Solution to the Mavs defensive problems

[4cwebb]

First: Acquire a guy in the middle who can throw his weight around a little bit (Stepania might be the guy, although not for $4 million per year).

Second: Bring in Jim Boeheim over the summer to teach these guys how to play the 2-3 zone. If ever there was a team built for such a defense, it's the Mavs. The length that they can put on the back line of the zone with Dirk, Raef, and some other big guy (preferably a bulky guy to play the middle since Raef has proven that he can't do it) is almost unmatched by other NBA teams, unless such teams want to sacrifice offense. This way, some gets a huge mismatch on the interior on offense (most likely Raef since he has no post up game), and Dirk usually gets a slower guy guarding him (the other teams PF) that he can take advantage of.

The zone worked for stretches last year, but it was still too knew in the players' heads to truly be effective. Boeheim knows how to teach players to learn those zone principles quickly (see Syracuse with all of their youngsters winning an NCAA championship last year).

Then, play zone as much as possible during the regular season...the Mavs shoot the ball well enough to not play any defense on a nightly basis, so what does it matter if the defense they are learning during the regular season is zone? Plus, most NBA teams don't have the personnel to combat a zone...sure, some of the playoff teams do, but unless the Mavs can ditch Raef's contract, they need to find somewhere to utilize him...he would be most effective at the PF spot and guarding the other team's weaker post player.