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Hoopsmeister · 06-18-2002, 11:11 AM

<< Nellie's time has passed. And the Mavs will not win any championship until Nellie is replaced (and hopefully the replacement is his son). >>

I'm sorry Bayliss. You and I have agreed on a lot of things and I generally respect your contributions here, but this sentiment seems characteristic of a general knee-jerking reaction among Mavs fans following the Kings series.

Yes, Nellie has never won a championship and that puts an asterisk next to his career until/unless he does so. But Nellie has already done a great job with this team in taking them from out of the lottery to a 50+ win team that makes the second round of the playoffs, and just because we lost in the second round doesn't justify calling for a major change--either in personnel on the court or in replacing the head coach and his system.

The Bulls, with Michael Jordan, lost in the first round of the playoffs in 85, 86, and 87. They added Scottie Pippen and lost in the second round in 88. Then they lost in the championship in 89 and in 90. And then they finally started their championship run. The Kings were swept by the Lakers in the first round. Then they were swept by the Lakers in the second round. Then they played the Lakers to the wire in the conference finals.

The 2001 Mavericks overachieved to get to 50+ wins and then to come back from a 2-0 deficit to get out of the first round. The 2002 Mavericks played up to their level to get even more wins (setting a number of team records for wins while they were at it), to sweep in the first round and to lose in the second round to the team that went on to give the 3 time world championships everything they could handle.

There is no reason to believe that with normal growth of the team together plus a little tweaking the Mavs won't take another step next year. Jumping overboard and deciding that because this team didn't become at least the second best team in the league this year and only got to 3rd or 4th that they therefore don't have a chance to become the 2nd best team next year and the best team the year after that is to have unrealistic expectations.

06-18-2002, 11:11 AM	#41
Hoopsmeister Platinum Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Posts: 2,672	<< Nellie's time has passed. And the Mavs will not win any championship until Nellie is replaced (and hopefully the replacement is his son). >> I'm sorry Bayliss. You and I have agreed on a lot of things and I generally respect your contributions here, but this sentiment seems characteristic of a general knee-jerking reaction among Mavs fans following the Kings series. Yes, Nellie has never won a championship and that puts an asterisk next to his career until/unless he does so. But Nellie has already done a great job with this team in taking them from out of the lottery to a 50+ win team that makes the second round of the playoffs, and just because we lost in the second round doesn't justify calling for a major change--either in personnel on the court or in replacing the head coach and his system. The Bulls, with Michael Jordan, lost in the first round of the playoffs in 85, 86, and 87. They added Scottie Pippen and lost in the second round in 88. Then they lost in the championship in 89 and in 90. And then they finally started their championship run. The Kings were swept by the Lakers in the first round. Then they were swept by the Lakers in the second round. Then they played the Lakers to the wire in the conference finals. The 2001 Mavericks overachieved to get to 50+ wins and then to come back from a 2-0 deficit to get out of the first round. The 2002 Mavericks played up to their level to get even more wins (setting a number of team records for wins while they were at it), to sweep in the first round and to lose in the second round to the team that went on to give the 3 time world championships everything they could handle. There is no reason to believe that with normal growth of the team together plus a little tweaking the Mavs won't take another step next year. Jumping overboard and deciding that because this team didn't become at least the second best team in the league this year and only got to 3rd or 4th that they therefore don't have a chance to become the 2nd best team next year and the best team the year after that is to have unrealistic expectations. __________________ Basketball 101: The point of the game is to put the ball through hoop. Corollary #1: If you put the ball through the hoop more than the other guy, you win. Corollary #2: If you can't do that, get off the floor.