The Mavericks big German will make his 11th straight All-Star game this season. Despite averaging career lows since his rookie season (FG%, 3FG%, Points), the Coaches around the association voted Dirk in to represent the 2010-2011 World Champs within the main event.

Although Dirk Nowitzki has made 11 appearances, he was never named an All-Star starter throughout his career.

Last week, Rob Mahoney said Dirk's slow start should cost him the All-Star berth and Dirk agreed, but Marc Stein mentioned on the Ben & Skin show that Dirk would have no choice. Players like him have always received the benefit of the doubt and have been voted in because of their reputation. He also mentioned the NBA Champs shouldn't be left out of the All-Star Game.

Turns out that Marc Stein was right. It can be questioned if Dirk is too thrilled about the nomination, because he could have used that weekend off and surely wanted to send a message to coaches not to select him with his statement.

Anyway: Congrats and don't play too much!

As Mark Followill noted, it's the 7th time in NBA history that the defending Champ has had one All-Star representative.

The complete roster can be found here.

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Before going into a 3-day period without a game, the Mavericks posted their first 3-game losing streak since starting the season 0-3. Most of the latest Power Rankings have them well outside their Top10 for now. Here's your overview:

NBA.com - David Aldridge: 13th

Diggler struggles to get back in form after taking time off to rehab his knee.

NBA.com - John Schuhmann: 13th

After shooting 11-for-39 in his first three games back, Dirk Nowitzki has shot 21-for-32 in the last two. But the Mavs' offense has still struggled, scoring just 91 points per 100 possessions as they've dropped three straight. Maybe Lamar Odom (shooting 34 percent) could use some time off.

SheridanHoops.com - Chris Sheridan: 16th

Like old times: Dirk Nowitzki is scoring again, Mark Cuban is criticizing the refs again, Rick Carlisle is kicking the ball, making inexcusable use of his feet for first time since tripping Latrell Sprewell as he ran upcourt more than a decade ago when Carlisle was an assistant. (No Rick, that hasn’t been forgotten). These guys run almost as hot and cold as the Magic.

NBC - Kurt Helin: 14th

Dirk Nowitzki may finally be finding his footing with a couple good games near the end of the week. Still, this is a hot and cold team that could beat or lose to anyone on any given night. Not consistent like last season.

SBNation - Tom Ziller: 13th

Dirk Nowitzki has looked like a shadow of the version we saw rampage through the playoffs last spring, and Dallas has slipped considerably as a result. But the front office is planning big things for the 2012 offseason, and the glow of the championship trophy is strong. So who cares, right?

ESPN - Marc Stein: 13th

Sandwiched between the bookend highs of an OT triumph over San Antonio and a long-awaited weekend return to normalcy for Dirk is the sobering reality that Roddy B, after a few promising games filling in for ailing J-Kidd, regressed back to his undependable self in the Mavs' sudden three-game skid.

ESPN - John Holinger's Metric: 14th

Teamrankings.com - Power Ratings: 13th

HoopsStats.com - Efficiency Differential: 11th

MavsMoneyball - j0Shi's Schedule Adjusted Efficiencies: 15th

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Lots of great reads and intriguing stories today, so here's you catch-up:

• Jason Kidd feels a lot better, but will at least be out the next two games of the upcoming B2B set against the Indiana Pacers and Cleveland Cavalier. The Mavs won't play until February, 8th after that and will reevaluate Kidd during that span.
• Last years bandwagoner Charles Barkley continues to blast the Dallas Mavericks. On 103.3 FM he said the Mavs days in competing for a championship "are over" (oh my... AGAIN?) and that "father time is catching up with Dirk."
  I think I know what he's up to. He tries to anti-jinx the Mavs this year. That's the only possibility. It's one thing to express your (subjective) thoughts, especially when you get paid for it, but he also continues to dish out facts that are blatantly (objectively) wrong. So it has to be a joke, right?
• In another not-so-astonishing development, the league fined Mavericks owner Marc Cuban and Coach Carlisle a combined 110k for complaining about officiating and kicking the ball.
  Another marvelous job of overprotecting their refs by the way.
• Rob Mahoney thinks that Dirk's slow start should cost him the All-Star berth. So what? Dirk hasn't been voted a starter when he deserved it was at his best and doesn't need to be there this year at all. Additional rest sounds good to me.
• Al Harrington has lots of praise for Rick Carlisle and rightfully so.

@BalinWithBryan reports that the Mavs have recalled Yi Jianlian from their D-League affiliate Texas Legends. He will join the team in Detroit.

Dallas signed the 6-foot-10 three days ago to a one-year contract out of China and immediately assigned him to the Texas Legends where he rejoined Del Harris, who coached the forward during his stint as a coach of the Chinese national team.

Obviously the Mavs were pleased what they saw from their new acquisition. He averaged 23.0 Points on 47.4% shooting, 12.0 Rebounds and 2.0 Blocks per game in 36.6 Minutes through two games with the Legends over the weekend. Sean Williams, who was sent down to the D-League alongside Yi Jianlian, will stay with the Texas Legends for now.

Yi will most probably compete for minutes behind Dirk Nowitzki and Lamar Odom at the power forward position and it seems that with that move Brandan Wright is pushed even further down the bench.

UPDATE: @fishsports reports that Legends Coach Del Harris is raving about Yi as a center for the Mavs, thinks Yi will crack the rotation at that position.

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Banner Raising: 1:13pm CT

TipOff: 1:35pm CT

Starting Lineups (Probable) :

Mavericks: Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki, Brendan Haywood, Vince Carter, Jason Kidd

Heat: LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Joel Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Mario Chalmers

Previews:

Miami Heat vs. Dallas Mavericks - Preview - December 25, 2011 - ESPN Dallas
As if the Miami Heat weren't motivated enough to win it all, their season begins by having to watch the title banner get raised by the team that beat them to claim it.

Heat-Mavs Preview: Basketball is Back! | NBC 6 Miami
The Miami Heat open the 2011-2012 season against the team that ended their season six months ago: the Dallas Mavericks. Instead of starting a defense of an NBA championship, the Heat will watch the Mavs raise a championship banner of their own in Dallas.

Dallas Mavericks 2011-2012 Season Preview | The Two Man Game
The excruciating introduction to the regular season is finally over: the defending NBA champs are set to take the court again in short order, both for their own benefit and our considerable entertainment.

Delonte West eager to emulate Kidd again - Dallas Mavericks Blog
Delonte West says the kids back in the day used to call him, Little Kidd, because he tried to emulate the gifted point guard that's 10 yeas his elder.

Mavericks season preview: Everything you need to know about Dallas' chances for an NBA repeat
The NBA season, shortened to 66 games, debuts Sunday with a Finals rematch of Miami at Dallas. Can the Mavericks repeat?

DeShawn Stevenson finds home with Nets - Dallas Mavericks Blog
The last of the Dallas Mavericks six free agents has found a new home. Tough-minded shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson has finally agreed to a one-year, $2.5 million deal with the New Jersey Nets, according to an ESPNNY.com report.

NBA Watchability Scale, 2011-12 Edition: Helping You Decide Which Teams To Watch (And Ignore) - SBNation.com
Which NBA teams should you be watching in this shortened season? The third annual NBA Watchability Scale provides you with the answers.

Countdown: How will they finish? - Dallas Mavericks Blog
Prediction time. And, wow, how do you predict how this revamped Dallas Mavericks team will finish a 66-game regular-season schedule over 123 days when the full squad didn't even play one preseason game together?

Can Dominique Jones beat out Vince Carter for Mavs' starting shooting guard spot?
Dominique Jones was in the starting lineup Tuesday night against the Thunder, and coach Rick Carlisle wanted to see more evidence that the second-year guard deserves to be on the court.

Followill: Don't look for Lamar Odom to start
Mark Followill, the Mavericks' TV play-by-play voice, answered questions about the team in a live chat Wednesday. Here are some highlights.

SB Nation Names 2011-12 Preseason All-Division Teams - SBNation.com
SB Nation's NBA team bloggers got together to cast votes for the 2011-12 preseason All-Division teams.

Marc Stein reports that the Mavericks are finalizing the signing of Sean Williams. @WojYahooNBA tweeted about this possibility last night and we kept you up to date here.

So apparently the Mavericks found another Big-Man that they like. The athletic Williams will battle for minutes with Ian Mahinmi behind starting center Brendan Haywood. He finished 2nd in the DPOY-voting in the D-League last season and they hope he can fill voids left by Tyson Chandler. He'll play for the minimum because that's all the Mavs can offer, so it's a typical low-risk move by their front office.

According to the poll in this piece, where you were able to vote on the the Mavs possibilities in the center market, percentage-wise most of you wanted to stay put at that position, so feel free to post your sentiments on the new acquisition now. Strangely, nobody voted for Williams!? I guess I didn't dig deep enough into overseas territory to come up with that fella.

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@WojYahooNBA reports that Sean Williams parts ways with his Israeli team and will return to the U.S. for "personal reasons." After the 17th overall pick in 2007 couldn't get much playing time with the Nets in in his first three NBA seasons, he was released, joined the Mavs D-League affiliate last season and finished an impressive All-Star Season with the Texas Legends under Nancy Lieberman. In 33.4 MPG he averaged 14.4 points (56.3%), 9.4 rebounds and 2.9 blocks.

Williams then chose to play for Maccabi Haifa in Israel during the lockout and continued his promising play. The athletic 6-10 F/C averaged 12.8 points (68.1%), 7.9 rebounds and 4.1 blocks in 32.6 minutes per game, but apparently now is set to return to the States... and the NBA.

As @WojYahooNBA noted it makes sense that he bailed out overseas because there is a contract pending in the NBA. The Mavericks know him and are in need of another center so we'll keep you up to date during the next days.

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