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In his last 5 games he's 5/21 from the floor and 2/13 from 3-point range in 24 minutes a game. I realize EJ is here mainly for defense, but when he is in there with Dampier or Diop we are playing 5 on 3 offensively.

And for all the criticizing of Dirk, Howard, and Terry for settling for jump shots, Jones has taken 5 free throws this season in 539 minutes. So if he's not driving the ball, if he can't hit an open 3, what good is he doing?

I say start Devean George. He's not washed up on the offensive end and can still bring a lot of energy on defense. When we've given him extended minutes he has actually produced, unlike our current starter.

I'd personally rather see Hassell start, he actually knocks them down sometimes.

Yeah, George will probably get to start next on the next episode of "As the Dallas Mavericks Starting Shooting Guard Turns"

Well...he's not there to shoot, more to facilitate the offense and play D. He's good for an open 3 now and then, but his role isn't to create a shot. Anyways he's all we got at that spot, what are you gonna do? I think he's OK...he doesn't force much and is a good passer. But you're right, our SG needs a MAJOR upgrade. Too bad we're chasing after an old PG.

Jones has been pretty good with assists in limited minutes, but I don't mind using him as a trade filler if we need his salary to get a "starting caliber" swing player.

Id rather see JET in the starting lineup, even during his slump that hes in right now. Once Devin gets back, we'll see what Avery decides to do.

I see JET starting in the Playoffs, but not until then. I could have sworn that the reason JET isn't starting is not only for a spark off the bench, but also to help limit his minutes.

Okay, I know a few of you (I say you, not us, because I was never a proponent of it) have suggested Bass starting at the SF spot and I think it's about time.

With Harris and Stack out, and this thread being about Eddie Jones not starting, I think we can all agree that we should expirement with this lineup:

Terry / Howard / Bass / Nowitzki / Dampier

Howard has been playing like the SG we need and Bass has been playing like the SF we need. I never thought I's say Bass looked better as a small forward, but he is strong enough and fast enough to deal with the Anthony's, the Artest's (if he gets traded to a PO team), the Odom's, the Lebron's, etc. At the beginning of the season, I thought of Bass as a PF/C. Now I think of him as a SF/PF.

When Harris comes back and baring an other injury (knock on wood), I like our PO roster as:

Harris / Howard / Bass / Nowitzki / Dampier

and bench of:

Terry / Hassell / Stackhouse / George / Diop

Sub as needed: Jones, Juwan, Barea

Not 1 min in post season: Ager, Fazekas

Sub as needed: Jones, Juwan, Barea

Jones will be ahead of Hassell/George anyday, not because we like it, but because Avery does, lol.

I wouldn't mind starting Bass, fun experiment and it wouldn't hurt at all.

Avery addressed starting Bass at the beginning of the season. He said he didn't want to rely on him in the playoffs since he's never seen them before. That is the reason Bass has been limited in his role on the Mavs while others have seen the benefit of experimentations in the beginning of the year.

Things could have changed since then, and I was loving the proposal when it was suggested. Avery will not do it though because he has to play JET and Stack less if that happened. That is something he is not willing to do.

One other thing, a PO rotation is not and never has been 10 players. On the Mavs they've pushed it to 9 in recent years. I still think it should be 8 players they rely on and let the others come in for situational minutes during the game. However, Avery loves his vets.

Dirk, Harris, JET, Damp, Howard, Stack, Bass, Hassell and Jones should be the only players that get significant PT.

JapanAir21 wrote:Dirk, Harris, JET, Damp, Howard, Stack, Bass, Hassell and Jones should be the only players that get significant PT.

I diagree, but Avery may agree with you. I think Diop should be in there.

Center should be a FIXED position of Damp 25 min, Diop 23 min.

Then, the other 4 positions should have a 7 man rotation. Assuming no trades, Harris, Terry, (2 of Stackhouse, Hassell, Jones, George), Howard, Bass, Dirk.

Out of rotation: Ager, Fazekas, Barea, Juwan

Of course, the 2 left out from the parentheses, Barea and Juwan may see a minute or two due to foul trouble, change of pace or situational matchups, but for the most part, we should have a 2 man center and 7-man, other rotation.

No, George isn't quick enough for the 2 spot.

Fans on this board want Josh at the 2, but he isn't a 2 either.

Mavs should just stick with what they're doing. Play Eddie for 15-20 minutes and then put in Stack for the rest.

Right now Devin and Stack are injured so the Mavs are losing.

I want to keep Josh at the SF
Our answer for a SG I think does not exist on this roster as currently constructed.

DAL fans are beginning to fall into the mode that ATL and other NBA fans had classified as an issue a few years ago when DAL shipped Walker to ATL- JET is a tweener. Neither a true PG nor a true SG. And it has all come with the emergence of Harris as a very good PG. For this team to succeed I think JET has to be your 7th/8th man. DAL is lucky JET can play some PG when needed but it is not sufficient long term in the regular season nor the playoffs.

I don't want JET nor Stack nor Jones nor Hassell nor George nor Ager starting at SG. The starting SG is not here yet...

^ All true.

But in order to get someone you have to give up someone. Mavs have been trying to get a solid 2 now for the past 2 years by dangling Stack and filler in trades. But they over-value Stack, imo. He's a career 40% shooter is why.

Also, Avery liked Terry because he's always there to bale out Devin when he screws up, so he had Cuban sign him to a multi-year deal. So now the Mavs are screwed.