[MFFL]

We Hand Out Mavs Report Cards

By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
The Mavs' report cards are ready to be taken home to their parents.
Dallas returned from the All-Star Break to the classroom on Tuesday with a 93-91 schooling of the Clippers, the Mavs' 12th straight home win. At 42-11, it's a perfect time to evaluate who's accomplished what.
A quick note on how we grade: It's complex because of its subjectivity. We combine a curve (the NBA norm) with expectations (when this franchise starts failing to win 50, we'll be crushed) with all available intangibles -- and of course, the 'tangibles' -- to come up with our players' grades. Understand that an excelling 12th man could conceivably get a nicer grade than a failing star. So there. We also put these thoughts together with members of the Mavs themselves. So thanks.

Darrell Armstrong -- Quote: "Being a starter is overrated. I know the prestige is there and everything, but nowadays, you can do as much or more off the bench. Especially with this team.'' -- Darrell Armstrong
B- -- DA is everyone's favorite, what my grandma used to call a "pepperpot,'' a future head coach and a team leader. Is it odd that this club's "team leaders'' are its coach and it's 12th man? Yes. But Armstrong (who will almost certainly follow Avery Johnson's quick path to a head-coaching job) is invaluable as a chemistry guy. Can he play? DA (1.9 ppg, 1 assist per) has value in spurts, doing little things like instigating charges and changing pace. Let him play too much, though, and you get what you got in that Jan. 18 blowout win at Houston: a late-30's version of Robbie Benson on drugs in "One-on-One.''

Erick Dampier -- Quote: "I know what my job is. Communicate, work hard, bring energy, help the team win. No matter what my role is." -- Erick Dampier
C+ -- No, you're not going to get an 'F' out of us. Consider everything about the Damp story -- yes, even his bloated salary -- and what you still end up with is a big man who sometimes disappoints. And that makes him different from other big men in the NBA just how? He gets almost 8 boards a game. He gets almost 6 points a game. He blocks more than a shot a game. Outside of you and me sitting on our barstools screaming, 'If I was 6-11, 265 pounds, I'd do twice as well as that!'', how many big men are much better than that statistically? Oh, and by the way: Since moving to the bench, he's averaging almost 10 rebounds per. What is so frustrasting about Dampier is that unlike other guys who seem to sometimes drift through games, he is a good guy, a proud guy. So Enigmatic Erick is frustrating to watch. Somebody like, say, ex-Mav Energy Eddie Najera is a joy to watch. Now, guess which one of them will play center on a team that wins a title first?

Marquis Daniels -- Quote: "There are things that Marquis can do on the floor that can make him a truly unique talent.'' -- assistant coach Del Harris
C -- When 'Quis is active, he shows promise of greatness. He started 19 of the 27 first-half games in which he was available, and played 34 minutes per in those outings. His average line -- 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 11 points -- combined with his promising (but unpolished) defensive ability makes him a guy who you want on the floor. Unfortunately, he can't stay on the floor thanks to injuries that now border on the bizarre. (Whiplash? Wha...?) Someday, the NBA will applaud the undrafted Daniels for his mid-range game, which makes him one of a dying breed -- and which makes him very difficult to guard. Someday the NBA will applaud him for his work ethic when it comes to improving weaknesses, which last year included sloppy jump-shot form. Someday. ... if 'Quis every stays healthy enough for observers to not mistake him for buddy Josh Howard.

DeSagana Diop -- Quote: "I always wanted to be a starter. It's a dream. I just didn't know it would happen this fast.'' -- Diop
A- -- The Mavs are now trying to spin Dampier's shortcomings by saying Diop and Damp should be considered a singular statistical monster. Nice try, but if Diop wasn't such a sweetheart, he's be offended by that. It is about getting production out of both guys. And the organization should get as much credit for "stealing'' Diop out of Cleveland as they did for "overpaying'' Damp out of Golden State. But Diop's success here is his and his alone. He lost the 40 pounds. He accepted whatever role he was assigned (including a new starting role that brings electricity from from the tip). He issued the apology to Cavs fans for not playing at this level before. Diop should end the season among the NBA leaders in blocks and rebounds per 48 minutes -- and at 24, could be as much a core of this team's fiuture as any Mav this side of Dirk.

Adrian Griffin -- Quote: "It's a no-brainer. You see the talent offensively, and if you mix in a little defense, we're going to be tough to beat." -- Griffin
B+ -- Doug Christie, we hardly knew ye. Griff was on his couch in Houston, contemplating his belly button (and, we suppose, the end of a decent NBA career) when Donnie Nelson asked him if he could get on a plane and head north. Griff replied that he'd ride a bicycle back to the NBA, if that's what it took, and voila! Griffin is not only back in the L but is a starter on one of it's finest teams. An original member of what we used to call "The Glue Crew,'' Adrian is the rare player who can impact a game without scoring. ... and the even rarer player who can do so without being 7 feet tall. We wonder what will happen in the playoffs with the rotation tightens, but for no, Griff's ability to defend the foe's best 2 or 3, plus his 4 points and 4 rebounds per, seem invaluable.

Devin Harris -- Quote: "We know what we're capable of. And that's to win a championship.'' -- Devin Harris
B -- The Mavs believe he will be a star. Virtually every single mistake he makes is an "effort'' mistake. He is about as unguardable off the dribble as any player in the league. He is fearless. He has his head screwed on straight. What more can you ask? Well, let's see: That he become a deadly jump shooter. That he become a "stopper''-level defender. That his talents right now add up to more than 3.2 assists per game. That his talents someday add up to more than 10.4 ppg. And that next year, he becomes the starter at point guard. That's not to much to ask for from a star, is it?

Josh Howard -- Quote: "There is no question that he deserved to be on the All-Star ballot. Players around the league recognize his talent, and we at the Mavs certainly do.'' -- Mark Cuban
A -- Sports Illustrated's sidebar piece on Josh Howard glows and gushes and tells it like it is regarding J-Ho, labeled by the magazine as "The Mortar Mav.'' He's hovering near 16 points and 7 rebounds a game, and has therefore become the prototypical New Maverick: a single-platoon player who needs to be on the court when Dallas is on offense, when Dallas is on defense, at all times. He draws the toughest defensive assignments -- usually a 2 or a 3 but sometimes a 1 or a 4 -- and with 1.2 steals a game, has some numbers to show for it. But coaches think he can become even more fundamentally sound defensively. And on offense? Josh has worked himself into being a factor, especially with his slashing one-handed floater in the lane. And he's worked to funnel his emotions in the right direction. Keep up the good work, kid (and mix in some work on the ball-handling, too, please.)

Didier Ilunga-Mbenga -- Quote: "It's a tough situation for him, but it's just his second year in the NBA. I will say this: He's better than he was last year, and I don't mind throwing him out there for five minutes at a time.'' -- Avery Johnson
C+ -- What if you could combine Erick Dampier's body with Marquis Daniels' athleticism with a will to succeed born of exiting life in the Congo to life in the NBA? You might just have DJ Mbenga, who is rapidly making martial arts his second best sport. With a few exceptions, we've only seen DJ at the end of games, when he only gets a minute here and a minute there. But during those minutes, against the other team's second-stringers, the Mavs' third-string center usually puts on the sort of show that causes American Airlines Center faithful to stick around until the final horn. This is lightning-in-a-bottle stuff, and assuming the Mavs have answered one question (Does he have a future? Yes!), they will in the future face another question (How do we keep him under contract long-term?)

Dirk Nowitzki -- Quote: "You know me, I'm always tough on myself. So it could be a lot better than it is." -- Dirk Nowitzki
A -- You know all the numbers. You've witnessed his greatness. So let's take a minute to give five-time All-Star and MVP candidate Nowitzki credit for something that's all too rare in pro sports today: He's not a jerk. The other day, a TV guy began setting up his equipment near a one-on-one interview that Dirk was giving to a small-newspaper guy. Nice as can be, Nowitzki told the TV fella, "Sorry, this is a one-on-one.'' Then, wanting to make certain no feathers were ruffled, Dirk added one more comment to the TV guy: "This (small-newspaper reporter) is trying to make a living, too. He's trying to make a name for himself,'' Dirk said with a wink. We make so much of Dirk's few shortcomings (i.e., offensive rebounding and struggles with communicating leadership) that we don't see the forest from the trees: The UberMan is a very special commodity.

Jerry Stackhouse -- Quote: "He's one of probably two guys on our team that really can get his own shot any time he wants.'' -- Avery Johnson
C+ -- We love what Stack can do; but would you agree he hasn't done it yet? He's played just 26 games due to injury, and while he showed discipline and maturity by traveling with the team to provide leadership during his I-list times, the phrase "injury-prone'' begins to creep into conversations about this former All-Star. The threat to bite for 20 points is an important one, especially because Stack (unlike, say, the departed Michael Finley) gets his points inside and out and at the line. Stackhouse's physical ability to be a source of harrassment on defense is a threat, too. But when he's not on, he tends to try to shoot his way out of trouble rather than work his way out of trouble. There was a time in his career when his team would rather have Stack taking bad shots than anyone else. That time and place is not now in Dallas, however. The DFW media is making mention of Stack as a Sixth Man of the Year candidate; we do see him with the ball in his hands to end periods, and we do see him in the lineup to close games. But NBA honors? We don't see it yet.

Jason Terry -- Quote: "He's not your prototypical anything. He's not your prototypical 2-guard, and he's not your prototypical point guard, but he just thrives off pressure. He probably shoots twice as well in the fourth quarter or the last five minutes as he does the rest of the game, and that's hard to find." -- Mark Cuban
A- -- Among all the Mavs, he may be the slowest to demonstrate on the court that he's making the transformation into a defensive-minded NBA'er. (Yes, even slower than Dirk and Van Horn). But in every other way, he is almost the Ideal Mav: Competitive, happy, gifted, entertaining, clutch. Last year, Nellie asked JET to be something he's not: i.e., Steve Nash. This year, Avery asked JET to be this team's No. 2 scoring threat, and coaches hoped optimistically that he'd be at about 17 ppg. What's that old line about coaching being all about putting players in position to succeed? JET is at 16.4! This team's assist numbers are lousy, but that doesn't mean they are a poor passing team. And it doesn't mean JET (4 assists per) has failed in that department. But we need better defense, please, Jason. (Defending the pick-and-roll isn't really a science.) And start making more of those fourth-quarter free throws, too.

Keith Van Horn -- Quote: "No peaks and no valleys. I think it's important to keep your emotions and your game at the right level.'' -- Keith Van Horn
C- -- The Mavericks came away from the postseason last year quietly bemoaning the absence of Van Horn, who has been billed as a sort of Dirk-Lite for his ability to create matchup problems as a big who can shoot and score. We're not certain we buy it, because when Van Horn has been healthy this year, he's been very much a supplemental player. His 9.7 points per are not hugely impactful; his role as the "second center'' seems to have been a motivational ploy more than an X's-and-O's strategy. KVH is a defensive liability, and he's done little to erase whispers that he tightens up when the game does. But we do like his on-the-record mental approach. "No peaks and no valleys''? Good, keep everything on a plateau -- a higher plateau.