NBA Preview: MC Dirk and the Cuban Crew

Dahntay Jones plays HOW much!?

Owners like Mark Cuban don't come around much.  Certainly, there are plenty of owners that are willing to spend money recklessly to be competitive and make fans happy (Paul Allen, the Busses), but rarely is their an owner that connects with fans so closely when they really don't need to.  The Mavericks are a popular enough team in a solid market that could pretty easily ignore their fans and still do alright.  Hell, even if they started losing fans, Cuban has enough money ($2.3 billion to be exact) to weather such a storm.

This is what makes the Mavs the unique franchise they are, not just in the NBA but in all of the big four sports.  The Mavericks actively listen to and interact with their fans, from the owner on down to the players, and continue to be competitive and lovable despite a roster of horribly overpaid old people.  At the center of all these oddities is one of the most entertaining men in basketball: Dirk Nowitzki.

Every year, Dirk gets older and older and rebounds less and less, and yet it never matters.  As long as Dirk can stand, he can scored as well as anyone, thanks to the stupidest looking turn-around jumper that has ever been.  It may not even qualify as a jumper, as Dirk seems to just spin around and fall to the floor, all while throwing the ball wildly at the rim and then, what do you know, it goes in ten times a game.  Even with Dirk's full-season career low in FG% last year, at a still-very-good 46%, expect the exact same production as ever from the German: 20 PPG, enough rebounding and post defense to be considered a power forward, and tons of hilarity.



Sadly, the Mavericks have to field other players at any one time, and things go downhill rather quickly after Dirk.  While Dirk may seem to never age, the rest of their roster does, as Elton Brand, Shawn Marion, and Vince Carter help round a lineup that would've been a championship lock in 2002.  Of course, Vinsanity is more of a Vidiocre (not a whole lot of descriptive words starting with "Vin"), down to 10 PPG and rarely if ever providing the highlights he used to.  Much like Tracy McGrady, Carter is a shell of what he used to be, spotting up for jumpers and playing solid defense while people wish for the dunks of old.

This doesn't mean that Carter, or any of the other Mavericks veterans, are bad, of course.  Shawn Marion still can't shoot and his scoring has dropped off just like Carter's (also at 10 PPG), but he still rebounds quite well (7.4 RPG) and plays some good defense, much like every other person on the Mavericks roster.  Elton Brand has a shockingly similar stat line to Marion's (11 PPG and 7 RPG) despite playing an entirely different game, beating up bigger forwards and relying on a 15-20 ft. jumper to get any points.

Perhaps the biggest addition to this Mavericks roster is Darren Collison, who, shockingly, is under 35.  Collison fell out of favor in Indiana thanks to declining scoring and assists, but still doesn't turn it over much (1.9 in 31 MPG) and should do just fine with so many spot-up shooters at all ranges around him.  O.J. Mayo also comes in and is likely to get the starters minutes he hasn't been afforded the last few years in Memphis.  At worst, Mayo remains his current self: a solid bench player who can score and hound swingmen.  However, if Mayo performs like advanced metrics say he should, he may very well be the above-average starting shooting guard that was expected so long ago (17 points per 36).  And lost in all this is Chris Kaman, who has long been an above-average center that nobody has cared about.  Kaman will continue to be his wacky, gun-totting self, all while providing the inside presence the Mavericks desperately needed last year.  Unlike Lamar Odom, Kaman fits right into the system the Mavericks run, and should be right back at his levels from the last few years (at least when the Hornets let him play).

The Mavericks are far from an exciting team, filled with old guys that people remember foundly (and have no wish to remember as they are now), and players other teams forgot about.  However, Rick Carlisle is as good of a coach as there is in the league and the Mavericks know how to get the type of players they want, so they should once again be a middle of the pack playoff team ready to annoy everybody's favorites.