Time to enter the Western Conference. We begin with the Southwest Division.
Record: 22-60, 5th Southwest Division, 14th in Western Conference
Statistical Comparisons
Notable:
26th 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)
24th in ppg differential (-6.2 ppg)
15th in field goal %
22nd in three-point %
12th in free throw attempts per game
17th in blocks
19th (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
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
Any way you slice it
Check out Memphis news at 3ShadesofBlue.com
Record: 51-31, 4th Southwest Division, 7th in Western Conference
Statistical Comparisons
Notable:
1st 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)
10th in ppg differential (+4.5 ppg)
9th in field goal %
20th in three-point %
14th 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 7th 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
Read all about the Mavericks at MavsMoneyball.com
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)