Camden wrote:Dallas lost Monta Ellis, Tyson Chandler, Amar'e Stoudemire, Al-Farouq Aminu and Richard Jefferson this off-season.
They replaced them with Deron Williams (old), Wes Matthews (Achilles injury), John Jenkins (unproven), Zaza Pachulia (solid but better off the bench), Justin Anderson (rookie) and JaVale McGee (Shaqtin-A-Fool Vice President).
You're telling me they won't take a big step back? I love me some Rick Carlisle, but you have to have players to win. That's an odd assortment of guys. Not to mention, Dirk's one year older. They're not making the playoffs, I'll tell you that much.
Wait. You list Richard Jefferson as a key departure but dismiss Williams as old, along with Matthews and Pachulia. It's fine to question all three for different reasons... but not if you're heralding Richard Jefferson in the same breath.
Jefferson is that guy who joins a new team and the fanbase ends up bellowing "We HAVE to upgrade at that position next season" all season before Jefferson is jettisoned to another team where the same narrative repeats.
CoolBreeze44 wrote:I agree with that 32 number that Kahns forecasts. But since he said it first, I will say 31. I think we will struggle mightily in the first half of the season. Too many new faces, too much youth, too much focus on development (which I like), and a new coach who really isn't a good coach. But I can see us gaining momentum the 2nd half of the season and becoming pretty tough to deal with. I'll say 12-29 the first half of the year, and 19-22 the second.
Camden wrote:Dallas lost Monta Ellis, Tyson Chandler, Amar'e Stoudemire, Al-Farouq Aminu and Richard Jefferson this off-season.
They replaced them with Deron Williams (old), Wes Matthews (Achilles injury), John Jenkins (unproven), Zaza Pachulia (solid but better off the bench), Justin Anderson (rookie) and JaVale McGee (Shaqtin-A-Fool Vice President).
You're telling me they won't take a big step back? I love me some Rick Carlisle, but you have to have players to win. That's an odd assortment of guys. Not to mention, Dirk's one year older. They're not making the playoffs, I'll tell you that much.
Wait. You list Richard Jefferson as a key departure but dismiss Williams as old, along with Matthews and Pachulia. It's fine to question all three for different reasons... but not if you're heralding Richard Jefferson in the same breath.
Jefferson is that guy who joins a new team and the fanbase ends up bellowing "We HAVE to upgrade at that position next season" all season before Jefferson is jettisoned to another team where the same narrative repeats.
Go compare that team to the 2008 Mavs. Carlisle dragged that team to 50 wins somehow. They had Eric Dampier and Brandon Bass as their bigs for crying out loud
Camden wrote:Dallas lost Monta Ellis, Tyson Chandler, Amar'e Stoudemire, Al-Farouq Aminu and Richard Jefferson this off-season.
They replaced them with Deron Williams (old), Wes Matthews (Achilles injury), John Jenkins (unproven), Zaza Pachulia (solid but better off the bench), Justin Anderson (rookie) and JaVale McGee (Shaqtin-A-Fool Vice President).
You're telling me they won't take a big step back? I love me some Rick Carlisle, but you have to have players to win. That's an odd assortment of guys. Not to mention, Dirk's one year older. They're not making the playoffs, I'll tell you that much.
Wait. You list Richard Jefferson as a key departure but dismiss Williams as old, along with Matthews and Pachulia. It's fine to question all three for different reasons... but not if you're heralding Richard Jefferson in the same breath.
Jefferson is that guy who joins a new team and the fanbase ends up bellowing "We HAVE to upgrade at that position next season" all season before Jefferson is jettisoned to another team where the same narrative repeats.
Go compare that team to the 2008 Mavs. Carlisle dragged that team to 50 wins somehow. They had Eric Dampier and Brandon Bass as their bigs for crying out loud
Abe: Jefferson was the least important departure, but he was still useful off the bench for the Mavs last year. Check out his numbers from January to the end of the season. They're not bad at all. He was also logging 30-minute nights here and there and contributing pretty well, all things considered. The key to my post was that they replaced him with John Jenkins and/or rookie Justin Anderson. Carlisle would tell you himself that's a downgrade.
Alex: That 2008 Mavs team had a 30-year old Dirk averaging 26/8 a game and Josh Howard coming off an All-Star year (averaged 18/5 that 2008 season). This 2015 Mavs team has nothing like that. And it's fair to mention that the Western Conference this year is probably tougher/deeper than it was in '08 (Lakers, Nuggets, Spurs, Blazers, etc.).
Camden wrote:Dallas lost Monta Ellis, Tyson Chandler, Amar'e Stoudemire, Al-Farouq Aminu and Richard Jefferson this off-season.
They replaced them with Deron Williams (old), Wes Matthews (Achilles injury), John Jenkins (unproven), Zaza Pachulia (solid but better off the bench), Justin Anderson (rookie) and JaVale McGee (Shaqtin-A-Fool Vice President).
You're telling me they won't take a big step back? I love me some Rick Carlisle, but you have to have players to win. That's an odd assortment of guys. Not to mention, Dirk's one year older. They're not making the playoffs, I'll tell you that much.
Wait. You list Richard Jefferson as a key departure but dismiss Williams as old, along with Matthews and Pachulia. It's fine to question all three for different reasons... but not if you're heralding Richard Jefferson in the same breath.
Jefferson is that guy who joins a new team and the fanbase ends up bellowing "We HAVE to upgrade at that position next season" all season before Jefferson is jettisoned to another team where the same narrative repeats.
Go compare that team to the 2008 Mavs. Carlisle dragged that team to 50 wins somehow. They had Eric Dampier and Brandon Bass as their bigs for crying out loud
Dallas has some solid depth to work with. They have Dalembert at C and at Guard they have Harris and JJ. Those guys aren't wildly exciting but they have been effective NBA players for quite a while. The key is if Wes is healthy if he returns to the player he was by a 1/4 way through the season they will be in good shape. There are a lot of questions when it comes to Dallas but they have some answers too.
Camden wrote:Dallas lost Monta Ellis, Tyson Chandler, Amar'e Stoudemire, Al-Farouq Aminu and Richard Jefferson this off-season.
They replaced them with Deron Williams (old), Wes Matthews (Achilles injury), John Jenkins (unproven), Zaza Pachulia (solid but better off the bench), Justin Anderson (rookie) and JaVale McGee (Shaqtin-A-Fool Vice President).
You're telling me they won't take a big step back? I love me some Rick Carlisle, but you have to have players to win. That's an odd assortment of guys. Not to mention, Dirk's one year older. They're not making the playoffs, I'll tell you that much.
Wait. You list Richard Jefferson as a key departure but dismiss Williams as old, along with Matthews and Pachulia. It's fine to question all three for different reasons... but not if you're heralding Richard Jefferson in the same breath.
Jefferson is that guy who joins a new team and the fanbase ends up bellowing "We HAVE to upgrade at that position next season" all season before Jefferson is jettisoned to another team where the same narrative repeats.
Go compare that team to the 2008 Mavs. Carlisle dragged that team to 50 wins somehow. They had Eric Dampier and Brandon Bass as their bigs for crying out loud
Abe: Jefferson was the least important departure, but he was still useful off the bench for the Mavs last year. Check out his numbers from January to the end of the season. They're not bad at all. He was also logging 30-minute nights here and there and contributing pretty well, all things considered. The key to my post was that they replaced him with John Jenkins and/or rookie Justin Anderson. Carlisle would tell you himself that's a downgrade.
Alex: That 2008 Mavs team had a 30-year old Dirk averaging 26/8 a game and Josh Howard coming off an All-Star year (averaged 18/5 that 2008 season). This 2015 Mavs team has nothing like that. And it's fair to mention that the Western Conference this year is probably tougher/deeper than it was in '08 (Lakers, Nuggets, Spurs, Blazers, etc.).
They won't be contenders or anything, but just to put the Wolves ahead or the Mavs out of the playoffs seems super premature. They are the type of team to add someone at the deadline to push towards the playoffs, they never try to tank. They've missed the playoffs like what? once or twice since Cuban took over?
This Vegas sports book has the Wolves at 25.5 wins. So everyone is taking the over except for Abe (.....and I guess bleed with his Price is Right tactic)
