NBA Team by Team

DALLAS MAVERICKS

8th in the West. Why oh Why Mr Cuban? Why are both Avery Johnson AND Devin Harris gone?? Harris' scoring is not the what is missed. Sure he is having a break-out year in a much more free wheeling system, but what is really missed is his quickness on defense. Jason Kidd, a Hall-of-Famer to be as he is, is well in decline and he just can't keep up with CP3, Parker or any PG in the league for that matter. It could be argued that PG's find their space through a solid pick so it doesnt really matter who you have, they will always find space coming off the pick - but the results don't lie. The Mavs were a true force in the west and now they will battle Phoenix, who have fallen off in tandem with the Mavs, for the final splayoff spot and an early exit from the playoffs. Dirk is Dirk, a tremendous player with outstanding shooting touch, but the same questions still linger - where is your inside game? get to the line. And be 'The Man'. Rumours have been circling that Marion-J-Ho trade is in the works and i think this would be a great move - particularly for the Mavs. But it cannot be overlooked that the Mavs are now struggling to stay in contention, with a bunch of fat contracts that will be hard to move. A far cry from 3 years ago when they had the a bunch of players with an up-side and some tradable commodities. If you look at the talent that has gone through this team - Nash, Nowitzki, Howard, Stackhouse, Finley, Harris, Walker (??) Juwan Howard, Jamison you know they should have done more. What's missing - inside scoring - the Mavs are a jump shooting team, defense and 3-point shooting.