The Best Roster

[MavsFanFinley]

The Best Roster

Joaquin Fuentes, fanstop
9/30/2003

With the recent addition of point guard Travis Best, the Dallas Mavericks have filled the guard void that appeared when the Mavs got rid of Nick Van Exel. Trading Van Exel left the Mavs with no real backup for Steve Nash, but the addition of Best is one of the smart off-season moves that has recently made the Dallas Mavericks the championship contender with the better, deeper roster.

Travis Best is not by any means an All-Star player, but what Best brings to the Dallas Mavericks organization is winning experience. People may not remember much about him because he spent the last couple of seasons of his career playing on loosing teams like Chicago and Miami, but Best was a very important piece to the Indiana Pacers team that played the Lakers for the championship in the 2000 NBA Finals; it is also important to state that no team has played the Lakers better in the finals than the Pacers did back then.

Having Nick Van Exel as the substitute point guard for Steve Nash was a luxury that only the Mavericks could afford, but even when Best is not as good offensively as Van Exel is, Best is a much better team player. Travis Best will not try to shoot his way into the highlight reels, and he will fulfill whichever team role Coach Nelson decides to assign to him. “Team” is the key word for the every single Mavericks player, and an experienced veteran such as Best will have no problem understanding that concept.

Every off-season move that the Dallas Mavericks have made has increased their chances of being the next NBA champion. The Mavs lost a reliable scorer in Nick Van Exel, but they got a bigger, better player and scorer in Antawn Jamison. Besides, after the latest Van Exel news and his attitude displays, I think the Mavs are better off without him anyway.

The Mavericks are looking very good for the upcoming season. Their starting lineup alone (Nowitzki, Nash, Finley, Jamison, LaFrentz/Bradley) averages around 89.9 points per game, and they have very solid backups for every one of their first four spots. With the first three bench players included in the equation (Najera, Williams, LaFrentz/Bradley) the Mavs are looking at a 107.4 ppg with the first eight players of their roster. No other team has that scoring power.

Considering that the main competition for centers in the league is Shaquille O’Neal, the Mavericks are a little weak when in comes to the center spot. But then again, so is the rest of the league. Still, the Mavericks have big players that will make for a solid, imposing on-court presence.

Travis Best comes to the team carrying an average of 8.2 ppg, which is not much compared to the 19.5 ppg that Van Exel averaged for Dallas last season. But the addition of Antawn Jamison not only makes up for absence of Van Exel’s scoring, but it also allows for Michael Finley to improve on his production by playing his best basketball at the number two spot.

The Dallas Mavericks also got Iceland’s Jon Stefansson to play guard. Stefansson’s impact in the NBA is yet to be seen, but the Mavericks have proven to have a great eye for overseas recruiting, and I don’t expect Stefansson to be their first mistake.

Dallas has a better basketball team than they had last season, but the Lakers, Wolves, and Spurs have gotten deeper, as well. The Dallas Mavericks style of play is probably the best show that the NBA has to offer these days. I can no longer wait for that first game between the Mavs and the Lakers.

The show is about to get even better.

Go Mavs!!

[mavs413]

This article is poorly written and has a couple mistakes. Walt Williams is on our bench still? No. Van Exel averaged 19ppg last year? Actually more like 12. Our starters avg 95ppg and not 89. Its also stated that no other team can match that kind of firepower from their starters. Actually, the Lakers starters averaged 98ppg last year so thats wrong also.

[VivaNajera]

Originally posted by: MavsFanFinley
The Best Roster


The Dallas Mavericks also got Iceland’s Jon Stefansson to play guard. Stefansson’s impact in the NBA is yet to be seen, but the Mavericks have proven to have a great eye for overseas recruiting, and I don’t expect Stefansson to be their first mistake.

Here is another mishap in the article. He says he doesnt think Stefansson will be their first mistake, sorry but the had one mistake already and his name was Antoine Rigaudeau

[ames7]

Van Exel averaged 19 ppg in the playoffs. It was 12 in the regular season. & I actually have little/no expectations for Stefansson, at least not this season.

What the hell is this fanstop site anyway? Is it exclusively homer-fan-written?

[seelenjaeger]

ONE mistake already?

Huh? We´re coming off one of the largest histories of talent misevaluation ... Do we have to go into the Blab, Anstey ... name calling again not to forget about our past?

[MavsFanatik33]

People need to get their facts straight before they begin to write sports articles for a living...

[one long blue sock]

She really didn't have much to stay, but still...good point.