Blazersedge 2008-09 NBA Season Preview: Grizzlies and Mavericks

by Dave on Oct 9, 2008 12:26 AM PDT Comment 9 comments

Time to enter the Western Conference. We begin with the Southwest Division.

MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES

Record: 22-60, 5th Southwest Division, 14^th in Western Conference

Statistical Comparisons

Notable:

26^th in free throw percentage

28th in opponent scoring (106.9 ppg)

30th in opponent field goal %

28th in assists

28th in steals

28th in turnovers

Others:

10th in the league in scoring (100.7 ppg)

24^th in ppg differential (-6.2 ppg)

15th in field goal %

22nd in three-point %

12^th in free throw attempts per game

17th in blocks

19^th (tie) in opponent turnovers

Poor offensive rebounding team

Average defensive rebounding team

Movement

Significant Additions: Antoine Walker, Marko Jaric, Greg Buckner, Quinton Ross, O.J. Mayo (R), Darrell Arthur (R), Marc Gasol (R)

Significant Subtractions: Mike Miller, Jason Collins, Juan Carlos Navarro, Kwame Brown

Roster

Coach: Marc Iavaroni

Key Players

PG: Mike Conley, Kyle Lowry, Javaris Crittendon

SG: O.J. Mayo, Marko Jaric, Greg Buckner

SF: Rudy Gay

PF: Hakim Warrick, Antoine Walker

C: Darko Milicic, Marc Gasol

Comments

Memphis’ story is pretty simple: long on athletes, short on cohesiveness. Rudy Gay is a special player, one of those Corey Maggette types who just blows you away with his power and skills and doesn’t get major credit for it. Almost every team in the league would love to have him. Conley and Mayo make a powerful, though obviously inexperienced backcourt. Hakim Warrick, though undersized for a power forward, scores and rebounds well. Kyle Lowry is a nice all-around point guard. The jury’s out on the rest of the team but it’s not like there’s a talent vacuum there. For a team many consider a doormat they have some promise.

The big, gaping, suck-filled maw of doom for the Grizzlies is their defense. Taking candy from a baby doesn’t describe what opponents did to them last year. It’s like every night was Halloween and the Grizzlies lived in that big, rich house where they give away full-sized Snickers. Ding-dong! “Trick or Treat!” Hmmm…twenty points for you and (Oooh! Aren’t you cute?) twenty points for you too and twenty for the big scary guy and…oh heck, I’ll just give you 120 between all of you and you decide how to split them up. Experience cures some ills but it’s hard to imagine them being that much better this season.

Poor deep shooting and lack of assists also indicate that Memphis isn’t making life easy on its slashers. Without a great inside presence and without consistent deep shooting opposing teams just have to prevent easy buckets in transition to make sure the Grizzlies can’t score enough to win. That they finished 10^th in the league anyway speaks of their talent. You just wish they could put a complete game together.

Any way you slice it Memphis is going to struggle again this year. They’re still at least a dynamic frontcourt player away from crawling out of the quicksand and they need to solidify their point guard position too, either by growing the guys they have or acquiring a veteran. They’re hardly heavy on trade bait (that they’d part with) so it’s a safe bet they’ll need a trip or two more through the draft before their fortunes look up.

Check out Memphis news at 3ShadesofBlue.com

DALLAS MAVERICKS

Record: 51-31, 4th Southwest Division, 7^th in Western Conference

Statistical Comparisons

Notable:

1^st in free throw percentage

4th in opponent field goal %

29th in steals

5th in turnovers

30th in opponent turnovers

Others:

12th in the league in scoring (100.4 ppg)

6th in opponent scoring (95.9 ppg)

10^th in ppg differential (+4.5 ppg)

9th in field goal %

20th in three-point %

14^th in free throw attempts per game

20th in assists

11th in blocks

Average offensive rebounding team

Very Good defensive rebounding team

Movement

Significant Additions: Gerald Green, Desagana Diop

Significant Subtractions: Malik Allen, Tyron Lue, Jamaal Magloire

Roster

Coach: Rick Carlisle

Key Players

PG: Jason Kidd, Jose Juan Barea

SG: Jason Terry, Eddie Jones, Antoine Wright

SF: Josh Howard, Jerry Stackhouse, Devean George

PF: Dirk Nowitzki, Brandon Bass

C: Erick Dampier, Desagana Diop

Comments

What a year it was in the West. You win 51 games, score 100 per game, play really good defense, take care of the ball, and rebound well and still finish 7^th in the conference and hear everybody claim you’re falling apart. True, the bloom is off the rose for the Mavericks. Nowitzki and Howard are the only stars left in their full glory on a team that used to collect them like Happy Meal toys. Brandon Bass looks like a fine player on his way up but that’s about it for positive arcs. Jason Kidd is turning into a shell of his old self. Terry and Stackhouse still have life but the sun is creeping towards the horizon there too. Dampier and Diop have never ended up as valuable as people they would be. Eddie Jones is just old. It used to be that you could count on the Mavs to make a big splash acquisition at least once per year. Their splashes are getting smaller and are unable to wash away the reek of Geritol and Ben Gay.

Nevertheless, people shouldn’t be talking smack about a 51-win team with Dallas’ credentials. This is another of those teams that isn’t going to reach the heights again but isn’t going to crumble either. Outside of Nowitzki, they’re pretty well insured against injuries. They’re at least adequate at every position. Rick Carlisle is a fine coach and he inherits a team in a good position to listen to him. The Mavericks will be a “bar” team for up-and-comers in the conference and possible spoilers for the teams above them. It’s not a bad way to spend your latter years.

Read all about the Mavericks at MavsMoneyball.com

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

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Comments

The Dallas Mavericks are overloaded at the wings.

SF: Josh Howard
SF: Devean George
SF: Antoine Wright
SF: James Singleton
SG: Jason Terry
SG: Jerry Stackhouse
SG: Gerald Green
SG: Eddie Jones

What’s with Donn Nelson these days?

Although Eddie Jones is reportedly on the chopping block — for it’s about time for him to retire — that still leaves the Mavericks with too many swingmen and not enough depth in the frontline, particularly since the pivot is manned by offensively challenged guys like Erick Dampier and DeSagana Diop.

Also, I’m not sold on the Mavericks point guard situation; it consists of an over-the-hill, washed-up Jason Kidd, an untested Jose Barea, and an also-ran in Keith McLeod.

Oh well, that’s all Mark Cuban’s problem.

by AK1984 on Oct 9, 2008 12:58 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Unofficial Mavs ambassador additions

Here is a concise preview written by one of the main guys from Mavs Moneyball for the Celticsblog blogger preview.

Some more observations from various Mavs fan sites and a few of my own opinions:

A lot of opposing fans and media pundits claims the Mavs are getting old and going down. It’s almost to the point that they are becoming underrated. Yes, they will eventually decline fairly rapidly, but it is doubtful it will be already this year (barring long injuries to Nowitzki, Howard or Kidd).
Despite different perceptions, they are a very good defensive team. Dallas allowed the fewest opponent 3-point attempts per field-goal attempt and ranked fifth in opponent 3-point percentage. Getting a clean shot inside wasn’t much easier, as they were fourth in opponent 2-point percentage as Dave mentioned.
Most Mavs fans agree that the Kidd deal was a bad idea to force the issue of winning a championship, making the window of opportunity unnecessarily small while giving up valuable assets (picks, players), one of which they already had to buy back in Diop.
Yet key players, not the least of which the usually very easy to handle Dirk, were clamoring for a big change. Maybe Cuban should have fired Avery sooner instead of trading one of their rising stars. And there is hope a new system and full training camp will help him become more valuable for the team.
The major move most Dallas fans were hoping for was not made this off-season, though GM Donnie Nelson claims he had some talks that ultimate went nowhere (most likely the Artest deal). They were able to pick up some nice pieces like Gerald Green for cheap (remember that they have only exceptions to work with at this point), but not a game changer.
For the life of me I don’t understand why Devean George was brought back, a guy who cost Cuban millions of dollars by blocking the initial Kidd deal and was rewarded for it with two more seasons in white and blue. And every source I read doesn’t either. Yes, last year they were collecting washed-up power forwards, this year wings.
The most unstable position on the roster right now is shooting guard. Stackhouse is declining, though also most of his contract next season is unguaranteed, making him maybe movable at the deadline. Antoine Wright, acquired in said deal for Jason Kidd, is looking to be the most promising candidate to start after training camp and first pre-season game (easily beating the Wizards).
Jason Terry is likely to be a candidate for sixth man of the year again, being the first guard off the bench to replace either Kidd or the starting SG (though in combo with Kidd that is a bad defensive setup)
You will see Nowitzki playing much more small forward and center this year, in order to have Brandon Bass on the floor with him.

Prediction: 6th place in the West.

Odenied: If you're given lemmings—make lemming-ade (Bow4Meow)

by Norsktroll on Oct 9, 2008 4:09 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I want to compare both teams to Paris Hilton

I just can’t finish the jokes.

Blazers Edge has an alarmist vision

by tominhawaii on Oct 9, 2008 5:00 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

The Mavs

are still kinda sexy but getting a little old.

You better bring your night-vision goggles to Grizzlies’ games because they’re gonna get…well, you know.

I shoulda thought of this angle myself. In fact it’d be fun to take a famous figure and do a comparison to them for all NBA teams, or maybe one famous person per division.

—Dave

by Dave on Oct 9, 2008 9:50 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I had a decent one for the Mavs

They’re both ugly and at the same time they have some hotness. And they both somehow manage to stay relevant. {The relevant part doesn’t work because Paris isn’t relevant, she’s just always around. I couldn’t find the right term.}

I was leaning the same way with the Grizzly. They are ugly, but I can see how with some work or growing up, that they could be sexy.

Blazers Edge has an alarmist vision

by tominhawaii on Oct 9, 2008 2:48 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Funny Dave quote:

The Mavericks will be a "bar" team for up-and-comers in the conference and possible spoilers for the teams above them. It’s not a bad way to spend your latter years.

LOL Talk about damning with faint praise.

What a difference team direction makes. Blazer fans look at their team and see Megan Fox working-out. Mavs fans look at their team see Michael Jackson reattaching his nose.

"Personally, I'd rather give an elephant a prostate exam on Chili Day." --Dave on rooting for the Lakers or Celtics

by MiledAnimal on Oct 9, 2008 2:05 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Link

Blazers Edge has an alarmist vision

by tominhawaii on Oct 9, 2008 2:51 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm upset and excited at the same time.

"Personally, I'd rather give an elephant a prostate exam on Chili Day." --Dave on rooting for the Lakers or Celtics

by MiledAnimal on Oct 10, 2008 10:37 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Mavs are good not great. Grizzlies have A WAYS to go.

The Mavs are good, not great. They had a good season last year, but the two good seasons they had they probably won’t have again. I hated the Kidd trade. They gave up way too much for him, and were really no better off. Besides Kidd has lots of health issues. Nowitzki is their best player. Definetly their go to guy. Deep team, with many getting on in years. As for the Grizzlies, they are a mixed bag of unproven youth. They do have promise. Hope for the future. The present day team will struggle though.

by CanadianBlazerfan on Oct 9, 2008 7:09 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs