The NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks already look like a team that’s seen better days starting this season with home-court blowout losses to Miami (105–94) and Denver (115–93). Both contests saw the aging Mavs down by more than 20 points by halftime and both were over before the fourth quarter even began.
Neither of the lopsided performances in and of themselves means Dallas is done. But the two defeats, coming back-to-back on their home floor to kick off the shortened season, have to be a warning sign of decline and are hardly a start for a team looking to win back-to-back titles. That is, if they are looking for it.
Though Dallas kept their two future Hall-of-Famers in 33-year-old forward Dirk Nowitzki and 38-year-old guard Jason Kidd they felt they couldn’t afford 29-year-old center Tyson Chandler’s contract demands so they dealt him to the Knicks. In his place, 32-year-old former backup center Brendan Haywood steps in. Haywood was a luxury as a backup but doesn’t have the defensive pedigree of Chandler, who was named to the All-Defensive 2nd Team last season. He’s also older, which is a common theme in Big D.
Said 33-year-old forward Dirk Nowitzki after the Denver loss according to the team’s website, “We look old and slow and out of shape—a bad combination. I still think this team has a lot of potential. But we have to turn the corner.”
Not exactly a ringing endorsement from the former MVP. Though the ageless Jason Kidd finished sixth in the NBA in both steals and assists last season, some of Dallas’s other additions don’t look too fresh anymore.
In particular the signing of 35-year-old Vince Carter was a bit of a head-scratcher. Carter has always been known to be a terrific scorer but has never won awards for his defense and hustle. Vince started the first game but was already relegated to bench-player status against Denver. Said forward Shawn Marion after the Denver loss; “We’re not comfortable with each other on both ends of the floor. We’re trying to get acclimated and you can tell it’s not flowing the way it should be and there’s going to be some bumps.”
The 33-year-old Marion is another Maverick who was more of a backup last year (started 27 of 82 games) who’s been pushed back into the starting lineup. Dallas was able to bring Marion off the bench with 31-year-old Caron Butler in the starting five. It was another luxury the Mavericks apparently couldn’t afford this season and so Butler signed with the penny-pinching Clippers this off-season.
So, why are the once free-spending Mavericks watching two of their starters from their first-ever championship team land elsewhere, over money, is a tricky question.
Dallas owner Mark Cuban certainly knows what he’s doing, having taken over one of the league’s most laughable franchises and turned it into a yearly contender. He surely sees the ages of the players he has and knows getting older and less talented isn’t the way to get better, much less defend a title. Plus, the multibillionaire surely still has nightmares about not ponying up enough cash to resign point guard Steve Nash eight years ago.
With his team already old and on the decline, Cuban is most likely biding his time, hoping to bridge the gap while waiting for an expensive superstar to become available, though that strategy isn’t a certain one.
Chandler would have been needed this season to repeat as champions, but his $14 million-a-year price tag is too much and would probably keep the team from making competitive offers to future free agents down the line. Dwight Howard is one of those guys and so is Deron Williams and even Chris Paul.
Though Howard is rumored to want to play with Williams in New Jersey or Brooklyn, neither player has signed an extension and they are scheduled to be free agents after this season. Meanwhile, Paul has two years left on his deal but whether owner Donald Sterling pays him a max deal, even as great as Paul is, remains to be seen. However, if he doesn’t Cuban certainly will.
