So, yeah. Im currently eating my words when it comes to Vince Carter. I have not fully caved in and started to love the guy, but he seems to be a chill locker room influence. I disliked him for what might have been a Diva-like and thuggish persona, but so far he has been a player who has shown nothing but love for the game and effort on the court. He talks on D, and works hard. He doesn't fancy himself a ballhog superstar, yet knows he's here to shoot. I am slowly starting to accept the guy, and I've always at least liked watching him. He's dynamic.

My love for the boys in blue has also gotten me to accept West into the lineup. Rather, I actually like Delonte West. Before Dallas, he didn't seem like a true point guard. However, since joining us, he seems to be starting to become what is a dream of a guard: A great dribble drive threat with passing skills to dish it out when the D collapses. Oh, and he can shoot, too. He's also not a liability on D.

Given a few more weeks, I'll begin to love Vince, as I loved anyone. The problem to me remains Lamar Odom. The problem with Odom is that he is not producing well with us, obviously.

The point of this thread is to discuss Odom, and what Dallas should or should not do to try to garnish success from out players.

Odom is coming off of one of his best years, if not his best. He was the 6th man of the year, yet for us is playing like an 8th or 9th man. Although he has said he doesn't want it as an excuse, he mentioned he lost a dear family member and considered taking the season off. Also, he is in a new team, after being a seemingly content player with LA(lets face it... A guy like Jet who thought he had job security wouldn't be happy if we tried and failed to trade him without his consent) and thus has had to operate under a new system. The triangle offense allowed him to be the point-forward he was meant to be, so he was able to flourish.

So, what do we do? Should we give Odom more time to get used to the offense? Also, here is something wild. Not only for Odom's sake, but for the general sake of Dallas, would it be too terrible of an idea to run some triangle sets? Just a little, for some diversity. If we already do and I just havent noticed, please ignore this paragraph. I really think with our jumpshooters all over the court and guys like Kidd and Odom who are tremendous passers the Triangle might not be a bad choice.

That's about it for my first positive post about Dallas. I'm finally back from my month long vacation to Peru, so I was able to watch Dallas for the first time this season and it made me feel a lot better about everything.

So now, as usual,

GO MAVS