They challenged the Spurs and this is great but take away the Vince Carter improbable three and the series is probably over in 5 games
They had a good match up for them vs the Spurs but you cant hang your hat on being a challenge
But do you think the Mavs would've took a young athletic team like Thunder, Clippers or Rockets to a game 7?
The Mavs edged the Suns by one game to get into the playoffs. The Suns have improved their roster and they have young ascending players
Also the majority of the West teams that finished ahead of them will be improved just by that they have young star players who are ascending
The Mavs are picking up borderline washed guys besides Parsons.Yall are hoping to catch a 2011 like effect but the pieces are going to be 4 years older
Do I think we could've taken the Thunder to seven games? We won the season series, so maybe.
Do I think we could've taken the Rockets to seven games? We tied the season series, losing games by 2 and 8.
Clippers we would've had issues with, but that's a different story.
So the Suns improved their roster with young, ascending players.
But yet Chandler Parsons, the best young player to roll through the Mavericks doors since God knows when, is just not that important. But Eric Bledsoe, Dragic, and Lil Zeke are. Gotcha.
It really is all about the young guys though, ain't it? Spurs and Mavs beat the Heat by being young. That was the secret to beating them!
The only player we brought back from the 2011 team was Tyson.
Kidd was 38 in 2011. Jameer Nelson is 32. Felton is 30. Harris is 31.
DeShawn Stevenson was 30. Jason Terry was 33. Monta Ellis is 28, and lightyears better than both of those guys.
Shawn Marion was 33. Chandler Parsons is 25, and Aminu is 23.
Yes, Dirk and Tyson are older. Dirk also had his most productive year last year SINCE the Championship, and Tyson was at his best under Carlisle.
Who in the West has really gotten all that much better?
Spurs haven't made any moves to make them any better.
Warriors got Brandon Rush and Shaun Livingston, but none of those guys are starters.
Houston lost three key role players and only got one decent one in return.
LAC made a good move in bringing in Hawes, but lost a really good back-up to CP3 (who missed 20 games last year).
Memphis got a good shooter, but lost a good shooter. This could be the year that Vince's legs finally give up on him.
OKC added a good piece to fit into the rotation, but will not be any better than Kevin Martin was for them.
Portland added some good bench guys, but nothing more.
Phoenix got a really good player in Lil Zeke, but he'll be sitting behind Goran/Bledsoe with a lot of money tied up to three undersized back-court players with no real depth in the front-court.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks upgraded the three positions that were weakest last year.
PG: Calderon -> Jameer Nelson/Raymond Felton
SF: Marion -> Chandler Parsons/Aminu
C: Dalembert -> Tyson Chandler.
You've pretty much neglected the fact that Carlisle is one of the best coaches in the NBA and will do wonders in getting the most out of these guys. This isn't Charlotte where these guys are playing. They are playing for an organization that strives to maximize the potential of their players, both young and old.
No, we don't have a ton of young talent. But Monta and Chandler Parsons are both under 30, and will be two of our top three scorers next year. Monta isn't breaking down yet. He's still getting started.
