Quote:
Originally Posted by ghazi
The league IMO is much more difficult now than it was in 06-07. Great players are no longer dispersed amongst mediocre rosters as much as was the case back then. Dwight Howard Lebron James Chris Paul and Brandon Roy have emerged, Garnett/Pierce/Allen are no longer on bad teams but are the makeup of an elite team, Kobe Bryant finally has a roster, the Spurs are the same, the Suns/Pistons have regressed.... but overall, I think the talent level of the NBA has picked up in the past few years, our roster hasn't experienced DRASTIC change, the NBA seems to have caught up with us. One more thing, as great as Dirk is this year, he is no longer in his "absolute prime". 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 were Dirk's best years IMO.
I think the 05-06 and 06-07 Mavs team would not be as good as today's Cavs, today's Celtics, and today's Lakers.
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I don't know man, Shaq was still dominant in 05'-06'... Dirk was, as you pointed out, still in his prime, Duncan was better, Nash had more in the engine, Lebron was still a beast, etc. I don't think the league is more talented now, I think a few teams built themselves up to our level (not surpassed) and we simply had more competition.
I don't think you change a 67 win team no matter how defeated they seemed to look around January... you fire the coach who is draining the confidence from your players in the first place. I know it wasn't so clear cut back then but in hindsight it really drives a Mavs fan crazy to think of what the team would have been like under a better coach in both the finals and GSW series.