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The Mavericks were No. 1 last season. They lost in the first round to Golden State.

It's doubtful the Warriors will be the top seed this season. Then again, the way West superpowers San Antonio, Dallas and Phoenix are going, perhaps each wouldn't mind seeing Golden State carry that torch.

When the Spurs fell Monday to, yes, the Warriors, it meant every team in the West had double-digit losses. Dallas last season didn't become the final West team to lose a 10th game until March 12 and Phoenix didn't get there until Feb. 3.

"I've never seen so many teams with double-digit losses so early," Nuggets guard Anthony Carter said.

But there isn't a lot of grumbling among the West's elite. Not that this is interrupt-soap-operas news, but there seems to be a renewed sense the NBA regular season is overrated.

"I know, ultimately, it comes down to the playoffs," said Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki, whose team is 24-11 this season compared with a 27-8 start last season, when Dallas finished 67-15. "So whatever we do in the regular season, nobody is going to believe in us anyway."

Sounds as if Nowitzki has compared notes with Suns forward Grant Hill.

Jostling for Jones

Not surprisingly, there was interest in forward Bobby Jones after he was waived Monday by the Nuggets.

Jones said Portland was intrigued but needed to make a trade due to having the maximum of 15 players. He said San Antonio and Dallas also called his agent, although the Mavericks also have 15.

Jones chose Memphis. He signed a 10-day contract Thursday, which he hopes will lead to a deal for the rest of the season.

"I know they're not doing that well right now, but this is probably the best place for me to get some playing time," he said.

As for the Nuggets letting him go, Jones said "some of it was money and some was so they could have some open roster spots" for possible future moves. The Nuggets, deep into the luxury tax, saved roughly $820,000.

The Nuggets have a $2.95 million trade exception that expires today. But it's unlikely they will use it.

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Realmavsman wrote:I remember the draft profile of Bobby Jones coming out of college. He was suppose to be the best defensive player of that years draft class.

SaintofKillers wrote:-= original quote snipped =-
Nope, it was Corey Belser (DPotY) who played for our Summer League team.

Jones is redundant though. We have too many "defensive specialists" that doesn't do anything else and guys like that are DNP recipients. We already have a similar player that might potentially develop into something special stashed away in Europe.

Whateva wrote:The Mavs already have Trenton Hassel as a defensive stopper, and they don't play him

SaintofKillers wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Exactly. There's only one uni-dimensional player to log heavy minutes for Avery and that's Griffin (and he was pretty good as long as you don't expect him to shoot jumpers) -- the rest have been fixtures on DNP lists.

Say, can't we bring him back? It wouldn't be that hard, Ager or a 2nd rounder would do it. He was at least more useful/productive than any other SG we have except maybe for EJ.

JES12 wrote:Anthony Carter is right. As long as 16 of 30 teams makes the playoffs, an team within a game or two of .500 ball have a chance at the playoffs making the 82 games over-rated.

In Baseball, only 8 teams make the playoffs (4 each league). In Football, only 12 of 32 teams make it and the 4 that try the hardest are rewarded with a 1st round bye. In those sports, the regualr season means something, but not the NBA.

JES12 wrote:Okay, I re-read that and you are right...it wasn't Anthony Carter, it was the author of the article.

No, I don't think they care where they are seeded....1-8 don't matter. There is 11.7% difference from the best in the west and the 8th seed. Positioning is not predictable this year.

Maybe in the West, but the east has a .500 team and a sub-.500 ranked 7 and 8. Still, even in the West, the #9 and 10 seeds are knocking on the door within 2 games of .500.