Does anyone believe the Mavericks haven't screwed up this offseason?

[kg_veteran]

My good buddy David hasn't been around lately, so I was just wondering whether he (or anyone else) believes that the Mavericks have done all they could so far this offseason? Responses are welcomed.

[mavsfanforever]

Till now they have done nothing but give excuses. This was a total screwup. This was the off-season that had many big men available. Now, there is only one option of Brad Miller and there are 10 teams trying to get him.

Bottomline: Screwup.

[nowitzki_prophecy]

well,i you can say we tried,its pretty clear to Nellie did his best to bring a good FA to dallas,i just dont think they played their cards right.
we made Malone feel unwelcomed,after he spesifecly said he would love to come to dallas.
i still dont get why we didnt went harder after Kandiman,i mean,he's a good player,despite disapointing,he's a very good player,and he just signed the MLE with Minny.
he said he wanted to play with KG,but i think if we tried to bring him like we did with Zo,he might be wearing a Mavs uniforms.
plus,i still haven't seen us signing Marquise,if somebody steals him away than thats another reason to say they screwd this up.

[Simon2]

Here's my list of screwups:

1. Disrespecting Malone totally when the guy clearly wanted to go to Dallas. Now he's in LA.
2. Mavs missing out on Kandi man. Mavs could have at least tried something to get him.
3. No backup plan if Zo plan falls thru.
4. Nellie in Maui while all the action was happening.
5. Why does it seem that only Cuban is doing the selling. There are several FAs out there so send several people.
6. Mavs management making excuses and not owning up to the fact that they screwed up. Saying that we are happy where we stand is crazy.

[nowitzki_prophecy]

Why does it seem that only Cuban is doing the selling. There are several FAs out there so send several people.

i think that one anoys me the most.
dont you think that a phone call from Dirk,like KG called Kandi up,would be much more presuasive than an anoying,overly involved owner,who thinks he's one of the guys??
our wooing tactics has to change.

[Simon2]

I heard this on the radio a few days ago and they (don't remember which now) but they were saying that maybe the Mavs players just don't have a lot of friends around the league. Think of it, the best player is from Germany and his best friend is Nash. Nash likes to hang out with girls most of the time (don't say I blame him) and Fin doens't have street cred. NVE seems like he's more into his son (which is a good thing). Raef and Bradley? They don't have any respect around the league. I would really like to see the Mavs players going around campaigning for the Mavs but I just don't see it happening.

[Razor]

1. There was never a chance we would get Malone. He would not come here for the 1.5 that the lakers gave, and we didnt have enough money to offer.
2. Zo played us. He and Kidd were going to stick together and there was never a chance that Kidd would leave NJ. He likes it there and so does his wife.
3. We dont have cap space. There is no money to offer these guys.

There is still no one big guy that could have come in and been aperfect fit on this team, that guy just wasnt there this year or last year. Plus even if that guy was there he would not have come to dallas for 4.9 or 1.5. We gave up our chances of signing a big FA when we gave raef his contract and took on TAW, Evan, Bradley, ect. We took the chance a few years back and we are paying for it now.

I dont think the Mavs screwed up this offseason as much as i think the mavs screwed up over the last few seasons. Now its a waiting game untill some of these contracts expire. Anyone agree with that?

[Bayliss]

We not only screwed the pooch, we came back for seconds.

[Simon2]

Originally posted by: Razor
1. There was never a chance we would get Malone. He would not come here for the 1.5 that the lakers gave, and we didnt have enough money to offer.
2. Zo played us. He and Kidd were going to stick together and there was never a chance that Kidd would leave NJ. He likes it there and so does his wife.
3. We dont have cap space. There is no money to offer these guys.

There is still no one big guy that could have come in and been aperfect fit on this team, that guy just wasnt there this year or last year. Plus even if that guy was there he would not have come to dallas for 4.9 or 1.5. We gave up our chances of signing a big FA when we gave raef his contract and took on TAW, Evan, Bradley, ect. We took the chance a few years back and we are paying for it now.

I dont think the Mavs screwed up this offseason as much as i think the mavs screwed up over the last few seasons. Now its a waiting game untill some of these contracts expire. Anyone agree with that?

1. Malone would have definitely come here if Cuban or Nellie was at his doorstep. Malone has always been about kid gloves. If the Mavs only handled him "gentler", he would have gone to Dallas. Instead, Dallas gleefully announced that Zo was their primary option. Why even do that?

2. What does that have to do with sending someone over to talk to Kandi?

3. Maybe not a backup plan for another center but at least they should know what to do if Zo signs somewhere else. Please don't tell me that they put all their eggs in one basket.

I disagree about just waiting for contracts to expire. Kandi was available but the Mavs didn't even look his way. There are so many FAs out there and the Mavs seem to like the broken down ones. One FA I wouldn't mind them getting is Horry though.

[Blonde Bomber]

Originally posted by: Razor
1. There was never a chance we would get Malone. He would not come here for the 1.5 that the lakers gave, and we didnt have enough money to offer.

How do you know this? some insider info?

we didn't have enought money to offer? WTF...if we offered Malone the full MLE at the strike of midnight on July 1st then Malone would have been a Mav. Anyone who thinks otherwise is not thinking at all. Case closed. Point made. Now can we please get off this "Dallas had no chance with Malone from the beggining" because we did. He wanted to come here, before Cuban dissed him by going to Miami, and then later gets a call from Cuban to let it be known that the Mavs have spent there MLE and there is no more money for him. I wouldn't sign here either.

[Mavs_Rule2003]

We have done nothing to screw this up! So, i dont think we are screwed. we are just the same team like last year with adding of JOSH and may be some new young guy. And i think we will eventually add some veteran defensive person in the line up.

Lakers are better in paper, but they were better last year too and will be better till those two giants stay together. But i really think with 4 hall of fame players in one team, something might come up. Malone will never be happy with 4-6 points a game (he needs to break the record) and payton wont like Kobe not passing the ball to anyone. same goes to KObe. i just hope Malone dont get a championship in these two years he has signed with Lakers. Loosers...trying to go easy way out.

Nahh..mavs are still ok..if they can play with their potential and raef and brad play much better than they have already played in mavs uniform.

[Mavs_Rule2003]

Originally posted by: Simon2

1. Malone would have definitely come here if Cuban or Nellie was at his doorstep. Malone has always been about kid gloves. If the Mavs only handled him "gentler", he would have gone to Dallas. Instead, Dallas gleefully announced that Zo was their primary option. Why even do that?

2. What does that have to do with sending someone over to talk to Kandi?

3. Maybe not a backup plan for another center but at least they should know what to do if Zo signs somewhere else. Please don't tell me that they put all their eggs in one basket.

I disagree about just waiting for contracts to expire. Kandi was available but the Mavs didn't even look his way. There are so many FAs out there and the Mavs seem to like the broken down ones. One FA I wouldn't mind them getting is Horry though.

Malone would come but not for vet minimum! not to mavs. He is a big time looser. Playing 18 years with no championship, he needs a ring and lakers can gurrantee him more of that than mavs. so he went there in vet min, but nahh not with mavs. ANd mavs were busy persuading that liar ZO.

[mnmpeanut]

i gotta go with razor on this one.

would i have liked mourning, malone, brown or kandi here? yes. but all of them have their problems. mourning is hurt - don't know about his future. malone is 40. brown wanted too much money. kandi was destined for minnesota.

sometimes things are out of your hands. assuming that all of the stories are correct, what could the mavs have done differently to get one of these guys? okay, maybe if malone had been option 1a instead of 1b, then he'd be here, but we don't know that. the rest - they all got what they (or their agent) wanted, which was not the mavs, for whatever reason.

i'm hopeful we'll look back and see that missing out on these guys was a blessing, or, at least, not detrimental to our chances of a title in the future.

while all the BIG NAMES on the free agent market may be gone, that doesn't necessarily mean the holes on this team still can't be filled by lesser names. remember, we don't need any more stars, we need workhorses.

[Blonde Bomber]

Originally posted by: mnmpeanut
i gotta go with razor on this one.

would i have liked mourning, malone, brown or kandi here? yes. but all of them have their problems. mourning is hurt - don't know about his future. malone is 40. brown wanted too much money. kandi was destined for minnesota.

sounds like excuses to me. And since when has "Malone at 40" been a problem. He seemed to be really productive last year,and he'll do the same for the Lakers.

And to the poster who said that he would only average "4 to 5 points"..keep dreaming. This was a big sign for the Lakers and he will receive plenty of touches every night. Malone will get more than "4 to 5 points" just off made free throws. I think people are really underestmating how good the Lakers are going to be this year. And a Maverick team that stays the same as last year will not cut it in the West. Most teams are improving and will either pull away or catch us.

[sturm und drang]

Definitely screwed up. Troubling part is that we made a few of the mistakes we did last year. I chalked it up to Mark's hubris-- "of course good players will come to play in Dallas for less money!"-- and hoped he learned from it. Last year we focused on one player and were out of luck when he rejected our paltry offer. This year we were too scattershot.

Whatever way you paint it, we're having a consecutive piss-poor off-season. Two years with no appreciable FA signings is inexcusable.

[u2sarajevo]

In the high profile free agent signings, yes they screwed up. Or I should say Cuban screwed up, and Nelson screwed up. It will be a long time (if ever) before I forget that Nelson did not actively pursue a Malone or a O'Neal or someone in person (but hanging a banner in the AAC besides Brad Davis's jersey would be a start to me forgetting). At least be on the same frickin' continent instead of an island. But overall I think it is too early to say we have screwed up.

So far yes. In the end? Probably, but none of us know. I am still romanticizing the idea of a blockbuster S&T. I know it is not likely, but it is still a possibility.

[foglemann]

yes, we screwed up. Hoping for Zo was a stupid move. Whoever said none of the moves were going to perfect, what move is? There will never be a perfect fit for a center as long as Nellie is coaching because he has the type of centers he loves. Shotblocking and being able to shoot. BUT the people of ZO, Kandi, Miller, and anyone else will be an upgrade. I said it after draft day and I'll say it after we have lost out on all the top free agents,

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF, no doubt.

[dude1394]

Hind sight and wish. If you believe cubes, which I do, they went after their guy, had a committment from his agent and were waiting for the signing date.

I disagree with the statement that they s****** up, this assumes that something else SHOULD have been done instead. They don't control the environment.

[jayC]

Lakers, Nets making most progress in free agency

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Marc Stein
ESPN.com


The longest two weeks on the NBA calendar are over at last. Finally, mercifully, NBA teams and free agents can speak freely about their intentions and pump out signed contracts.

It's still a shade too soon, though, for offseason report cards. There are undoubtedly are few more big signings in our future, and hopefully a trade or two.

So ...

Anyone for progress reports?

Passing
Los Angeles Lakers
They're not just passing. They've already aced the offseason no matter what happens from here. The concept still floors you every time you hear it: Gary Payton and Karl Malone for only $6.4 million combined. Then you hear that this was actually a scheme they hatched together, which might be the biggest reason why the dethroned champs believe that one five-man lineup is big enough for four future Hall of Famers. It's not like GP and Mail have been force-fed to L.A. in some risky trade. They chose to go there and made the choice in unison. The Lakers' prospects look even better if they decide to spend a little more and re-sign Robert Horry. Even though L.A. declined to pick up Horry's $5.3 million option, it hasn't renounced its rights to Horry and can still outbid anyone to keep him. Horry, Derek Fisher and Rick Fox (scheduled to return from injury in December) aren't terribly prolific as starters any more, but they'd represent quite a bench mob. Just as they did in 1999-2000, as reserves on the first of the Lakers' three title teams.

New Jersey Nets
Doesn't matter how they did it. Hanging onto Jason Kidd makes this a bonanza summer for the Nets as well. Joumana Kidd, meanwhile, is the early favorite for Executive of the Year honors, given her huge role in convincing her husband to stay and her reported lobbying of Alonzo Mourning to join them. The Nets, though, still face beaucoup issues, and the lame-duck status of coach Byron Scott -- unless Scott gets a contract extension -- is only one of them. Mourning is a pricey risk at $22 million over four years, with no way to know how he'll cope physically in this comeback, and Kenyon Martin will be seeking an extension in the $90 million range as of Aug. 1. It's all getting rather expensive for a team that A) doesn't draw until the playoffs and B) needs a more profitable arena. How can the Nets afford all this?

San Antonio Spurs
If they couldn't get Kidd and Mourning, the champs wanted Rasho Nesterovic and P.J. Brown. Turns out they couldn't get Brown, either, but the Spurs don't feel like they're settling, having only signed Rasho so far. Nesterovic is a Gregg Popovich favorite and Tim Duncan's kind of center, and the Spurs still have $12 million in cap space. Which means they still have the means to pursue a veteran like Scottie Pippen or a trade for another Pop guy (Latrell Sprewell) or simply focus on re-signing Stephen Jackson and a new backup point guard (Speedy Claxton wants to go) and saving some money for re-signing Manu Ginobili next summer.

Minnesota Timberwolves
Even before Nesterovic defected to South Texas, the stories started swirling. All it took was Juwan Howard opting for Orlando over Minnesota for the rumbles about Kevin Garnett to circulate. The theory: Howard didn't sign with the Wolves because of fears KG will leave the Twin Cities when he's a free agent next summer. The truth? No one knows exactly what Garnett will do a year from now, but Wolves management was justifiably fretting until Tuesday, when Michael Olowokandi was convinced to come to Minny for the $4.9 million mid-level exception. That changed everything, at least temporarily, because getting Kandi at that price -- along with the recent acquisition of Sam Cassell -- makes the Wolves one of the league's most intriguing teams come October. In this cyberspace, they're still No. 5 in the West, but Minnesota threatens to pass Dallas depending on what it does with the eminently tradable contract belonging to Terrell Brandon. If the Wolves are moved to acquire a quality player by trading Brandon, whose salary vanishes from the books in January, that vaults them into the top four. The guy Garnett badly wants, according to team insiders, is Miami's Eddie Jones, but you can be fairly sure the Wolves won't be trading Brandon to the Heat. That could potentially give Miami the cap space to steal Garnett away in the summer of '04.

Washington Wizards
They're the hot new favorites to sign Golden State's Gilbert Arenas, but the Wiz are passing even if they can't overcome Arenas' aversion to cold climates. When the salary cap for the 2003-04 season was set at nearly $44 million, new Washington general manager Ernie Grunfeld suddenly found himself with roughly $8 million in cap space. Either Grunfeld uses it to land the best young point guard available on the open market or moves onto other business with newfound flexibility.

Miami Heat
The Heat is another team that can't lose, even if it doesn't get the restricted free agent it covets. Fact is, Pat Riley's $84 million offer sheet to Elton Brand is more likely to result in a seminal day in Clippers history, not Miami's. That's because Clips owner Donald T. Sterling, who has never paid any player more than $6 million in a single season, is expected to match the offer, frontloaded or not. Not that the Heat would really be able to complain. Riles wouldn't even have a shot at Brand, or any other marquee free agent, if Anthony Carter hadn't missed a deadline to exercise the final year of his contract, creating an extra $3-plus million of cap room.

Orlando Magic
The Magic is fuming because its request for a Grant Hill injury exception has been denied by the league. The consolation prize isn't bad, though. Signing Howard for the $4.9 mid-level exception is a coup, since Howard had his pick of teams whose superstars have never gotten out of the playoffs' first round. Instead of signing on to help Garnett finally reach Round 2, Howard will assist Tracy McGrady in the easier East.

New Orleans Hornets
Do we have to stop dissing Hornets owner George Shinn? He paid Brown more than anyone expected ($34 million over four seasons) and thus trumped the Spurs' offer. There are also suggestions already that Brown is bound for the Hornets' front office when he's done playing. The firing of Paul Silas and hiring of Tim Floyd remain inexplicable, but, at the very least, we have to credit Shinn for locking up Baron Davis, Jamal Mashburn and now Brown.

Incomplete
Los Angeles Clippers
Although you can be sure that they won't be matching a contract that guarantees $51 million to Andre Miller, with a $10 million signing bonus, the Clippers can't be graded until we see exactly whom they lose and whom they keep. Mike Dunleavy wouldn't have taken the job, even for a Clips-coaching-record $10 million over four seasons, if he didn't receive assurances from Sterling that at least some of the good youngsters would be retained. The bet here is that Brand's Miami offer is matched, Lamar Odom gets re-signed somehow (albeit maybe only for one season) and Corey Maggette's fate is decided by coin flip. You can also bank on Miller and the unrestricted Eric Piatkowski following Olowokandi out the exit door ... and the Clippers using all 15 days on every offer sheet that comes in to swipe back at the teams trying to raid their roster.

Golden State Warriors
Just when it appeared that Arenas had run out of options, with Denver unwilling to meet his money demands and Utah holding little appeal for the California kid, Golden State and its fans are panicking anew. The Wizards think they can convince Arenas to leave his West Coast comfort zone, and the Clippers also have interest, Dunleavy especially. Given Arenas' strong desire to play in L.A., near where he grew up, the Clips could make a run at him if they decide to spend the money that would result from letting Miller and Maggette go. What's clear is that Golden State, limited to offering Arenas a starting salary of $4.9 million because of cap complications, isn't feeling as confident as it did Monday.

Indiana Pacers
Promising $126 million to Jermaine O'Neal was the easy part. Now Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird have to re-sign Brad Miller and Reggie Miller, fend off incessant trade interest in Al Harrington and keep Indiana out of luxury-tax territory. All that would be a lot easier if someone would just take Austin Croshere in a deal, but that's unlikely to happen any time soon.

Denver Nuggets
Free Agency Season started with promise for the new Nuggets, when Kidd announced on draft night that Denver was on his list of four finalists. The outlook isn't as sunny two weeks later, with only Andre Miller signed to an offer sheet after the Nuggets passed on Olowokandi, who really wanted to be a Nugget. Nene Hilario and Carmelo Anthony are fine youngsters, but Denver will need a bulky center if it ever expects to contend in the mighty West. Perhaps Kiki Vandeweghe only plans to spend a portion of his cap room this summer.

Failing
Utah Jazz
It shouldn't surprise the Jazz that Andre Miller didn't want to go back to his collegiate roots in Utah. Given how much Miller struggled to settle with the Clips, playing in his hometown, it's tough to imagine him rushing back to Salt Lake City to replace the irreplaceable John Stockton. Yet even if the Jazz gets Maggette, or even Maggette and Brad Miller, neither scenario comes close to what it was hoping for. Utah wanted to follow the Stockton-to-Malone era with a Brand/Andre Miller tag team. The Jazz is getting neither one of those Clippers and nothing resembling the duo that just left.

Dallas Mavericks
No team needed to score big in free agency (size-wise) as much as the Mavericks. Instead, they only know big disappointment so far. The Mavs were convinced that they had an agreement with Mourning when they found out -- at "the 12th hour," as Zo called it -- that he was going to New Jersey instead. The capped-out Mavericks also found out that Olowokandi was going to Minnesota for the $4.9 million exception before they ever knew Kandi was available at that price. Those big misses prompted owner Mark Cuban to lash out at those players' agents Thursday, suggesting in Olowokandi's case that agent Bill Duffy sent Kandi to Minnesota as a make-good for Nesterovic, also a Duffy client, going to San Antonio. Cuban didn't hesitate to remind that Duffy and Wolves GM Kevin McHale were college roommates. Whatever the circumstances, Dallas is scrambling now, as almost every top West team around them strengthens. The best big men left out there are Indiana's Miller, available only through an unlikely sign-and-trade, and Seattle's hard-to-motivate Elden Campbell. At this stage, the Mavericks might have to pay Campbell more than they want to because they need some semblance of a post presence. That's because they've determined that Raef LaFrentz is effective only as a power forward, and that moving Dirk Nowitzki to small forward and Michael Finley to shooting guard -- with either Steve Nash or Nick Van Exel at the point -- gives Dallas the size to compete with the rest of the West. Of course, that plan assumes there's a center better than Shawn Bradley to plug into the lineup. So far there's not, preserving the Mavericks' longstanding inability to sign a marquee free agent.

New York Knicks
Missing out on Olowokandi at $4.9 million is an even bigger blow to the Knicks. They never imagined having a shot at a legitimate center at that price and apparently weren't ready to pounce when the opportunity came.

Memphis Grizzlies
Grizz president Jerry West tried to acquire Kandi through a sign-and-trade with the Clippers, but the Clips weren't interested in dealing. Then West learned that Kandi was only willing to go to Memphis if the Grizz paid him in the $7 million-per-season range, not for $4.9 million. Which can only mean more anguish for The Logo.

Milwaukee Bucks
Payton's desire to be a Laker and Portland's reluctance to add to its payroll by giving GP a monster deal prevented the Bucks from losing Glove without compensation. They might be able to stay competitive in the East, and they're certainly younger and more athletic than they were, but the Bucks are looking now at a serious overhaul that will be tough to swing on a tight budget. After carrying a high payroll the past few seasons, Milwaukee almost certainly won't be spending money the way it has, as evidenced when Cleveland outbid the Bucks for point guard Kevin Ollie.

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here. Also, send Stein a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.




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[kg_veteran]

Hind sight and wish. If you believe cubes, which I do, they went after their guy, had a committment from his agent and were waiting for the signing date.

I disagree with the statement that they s****** up, this assumes that something else SHOULD have been done instead. They don't control the environment.

Well, obviously it assumes something else should have been done instead. Do you think they did what they should have done? I vaguely remember you saying either yesterday or today that you were against pursuing Zo and in favor of pursuing Malone.

Do you think it was a mistake (a screw up) not to pursue Malone?

Do you think it was a mistake to not have a backup plan if Zo backed out?

Do you think it was a mistake (and perhaps a bit of naivety and inexperience) to not realize that Zo was going wherever Kidd went?

Do you think it was a mistake not to offer Olowokandi the MLE?

Do you think it was a mistake for Nelson to leave the contiguous United States and allow Cuban to run the ship?

I think all of the things mentioned above were mistakes and add up to make this one big screw up of an offseason.

[kg_veteran]

Dallas Mavericks
No team needed to score big in free agency (size-wise) as much as the Mavericks. Instead, they only know big disappointment so far. The Mavs were convinced that they had an agreement with Mourning when they found out -- at "the 12th hour," as Zo called it -- that he was going to New Jersey instead. The capped-out Mavericks also found out that Olowokandi was going to Minnesota for the $4.9 million exception before they ever knew Kandi was available at that price. Those big misses prompted owner Mark Cuban to lash out at those players' agents Thursday, suggesting in Olowokandi's case that agent Bill Duffy sent Kandi to Minnesota as a make-good for Nesterovic, also a Duffy client, going to San Antonio. Cuban didn't hesitate to remind that Duffy and Wolves GM Kevin McHale were college roommates. Whatever the circumstances, Dallas is scrambling now, as almost every top West team around them strengthens. The best big men left out there are Indiana's Miller, available only through an unlikely sign-and-trade, and Seattle's hard-to-motivate Elden Campbell. At this stage, the Mavericks might have to pay Campbell more than they want to because they need some semblance of a post presence. That's because they've determined that Raef LaFrentz is effective only as a power forward, and that moving Dirk Nowitzki to small forward and Michael Finley to shooting guard -- with either Steve Nash or Nick Van Exel at the point -- gives Dallas the size to compete with the rest of the West. Of course, that plan assumes there's a center better than Shawn Bradley to plug into the lineup. So far there's not, preserving the Mavericks' longstanding inability to sign a marquee free agent.

Several interesting points there:

1. Apparently, Dallas hadn't even made contact with Kandi or his agent to determine if he'd be willing to accept the MLE. Add that to my list of screw ups.

2. Interesting that Stein is talking about Dallas going back to the "tall ball" lineup. That's what they said last offseason -- I'll believe it when I see it. Sadly, we're back to "tall ball" being about Dallas' best chance for success.

3. Stein brings up a point I've been making recently: The Mavericks just don't sign marquee free agents. Other than Michael Finley (who was their own player), what marquee free agent have the Mavericks signed with Cuban as owner? Hell, what marquee free agent have the Mavericks EVER signed? Very disappointing.

[uberfan]

Re: the ESPN article jayc posted, further evidence that the Mavs are being out GMed as I said in another post.

[Simon2]

Its kinda disappointing that Mark is lashing out at the agents. Makes him and the Mavs look like whiny babies when they clearly dropped the ball on Kandi.

[madape]

I'll be very happy to see Bradley and Raef on the court at the same time. We just need someone to back them up in case they get in foul trouble. With poor defense out of all three backcourt players, is seems likely.

[kg_veteran]

Originally posted by: madape
I'll be very happy to see Bradley and Raef on the court at the same time. We just need someone to back them up in case they get in foul trouble. With poor defense out of all three backcourt players, is seems likely.

I'm a big fan of tall ball. But playing devil's advocate, we used the tall ball lineup extensively in the Portland series, and it worked until they discovered that by inserting a 3rd PF into the starting lineup (Randolph), they could eat us alive on the boards and inside. Davis, Wallace, and Randolph just pounded us to death. Most teams won't have a PF versatile enough to do a decent job covering Dirk (like Wallace), but using tall ball certainly doesn't guarantee great rebounding. In fact, if teams have the ability to "go big" with us, we'll still get pounded on the boards.

Also, you raise a valid point. If you're going to start Raef, Shawn, and Dirk, who's coming off the bench at PF or C? Najera? Esch? Man, you better do better than that.

[seelenjaeger]

I do think there is not much we could have done better after knowing what lead to what so far.

Malone, Payton were impossible to get to sign with the Mavs since they were willing to do what is needed to lock a ring.

Mourning (and Kidd - for some reason his luggage) received the love he demanded and kicked it with his kidneys.

Jermaine and TD never really wanted to leave their teams.

Kandi and Nesterovic (besides beeing no improvement for our team) made their choices following a logic we cannot understand nor conquer.

Brand, Magette and Andre Miller are above our financial possibilies, as is PJ Brown.

Rejecting the Horry / Pippen request for a big part of the MLE (or all) so far is something I can live with.

So yes - I don´t think we blew anything so far this off season. We are just not in a good position on the FA market. Something all those homers on this board (including myself) failed to see around Draft Time.

No Cuban, no Nellie can change this by diving into the --- of certain FA´s or Agents. Nor should they.

[dude1394]

Well, obviously it assumes something else should have been done instead. Do you think they did what they should have done? I vaguely remember you saying either yesterday or today that you were against pursuing Zo and in favor of pursuing Malone.

Correct, ONLY because I would not have made the deal because of health issues. But for me as well as everyone here hindsight is/will be easy.

Do you think it was a mistake (a screw up) not to pursue Malone?

If he were really available yes, since I don't know the real story (nor does anyone else on this board), I'm assuming that Malone wanted to win a championship, he picked the best place to do that. I don't see how the mavs could have changed that.

Do you think it was a mistake to not have a backup plan if Zo backed out?

I guess.. What was the lakers back-up plan if payton/malone didn't sign. Sure it's always a mistake not to have a backup plan but what should it have been?? Malone? Let's say that WAS their backup plan (which neither you nor I know), malone made his committment before zo changed his mind, what were the mavs to do? Kandi, if I had that type of mind-reading ability, I would be at the track or at a poker table, that was out of left field.

Do you think it was a mistake (and perhaps a bit of naivety and inexperience) to not realize that Zo was going wherever Kidd went?

No just the day before kidd signed he had said he wouldn't play for scott.

Do you think it was a mistake not to offer Olowokandi the MLE?

yes, they now get grouped with probably all but 1 team. Why is that?

Do you think it was a mistake for Nelson to leave the contiguous United States and allow Cuban to run the ship?

I don't know.

If Zo signs here all of the stuff that is mentioned here is irrelevant. So the worse you can say (IMHO) is that:

- mavs didn't read zo's mind to make sure they knew he was reallly going to NJ.
- mavs didn't have also read malone's mind and realized that they couldn't ever really sign him.
- mavs didn't have read kandi's mind and realized that he would sign for the mle.
Probably all because they felt they had their guy locked up. For that you can call mark naive but then so is little whistle, big whistle as well.

[madape]

I think this whole Malone thing is going to turn into a big "What If" with 75% of the people of the opinion that he would have signed here if we had targeted him and 25% of the people of the opinion that it wouldn't have mattered. Unfortunately, we'll never really know the answer to that question thanks to the questionable actions of our new GM over the past month.

[FilthyFinMavs]

Originally posted by: kg_veteran
Dallas Mavericks
No team needed to score big in free agency (size-wise) as much as the Mavericks. Instead, they only know big disappointment so far. The Mavs were convinced that they had an agreement with Mourning when they found out -- at "the 12th hour," as Zo called it -- that he was going to New Jersey instead. The capped-out Mavericks also found out that Olowokandi was going to Minnesota for the $4.9 million exception before they ever knew Kandi was available at that price. Those big misses prompted owner Mark Cuban to lash out at those players' agents Thursday, suggesting in Olowokandi's case that agent Bill Duffy sent Kandi to Minnesota as a make-good for Nesterovic, also a Duffy client, going to San Antonio. Cuban didn't hesitate to remind that Duffy and Wolves GM Kevin McHale were college roommates. Whatever the circumstances, Dallas is scrambling now, as almost every top West team around them strengthens. The best big men left out there are Indiana's Miller, available only through an unlikely sign-and-trade, and Seattle's hard-to-motivate Elden Campbell. At this stage, the Mavericks might have to pay Campbell more than they want to because they need some semblance of a post presence. That's because they've determined that Raef LaFrentz is effective only as a power forward, and that moving Dirk Nowitzki to small forward and Michael Finley to shooting guard -- with either Steve Nash or Nick Van Exel at the point -- gives Dallas the size to compete with the rest of the West. Of course, that plan assumes there's a center better than Shawn Bradley to plug into the lineup. So far there's not, preserving the Mavericks' longstanding inability to sign a marquee free agent.

Several interesting points there:

1. Apparently, Dallas hadn't even made contact with Kandi or his agent to determine if he'd be willing to accept the MLE. Add that to my list of screw ups.

2. Interesting that Stein is talking about Dallas going back to the "tall ball" lineup. That's what they said last offseason -- I'll believe it when I see it. Sadly, we're back to "tall ball" being about Dallas' best chance for success.

3. Stein brings up a point I've been making recently: The Mavericks just don't sign marquee free agents. Other than Michael Finley (who was their own player), what marquee free agent have the Mavericks signed with Cuban as owner? Hell, what marquee free agent have the Mavericks EVER signed? Very disappointing.

But come on what team does sign marquee agents that doesn't hae any space on the cap? Yea Lakers did it for the first time in a while here but I don't think its fair to say Mavs don't sign any marquee free agents when they haven't had in a cap space for awhile.

[seelenjaeger]

Actually, most agents would shut the door IMMEDIATELY if you ask them if their client would be willing to sign for much less than he can get on the market, so asking if Kandi would sign for the MLE while the talks with Denver were ongoing would have likely ruined any chance that he even thinks about it.

His Agent could have done only one call to somebody to spread the news, and there would have been plenty of offers from bigger market teams than Minnie. He just didnt WANT him to go anywhere but Minnie.

An agents job is not only to receive offers imho.

You can aswell argue that Mark Cuban didnt try to get Tim Duncan for the MLE ...

[TwoDeep3]

This will be an unpopular post. Mine usually are. Because I don't agree with most of the reactionary comments that are proffered on this board.

I don't find this to be the fault of anyone in the Mavericks organization.

But how can that be, you ask.

Simple. And I will answer it with a question.

Why didn't any of the free agents go to San Antonio?

They have Tim Duncan. They have the World's Championship trophy. They have money to burn. But they don't have free agents flocking.

Where did the free agents go?

Well, the ones that would have made a difference in SA or in Dallas went to LA or NJ.

Tinseltown, or the next door neighbor to the Big Apple.

Plenty of publicity in both. The Meccas of American society on each of our coasts. The hub of activity. They chose to go where the lights are the brightest.

Now someone will attempt to make a point that NJ is not NY. But it is a hell of a lot closer than Dallas.

The free agents used the interest by Dallas to garner their deals with other cities. Like they always do.

Were offers made to Zo? Was Cuban working on getting Kidd? Yes and yes.

So when I see comments here that blame the organization because the big man isn't here, I have to wonder if the poster truly understands all the ramifications or is this just a post filled with disappointment masked as blame.

I have been posting here for about a year. I don't agree with the majority of posts that blame an organization that has offered money to free agents but are turned down. The big man is not here because he wants to play on the East or West coast.

Could the Mavs had Malone? Maybe. But then you would have had to ignore Mourning. And there would have been posts about Cuban making a mistake.

You see the team has a plan. That plan is predicated on others seeing the wisdom in that plan and agreeing. Other teams have plans. They also have to get people to agree.

Move Hollywood to Dallas and make it a hub of entertainment and see how quickly players will come. Put Kobe and Shaq on the Dallas roster and see how quickly players will come.

If I was to blame one mistake on Cuban, it was not making the trade for Kidd sending Nash to NJ and then letting Mourning make up his mind. It had to be in that order to get Mourning.

But the bottom line is, NJ was waiting on Mourning's decision and knew Kidd was the ace-in-the-hole for them. So they wouldn't trade.

Dallas didn't get what they wanted. They could only make the offer and the players had to make the decisions.

Grousing about it now makes no sense.

Blaming the team because a man chose another team over ours makes even less sense.

Hence my pithy remarks ridiculing your blame-game.

It was never up to the team. But you won't admit that is even a possibility.

[mavs_afroman]

Originally posted by: FilthyFinMavs

But come on what team does sign marquee agents that doesn't hae any space on the cap? Yea Lakers did it for the first time in a while here but I don't think its fair to say Mavs don't sign any marquee free agents when they haven't had in a cap space for awhile.

That's true. With no cap room the Mavs can't be expected to sign "marquee" free agents. The problem I have is that they have missed too many other free agents who could make a definite impact by chasing players who aren't coming. They could have had Marshall and/or Harpring last year but they chased down Lewis. This year it could have been Malone or Kandi but they missed out on them trying to get ZO. Of course, outside of Malone, I wouldn't call any of these players great but they would have been definite difference makers.

[JDA]

I don't think the Mavs messed up free agency. As a Spurs fan I can tell you that no matter how much you want a free agent, they still may decide to go somewhere else.

[MavKikiNYC]

This will be an unpopular post. Mine usually are.

And you revel, single-linedly in your unpopularity. But thanks for the warning. I read no further.

[thebac]

Originally posted by: MavKikiNYC

And you revel, single-linedly in your unpopularity. But thanks for the warning. I read no further.

I normally disagree with your opinions, but I gotta say, that's one of the funniest posts I've read in a while.

[Murphy3]

of course it is of no fault of anyone in the mavs organization... it hasn't been the fault of any of them the past 4 off seasons, why should they start accepting blame now?

[Razor]

Mavs have had a good offseason so far. I am thankful that we havent signed any one yet. Especially not Malone. Especially not Zo or Kidd. I look forward to watching our core players kick some butt and to see how much a difference Josh will make.

No the Mavs havent screwed up this off season.

[Murphy3]

If Howard is the only "upgrade" the mavs make this off season, it's a pretty poor off season.

If the mavs do not make any serious upgrades between now and the beginning of the season, this will be 5th poor off season in a row. Yes, I know that they at least attempted to address their issues this off season... but when you piddlyfart around like they have the past 4 off seasons, "trying" just isn't good enough

[TwoDeep3]

As usual the posters on this board only want ideas that locks-tep with their sky-is-faling notions.

One liners in repsonse are cute.

But make me think you don't have the intellect to addrsss a serious response.

Murphy, once again your angst at the team bubbles over in a normal blame rant.

I marvel at your continued blindness.

[Murphy3]

twodeep, could you please explain to me how i'm wrong?
Or, are you going to throw out half-assed insults without substance to back any of it up. It would be par for the course for you