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chumdawg · 06-12-2005, 11:03 PM

See, GMC, that's what bothers me. What bothers me is that this team thinks it is only a backup 5 away from contending for a title. I worry a lot more about the starting five than I do about backups--as Phoenix should give us all evidence of. Now, granted, if Damp continues to not be able to find a way to stay on the floor agains the Stoudamire's of the league, then the backup 5 becomes a huge factor. But only by default--only by the default of the starting 5 not being worth his salt.

In this day and age, and especially in this conference, some combination of KVH or other small baller should be plenty good to get by with at the backup 5. Because in the end, it shouldn't be decided by the backup 5. It should be decided by the starting 5.

I don't know about you, G. I get the feeling you are a little bit younger than I am, or at least came around to the Mavericks later than I did. But I've grown pretty conditioned to the Mavs being not quite good enough, for reasons perhaps beyond their control, to make it to the promised land. In the late 80's they had a hell of a team. Good to great players at all positions. Depth on the bench. A quality coaching staff. But they couldn't get past Magic's Lakers. Now, then, they've got the Magic (Dirk) but they don't have the Kareems and Worthys around him. And even Dirk himself is not quite as magic as Duncan is.

See, that's the thing that I think is missing from a lot of this debate. Everyone has ideas about what the ideal basketball team is. Defense wins championships, and all that. But you just can't get around the fact that you will have to get thrugh other teams to get to the promised land, and the style of those other teams will impact what you need to do. Planning an ideal basketball team doesn't exist in a vaccuum. It would if all the players were equally skilled. But they're not.

It reminds me a lot of the Rangers from the 90's. They couldn't get past the Yankees, so they blew it up in an effort to do so. But those Yankees teams may have been among the best baseball teams ever. It may very well have been the case that no matter what the Rangers did, they weren't going to pass the Yankees.

Sometimes there are things you just can't get around. If...you keep trying to get around them in the conventional way.

06-12-2005, 11:03 PM	#23
chumdawg Guru Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Cowboys Country Posts: 23,336	RE: Dallas \| Philadelphia (7 Player Trade) See, GMC, that's what bothers me. What bothers me is that this team thinks it is only a backup 5 away from contending for a title. I worry a lot more about the starting five than I do about backups--as Phoenix should give us all evidence of. Now, granted, if Damp continues to not be able to find a way to stay on the floor agains the Stoudamire's of the league, then the backup 5 becomes a huge factor. But only by default--only by the default of the starting 5 not being worth his salt. In this day and age, and especially in this conference, some combination of KVH or other small baller should be plenty good to get by with at the backup 5. Because in the end, it shouldn't be decided by the backup 5. It should be decided by the starting 5. I don't know about you, G. I get the feeling you are a little bit younger than I am, or at least came around to the Mavericks later than I did. But I've grown pretty conditioned to the Mavs being not quite good enough, for reasons perhaps beyond their control, to make it to the promised land. In the late 80's they had a hell of a team. Good to great players at all positions. Depth on the bench. A quality coaching staff. But they couldn't get past Magic's Lakers. Now, then, they've got the Magic (Dirk) but they don't have the Kareems and Worthys around him. And even Dirk himself is not quite as magic as Duncan is. See, that's the thing that I think is missing from a lot of this debate. Everyone has ideas about what the ideal basketball team is. Defense wins championships, and all that. But you just can't get around the fact that you will have to get thrugh other teams to get to the promised land, and the style of those other teams will impact what you need to do. Planning an ideal basketball team doesn't exist in a vaccuum. It would if all the players were equally skilled. But they're not. It reminds me a lot of the Rangers from the 90's. They couldn't get past the Yankees, so they blew it up in an effort to do so. But those Yankees teams may have been among the best baseball teams ever. It may very well have been the case that no matter what the Rangers did, they weren't going to pass the Yankees. Sometimes there are things you just can't get around. If...you keep trying to get around them in the conventional way.