my early assessment................

[philb7777]

Dirk is still generating points but those 3's the he would shoot quickly out of transition aren't coming as long as he is playing a majority of defense in the post.

Nash is doing fine when the spacing on offense is there. When it's not, he certainly doesn't look like an all - star. His perimeter D is still awful.

Finley - I certainly hope he is hiding an injury. Right now he is a definite liablity out there, both offensively and defensively. If he ain't hurt; then we missed our opportunity to trade him because his value is plummeting fast.

Walker - a pleasant surprise as I hated the trade initially although I'm no Raef fan. Makes one wonder what in the heck would we have done without him this year.

Jamison - flashes of brilliance combined with flashes of mediocrity. The jury is still out but I think as the season goes along, he will be very good.

Back up guards Delk and Best - ...........................ugh.................... ....!

Najera and Howard - needs to see more time off the bench.

Fortson - getting the max of his ability - a little d and rebounding.

Bradley - needs to get more time so Dirk can get out on the break to pull up for 3's some. Not getting carried away - a little more time; not a lot!

Rest of bench - wonder how Cuban feels paying Abdul - Wahad 6 million this year. Wow........

[madape]

It is absolutely amazing how quickly Antoine Walker has made his presence felt. He has already proven to me that he's the second best player on this team. I wonder how long it will take for him to be a truly dominant player for us. He's not just a badass, he's a SUPER badass. Nelson is still feeling around with his lineups, but one thing I guarantee you'll see 82 times this year (barring injury) is Dirk and Antoine starting the game in the frontcourt. Awesome.

[Murphy3]

madape...i've never liked AW because of his shot selection. I cringe when he starts taking threes. Hell, like I said last night, I DON'T want AW to have confidence from the outside

Why? Because he's so much better distributing the ball and playing near the basket (via post up, drive or slash). Dirk and AW will be a dominating twin-force down low this season.

[Hitman]

Gotta agree about Antoine. He will be the second most important Mav this year. He can't be shooting 20 shots a game on a regular basis, but he brings a lot to the table.

[kg_veteran]

Great observation on Antoine, ape. I think that once Nelson figures out how he wants to work his rotation and once they become more familiar with one another, Dirk and Antoine are going to be a nightmare for opponents.

[kingrex]

Philb, your early assessment is right on. The only thing I would add is that we just need more offense from everyone all around. The reason I say this, is because we have no D whatsoever, and the only way we can win is by blowing teams out of the arena.

Whether it's in the perimeter or downlow, we have no defense. No shotblockers and no hardnosed on-the-ball defense.

Our only answer defensively is to improve our defensive rotation. As one guy gets beat (and I have a feeling it will happen a lot this year), the other guy needs to step up and so on.

Should we even think about who we can trade for more defense?

[Chicago JK]

Originally posted by: kg_veteran
Great observation on Antoine, ape. I think that once Nelson figures out how he wants to work his rotation and once they become more familiar with one another, Dirk and Antoine are going to be a nightmare for opponents.

Yep. It has been said here before but Walker and Dirk have to take advantage of the matchups in the post. When we play Minny Wally will need to guard one of them. Destroy him in the post. The same can be said for most of the teams. Working inside out with Walker and Dirk is the vision I have. I wouldn't mind if Walker doesn't shoot another three all year.

[V]

kingrex, I agree... the key slot in the zone is the 5... which Najera manned capably last night... If Dirk, Walker, or Jamison learns the spot & can add a couple of blocks per game I think they'll be fine. Problem is, Nowitzki looked much more comfortable defending the wing last night. And it also allowed him to get up the floor & run in transition.

The match-up / combo zone looked better with Najera as well. (It's probably his familiarity with the spot as much as anything)

Man D is going to be a problem until rotation from the 5 (Dirk) improves or until Mavs acquire a shotblocker.

The problem with tinkering with the roster is obvious... more unfamiliarity... and WHO DO YOU GIVE UP? It's way too soon to break up the Big-5.... after that Bradley has a great contract but he won't get you anything unless he's combined with 1-2 more players...

Maybe we can give Wahad back to Denver for Camby... lol

[Turkey]

I believes if we hudn't made no trade this uffseanson we would be the number 1 and would win the games. Raef shure seemed to have improved this zummer and I think he was justed stuting to fiited in. I egree, we mate the wrung move and shuld have trading finely.

Now, we needs to take nash and fineley utt, use em as bakupz ass they shuld be and replece emm with daniels and howard.

Uptimal lineup: Pig shawn, Furtsun, Najara-C, daniels-SG, howard-SG, dirk-PF, antoies:w-PG :J-SF

Uptimal trades: delks, that icelander dude, fineley for Lafreanz

Cheers!
Turkey.

[irontoad]

Originally posted by: Turkey
I believes if we hudn't made no trade this uffseanson we would be the number 1 and would win the games. Raef shure seemed to have improved this zummer and I think he was justed stuting to fiited in. I egree, we mate the wrung move and shuld have trading finely.

Now, we needs to take nash and fineley utt, use em as bakupz ass they shuld be and replece emm with daniels and howard.

Uptimal lineup: Pig shawn, Furtsun, Najara-C, daniels-SG, howard-SG, dirk-PF, antoies:w-PG :J-SF

Uptimal trades: delks, that icelander dude, fineley for Lafreanz

Cheers!
Turkey.

Hooked on Phonics can work for you.

[kingrex]

irontoad,

I guess life sucks without spellchecker. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[Dirk41= konsesjonen]

[quote]
Originally posted by: irontoad

Originally posted by: Turkey
I believes if we hudn't made no trade this uffseanson we would be the number 1 and would win the games. Raef shure seemed to have improved this zummer and I think he was justed stuting to fiited in. I egree, we mate the wrung move and shuld have trading finely.

Now, we needs to take nash and fineley utt, use em as bakupz ass they shuld be and replece emm with daniels and howard.

Uptimal lineup: Pig shawn, Furtsun, Najara-C, daniels-SG, howard-SG, dirk-PF, antoies:w-PG :J-SF

Uptimal trades: delks, that icelander dude, fineley for Lafreanz

Cheers!
Turkey.

c'mon, i am guessing he is from turkey, cut him some slack, can you speak turkish?

Hooked on Phonics can work for you.

[sike]

early on I posted about the Mavs having the best forward combo in the league...now there can be no doubt that the Mavs have by far and away the best group of Forwards in the league....watch out when Dirk and Walker and Jamison all get on the same page...there will be no way to stop it......of course...they probably won't stop much themselves....oh well, it will be freakin fun to watch!

[kingrex]

We can argue that this team can never win a championship as is, but I am pretty sure a more exciting offensive team in the NBA you will not find.

[MavKikiNYC]

Originally posted by: kingrex
We can argue that this team can never win a championship as is, but I am pretty sure a more exciting offensive team in the NBA you will not find.

As exciting and probably more consistent will be Payton, Bryant, George, Malone, O'Neal, IMO.

[sike]

Originally posted by: MavKikiNYC

As exciting and probably more consistent will be Payton, Bryant, George, Malone, O'Neal, IMO.

that, kiki is a purely subjective statement....depending on who you root for, that team will be the more exciting

BUT: by the end of the year I would bet the Mavericks will average more points per game....