'13-14 or '14-15

[dongtouch]

Not that it matters but curious to know whether you think this was a better/more successful team than last year's.
Basically 1 more win, 1 higher seed, both lost in the first round, but last year to the eventual champ in 7 and this year to a team that is going to lose in the second round in 5. Injuries definitely played a factor but so does deterioration of older players.
I was excited about the team earlier this season because of the great offensive numbers but I would have to say last year's team was more successful.

[bunkmoreland]

I thought this year's team was better, talent-wise. But we sure gave the Spurs more of a scare last year than we did the Rockets this year. And Spurs last year were much better than Rockets this year.

[Underdog]

Apples and oranges -- but the apple had a worm in it named Rondo.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

13-14 had much better chemistry, and they somehow only lost one more game with Dalembert as a starter.

Plus, taking the world champs that season to 7 games was as good of a moral victory as you can get in the playoffs.

[rimrocker]

If the wheels wouldn't have completely came off at the end I'd say this team was better built to go deeper into the POs.
Rondo really screwed this team because he was supposed to be the catalyst and difference maker going into the POs. His attitude took us down the first 2 games and then it was virtually impossible to rebound after his departure.

[Dtownsfinest]

I mean i'm far more disappointed about this year's team than last years. I just don't think you can effectively build a legit playoff team year in and year out changing the personnel of it. This is not how a team is built and there's not one team in the post season right now constructed like that.

[EricaLubarsky]

14-15 was better. 13-14 was vastly undertalented but gave it a fight. 14-15 gave that same fight-- after they dumped Rondo's cancer. We just had injuries.

No argument that 14-15 was the better team. I honestly think if Pareons had been healthy and we dumped Rondo pre-offseason that we could have taken Houston or at least taken them to 7.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Originally Posted by Dtownsfinest

I mean i'm far more disappointed about this year's team than last years. I just don't think you can effectively build a legit playoff team year in and year out changing the personnel of it. This is not how a team is built and there's not one team in the post season right now constructed like that.

This seems to be the big quandary. You don't want to be a 6-8 seed every season, but you also don't want a brand new team every season.

One of the biggest issues putting together a new team every season is banking on players not getting injured. Injuries are what killed chemistry just as much as Rondo. Unfortunately, the whole league dealt with a ton of injury issues this past season, so I'm just not sure it is a safe bet do keep doing that.

Another thing is the Mavs seem to try and bank on one or two players to fix all of the team's problems...esp with defense. I'd love Deandre Jordan, but he isn't going to completely fix the rebounding and defense issues the team has. This is similar to Tyson Chandler who simply can't rebound and defend for everyone on the team. You need to get players in here (or convince the ones we have) that will commit to that, or we'll just be another mediocre to terrible defensive team. Aminu got the memo, but did anyone else consistently do what he and Chandler did with defense and rebounding?

[Igor1988]

before December'14 - 14-15,
after December'14 - 13-14.

[Jack.Kerr]

Question of expectations. '13-'14 overachieved. '14-'15 underachieved. In reality, they were both pretty mediocre teams.

[mavsfan1000]

Last year was better against the best teams.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by mavsfan1000

Last year was better against the best teams.

Do you really believe that?

[rimrocker]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

This seems to be the big quandary. You don't want to be a 6-8 seed every season, but you also don't want a brand new team every season.

One of the biggest issues putting together a new team every season is banking on players not getting injured. Injuries are what killed chemistry just as much as Rondo. Unfortunately, the whole league dealt with a ton of injury issues this past season, so I'm just not sure it is a safe bet do keep doing that.

Another thing is the Mavs seem to try and bank on one or two players to fix all of the team's problems...esp with defense. I'd love Deandre Jordan, but he isn't going to completely fix the rebounding and defense issues the team has. This is similar to Tyson Chandler who simply can't rebound and defend for everyone on the team. You need to get players in here (or convince the ones we have) that will commit to that, or we'll just be another mediocre to terrible defensive team. Aminu got the memo, but did anyone else consistently do what he and Chandler did with defense and rebounding?

This will always be a problem while Dirk and Ellis are here. We need to go to the extremes to get defensive players to make up for them but unfortunately defensive players who can score are impossible to find or out of our price range.
Aminu has to be a priority in the off-season imo because he is our best chance at a 2-way player who can make a difference. Can't let that guy go...I'd sign him before Ellis. We just have to hope he can take his game to another level which I think is very possible.

[Melonhead]

Originally Posted by Jack.Kerr

Question of expectations. '13-'14 overachieved. '14-'15 underachieved. In reality, they were both pretty mediocre teams.

Yep. And defense will only make this team better. Doesnt matter we can score 110+. Defense matters.

[LonghornDub]

14-15 was a considerably better team on paper, but 13-14 had better cohesion, and a significantly less gimpy Dirk.

[mavs777]

This best team was 14-15 pre rondo heads and shoulders. Rondo beyond the whole attitude issue just isn't good anymore, or even mediocre, and he plays in a way that is hurtful to his team. He needs the ball but at the same time he kills the offense, and he's not a impact defender anymore (if he ever was).

People also underrated Wright and Crowder severely. Crowder put up very few box score stats but was a solid rotation player and one of our best defenders, would have been nice for rick to work both him and aminu into rotation (think he would have eventually). Wright was a ton better than amare.

[GermanStandard]

Both Teams were pretty mediocre. I never got the Championship or deep Playoff run talk in the Offseason when we signed Parsons and Chandler. This team always looked like a 6-8 seed to me.

Not really because we didnt improve but other Teams just got better.

The Rondo Trade really killed the season. Team was doing okay before it and probably could have beaten that Rockets team with a healthy Parsons+Wright+Crowder.

But they would have never gotten out of the 2nd Round or even the WCF with no Defense.

Crowders Loss will hurt us. Guy is still young and he played decent in Boston. Even did damage on the offensive side. He will be a pretty good 3 and D guy in the near future. A guy all teams want on their bench.

Wright and Amare is a gimme. Both are only Offense Factors in different ways but Wright atleast has some upside left.

One of the biggest problems this season was that Dirk really fell off a cliff in terms of his overall game. The age finally got to him.

[mavsfan1000]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

Do you really believe that?

Yes. We took the Spurs to 7. It was downhill once we got Rondo.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by mavsfan1000

Yes. We took the Spurs to 7. It was downhill once we got Rondo.

Without context, that sounds absolutely true.

With context, it's much murkier.

Spurs were lazy and awful. Unmotivated. We may have taken the Spurs to 7, but it wasn't the same team that won the championship. They themselves came out and said that they were playing like crap and we woke them up by actually putting in effort. We were barely decent but fought with heart.

Compare that to this year after we flushed Rondo. I say that, because we finally got our fighting edge in games 4 and 5. Without Rondo, Parsons, and a healthy Harris we were playing better this year than we did last year.

Get Parsons and Harris healthy, dump Rondo before the series starts, and face them against the same lazy Spurs we had two years ago and I think we'd actually get at least to 7.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

Without context, that sounds absolutely true.

With context, it's much murkier.

Spurs were lazy and awful. Unmotivated. We may have taken the Spurs to 7, but it wasn't the same team that won the championship. They themselves came out and said that they were playing like crap and we woke them up by actually putting in effort. We were barely decent but fought with heart.

I'm not sure I quite agree with this. I do agree the Spurs weren't playing their best basketball, but saying we were barely decent is way downplaying what the team accomplished. Had it not been for that idiotic suspension of Blair in game 5, then I really do think the Mavs could have won that series.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

I'm not sure I quite agree with this. I do agree the Spurs weren't playing their best basketball, but saying we were barely decent is way downplaying what the team accomplished. Had it not been for that idiotic suspension of Blair in game 5, then I really do think the Mavs could have won that series.

So we had a chance of toppling the lazy/unmotivated Spurs.

Are you saying that we wouldn't have had the same opportunity had we been healthy this year once we got rid of Rondo's cancer?

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

So we had a chance of toppling the lazy/unmotivated Spurs.

Are you saying that we wouldn't have had the same opportunity had we been healthy this year once we got rid of Rondo's cancer?

Maybe...maybe not. I do think Rondo was primary problem A, but primary problem B wasn't far behind which of course is injuries. And it's easy to say "had we been healthy" but we weren't. Ellis (hip), Tyson (hip), Rondo (face), Parsons (knee), Harris (everything) all medium to major injuries that also had a lot of do with chemistry problems. Teams that have been together for longer than a year can sometimes withstand such things, but not when this team keeps moving pieces. Even before Rondo, the hustle/talent with defense and rebounding simply wasn't there and still isn't. Maybe that would have been rectified, but the FO wouldn't have pulled the Rondo trigger if they thought that.

Edit: I just think you can make a far more convincing argument that we beat SA in 6 games based on the way Blair played in 4 and 6 versus had we just had a healthy Parsons and no Rondo. One has the backing of actually going 7 games and the other barely went 5. It's a woulda, coulda, should a discussion, but I'll take the team with better heart and chemistry any day.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

It's a woulda, coulda, should a discussion, but I'll take the team with better heart and chemistry any day.

If you look at only games 4 and 5, do you think you could say that last year's team lacked heart? That their chemistry was better with a bunch of one-and-done guys like Calderon, and Dalembert?

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

If you look at only games 4 and 5, do you think you could say that last year's team lacked heart? That their chemistry was better with a bunch of one-and-done guys like Calderon, and Dalembert?

Calderon was on a multi-year contract. You don't know that he helps get you Chandler until it's done.

And you could flip the Dalembert thing with the fact that we only won one more game with Tyson. Sure, there are a zillion other factors involved, but there is a ton of luck involved with winning. And there was a desperate need to fill in defense and rebounding that the 14'-15 team really lacked. Perhaps we could agree that neither of those issues were really addressed with these last two teams. The result was a desperate attempt to hope 2008 Rondo shows up. Ugh...

[markus1234]

'13-'14 was better.

Calderon/Carter/Devin/Monta >> Rondo/JJB/Devin/Monta
Dirk >> Dirk
Dalembert/Blair/Wright = Tyson/Amare
Crowder/Marion < Jefferson/Parsons/Aminu

We had a much more balanced team in 13-14. Passing, shooting and defense.