So, what next? many have called for Dirk Nowitzki's head. Many have asked for trading Terry, Dampier, Harris, Howard, etc. in effect, blowing up the team.
That is not a good idea.
This is a team that until weeks ago was considered the best in the league, they had all they needed to beat the Spurs, they were confident that they could beat the Suns, and nobody in the Eastern Conference really scared them outside Detroit, and they matched up very well against them.
What nobody counted on was the Mavericks running into their former coach, and a team that likes to run and gun, and had nothing to lose. Not to mention, all the heart and excitement of the world that the Mavs seemed to lack in their first round matchup.
The Mavericks major problem was lack of heart, the team just didn't show up. In an elimination game 6, the Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki shot 2-13 with 8 points for the GAME. Dirk must show up for the mavs to have a chance. Howard disappeared in the 2nd half (as usual) and Stack had tired legs by the end of the 3rd quarter. Avery Johnson was at a loss after game 1 when he couldnt overcome the matchup issues that GS gave the mavs best players. Dampier was nowhere to be seen, mostly because Avery didn't give him a chance.
There were few bright spots though, Harris emerged as a confident contributer, but not a leader, Croshere tried every once in a while to do something positive, but every positive move he made was complimented by a move that made the fans boo him in their minds. and Diop was a beast in this series, he showed an offensive skill that many mavs didn't think he had, in fact, I'm sure that we will never see again, he scored a whole 10 points one game. That was impressive for a guy who didn't know where the basket was in the regular season.
However, Harris was still hindered by foul trouble, Diop, had no offensive repertoire, he just played hard, and Croshere, well, he was better than KVH, so that counts for something.
The mavs need to look to the future realizing that they do not need any personnel basketball adjustments in order to make it back to the Finals. What they do need is some leadership, maybe a co-first-banana with Dirk, because I think Dirk is too good to be a second banana, but doesnt have the personality to have all the load squarely on his shoulders.
A player the mavs need to go after is Billups, he is strong, a good shooter, excellent decision maker. there have been many suggestions for Sign and Trades with Detroit in order to lure Billups away from Motown. But the biggest concern remains, how do we get him? What pieces to give up to bring a proven PG to this city? It is obvious that the terry/harris experiment is flawed, but Harris is our future. Would Detroit accept a package of terry/Dampier? I think not, our best bet is to provide a young Harris to make Detroit accept the sign and trade.
This would only work, if we traded into the 1st round of the draft, to draft a pg to groom behind Billups as a 3rd string pg, and trade Terry for both a starting SG, and a backup PG, maybe to seattle for Rashard Lewis + one of their guards, and to make the salaries work, we might have to lose somebody like George, or Stackhouse. But, the resulting team should make it easier to get the ball to Dirk in the correct spot, allowing us to matchup better with teams that run and gun (like GS) while at the same time not losing any advantage we may have ever held vs teams like Detroit, San Antonio, or Phoenix.
But the Mavericks have to act fast, their window of opportunity is closing, the team must not pretend that there is nothing to worry about after the finals collapse last year, and the choke job in the 1st round this year.
