Suns may prove smart, but Mavs' window is wide open

[HMFFL]

Thankfully, the Shaq rumors ended Wednesday, when he went to the Suns for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban had a message for all those fans and self-styled experts about his team.

"I just love that the fans get into being fantasy GMs," Cuban wrote in an e-mail. "When we say we like our team, our fingers aren't crossed behind our backs."

That doesn't mean the Mavericks have been inactive. They have checked out every deal. But Dirk Nowitzki is untouchable, and Josh Howard is close.

If the target of a trade is Bryant or Garnett, the Mavericks would be agreeable to parting with Howard. But not for O'Neal, who will be 36 on March 6, has missed 79 games in the past three years and is also sidelined with a bad hip.

And not for Kidd, who will be 35 on March 23 and has no shot of guarding Tony Parker, Chris Paul, Deron Williams or Steve Nash in a seven-game series.

The wisdom of the Suns trading for Shaq will be debated heavily, and if it doesn't pay off in at least a Western Conference title, new general manager Steve Kerr will look like an inexperienced nitwit.

Yet it is difficult to criticize the move. Nash is 34. Forget everyone else on the team. When his game starts to decline, the Suns are finished as championship contenders. So if he's even more of a superhuman than he has been, he has about two years of effectiveness left.

That's not the case with the Mavericks. Nowitzki is 29, Howard is 27, and Devin Harris is 24. The Mavericks' window to compete for a championship is larger than the Suns'.

Mavericks general manager Donnie Nelson was asked several times Wednesday if the fact that the Lakers and Suns have made major moves in the last week will have any impact on his approach.

"My brain doesn't work like that," Nelson said. "Our focus is on how to get this group healthy and perform at a championship level."

When Shaq is healthy, the Suns will continue to be tough. Some have predicted that a plodding Shaq will slow them, but I don't think so. Anyone who watched the Lakers and Showtime in the 1980s probably remembers that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wasn't exactly Maurice Greene.


Link

[JES12]

"I just love that the fans get into being fantasy GMs," Cuban wrote in an e-mail. "When we say we like our team, our fingers aren't crossed behind our backs."

Obviously responding to the anti-Ben Wallace thread.

[ppp000]

From article: "Like the Spurs, the Mavericks' strength is their continuity. This group won 127 regular-season games in a two-year period and made the Finals once. It is young, it is good, and it is growing."

But we're NOT the Spurs...last I checked, we don't have 4 rings. Continuity only makes sense when its been proven to work for your team, which it hasn't.
This team as currently constructed does not have a great chance of coming out of the West. Not saying gut the team, but the Mavs FO should be aggressively looking for upgrades, especially at SG, instead of continually feeding us about the "standing pat, we love this team" mantra. As the rest of the West is getting better with the younger teams improving, if Cuban and Avery feel comfortable with standing pat, then I can't wait to see what they will say this offseason if we don't win.

[JES12]

It's also important not to over-react and make a terrible move like the over-reacting Suns

[ppp000]

I don't consider the Shaq move a terrible move. The more I think about it, it is a big risk-big rewards type of deal. Marion wasn't providing much in the playoff crunchtime and the Suns realized their style would never get them out of the West vs. the bigs of the Spurs and Lakers. So they pulled the trigger.

I certainly hope the Mavs don't over-react, we have a nice core of Dirk-Josh-Devin, but this team needs a quality SG really bad. I just hope the FO is aggressively seeking upgrades instead of taking a backseat.

[Pootie41]

I don't think adding Shaq hurts the Suns window whatsoever. If anything it opens it, because it takes a huge burden off Nash. Nash had to create most of Marion's offense anyway. While Shaq will be creating offense for the rest of the team and Nash.

[HMFFL]

I don't consider the Shaq move a terrible move. The more I think about it, it is a big risk-big rewards type of deal. Marion wasn't providing much in the playoff crunchtime and the Suns realized their style would never get them out of the West vs. the bigs of the Spurs and Lakers. So they pulled the trigger.

I certainly hope the Mavs don't over-react, we have a nice core of Dirk-Josh-Devin, but this team needs a quality SG really bad. I just hope the FO is aggressively seeking upgrades instead of taking a backseat.

Well it's not terrible as long as he's on the court and not sidelined due to injuries. I mean, I believe he's going to improve Phoenix, but there are many questions about his health.

[JapanAir21]

I don't think adding Shaq hurts the Suns window whatsoever. If anything it opens it, because it takes a huge burden off Nash. Nash had to create most of Marion's offense anyway. While Shaq will be creating offense for the rest of the team and Nash.

I'm not sure how Marion's offense was created by Nash when Marion was averaging near the same before Nash came to Phoenix, but I see what your saying.

And Shaq creating offense?

[JapanAir21]

I don't think adding Shaq hurts the Suns window whatsoever. If anything it opens it, because it takes a huge burden off Nash. Nash had to create most of Marion's offense anyway. While Shaq will be creating offense for the rest of the team and Nash.

I'm not sure how Marion's offense was created by Nash when Marion was averaging near the same before Nash came to Phoenix, but I see what your saying.

And Shaq creating offense?

[Teddy KGB]

lol forget about offense for a sec and think about the other side of the court.

Shaquille "I foul at a crazy rate when I'm bothered to play defense" O'Neal
Amare "De-what?" Stoudemire
Grant "I'm going to be injured anyways" Hill
Raja "LOLZ I'm overrated" Bell
Steve "I try but I fail" Nash

really fear inspiring group defensively...

[dirkforpres]

Just because the Suns traded their best all around player does not mean we should feel the need to trade... Im more worried about New Orleans and Utah than I am about Phoenix anyways.

[your_dallas_mavericks]

Just because the Suns traded their best all around player does not mean we should feel the need to trade... Im more worried about New Orleans and Utah than I am about Phoenix anyways.

New Orleans has little bench. Utah is to be concerned about.

[Black Jesus 1]

lol forget about offense for a sec and think about the other side of the court.

Shaquille "I foul at a crazy rate when I'm bothered to play defense" O'Neal
Amare "De-what?" Stoudemire
Grant "I'm going to be injured anyways" Hill
Raja "LOLZ I'm overrated" Bell
Steve "I try but I fail" Nash

really fear inspiring group defensively...

Coming from a Dallas fan..? Irony?

[Teddy KGB]

ummm no not really as we are a lot better defensively. Dampier, Howard and Harris are all better defensive players than any one in PHX, Jones does a decent job at SG and Dirk is nowhere near as bad as Amare

[ray ray]

ummm no not really as we are a lot better defensively. Dampier, Howard and Harris are all better defensive players than any one in PHX, Jones does a decent job at SG and Dirk is nowhere near as bad as Amare

another fan overrating their players. I'm not concern with the Mavs either, even before the Shaq trade but theirs a question that all the Mavs fans are need to ask themselves... Are we really that good like we'll say??? really, think hard... The only player I'm concern from you team is Josh Howard becouse he brings it, but Dirk" I choke under pressure" Nowitzki is going to get you over the hump??? Jason Terry is supposed to create fear in any team?? Erica Dampier is not going to over power Amare anymore becouse he is going to go agaisnt the Diesel..

You guys might beat us in the regular season but come in the playoffs I'm not the least concern with your team unless you get somebody like Jason Kidd. We're not saying that the Shaq trade was the best trade but atleast we knew that with Marion we were not going anywhere and we aleats attempted to get better in our biggest weakness which was interior defense and rebounding.

O yea, who's going to guard Amare in the post??? Nowitzki?? Jowan Howard?? while amare is aggresive taking it to the basket, Nowitzki is a jump shooter..

[mavsfoty]

-= original quote snipped =-



another fan overrating their players. I'm not concern with the Mavs either, even before the Shaq trade but theirs a question that all the Mavs fans are need to ask themselves... Are we really that good like we'll say??? really, think hard... The only player I'm concern from you team is Josh Howard becouse he brings it, but Dirk" I choke under pressure" Nowitzki is going to get you over the hump??? Jason Terry is supposed to create fear in any team?? Erica Dampier is not going to over power Amare anymore becouse he is going to go agaisnt the Diesel..

You guys might beat us in the regular season but come in the playoffs I'm not the least concern with your team unless you get somebody like Jason Kidd. We're not saying that the Shaq trade was the best trade but atleast we knew that with Marion we were not going anywhere and we aleats attempted to get better in our biggest weakness which was interior defense and rebounding.

O yea, who's going to guard Amare in the post??? Nowitzki?? Jowan Howard?? while amare is aggresive taking it to the basket, Nowitzki is a jump shooter..

So if Shaq is in and we go small and put Bass at the 4 and Dirk at the 5 how is Phoenix going to counter? Bass can defensively muscle Amare around. Stop him? No but we have successfully beaten the Suns with Amare putting up spectacular #'s. Shaq isn't going to go to the perimeter to guard Dirk.


I think all anyone was really saying is you no longer have a perimeter defender that can adequately cover Dirk. So yes Amare maybe able to be more agressive on the offensive end but this move frees Dirk up just as much.

The Mavs have always been a team that could run with Phoenix and muck it up w/ the Spurs. Does the trade make the Suns better in the halfcourt? Yeah but at the cost of alot of their ability to run.

[Black Jesus 1]

ummm no not really as we are a lot better defensively. Dampier, Howard and Harris are all better defensive players than any one in PHX, Jones does a decent job at SG and Dirk is nowhere near as bad as Amare

A lot better?
http://www.knickerblogger.net/stats/2008/d_de.htm

We're 10th, Dallas is 13th....

[Zoli]

-= original quote snipped =-


A lot better?
http://www.knickerblogger.net/stats/2008/d_de.htm

We're 10th, Dallas is 13th....

It depends on what statistic you look at. A Suns fan obviously don't want to read statistics about PPG allowed, or rebounding. But I ask you something, do you really think Hill is a better defender than Josh Howard, Nash is a better defender than Harris, and Amare is a better defender than Dampier or Diop? I'm not saying we're an elite defensive team, but we're a good defensive team. And we have guys like George or Hassel on the bench. About what i've read here, i don't think we can underestimate the Suns after that move, but before that i thought we'd have 45 % chance against you guys in the playoffs, and now i think we have 55 %, maybe I'm wrong, if there is a guy who can make Shaq look like an all-star again, that's Steve Nash. And I actually thought you guys had a legitimate shot for the title with the roster you had before the trade.

[itsgotime]

-= original quote snipped =-



another fan overrating their players. I'm not concern with the Mavs either, even before the Shaq trade but theirs a question that all the Mavs fans are need to ask themselves... Are we really that good like we'll say??? really, think hard... The only player I'm concern from you team is Josh Howard becouse he brings it, but Dirk" I choke under pressure" Nowitzki is going to get you over the hump??? Jason Terry is supposed to create fear in any team?? Erica Dampier is not going to over power Amare anymore becouse he is going to go agaisnt the Diesel..

You guys might beat us in the regular season but come in the playoffs I'm not the least concern with your team unless you get somebody like Jason Kidd. We're not saying that the Shaq trade was the best trade but atleast we knew that with Marion we were not going anywhere and we aleats attempted to get better in our biggest weakness which was interior defense and rebounding.

O yea, who's going to guard Amare in the post??? Nowitzki?? Jowan Howard?? while amare is aggresive taking it to the basket, Nowitzki is a jump shooter..

Suns fans ask themselves that just as much as Mavs fans do. The one question I want to know is how is Dan or Tony going to coach this group? He doesn't like defense, all he wants is offense. Can he really make this team play the way they need to to actually win a championship. Then even after that, are the players you currently have enough?

You can have all the stars in the league and there is still no guarantee. Ask Denver, NJ, Houston, the Payton/Malone year Lakers. Shaq can put together a really good series at this point IMO. When is that series going to happen? Also, Damp has been just fine when guarding Shaq most of the time in the past. Damp might have started his decline, Shaq is in full decline mode.

So we don't fear each other, nothing new.

[ray ray]

-= original quote snipped =-



Suns fans ask themselves that just as much as Mavs fans do. The one question I want to know is how is Dan or Tony going to coach this group? He doesn't like defense, all he wants is offense. Can he really make this team play the way they need to to actually win a championship. Then even after that, are the players you currently have enough?

You can have all the stars in the league and there is still no guarantee. Ask Denver, NJ, Houston, the Payton/Malone year Lakers. Shaq can put together a really good series at this point IMO. When is that series going to happen? Also, Damp has been just fine when guarding Shaq most of the time in the past. Damp might have started his decline, Shaq is in full decline mode.

So we don't fear each other, nothing new.

I don't understand any of you. First, we are to small to win the title, now we aren't fast enough to play with anybody. We still have Nash, Amare, Bell, Barbosa, Diaw and Hill who can all run unless Marion took their ability to run with him to Miami. But the differance is now we have some toughness, a legit interior precense and somw swagger that for some reason we didn't posses this season. We are not asking Shaq to be the Shaq of old, what we are asking Shaq is to be effective. Even if Shaq is about 60-70% he is still better than more than 80% than any center in the NBA.