[JLEEHASMUCHGAME]

Yeah, my early season enthusiasm should be tempered a bit. as the mavs showed tonight, they still need a lot of work. Really, they will probably be a work in progress throughout this season, but hopefully, that progress will manifest itself as a great team by the end of the year.

Nonetheless, I will remain enthusiastic about the mavs. Tonight I think they realized that they aren't really flying under the radar anymore, after their nice start to the season. I love what howard has done thus far in the season. His jumper was looking good tonight. Dirk seems more aggressive this year than I've ever seen him - that is certainly something to be exited about. Harris has been extremely impressive to me as far as poise goes. I like the demeanor he has on the court; he's not playing with the deer in the headlights look. Dampier, eh, tough to say right now, but he certainly looked good the other night against memphis. Daniels is going to really help out when he gets back in sync. After AJ mentioned that daniels has different "gears," I noticed daniels with the dribble looking crazy fast on one fast break.

Overall, the team as a whole has not looked that sharp - especially tonight. So far, they seem to be out-hustling their opponents more than really picking them apart. Not that out-hustling is a bad way to win, personally, I'm really enjoying it. Let's see what will happen. They need to figure out how to grab their defensive boards too. But I'm much more optimistic this season than last season. Last year, even if the mavs looked good I always had the suspicion that they weren't for real.