[Murphy3]

I believe that Raef is a pretty good player that was put in a bad situation. He was placed on a team that had absolutely no perimeter defense. Of course, the player that's closest to the basket will be the one that looks the worst when players are constantly getting to the rim. However, it would be virtually impossible for any center to find continued success playing with a perimeter defense like the one that the Mavs throughout there the past year and a half. To compound things, the Mavs were often playing 'small ball' which only increased the center's responsibilities defensively.

Was Raef without error? No, of course not. However, his struggles were greatly enhanced due to the schemes that Nellie used and by the poor perimeter defense that the Mavs played while Lafrentz was here.