It would be silly to say that J.R. Smith could never win an NBA title. Players far more odd and far more dysfunctional have gone on to wear a championship ring, and Smith’s title fate will ultimately bank on where he lands.
Yet even with that possibility in mind, I have no qualms in saying that even the league’s highest honor will always come secondary to one of the greatest in-game dunkers of his generation. Smith will always be known for his showmanship above all, the vice that causes him to botch uncontested fast-break opportunities and bend our minds with dunks like this one:
It’s certainly worth a moment to discuss Smith’s place among the finest contemporary dunkers, but I’m far more intrigued by Smith as a character. He’s the closest thing the game has to a mythological trickster, and the fact that his habits have a way of manifesting themselves in bits of hyper-aesthetic glory only makes that persona all the more interesting.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
The Microscope is your recurring look at the NBA‘s small-scale developments—the rotational curiosities, skill showcases, coaching decisions, notable performances and changes in approach that make the league go ’round.
The beginning of the end for Dallas
The Dallas Mavericks are cooked, and after witnessing the premature ending of Dallas’ season in real time on Thursday night, Mike Prada of SBNation put forth an intriguing notion regarding the precursor to Dallas’ Game 3 loss:
To me, though, there was a distinct moment when the Mavericks went past the point of desperation and faded into the night. It was the moment when, having been beaten down at their own game, they had no choice but to play Oklahoma City’s. That was when the series was lost.
Well, more accurately, it was two moments. One came in the second quarter, and one came midway through the third quarter. These were the moments when Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle punted and played what I called the “cry for help lineup” on Twitter — a hyper-small lineup of Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Vince Carter, Shawn Marion and Dirk Nowitzki that had played less than seven minutes together all season.
…
In playing Kidd, Terry, Carter, Marion and Nowitzki together, Carlisle was essentially making the same declaration [Chuck] Daly did [in 1991]. That was the moment when Scott Brooks and the rest of the Thunder should have known they had broken the Mavericks’ spirit. Once the Mavericks sacrificed their identity in the name of desperation, the job was done.
In a general sense, I agree with Prada’s premise; Dallas using Nowitzki in lieu of one of their usual centers was indeed a sign of desperation on Carlisle’s part, and was legitimately indicative of Dallas’ offensive struggles. But with all due respect to Prada, I’m just not entirely sure why this one instance — which happened to come during a devastating loss — was all that unique, or all that representative of some soul-crushing turn of the tide.
According to Basketball Value, Carlisle had used Nowitzki as his sole big on the court for a total of 35.6 minutes over the course of the series, largely due to the fact that Brendan Haywood, Ian Mahinmi, and Brandan Wright had been rendered useless by the Thunder and their own limitations. Carlisle is (and was) a man lacking in better options, but not logic; Dallas wasn’t getting anything — offensively or defensively — out of their three centers, and as an added bonus, these new configurations often forced Scott Brooks to make his own corresponding lineup decisions.
Could Brooks afford to stick Serge Ibaka on a smaller player, and risk being attacked from the perimeter? (Yes.) Could Kendrick Perkins sufficiently defend Nowitzki, or at least prevent him from going bonkers? (Close enough.) Should OKC counter by going small as well, or does that negate some of their own strengths? (Sure, and hardly.)
Carlisle’s gambit didn’t pay off, but all he really did was shelve a crew of irrelevant big men for the sake of hopefully creating more offense. In fact, this move wasn’t all that different from his decision to insert J.J. Barea into the starting lineup mid-way through last year’s NBA Finals. Good coaches aren’t shy about making lineup changes, and though this specific situation apparently called for a configuration we didn’t see much out of Dallas in the regular season, I don’t think that’s reason enough to view experimentation as an albatross.
The New York Knicks are still jogging in place
We’re now three games into the Knicks’ series against the Miami Heat, and enough should be enough: Mike Woodson’s team is still being derailed by very basic fronting action in the post, still seems completely unable to get any scorer involved in the offense save forced action for Carmelo Anthony, and still incorporates the bare minimum of legitimately productive offensive action.
Woodson did well to build on and extend the Knicks’ earlier defensive successes after he took over as head coach, but this is getting ridiculous. The stagnation — which at this point seems traceable to stubbornness more than anything else — could be so easily avoided, and yet here we are, watching the Knicks barely tread water and waste valuable opportunities against the Heat’s lesser lineups. Running an NBA offense isn’t easy by any means, but Woodson is making the process of adapting to defensive pressure far more difficult than it has to be. How is it even remotely possible that a full NBA coaching staff has failed to make any strategic movement whatsoever over the course of three games?
The immortal home of J.R. Smith
It would be silly to say that J.R. Smith would or could never win an N.B.A. title; players far more odd and far more dysfunctional have gone on to wear a championship ring, and Smith’s title fate will ultimately bank on where he lands.
Yet even with that possibility in mind, I have no qualms in saying that even the league’s highest honor will always come secondary to one of the greatest in-game dunkers of his generation. Smith will always be known for his showmanship above all — that vice that both causes him to botch uncontested fast break opportunities and bend our minds with dunks like this one:
It’s certainly worth a moment to discuss Smith’s place among the finest contemporary dunkers, but I’m far more intrigued by Smith as a character in general. He’s the closest thing the game has to a mythological trickster, and that his habits have a way of manifesting themselves in bits of hyper-aesthetic glory only makes that persona all the more interesting.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
If you want to know why the Dallas Mavericks are down 0-2 in the first round of the playoffs, look at the boxscores of this year’s Mavs-OKC playoff series so far vs. last year.
Then look for owner Mark Cuban.
Last year, nine Mavs contributed. This year, you have six.
Vince Carter has been a liability, only hitting seven of 23 shots. Brendan Haywood has proven he is a backup center, only averaging three points and 3.5 boards. He averaged more as a backup last year.
Brandan Wright and Roddy Beaubois haven’t performed in the playoffs. The only real contributor among the newcomers has been Delonte West. Ian Mahinmi, who played on the team last year, has done a decent job, but he is no Tyson Chandler.
Besides Chandler, who averaged 10.6 rebounds a game last year, missing Mavs include J.J. Barea, who had major contributions off the bench, including scoring 21 and 14 points in big wins; Peja Stojakovic, who hit some big shots; and Deshawn Stevenson, who provided needed defensive toughness.
So far in this series, Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd and Shawn Marion have played about as well as you could have hoped, though they are all having to do more with Chandler, Barea and Co. gone. Dirk has even had to play center, with OKC’s thug, Kendrick Perkins, fouling him on just about every possession. Jason Terry had a good first game, but then he faltered in the second game.
Even if the Mavs somehow bounce back at home and win this series, they have less of a shot against the Lakers and Spurs, much less the Heat.
Though I personally like Mark Cuban, he deserves scorn for essentially gutting last year’s title team, not signing Chandler, Barea and Stevenson in hopes of maybe signing a big free agent later this year or next year. Has he not heard the old saying, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush?
It was like Cuban didn’t really believe this team could have won the title last year without sneaking up on teams, and he didn’t want to keep the same players around to allow critics more fuel if they fell short this year.
Whatever his reasons, he didn’t give the Mavs a real shot at defending the championship this year. And that’s just a damn shame.
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OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Dirk Nowitzki scored 27 points and former Golden State lottery pick Brandan Wright had 16 points and nine rebounds, leading the Dallas Mavericks past the Warriors 112-103 on Thursday night.
Hey there, friend. Having a tough time feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after a six-game Tuesday night headlined by a national doubleheader that didn’t wrap up ’til after midnight on the East Coast? It’s cool. We’ve got a double shot of video espresso to crack open those droopy eyes, courtesy of the Dallas Mavericks and Philadelphia 76ers.
First up: Jason Terry turns an ambitious lead pass into an even more ambitious lob pass, which is flushed by a surprisingly (and increasingly) ambitious Brandan Wright:
Of course an announcer would think that was Jason Terry just taking a crazy shot. He’s Jason Terry. He attempts 15 field goals per 36 minutes ; he gets off the bus chucking. He’s not particularly shy about just throwing something up (or, as I learned when I talked to him after the NBA Finals last year , much of anything else).
Forgetting that, though: Big up yourself, Brandan Wright. After two solid per-minute but quiet per-game seasons with the Golden State Warriors, a 2009 season lost to a shoulder injury and a ’10-’11 campaign split between the Bay and the New Jersey Nets, people pretty much forgot you even existed.
And now here you are, starting over at age 24 with the defending NBA champions, deterring shots (he’s blocking 6.6 percent of opponents’ attempts , highest of his career), filling the lane, showing your springs and producing a sterling 21.1 Player Efficiency Rating in a career-high 41 appearances. There might just be a spot in this league for you yet, Brandan. (Especially if you keep turning wild, blind passes from JET into fast-break buckets.)
Next up: Thaddeus Young and Andre Iguodala making sweet music in the open court.