What's happening family. Basketball to the left of us. Basketball to the right of us... It's a wonderful time to be a hoop fiend.
Today I wanted to talk about the gaping hole in the Dallas Mavericks defense. This is a team who allowed 3 key players to walk from a championship team. The problem as I see it is that these were the exact three key pieces they could ill afford to leave. ( I would include Caron but he was not apart of the championship run.) You subtract Caron, JJ, Stevenson and Chandler and replace them with the likes of Vince Carter and Lamar Odom and you once again have a "soft" team that lacks toughness.
JJ Barea, Stevenson, and Chandler brought heart, grit, and determination to the Mavericks. All of which appear to be missing as the champs raised their new banner, and as NBA teams raise welts on their behind in this early part of the season.
Some players impact is greater than the stat sheet. For the Mavs Chandler was that type of player.
It's still early. The younger teams have the advantage because they're more in shape than the old veteran squads. I don't think you can compare the first two games of the season w/ hardly any preparation to NBA Finals matchups where teams have been playing for 8 months.
ReplyDeleteHaywood is a good (even great) defender but his defensive style is ill-suited on a team relying on quickness out of the center position. Odom (also a good individual defender) likewise does not fit on this team as he pushes Dirk to center anytime they share the court.
Barea will eventually be replaced by Rodrigue Beaubois so that isn't a big loss. Stevenson overall is a worst player than Delonte West so they likewise don't miss him.
Don't be surprised to see Sean Williams play a huge role on this team once he gets settled in as he is VERY similar to Tyson Chandler. One would hope he's worked out his maturity issues because the talent and athleticism has always been there.
Fixing typos
ReplyDeleteBarea will eventually be replaced by Rodrigue Beaubois so that isn't a big loss. Stevenson overall is a worse player than Delonte West so they likewise won't miss him.
Also to reiterate the Odom/Haywood/Dirk relationship, the reason why the Mavs need a quick center is because Dirk lacks the quickness to keep up with most PF, effectively rotate on pick and rolls, and obviously can't do much in transition defensively. Dirk IS a solid individual defender in half-court situations but you need to stop the P/R for it to come to that.
It certainly doesn't help that Haywood doesn't give them what Chandler gave them offensively - one of the league's best finishers off pick and rolls (2nd behind Dwight Howard). Haywood is a post player and certainly shouldn't take opportunities away from Dirk, Odom, Vince, or Marion. He isn't as dangerous on putbacks and doesn't run nearly as well in transition.
Simply, they have faced high quality competition and have had a huge roster turnover. It's not an unexpected result. They will get there eventually. Keep an eye on Sean Williams.
great stuff Rashidi Thanks for dropping by and sharing the knowledge fam !
ReplyDeleteDefensively I like Deshawn's size over Delontes' but I prefer Delonte on the offensive end. Sean Williams is interesting and could def provide Some quickness at the 5. I didn't admittedly did not see him play last year so I am not sure as to his possible production. But I remember he had a live body and quickness and could hop.
I used to call them the Allas Mavericks.. but Havericks sounds good too.. lol This looks like the same team that got bumped out in the first round to the Warriors way back when, and they're not even offensively as good as that team was and they still got bumped in the first round. This is going to be a terrible season for Allas (I still refuse to put the 'D' in their name) as they tried to gut their roster to pick up D12 or Deron Williams next year.
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