[Murphy3]

I think Dirk is a better defender than he's given credit for when he's stuck at the PF spot. But, at the center spot, he can be outmuscled by many of the bigger players. At the SF spot, he's not quick enough at times.

As for what I've seen so far out of Dirk defensively..well, it's really too early to tell. I thought he did a rather poor job in the zone defense when playing LA (as did pretty much all mavs). But, I thought he was rather solid against GS. The only issue with GS was on the glass. As I've mentioned, I believe Dirk might struggle a bit when a bigger center can push him around a bit on the glass. That was the case at times last night against Dampier. But, Dampier pretty much did that against anyone that played the center position for the Mavs last night. What does that tell me about Dirk defensively? Play him at the PF spot as often as possible (although I do think there will be several teams that Dirk will be able to play more than 5-10 minutes at the center spot... but, those really aren't the teams that i'm concerned about)

Offensively, Dirk just needs to be around the bucket more. He either needs to be posted up more or he needs to drive and/or slash more (more as in compared to last year).

If he's matched up with any center in the NBA, he can draw them outside and either hit the jumper or drive around them at will.

If he's matched up with a PF..dirk will have to use a combination of posting up, driving, and utilizing the jumper.

If he's matched up against a SF.. dirk needs to be posted up all game long.


but, good posts epitome