when he mentioned how unathletic this team is and how difficult it was for them to stay in front of players because of this weakness. Dampier and Dirk defending out in space are serious weaknesses easily exploited with quickness alone. Undersized Terry,JJB, and Kidd’s own quickness limitations are an awful lot to overcome with smoke and mirrors. Denver killed us with quickness…

BILD: “Love drama and out of title race”

• Of course as a tabloid they reports a lot about his affair
• “I’m afraid that now everything breaks over me” (more towards his private life than basketball)
• “The title remains the goal. We need to get reinforcements.”
• Not sure if he will play for Germany in the offseason. “The advantage would be that I could train again with Holger Geschwindner in September”

Sueddeutsche

• Citing German coach Bauerman that he talked to Dirk
• Is “cautiously optimistic rather than pessimistic” that he will play, but the decision could be delayed until August
• Has invited Kaman and Dirk back
• Wants to put up a new team for the Eurobasket. Only those two and 4 other players from the Olympics would be back.

FAZ: “Nowitzki strong again, Dallas failed again”

• “I’m almost 31. For me that was another missed opportunity. Another year I didn’t reach my goals”
• Quoting the DMN: “They also won’t be good enough next year, unless substantial things change”
• Hinting that Cuban offered Dirk a lifetime contract (don’t think that’s possible under CBA rules, but 5 years would probably have the same effect)

Though i’d like to mention that the BILD-guy asked Dirk if he’s afraid that now everything will break over him and Dirk answered “Maybe….i lived day-to-day the last week…”

Pressed about what he’s going to do about it now, Dirk said he’d inform himself and “dann schaun wir mal was passiert = we go from there.”

That means Down-time is now.
As for playing the EM, he’s clearly undecided (now)
Ask him again in 3 months. ;)

That dropoff came with getting relieved from Avery.

this team has some serious deficiencies, and among them is their defense, and lack of scorers, but even with those deficiencies, they were able to produce above expectations, and i can’t fault the team for being slower on defense because of their lack of athleticism, and a consistent shot blocker.

i’m not going to feel entitled to them producing anything anymore simply because that has worked out horribly for me in the past. don’t have any delusions about his team, jake. they’re old, and unathletic, and their lack of defense was a direct result of those two facts.

That is the story of these playoffs: A team unwilling (not unable, unwilling) to play defense, and that is not worth celebrating in any form or fashion.

It made me feel better reading the article. I feel the same way.

I think that team really was unable of playing defense.

Feels weird to type in past tense…

kidd is 36.
dirk and dampier are slow (not to mention also in their 30s)
howard was playing on 2 bum ankles

sure coaching and attitude prob had something to do with it, but a little more talent couldnt hurt too no? carlisle had some great defensive teams before. im not sure im a fan of his work this year, but i do think he is a coach who caters his system around the talents/strenghts of his team. this team was a finesse jump shooting team.
it was slow, unathletic and didnt have many weapons on offense.

i still think we can win with dirk as the center piece, but a top three of dirk terry and howard isnt championship level at this point. jr smith, a similar talent to terry, was prob their fourth or fifth best player. terry was our second or third. he should be a good scorer off the bench, but not our secondary offensive option. howards great, i think hes matured a lot, but hes just not reliable enough to be a consistent third option. i really like our guys, but we need more talent.

no draft picks. kidd trade. ouch.

sign birdman as a FA.
package damp and stacks contracts for an elite shooting guard.
if we have money left over, sign ariza (doubt it) or barring that a shooter or something like luther head.

that shoud be more than enough offense to be a 55 win team. and that trio of centers would be among the most energetic in the league. say carlislt dusts off the old pistons/pacers defensive playbook, and we can ride the offense of our top 3 guys and team defense.

the more i think about it, the reason we were bad defensively; could it be because we were so bad offensively? bear with me here. for most of the reg season we had dirk, and either terry or howard but not both for most of the season due to injuries. we had so few weapons, carlisle prob had to spend too much time in practice on the offesnive side of the ball.
looking at the best teams, theyr normally the ones who focus on D as a team, and rely on their offensive stars for their scoring. one more elite scorer, and as odd as it may sound, that may make us a better defensive team

with cuban? we’re over the cap, and we will be over the cap whether we give him 4 mil or 5 mil. im pretty sure this wasnt a contract year type season for him, he always played like this even before his suspension.

That basing my satisfaction for a season on whether they win it all leads to disappointment. I think it’s reasonable to expect the players to take that approach because it’s their job, but as a fan? Of course there’s disappointment, but did you really get the impression that this team was good enough to win it all? Denver made teams that were far more defensively talented look equally as bad (or worse) this season, especially at home. They’re good. Really good. If you can’t admit that, then you’re fooling yourself.

Every season I learn something about the pro game and the players. I also know that most times, no matter how determined players and teams are, there are simply better athletes….better teams…better coaching decisions. It’s part of the game. I now find myself as much of a fan of the game as I am rabid about the Mavericks, and have learned to appreciate what the season brings. The history of the NBA is littered with teams that were great for multiple seasons and never won it all.

I generally agree with your insight 100%, but I think this one is way off.

the Nuggets had a defensive player of the year (Camby) leave in the off-season, and yet they were still a horrid defensive team with him there. They trade for Chauncey and all of a sudden, everybody plays defense with pride and aggression. I think if we can get an Artest or a “Chauncey” the team could take on a different identity.

Also, I don’t think we’re all “satisfied” with having gotten past the first round and then floundering in the 2nd round. I maintain that the Nuggets series would’ve been a lot different if we had a healthy Josh Howard throughout the series. And of course, things could have been much different if we’d have pulled out Game 3. In addition, I think many fans and media that you read about saying they are happy we got out of the 1st round and were complacent with that, were the same ones that thought we wouldn’t make the playoffs or would lose in the 1st round for the 3rd consecutive year. So there’s a point of view that you and I, maybe, aren’t coming from to take into account.

I think this team has gaping holes and I think this team has huge strengths to continue to build around. I think it only goes 2 directions from here:

1. Re-sign Kidd, trade Damp and Stackhouse for a decent sized SG that will play hard defense and can hit the 3/drive to the hoop regularly (a Pietrus-like player), sign a player like Shaq at the 5, and make a final run for it next year with the intent on freeing a lot of cap space and aiming for a big 2010 name, or…

2. Sign-and-trade Kidd to Cleveland or LA (not sure what you’d expect back), trade Damp, Stack to a salary strapped team, trade Howard for something like a Caron Butler and Nick Young package, trade Terry if the market is right and move up in the draft to select our future PG/C, try to acquire Bosh however possible via a combination of these trades

Either way, there will be a big makeover

I try to follow all the texas teams to some extent and I think Cuban will wait one more year before he blows it up.

Seems like he’ll bring in another piece to add a little depth to the lineup. Maybe a post presence? Shaq would be cool in Dallas.

I think Carlisle is safe because of the injuries and age on the team, plus the fact that he got you guys to the second round despite all of that. Short of a losing season next year I think he comes back.