How good will Dallas be, really?

[Milbuck]

Jameer was a very underrated pickup imo. If Chandler can stay healthy and play to his capabilities, I see no reason why they couldn't push 55-58 wins. They were almost a 50win team last year with shitty interior defense..last year's team with Chandler instead of Dalembert and Parsons instead of VC could've definitely been a 55 win team.

[spacebump]

If healthy they could finish 3-5 in the West and at least reach conference finals. Nothing is guaranteed in a deep Western conference. They improved their two main starter problems from last season and built bench depth. Nobody should expect Felton to start for the Mavs, he is their third string point guard at best. Not to mention Monta will also be used for playmaking abilities.

They will be really interesting to watch late in the season when all the players are used to playing with each other.

[NBAplayoffs2001]

They were a Blair ejection away from potentially beating the Spurs...

Now they're a ****ton better. They could at least be an upset team

Agreed, some of those calls in the later games of that series last year were questionable. It can be argued that the Spurs should have lost in the first round.

[Meticode]

Health is the big question, if they can stay relatively healthy with a lineup of...

Chandler
Dirk
Parsons
Ellis
Felton/Nelson/Harris

They should be pretty good.

[DMAVS41]

The myths of how "great" they were last season seem to be growing (they barely made the playoffs) but remember they were below average defensively and need to improve a great deal. Picking up Jameer Nelson was awesome, one of the more underrated players in the league imo. And picking up Tyson was huge, though he shoulda been on the team all along (if Cuban was more reasonable).

My biggest questions or worries about the Mavs this upcoming season:

- How great is Tyson Chandler looking nowadays and can he stay healthy?
- Can Dirk at his age be a big part of a defensively elite team? (ie. if he's not scoring well, can he compensate well enough? he was getting smoked by Diaw at times in the first round)
- Are they putting too many eggs in the Chandler Parsons basket? (the past few seasons they've gunned for Howard, D-Will, Melo, etc.. but settled for Parsons)
- Can they hide Ellis and Felton's poor decision making? (minor problem, but still, it matters)
- can they become a top 5-10 defensive team

Good post.

I'm not sold on this Mavs team....but that mainly has to do with Parsons. Dirk, Ellis, and Chandler are far from worries as long as they are healthy. Totally agree with you about Parsons...such an unknown.

Also, you under-rate Dirk on defense still considerably. He was a plus defender for the Mavs last year...despite playing with shit defensive help. He had a positive 1.0 drapm, a positive 1.1 dspm, positive 1.79 defensive real plus/minus...Not saying that makes him a great defender, but he hardly is a defender that is going to considerably hurt the team in the right position. Well, unless he drops off...if he plays at the level he did last year...we'll be fine and the issues will likely remain our poor guard defense. Dirk/Chandler if healthy will be fine...

I think you are putting too much focus on a playoff series against the best team in the league as massive underdogs in a terrible matchup at the end of the year after carrying the team, yet again...

The hope is to reduce the workload of Dirk down to a Duncan type level so he can be fresher night to night and have more left in the tank at the end of the year.



That is the big thing with this team. Can they get good enough to not play so many close games. The Mavs were playing playoff basketball for a month before the actual playoffs. It served them well in games 1 and 2 (although we would have won game 2 regardless), but it caught up to them later in the series.

Depending on health, I could see anywhere from 45 to 55 wins...

If they make the playoffs and are healthy? Will be an extremely tough out for any team in the league.

[fragokota]

If healthy DAL and MEM can both go really far in the playoffs.

[StephHamann]

I hope we advance to the WCSF.

Biggest concerns: Tyson's health, no Back Up Center, PG Position.

If Tysons resigns 2015 for like 8-10M and we can add a decent Center Backup and someone like Dragic for PG then we have a real championship team.

[sick_brah07]

If dirk and chandler are healthy they will win it

You can quote me on this I am that sure

Last year they were a game away from the spurs
They can beat me this year and chandler will be the xfactor again especially against okc

[miles berg]

I'm just happy we put another good tea a round Dirk before it was too late. He won't have to be THE man all game anymore and can rest for the final 5 minutes. Should be huge. Dallas blew a ton of huge leads last year and had to overextend Dirks minutes. Hopefully Ellis/Parsons can carry the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

Super excited about the team. Love the addition of Jameer at the end.

[Cone]

i see them as a top 6 seed and possibly WCF underdog. a okc and mavs series would be a great one.

i like the mavs team and the moves this offseason.

- you got the stars of the team in dirk and monta
- good players supporting them in parsons and tyson
- nelson, aminu, wright, harris is a strong bench

they were a 50 win team last year and they improved alot. if they had a back up center and someone who can play solid perimeter defense then i would be put them with the thunder and clippers

[DMAVS41]

i see them as a top 6 seed and possibly WCF underdog. a okc and mavs series would be a great one.

i like the mavs team and the moves this offseason.

- you got the stars of the team in dirk and monta
- good players supporting them in parsons and tyson
- nelson, aminu, wright, harris is a strong bench

they were a 50 win team last year and they improved alot. if they had a back up center and someone who can play solid perimeter defense then i would be put them with the thunder and clippers

we were also really healthy in key positions last year. Dirk, Carter, and Ellis played pretty much every game.

so that is one big issue obviously...

and the other is whether or not Dirk can play at that level. he'll hopefully have less to do, but I don't think the average fan understands just how good Dirk was last year in the regular season.

I think his Spurs series clouded his season a bit...well, really only the first 2 games...after that I thought Dirk was pretty damn good.

But, is Dirk really gonna approach a 50/40/90 season again? I mean...I sure hope so, but I mean...we've all kind of ignored a 22/6/3 60% TS season while playing 80 games. Just not sure how many more of those Dirk has in him.

[SCdac]

Health is the big question, if they can stay relatively healthy with a lineup of...

Chandler
Dirk
Parsons
Ellis
Felton/Nelson/Harris

They should be pretty good.

I REALLY hope they start Raymond Felton or otherwise give him significant minutes. Dude sucks

[StephHamann]

I REALLY hope they start Raymond Felton or otherwise give him significant minutes. Dude sucks

Hes trying to be like Kobe

[Nowitness]

70 Wins and a title. How can you say otherwise?

[Mr Know It All]

we were also really healthy in key positions last year. Dirk, Carter, and Ellis played pretty much every game.

so that is one big issue obviously...

and the other is whether or not Dirk can play at that level. he'll hopefully have less to do, but I don't think the average fan understands just how good Dirk was last year in the regular season.

I think his Spurs series clouded his season a bit...well, really only the first 2 games...after that I thought Dirk was pretty damn good.

But, is Dirk really gonna approach a 50/40/90 season again? I mean...I sure hope so, but I mean...we've all kind of ignored a 22/6/3 60% TS season while playing 80 games. Just not sure how many more of those Dirk has in him.

I don't think 50/40/90 is that inconceivable especially if Dirk is taking on less of the scoring load. Still being the primary scorer at 21+ppg is a tall order but 18-20ppg on those shooting stats is something he can do with the superior spacing he will see this year. Marion declined defensively last year and was bad for letting defenses cheat on him because of his poor outside shooting. Everyone loves to praise Calderon because of his efficient stats but he didn't play many important minutes against the Spurs and the lack of spacing with Ellis, Harris, and Marion playing with Dirk hurt him when the Spurs were physical and brought help fast.

Nelson and Parsons can both hit the three with consistency, and Ellis is apparently working hard on his shot this summer at Carslisle's request. That combined with a greater offensive threat at center in Chandler will give Dirk more room to operate. To sum up, I think Dirk may very well see a drop in his raw numbers (ppg, rpg, etc.) but he could easily bump up his shooting stats if he stays away from injury and plays reduced minutes.