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Quick Mavs Look

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

Things are settling down a bit and at this point we may not see another move until Greg Buckner’s contract is eligible to be traded (September 9).  To my chagrin it does look like we will be losing Ryan Hollins (at least if Mark Cuban’s tweet is any indication: “congrats to ryan hollins. wish him the best w twolves #fb“).  Don’t get me wrong – I never thought he was the next Amare – but his athleticism and hustle just really seemed to fit here, and I envisioned him potentially emerging as a running partner to JKidd/Marion fast breaks.  But the roster is full as it is, so let’s check out who we do have, from biggest to smallest in terms of positional capability:

Dampier
Jawai
Gooden
Nowitzki
Humphries
Nivins
TThomas
Marion
Singleton
Howard
Ross
Buckner
Carroll
Jet
Beaubois
Barea
Kidd

That’s 17 right there. Sure, Buckner + other(s) will probably be moved (which could shake this team up in a big way once again), but this unfortunately already leaves out FA Gerald Green as well as a couple of others. Nevertheless, only 15 can be on the roster and 12 are allowed to be active on gameday anyway.

At the moment, I would imagine the minutes would shake out to (on average):

C: Gooden (24); Damp (17); Dirk (7)
PF: Dirk (29); Marion (10); Gooden (5); TThomas (4)
SF: Marion (26); J-Ho (12); Ross (6); TThomas (4)
SG: J-Ho (22); JET (26)
PG: Kidd (34): Barea (11); JET (3)

IR: Carroll/Buckner
D-League: Jawai/Nivins

Notes:
-Beaubois, Humphries, and Singleton: Two of the three would be active and one would be IR. Being active would not guarantee minutes though.
-Barea (offensively at least) and Ross (defensively at least) would technically be at the 2-guard some of the time despite not being allotted for any minutes there in the depth chart above. This is due to the defensive versatility that is achieved by having people like Kidd at the 1 and Marion/J-Ho at the 3.

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Feliz Futuro

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

Neftali Feliz’s Texas Rangers debut inning: 3 up, 3 K’s. Avg. fastball: 98.5. Hit 100 twice. Dirty change. Welcome to the future.

Update: Came back out for the 7th (understandably). 3 up, 3 down. 1 K, 1 foul pop, and 1 ground out to second. Threw 21 of 30 pitches in all for strikes. Hit 100 five times.

neftalidora

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Technical Difficulties

Saturday, August 1st, 2009

I know we promised more regular posts. I assure you that plan has not been scrapped like the Pirates’ 2009 season.

When you’re building a house, the foundation is the boring part that nobody will see but nonetheless is worth the most effort. Same deal with maintaining a website. We’re trying to get a few tweaks done behind the scenes before we really graduate to content.

I can tell you, however, that I am officially dialed in to fantasy football. Depth chart following my first draft:

QB [1]: Warner; Hasselbeck
RB [2]: Slaton; Barber; Benson; FJones
WR [3]: RMoss; Roy E. Williams; Gage
TE [1]: Winslow; VDavis
K [1]: Folk
DEF [1]: DAL

This is subsequent to a draft-day trade of RBush + Braylon for Slaton. So I’ve got one free agent spot (need to find a WR2/3 – I wish FA Miles Austin was good enough to do the trick) to play around with and the team is already Cowboy-heavy. What a beautiful time of year.

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Polish Hammered

Monday, July 13th, 2009

After getting over the initial shock and disappointment resulting from the “loss” of Marcin Gortat, I started wondering about why Magic GM Otis Smith would make such a move after previously stating that those were “rich numbers” for a backup to his best player. Did he spend the week trying to find a potential trade partner so he wouldn’t lose “The Polish Hammer” for nothing?

So who would be trying to get Gortat? I immediately thought of the Rockets, who had gone so far in the previous two weeks as to set up a gmail account for their fans to show their desire for the Polish big man to sign with Houston.

And then I realized that something I had always wondered about MAY have just been proven true at the expense of my hometown squadron: do certain GMs really operate in alliances with other GMs, and sometimes sabotage other GMs, in the NBA’s game of warfare?

This is just speculation, of course, but take a look at a couple of big trades (I feel like they’ve made some other swaps as well but this information proved tougher than expected to google) Houston and Orlando have orchestrated in recent years:

  • 2009: Rox trade Rafer Alston to the Magic in a three-way trade also involving the Grizzlies. This occurs after the contending Magic lose their all-star PG Jameer Nelson for the season.
  • 2004: Rox trade Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley, and Kevin Cato for 2-time NBA leading scorer Tracy McGrady, Juwan Howard, Tyronn Lue, and Reece Gaines.

I notice while researching their trade history that the Rockets also are quite fond of dealing with the Grizzlies, shipping Bonzi Wells there in 2008 in a three-way deal that netted them Bobby Jackson, sending them a washed-up Steve Francis for draft picks later that year, and pulling off the Rudy Gay-Shane Battier exchange in 2006.

Not that there is anything wrong with these conceivable GM relationships, but I just think it’s worth pointing out as I now believe the Rockets, who are desperate for a center after losing Yao for the season and were clearly bummed out that the big man chose to sign the Mavs’ offer sheet instead of Houston’s, may have convinced Smith that they will follow-through on a desirable trade come December 15 when Gortat is eligible to be traded.

Donnie Nelson knows talent, but maybe he should spend more time aligning his GM relationships.

Regardless, the updated depth chart does not look bad at all:

C: Hollins; Damp; Dirk; Humphries
PF: Dirk; Marion; Humphries; Nivins
SF: Marion; J-Ho; Singleton; Ross
SG: J-Ho; JET; Barea; Beaubois
PG: Kidd; Barea; Beaubois; JET

Lastly, one more big move may still be coming from the Triangle of Trust, but how about this potential not-so-big move that would add some create-his-own-shot ability at the 2-guard – Marquis Daniels, who by the way has improved his 3-point shot since we saw him last …

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Mavs Talk

Saturday, July 4th, 2009

I can’t sleep. At least not until somebody tells me what is so wrong with this Mavs’ depth chart:

C: Gortat; Hollins
PF: Dirk; Bass; Nivins
SF: Howard; Singleton
SG: GGreen; Terry; AWright
PG: Kidd; Barea; Beaubois

I know Hollins is extremely foul prone, but trust me Gortat is somebody you’re gonna want on the floor for more than 24 minutes a night.

Even if we lose Bass, we’re kind of covered at the 4.

Gerald Green has the perfect size, athleticism, and skills to be the go-to scorer at the 2. So what about when he starts the game off with one too many bone-headed plays? Oh no, I guess that means Jason Terry has to play some more minutes that night.

And if Kidd bolts to New York (which it doesn’t look like he will)? Not only would Barea be at least interesting (he’s got some Jameer Nelson in him) to give a test drive to, but who says Damp and Stack and cap space couldn’t find a way to morph into Stevie Nash?

All I’m saying is that now that some of the FA dust has settled, we know who we’re not getting (e.g. Artest). If (!) TMac’s healthy, I’ll still do Damp+Stack and scoot him into GGreen’s spot. But as is with Gortat, I like that roster up and down right now.

And yes it scares me that Gerald Green plays such a large role in it. But c’mon, don’t you want to see it? Okay, okay, fine. One final nugget for ya: Orlando wants Bass. Sign-and-trade “The Animal” for Pietrus?

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