SnoTap's NBA Preview: Dallas Mavericks

Andrew Kasmarek, Mitch Pratt and Charlie Tritschler are getting you ready for the NBA season. The previews feature all sorts of information to get you ready for the start of the season. 

What I know…

•   The Dallas Mavericks, morphed into the Dallas Beards while trying to rally for the playoffs and white people everywhere were overjoyed.
• Dirk only played in 53 games last year, missing 29 games. He has never missed any more than nine games in any other season throughout his career. His 17 points per game matched his lowest output since he was 21 years old and a first year starter for the Mavericks. That should not happen again.
•  Vince Carter got block by the rim last year, but has no plan on retiring. With his good three point shooting (shot 40% a season ago), veteran status and most importantly expiring contract, expect Dallas to dangle Vince out to the masses if they are not winning.

Additions/Subtractions…

Owner Mark Cuban is trying his best to juggle random assets in along side Dirk to keep the team competitive. In the last few years he has plugged in Chris Kaman, Darren Collison, OJ Mayo, Elton Brand, Delonte West, Lamar Odom, and even Derek Fisher. This year, he tries again by bringing in a new crop of players. The headliner is Monta Ellis, which sounds kinda great unless you know that Monta Ellis literally helps no team make the playoffs. In his career, he has been there twice, and averaged a not-so-jaw-dropping nine points per game. Nonetheless, Ellis is fun to watch and says funny things like, “heis going to play Monta ball.”

So they brought in Ellis, as well as, Devin Harris, DeJuan Blair, Samuel Dalembert, and Jose Calderon. A competitive list of names sure, but nothing that scares you.

What I have been pondering…

 I am not too sure Dallas is anywhere near where they want to be. Dirk started slow a season ago, but once he shook off his cobwebs and started playing like Dirk, he showed he would still win by himself. Nowitzki's skill set is ageless, but in today's competitive NBA, I do not know if Cuban is being fair with playoff expectations if he is going to pair Dirk with a scorer that plays no defense, and a bunch of has-beens.

Be aware of Ricky Ledo. Ledo, for those who do not know declared for the pros after being academically suspended his whole freshman year at Providence. He has not played since high school, but there was a TON of hype around this kid then. He has been called a 6’ 6” Kevin Durant, he is quick, can shoot, and most importantly was drafted by the Milwaukee  Bucks and then traded to Dallas[1].

This is close to, but not as bad as, the Milwaukee Bucks situation. This Dallas team is at best an eight seed in the West. If they get to the playoffs, Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis, Oklahoma City, etc will undress them. This team has nine seed written all over it, and that is not fair to Dirk.

Prediction…

Dallas will play stretches of competitive basketball. But they have nothing that shows me that will excel in the tough Western Conference. Cuban loves this team and it is something everyone knows. Cuban also loves Dirk, so it’s hard for me to fathom the Cubes letting Dirk toil away on a bad teams for the rest of his career.

This team will not make the playoffs, I have them pegged in the bottom 5 in the West. But for the sake of the German, let’s hope they can figure out a way to get some better talent around him.

 -Andrew

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[1] I just got sad thinking that Milwaukee in three years could have been looking at an seven-player nucleus of Giannis-Larry-Henson-Harris-Ledo-Knight-Top Pick from this year.