The NO major trade camp - I'm in.

[LonghornDub]

Originally Posted by Bayliss

They are more talented and better coached. But Dallas has always had trouble with athleticism. Maybe not quite as much now with Chandler. But Portland oozes athleticism. LA and SA are a better team.

Dallas matches up well with LA because Kidd/Stephenson can guard Kobe and Fisher will not take advantage of Terry and/or Voldeshort/Roddy. The frontline with Chandler and Haywood, the Mavs can now play straightup with their bigs and still score.

Dallas matches up well with SA because Sa other than Duncan doesn't have a "hoss" on the inside. And Duncan is slowing down. Voldeshort and Roddy can give as much back to Parker and Hill as they receive.

Portland on the other hand, now have an athletic group on the frontline/LA/Batum/Crash... and they have a "hoss" in the backcourt with Miller (the same one who scored 50+ on the Mavs )....

And Portland plays more zone out of any of those 3 teams. And the Mavs offense stagnates against it. Of course that was before Roddy and Peja came along.

I really haven't thought enough about how it affects positional matchups to comment on this. But I'll just say in regard to who is the "scariest" team (which is what you initially said), it's still firmly the Lakers in the Spurs in my opinion. A tough athletic matchup may scare you, but what scares me more is the sheer talent, coaching, and championship pedigree of those two squads.

And I will say I think you're underestimating a bit the difficulty of the Spurs matchup. It's not nearly as advantageous for us as it once was several years ago. They are pretty damn stout from 1-9 now and have some players like Hill who cause us serious problems.