Posted by Bryan Gutierrez on April 25, 2013 under Commentary | 
Episode 74 of the Mavericks Outsider Report is here.
For those who don’t know, MOR a podcast entirely devoted to your Dallas Mavericks.
The end of the regular season passes without a Mavericks playoff game for the first time since 2000. It’s already time to move on from this season and look ahead to what the Mavericks can do to make sure this year is just a minor bump in the road.
But first, we want to cover Rick Carlisle’s entertaining post-game O.J. Mayo commentary, and the thoughts shared by Mark Cuban following the team’s mathematical elimination from the playoff picture. Then, we look forward by pulling out the oldest segment we have – Buy, Sell, Hold – to run through Mavericks’ free agents and possible free agent acquisitions. The end result shows that there are more holes to fill than money to spend. We take a quick run through the playoffs in NBA Nuggets, and we close with some talk about Lamar Odom and VIP floor tickets.
Intro – Banter / Rick on OJ
22:45 – Cuban’s Concession Speech
42:10 – Buy, Sell, Hold (Current Mavs)
1:03:25 – Buy, Sell, Hold (Potential Free Agent Signings)
1:28:35 – NBA Nuggets, Playoff Edition
1:24:08 – Yelling at Lamar Odom from Baller Seats / Closing Thoughts
Catch us again shortly after the draft in June as we have our “Judgement Day” episode. We’ll have the Mavs Jedi Council in the house to really dig in and figure out if Dallas made the right move(s) during the draft, and is prepared for the pivotal summer that is staring them directly in the face.
Bryan Gutierrez writes about sportsmen. He also attended Ball So Hard University. Bryan channels his inner-Clark Kent on a day-to-day basis. You can follow him on Twitter @BallinWithBryan.
Posted by Bryan Gutierrez on April 22, 2013 under Commentary, Recaps |
The Rundown is back. Every Monday during the regular season (unless there’s a better feature to run with), The Rundown will chronicle the week that was for the Mavs, as well as let you know what is coming up for the boys in blue, with a unique spin. Simply put, it is your Monday catch-up on all things with the Dallas Mavericks.
The end is here. The 2012-13 season for the Dallas Mavericks is officially over. There is some solace that the Mavs were able to finish the season with a record of 41-41. They became the 13th team in NBA history to be 10 games below .500 in a season and finish at .500 or better. The most recent team to achieve that feat before the Mavs was 2010-11 Philadelphia 76ers. The last Western Conference team was 1980-81 Portland Trail Blazers.
That’s a great accomplishment for a team that looked dead in the water back in December and January. That being said, there’s a lot of work to be done this summer for the Mavs if they want to get back to where they were just two years ago. They don’t need to be the number one overall seed in the Western Conference, but they need to get into a spot where they’re not having to scratch and claw just to have a chance to make the playoffs. There will be plenty of time to dissect what the Mavs can do this summer to fix what is ailing them. For now, let’s just look at what exactly happened this season.
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Posted by Travis Wimberly on April 21, 2013 under Commentary, Recaps |
Thermodynamics (n.) – the science concerned with the relations between heat and mechanical energy
And with that, the 2012-2013 Dallas Mavericks will ride off into the sunset.
Sixteen NBA teams will play on, but the Mavs’ season is over. It wasn’t exactly a ceremonious ending, but it could have been worse. The Mavs closed out the year exactly at .500 (41-41), tallying their final win ever against the New Orleans Hornets Pelicans. In the process, they became the first Western Conference team in over three decades to finish at .500 or better after being 10-plus games below that mark at any point during the season. That says something (although I’m not sure exactly what).
In honor of the season’s end and the final 2012-2013 installment of Thermodynamics, this week’s column will be a little different. Instead of the usual “weekly recap” approach, this one will address the three hottest and coldest performances for the entire season. For each item on the list, I’ll include one of the first things I wrote about that player from early in the year, and we can see how those initial impressions line up with the player’s season-long outlook.
Off we go…
FIRE
1) Brandan Wright
“Last season [2011-2012], Brandan Wright was a very serviceable rotation-caliber big man. This year, he will move well above that status, if the first two games are any indication.” – Thermodynamics: Week 1 (Nov. 1, 2012)
Those first two games were an indication, indeed.
Like countless Mavs observers, I spent the early part of this season perplexed by Rick Carlisle’s handling of Wright. Even accounting for Wright’s weaknesses, there was never any real justification for him to ride the pine for long stretches in favor of 2012 Troy Murphy. Yet as the year went on, Carlisle grew more and more comfortable with Wright. The 25-year-old big man began to rebound and defend better (although he still has significant room for improvement), all while the Mavs’ mounting playoff desperation necessitated Carlisle’s compromise.
As many of us suspected, Wright turned to be one of the Mavs’ most efficient and productive players, effectively showcasing his potential as a long-term piece for the Mavs. He also drove up his free-agent asking price in the process, but Dallas has cap room aplenty, which if nothing else will give Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson room to mull over a competitive offer. I consider him a top priority for this offseason. It would be foolish to let him walk unless another team wants to drastically overpay him (which isn’t completely outside the realm of possibility). Wright is already a highly efficient offensive player, and he has plenty of upside to boot. It’s hard to ask for more.
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Posted by Bryan Gutierrez on April 19, 2013 under Interviews |
There’s not a great way to classify Dirk’s 2012-13 campaign. It started with the incredible personal highlight of being able to play in Germany in an exhibition game. Concern then started to circulate as he had issues with his knee, which ultimately led to surgery. He missed more than a quarter of the season due to the surgery. When he came back, he had doubts about whether or not he could actually return to the form everyone is used to seeing from him. The doubts eventually went away as he swagger returned. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t enough time for Dirk to help get the Mavs into the playoffs.
A pivotal summer is on the horizon for the Mavs. Dirk will be ready to do whatever he can to help the franchise get back to the playoffs and make this year more of an aberration than the new expected norm.
Here is the final exit interview of the season. Here is Dirk Nowitzki’s exit interview.
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Posted by David Hopkins on under Commentary |
“…On my word, we’ll trouble you no more.” – Galactus, Devourer of Worlds
In March, I spoke with ESPN Central Texas 1660 AM about the Dallas Mavericks. During that segment, I said something to the effect that the Mavs are “a 500 team, but 500 won’t be good enough to get into the playoffs in the Western Conference.” Nailed it. They were .500 exactly with 41 wins and 41 losses. It’s the first time in franchise history that they’ve had a .500 win/loss percentage for a season. But what does 500 mean?
If we were to add up all the games this season as if it were one single game, the Mavericks were outscored by opponents 8,342 to 8,293. I don’t know if this number is all that significant, except to indicate that, on average, the Mavs losses had a greater point differential than their wins. Sure, the Mavs had some close games. But from this season, those blowouts are going to be what I remember most. When a game got out of control, the Mavs just couldn’t put on the brakes, couldn’t stop the bleeding. Use whatever metaphor you want.
Ever since the western dominance of the NBA, around the time when Michael Jordan retired, Shaquille O’Neal moved to Los Angeles, and the Spurs drafted Tim Duncan, the question has persisted: is a Western Conference record worth more than an Eastern Conference record? When the Mavs play powerful Western Conference teams more often than lowly Eastern Conference teams, doesn’t that count for something? Keep in mind, five Western teams have 50 plus regular season wins. In the East, there are only two. At 500, the Mavs would’ve made the playoffs in the East—pushing out Milwaukee. Of course, this is price the Mavs pay for being in a better, more competitive conference.
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Posted by Bryan Gutierrez on under Interviews |
Though the team’s record was 41-41, many would say that this year was one of Rick Carlisle’s best coaching performances of his career. He had to endure over a quarter of the season without his best player and found a way to make sure his team never quit. Carlisle had to balance the juggling act of a roster that was in flux and it was a roster that easily could have turned on him with new contracts on the horizon. That said, they didn’t turn because the coach never gave in.
It was a year of work for Rick Carlisle. The results didn’t bear any fruit, but it’s not due to his negligence. The summer begins early for him, with potentially a new set of issues he’ll have to prepare for. Dirk Nowitzki might be the best on-the-floor asset the Mavs have, but Rick Carlisle is truly an asset that should not be taken for granted.
Here is the exit interview with Mavs coach Rick Carlisle.
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Posted by Bryan Gutierrez on under Interviews |
As the General Manager and president of basketball operations, Donnie Nelson provides a different perspective of how the season went for the Mavs. He also gives a different vantage point of how the offseason will have to be observed.
Here is the exit interview with Donnie Nelson.
Opening remark: “We weren’t expecting this. This time of year, we’re gearing up for the playoffs, so this is an out of body experience for all of us. We’ve got some work cut out for us. We’ve got a big summer, moving forward. We don’t expect to be here in the same situation next year at the same time.”
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Posted by Bryan Gutierrez on under Interviews |
What a year it turned out to be for Vince Carter. He played relatively well in his first season for the Mavs, but it appeared that he was being asked to do too much and his impact fell off near the end of 2011-12. Fast forward one more year, Carter once again did most of the heavy lifting, especially when Dirk Nowitzki was on the shelf, but Carter never broke down. Outside of rookie scale contracts, Carter has to be one of the better bang for your buck players in the entire league.
His grit and determination really won Rick Carlisle and Mark Cuban over. He also showed that he could be a presence on the floor even on the rare nights where his shooting wasn’t on line. He took handfuls of charges over the course of the year, attacking the rim for rebounds and was a solid playmaker. Sure, he took and missed his share of shots at the end of the games, but the pros far outweigh the cons for Vince Carter this year. It will be interesting to see if the Mavs decide to keep him or see what he could fetch on the open market. One thing is for certain, Vince Carter isn’t ready to take the loss against Father Time just yet.
Here is the exit interview for Vince Carter.
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Posted by Bryan Gutierrez on under Interviews |
O.J. Mayo and Darren Collison were seen as pieces that presented the backcourt of the future. With both of them still in their mid-20s, the sky was the limit for both Mayo and Collison. Unfortunately, the two never really seemed to click at the same time. With Dirk Nowitzki out for the first 27 games of the season, Mayo led the team in scoring and minutes and was primed to be the player everyone hoped he would become. Ultimately, he hit a wall and was unable to really recover from it.
Collison saw his starting position taken away from him by two veteran point guards who joined the team during the middle of the season, Derek Fisher and Mike James. It was an extremely up and down season for the young point guard. You only have to look at the team’s regular season finale where he scored a game-high 25 points to see that there’s potential there.
Both could easily be with the Mavs next season or both of them could be playing on new squads, creating a new void for the franchise. You can make a case that either route is a solid decision for the franchise. Time will tell what they ultimately do. For now, here are the exit interviews for both Darren Collison and O.J. Mayo.
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Posted by Bryan Gutierrez on April 18, 2013 under Interviews |
Exit interviews are a time to say goodbye and get a jump start on the summer. Elton Brand came to the Dallas Mavericks in a unique way. The Philadelphia 76ers decided to use the one-time amnesty provision, foregoing the final $18.1 million owed to Brand in the last year of his five-year contract and not having it count against their luxury tax or salary cap. Always the opportunists, the Mavs claimed Brand off waivers with a winning bid of $2.1 million. It was a rough start for him, but he proved to be a versatile threat for the team on both ends of the floor.
Jae Crowder was taken 34th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Through a draft night-trade with the Mavs, he was sent to Dallas, along with 24th overall pick Jared Cunningham and 33rd overall pick Bernard James, in exchange for 17th overall pick Tyler Zeller and Kelenna Azubuike. He emerged as a nice asset for the Mavs. Over the course of the season he contributed in a variety of ways and found himself within the rotation.
It is unknown if Brand will return to the Mavs. Crowder is signed through next season, but could still be seen as a tradeable asset. Here is the quoteboard for Elton Brand and Jae Crowder’s exit interviews.
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