zgolfz85 said:
mavsfan4ever said:
shack009 said:
mavsfan4ever said:
shack009 said:
zgolfz85 said:
luka continues to prove day in and day out that he's no dirk....
Also let me know when the mavs get Luka the equivalent of JET, Kidd, Tyson Chandler, Caron Butler, DeShawn Stevenson, etc. to help Luka win games.
Mavs are an unserious organization right now that has rolled out Dwight Powell at C for the better part of a decade.
This has to be a joke. Dirk carried those bags of trash to a title. Did you really just name deshaun Stevenson as a key piece to a championship? And butler who was hurt?
Bags of trash? Stevenson was a defensive menace who could hit a corner three. JET was a 6th man of the year. Kidd was a great 3 point shooter and still a good defender at that point in his career. Tyson Chandler may have been the second most valuable player on the team.
Dirk was surrounded by guys who could play and in some cases were elite at their position (Terry as a scorer off the bench and Chandler at C). Luka has never had a roster around him in the same galaxy as that group.
Barea was the 7th or 8th guy on that team and he'd be the third or fourth guy on this team.
I love all the guys you mentioned and was being hyperbolic calling them bags of trash. It was incredible how that team played and how everyone fit together that year. But you are overestimating how good the roster was. For example, Stevenson was out of the league shortly after the championship run, and no one did much of anything in the league after leaving the Mavs.
correct -- that locker room was a tight one and Carlisle and Dirk made all of these guys better players. The hunger for a late career ring and veteran maturity blended together for a perfect formula, but there's a reason all of those guys faded away quickly after getting the ship.
A lot faded away because they were old.
Butler was 31 with lots of injuries.
Dirk was 33.
Marion was 33.
Peja was 34.
Terry was 34.
Kidd was 38.
But those guys and Chandler were all very talented, well-respected players. While Dirk didn't have a second superstar with him (Kidd was obviously no longer a superstar), that team was built extremely well, with some great defenders, some great shooting (Dirk, Terry, Stephenson, Peja and Kidd all hit 37% or better from 3 in the playoffs) and with Marion, Chandler and Kidd, some great toughness. Barea was the only rotational player under 28. So lots of veteran saavy.
The 11 Mavs are pretty much the prototype of how you would want to build a team around a single elite player that isnt a post or lead playmaker. Saavy veterans, defense, shooting, good passing, toughness, and an instant offense 6th man.