HMFFL wrote:The entire roster is dysfunctional and has been for years. It's very difficult to blame one player when all of them have their flaws. Rick Carlisle deserves some of the blame as well, but so does the two clowns that provide him with the players, so Cuban & Nelson deserve most of it for the way our team is constructed.
Exactly, which is why I've always had a problem with labeling the Mavs as "chokers" or under-achievers. They're not. They just haven't been as good as the opponents who've beaten them. It's that simple. It really is the FO's fault primarily, but it's not easy to build a championship team around a non-traditional superstar who isn't committed to defense. He's just so difficult to complement that you almost have to find the perfect players to complement him, which is easier said than done.
Regardless, I think David Moore made a great point several years ago that bears repeating. He said it was difficult to take guys who don't live and breathe defense and get them to play it consistently. That's what we've tried doing with Dirk, Terry, et al, and it hasn't worked. It goes a long way towards explaining why (a) we play great defense early in the year (after training camp) and then slowly regress as the season moves on, (b) we have difficulty holding leads (and therefore play a lot of close games), and (c) we seem to underperform in the playoffs. I still don't think our superstar buys into the notion that solid, consistent defense will help win championships.
Given all that, I still think these recent losses are the best things that could've happened to this team. They need a wakeup call before the playoffs start.
