Mavs face a couple of options: By Steve Jones / MSNBC

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Mavs face a couple of options
Dallas should add low-post player or adjust its offensive philosophy

By Steve Jones
MSNBC
Updated: 4:04 p.m. CT May 11, 2007


It should be an interesting offseason in Dallas after the mighty Mavericks of the regular season became the go-meekly-into-the-summer duds of the playoffs.

The franchise needs to look at a couple of possibilities in its forward thinking about how to avoid another embarrassing postseason cameo.


Help wanted

In their shocking first-round loss to Golden State the top-seeded Mavericks had their lack of a low-post threat exposed. The Mavericks need someone down low who can pass the ball and give them some points so they don't become so dependent on perimeter play. Someone like Chris Webber, who while no longer a dominant player, can still play effectively inside with his passing and scoring.

Webber's not coming to Dallas so if Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban goes shopping for low-post help he might very well inquire of Indiana about Jermaine O'Neal, who appears on the trading block.

There could be a couple of hitches in making O'Neal a Maverick. First, it's been reported that sources say O'Neal has informed the Pacers he wants to be traded to the Knicks to play for former Pacers coach Isiah Thomas. Second, the Pacers may want Dallas' All-Star small forward Josh Howard in return for O'Neal.

Anyone on the current Dallas roster who plays inside -- namely DeSagana Diop, Erick Dampier, and Didier Ilunga-Mbenga -- has to have plays made for them as opposed to them making some plays. So the Mavericks get limited low-post production. Dallas has to try and change this, but that's a lot easier written than done.


No going low for Dirk

Despite being seven foot, Nowitzki is a quick-strike, face-the-basket kind of player. At times he's criticized for taking too many jump shots, and too many three-point attempts. There's talk Nowitzki should spend the summer working on becoming much better at being a low-post threat. That would be a waste of time since he doesn't have it in his basketball makeup to play down low.

No team can make a big man a good low-post player if it's not in his DNA. It just doesn't happen. Standing seven-feet tall doesn't automatically make someone an effective player in the blocks.

There's a lot of things that go with playing successfully in the paint that are not developed in the collegiate game or on the international level.

Effective low-post players must be able to hold their position, play with their back to the basket, be able to pass the ball, relocate, and finish a play. There just aren't a lot of big men that have these skills. Nowitzki doesn't so trying to force feed him a low-post tutorial is just a course of action doomed to failure.


Another option

If the Mavericks fail to land a low-post passer and scorer over the summer, they will have to adjust their philosophy going into next season. Dallas has enough firepower to be even a higher scoring team and take some of the offensive burden off Dirk Nowitzki in that he constantly has to have highly productive games in order for the Mavericks to win.

It would be best for Dallas to play a lot more of a full-court, quick-strike style than a halfcourt, emphasis-on-execution style. Playing halfcourt basketball requires solid play out of the No. 5 spot and the Mavericks just don't have that in their centers.

Any players the Mavericks add this offseason should be those who could compliment an open-court, passing, cutting, and quick scoring approach. They want to avoid a style of grinding it out for points so adding players that specialize in that is not the answer.
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It would also help if the Mavericks worked on ways for Nowitzki to better drive the ball to the rim before defenders can get to him. Run some more plays that help him get something going offensively and utilize his strengths as an offensive player.

Nowitzki's not a great one-on-one player in a crowd. He's much more effective when he is on the wing and can strike quickly before a double-team can get to him. It's not a knock but Nowitzki is only good for two dribbles so he should be put into position where those two dribbles allow him to shoot higher percentage medium-range jump shots.


Lesson learned for Johnson?

In the series against Golden State Dallas seldom looked to see where the mismatches were and who they could call on to score while they worked to get Nowitzki back into the flow of the offense. It showed that Avery Johnson is still evolving as a NBA head coach.

If Johnson or any coach for that matter is willing to look objectively at the failures of his team, he will see room for growth as a coach. In Johnson's case as it pertains to the Golden State series, there was the need to adjust his philosophy according to the opponent. Johnson may have thought he did this against the Warriors but the results say otherwise.

When Johnson found that playing big wasn't giving the Mavericks much, he went to playing small and by making that adjustment he didn't counter with guys who could score the ball on their own so if anything the change played into the Warriors' favor.

It's the coach's responsibility to get his team to perform to its maximum ability and to make needed adjustments when they present themselves so that his team can overcome hurdles.

Johnson has been at the helm of the Mavericks for just over two-plus seasons so it's unfair to say he's not a good coach, but he has to be more flexible in adjusting his team's approach based on the style of the opponent's they play.

Steve Jones writes regularly for MSNBC.com. He played professionally in both the National Basketball Association and the American Basketball Association.