question for the board - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

snoop · 09-02-2005, 01:10 PM

Do you guys think last years team underachevied or not?

I think they did, they were a better team then the suns but maybe had a bad role of the dice and some dumb mistakes. But talent wise I thought they should have played better.

Lonely PSU Mavs Fan · 09-02-2005, 01:16 PM

I agree. I also am not overly distraught that Finley is no longer on the team. I think the Mavs will be fine this year and if everyone plays up to their potential (and we get some luck) we have a legitimate shot at the title.

EricaLubarsky · 09-02-2005, 01:20 PM

There is no doubt in my mind we didnt play up to the level of talent we had. I mostly saw it as an issue of how the talent was used, redundant talents, and injured players.

DalMavs · 09-02-2005, 01:20 PM

I don't think last year's team underachieved. There wasn't much of a system in place to maximize everybody's output on court. It was amazing, with people performing on raw talent, that the Mavericks did that well.

Avery Johnson's job this year is to build up a workable system, so there will actually be a TEAM.

jacktruth · 09-02-2005, 01:46 PM

I don't think underacheived is the right word. They came into the playoffs with a nearly new coaching philosophy and outplayed the rockets. Thier inexperience showed during the PHX series, as well as our glaring need for help at the center.

We simply were not the better team.

Joey · 09-02-2005, 03:29 PM

It is definatly hard to say a team with 58 wins underacheived.

imran2315 · 09-02-2005, 03:37 PM

if Marquis Daniels does what everyone knows he can do he will fill the void of finley and he will give us something finley didnt and that is someone who can help the team even when there shot is not on. Marquis can attack the basket and be a good point guard. Jason Terry will be more comfortable in Avery' System and i think Devin Harris will prove his high draft pick status and Josh Howard is the next Scottie Pippen he is going to be a hell of a player if he works on his jump shot a bit. And Dirk Nowitzki is going to be fired up this season he still has a lot to prove and he has to prove that ;ast year was not a fluke. I think we will be fine this year i dotn know if we will win the title but if everything goes good no serious injuries and damp lays like he did b4 he got hurt in Pheonix during the season we will be a team to reckon with.

LRB · 09-02-2005, 03:41 PM

It sounds like you are asking 2 questions, 1) did they underachieve in the regular season and 2) did they underachieve in the post-season. Of course they could have always done better. The year the Bulls won 72 games, they could have done better. But I think it's grossly unfair to expect a team to play perfect or be labeled underachievers. By that definition every team was an underachiever. Considering the turnover, injuries and midseason coahing change I think the Mavs did very well in the regular season. For a team to go through all that and still come out with 58 wins is an achievement to be proud of, and if anything I think they overachieved. Now in the post season everything appeared to catch up with them. The Mavs played very discombobulated most of the time. Still I think the guys put forth some gutsy efforts to end up about where expected. Beating the lower seeded Rockets and falling to the higher seeded Suns. And there were certainly players who played below expectations, but as a team I'd say that they did OK, not great and not bad.

FilthyFinMavs · 09-02-2005, 09:55 PM

Hell no. I actually think we overachieved. With all the injuries, coaching decisions and player acquisitions i'm still shocked that we won 58 games last season. Its rare for a team to have such a turnover and come back the next season and win 58 games.

Thespiralgoeson · 09-02-2005, 11:03 PM

At the beginning of the season, I personally thought we were going to win 55 games. I didn't even take into consideration the injuries, or the coaching change, so in that sense, we overachieved.

However, at the end of the season, I honestly truly thought we'd beat Phoenix and lose to San Antonio in 6. So in that sense, we underachieved.

I guess they kind of cancel eachother out, so I'd say our season was around par.

dude1394 · 09-02-2005, 11:12 PM

I thought we overachieved, big time. I thought dirk played out of his mind and then around the 4th of the season I thought he sort of wore down.

If dirk can punish the McGrady's of the world the mavs will be really tough to beat. If he cannnot, it's second round exit at best.

Thespiralgoeson · 09-02-2005, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by: dude1394I thought dirk played out of his mind and then around the 4th of the season I thought he sort of wore down.

I could be wrong, but I didn't think Dirk was worn out at all. If you remember, during the last part of the season, AJ drastically cut Dirk minutes to prevent just that from happening, so he'd be fresh in the playoffs. I thought the dropoff in Dirk's numbers at the end of the season was simply due to fewer minutes.

dude1394 · 09-02-2005, 11:39 PM

He got his gas back for the playoffs but until he had his minutes cut he was gassed out and heading for a wall. AJ came along at the right time if for nothing else to get the team re-interested, which they didn't seem to be under nellie at the time.

jayC · 09-03-2005, 03:52 PM

No we had so many new players. As big bill would say you are what you are. The mavs are and were a team in transistion. The playoffs prove that you ride your superstars and role players have to come up big.