This is my subjective assessment of the Mavs players on the
roster when the season ended prematurely. As I am writing this
introduction, I have not researched any of this and will not be providing any
statistical evidence to support my evaluations. This is simply the
impressions of each player that have remained with me as the disappointment of
this season gradually washes away…..though I can’t seem to get this residue
completely off.
Ok, now that I’m done, I should probably add to this
intro: Sorry this was so long. Apparently, I did find the time for
a couple of stats, but they were mostly things I’d found in previous
research. Again, this is purely editorial, and nothing more than my
opinion. Due to the length, I was going
to break it up into a couple of posts, as most (if not all) people will now be
turned away by its size (and I don’t blame them). However, since I am not running a site that
requires new content every day, I am just throwing it all out there at once.
Besides, this is as much a cathartic experience for me as
anything. Enjoy….hopefully.
Dirk Nowitzki –
Regular Season: A-
Why the minus? Dirk was magnificent for stretches this
season, and as has been the case for about a decade, was the primary reason
this team finished the regular season as well as it did. People choose to
complain about the ending, but the Mavs never reach the position to disappoint
without Dirk, they simply wither in the obscurity of the lottery.
However, and this isn’t really an insult as I believe it is
required of a player his size and age, but there were certainly times this
season when he was prone to coast, particularly on the defensive end.
That said, he still played well enough for this team to earn the #2 seed in a
very tough West race despite early season locker room turmoil (according to
multiple articles) and enduring a face changing trade just before the
deadline. With “A+” being perfect, you can’t give Dirk that
score for the reasons I state above, but he was outstanding.
Playoffs: A
Again, Dirk failed to shine in one game this series, and
small portions of other games, but his defense was better than most give him
credit for, as he showed the ability to protect the rim on multiple occasions
and kept his guys from coming anywhere close to matching his level of
production. You can blame some open jumpshots made by McDyess or Bonner
on Dirk, but to do so does not take into account why they were open in the
first place – when Dirk was trying to help on the near endless forays to the
rim by San Antonio’s guards. If the defense doesn’t break elsewhere, Dirk
isn’t forced to leave his man, and those shots aren’t there.
I’m not saying he never strayed too far, or rotated late or
without full effort, only that these events were rarities, and not substantial
enough for a severe downgrading of his grade.
Caron Butler
Regular Season: B-
As many have noted, Caron was often hit or miss in the
regular season as far as offensive efficiency is concerned (at least if
measured by FG%). Of course, he ended up shooting 44% for the regular
season as a Mav….only about 2% lower than Joe Johnson or Kobe Bryant managed
this season, and higher that Johnson has shot in 2 of the last 3 seasons (just
some food for thought for those saying they’d trade Butler and pieces for
Johnson).
He also played solid defense, particularly considering he
was playing out of position. Ideally, he is best suited to guard opposing
SFs, but managed to win his positional battles at both SG and SF. For
those, I hope you are reading this MBT, that don’t put much stock in the effect
of a player being forced out of position – simply look at Kevin Durant.
You can attribute much of his success to maturation, but if you look back to
their coaching change (when Brooks took over) you’ll find a nice bump in
production there – which just happens to be when he was moved from SG to his
natural SF position.
If you didn’t like him as a SG, your complaint is with management,
not with Butler himself.
Playoffs: B
Butler had two poor games in the playoffs as he adjusted to
the level of defense the Spurs threw at him, after he warranted that attention
with a strong game one. Once again, I’ll say the stats are horribly
misleading for that game. No one came away with anything but positive
feelings for his performance, and his impact on the game. Follow all of
this up with a strong bounce back after being severely mishandled by the coach
and adjusting to the defense, as he performed at a fairly elite level in games
5 and 6.
Given his situation on a new team, while playing out of
position, 2 games to adjust is an acceptable learning curve. Overall,
Butler was the second best player for the Mavs in their lone series….while
being their best player for at least one game (5).
Shawn Marion
Regular Season: B+
While many had unrealistic expectations for Marion on
offense, which were only heightened by his preseason performances, he did make
a very large impact on the Mavs’ defense as he was easily their top
defender. Hampered for much of the season by minor injuries, I put much
of the blame (see Haywood) for his poor offensive performance in much of the
regular season on a failure to properly utilize his skills…..as he was often
sent to the corner to stand around and wait for the offensive possession to
end. Personally, I find that a horrible misuse of a player that may have
been the most athletic on the team, other than Roddy…as well as a player no
longer fully capable of consistently hit any open shot he may find while
standing in the corner.
Combine this with a failure by the players to attempt the
same passes that worked so well in the preseason on cuts towards the basket,
regardless of whether or not a defender was at his hip, and removing him from
the direct vicinity of the rim by putting him in the corner and not allowing
him the proper number of chances for “garbage” points……and all this amounted to
nearly neuter his offensive style and chances to contribute on a regular basis.
Regardless of his offensive consistency, or limited chances
to contribute, what Marion provided on defense was more than any Mav in recent
history. That he not only didn’t make the NBA All Defensive teams, but
didn’t receive a single vote, is a joke and a direct condemnation on the
coach’s that voted.
Playoffs: D+
I came close to giving him an incomplete due to how he was
handled in the playoffs, but his proclivity to miss easy shots really hurt this
team. In multiple games, the score would have looked vastly different had
he simply made most of his layups. I’m not saying the Mavs are sure to
win those games had he made them, but the leads would have been larger for the
Mavs or significantly smaller for the Spurs entering the late game situations.
That said, after the first couple of games, he played solid
defense and held Ginobli in check, for the most part. I may be a little
too hard on him here, as it’s not fair to criticize too much when a player has
his minutes and role severely impacted by the decisions of the coach. A
key player in the Mavs getting the #2 seed, wasn’t given a legitimate chance to
fill that role in the playoffs.
Still, he didn’t produce at the level most of us hoped and
play through whatever the circumstances may have been.
Jason Kidd
Regular Season: A-
Often times this season we saw comments on how the Devin
Harris trade was proven to be a good move, and read or witnessed testimonials
to Kidd’s agelessness. Included in this, we saw his best play as a Mav
shortly after the trade that brought in Butler, Haywood and Stevenson. If
only considering the regular season, Kidd was great.
No doubt, he couldn’t guard many of the quicker guards, but
still managed to be a positive influence on both ends of the court….and often
showed us what people mean when they call a player a “Floor General”. He
epitomized leadership and BBIQ. And, he became near deadly from the 3
point line.
Unfortunately, as many of us complained all year, his
minutes were far too high for a player of his age. This may have not hurt
his performance in the playoffs, but how can you honestly know it didn’t?
Playoffs: D-
Sadly, his regular season performance only translated to
game 1 and some of game 5. In all other games, Kidd looked closer to Derek
Fisher three years from now than a certain Hall of Famer. I’m going to
ignore the claims of sickness, as I see them as irrelevant. If they are
true and the team was aware of it, they further condemn Carlisle’s decisions
and the supposed depth of this team, but don’t excuse Kidd’s performance.
He played how he played, and seemed more than capable of forcing his game on
the Spurs when the effort was there (see games 1 and 5).
Depending on the degree of sickness, something none of us know,
I could be way off base – and he could honestly deserve a break.
That said, you can’t have your leader start to shy away from
open shots, as Kidd did, especially when those shots have been a key to your
offensive success all season. We also saw Najera impact this series
simply by having a physical presence, why didn’t we see something similar from
Kidd? Unlike Stevenson, Kidd had every opportunity to do this, and never
asserted his toughness upon smaller, quicker guards….at least not with any
consistency.
Erick Dampier
Regular Season: C
Contract Damp. I’ll admit, early in the season he was
better than I may have ever seen him. Whether it was injuries or the
arrival of a player clearly superior to him at his position, by the end of the
season, he was the same old Dampier. Sure, he sets nice screens (which is
a big deal) and rebounds well (at times), but he was an anchor on defense (I
mean that in a bad way – as he could not cover any ground and only managed to
protect the rim if the offensive player directly attacked him, most of the
time) and a complete liability on offense.
Damp seems like a great guy, but his effectiveness on the
court is nothing more than a 10-15 minute backup. Put bluntly, he’s an
average to adequate player and nothing more.
Playoffs: F
When you start 4 games of series and only manage 5 points
total, all coming on freethrows, you’ve hurt your team. Maybe if he’d
averaged 4 or 5 blocks and easily reached double digit rebounds every game this
wouldn’t be the case, but he didn’t.
Put simply, Damp’s performance in these playoffs as a whole
(with a nice effort in game 1, and the third quarter of game 6 aside) is near
legendary in its level of crappiness. Sure, you can find single examples
or plays and point out something positive Dampier did – but when taken in
context with everything he contributed, that small plus is supremely outweighed
by the negatives. Not to mention, the
Mavs strongest performance came in a game Dampier did not play a single minute.
Jason Terry
Regular Season: C+
First, I can’t believe he finished second in the 6th
Man of the Year voting. He certainly wasn’t deserving of it. He
slumped for large portions of the season, during which times he offered nothing
positive to this team, other than his off the court attitude. On the
court, he was often off on offense and invisible on defense (sadly, on the
defensive end he actually improved this season….just not enough to really
upgrade his status as a defender).
Luckily, he did counter these long slumps with some very
strong games or small stretches of high quality play, including hitting some
game deciding shots. And, we can’t ignore the fact that he did often
produce well, even while slumping, in the fourth quarter of games.
Playoffs: D-
Other than one game, Terry was essentially worthless.
When a one dimensional player is struggling at that one dimension, that doesn’t
leave much. I may be wrong, but it feels like this is now 4 years in a
row that Terry has underperformed in the playoffs, at best it’s two
years. This is a very disturbing trend, and reason enough to attempt to
downgrade his role next season. If he’s not going to be there for you in
the playoffs, you can’t build your dependence upon him in the regular season.
Brendan Haywood
Regular Season: B
For stretches there were people saying he was already the
best center to have ever worn a Mavs’ jersey, and they were doing so with
little argument in return. Haywood was key during the 13 game win
streak. However, after injuring his back his performance suffered to some
degree, and I don’t think he handled the demotion to the bench with the
greatest of grace. While coming off of the bench, his consistency in
effort seemed to waiver.
Again, however, I find much of Haywood’s “underperforming”
on the performances and decisions of his teammates. After those initial
games the Mav players failed to get the ball to him at the rim. I can’t
find a reason for this, other than they forgot what he was capable of….and
ignored his own comments expressing his belief that getting those early chances
fed his energy level and helped him perform better. Haywood didn’t start
to underperform, at least on the offensive end, as much as he had his
opportunities removed.
This is the fault of the guys on the court, and the coach
for not forcing the issue more than was done. Personally, I hope the Mavs
re-sign Haywood and learn from their mistakes this year, where he often found himself
wide open or with a much smaller defender trapped beneath the rim – only to not
get the ball.
Playoffs: C
Again, I feel Carlisle horribly mishandled Haywood, and
failed to properly use him. As I stated above, the team also failed to
get him the ball after game one, when he was able to score 10 points in a very
short time. For a veteran team, the Mavs seemed too often to forget the
lessons presented them. Much like they should have learned in game 5 that
continually attacking the rim was something the Spurs had no answer for, they
should have learned that Haywood is not Dampier, and deserved to get the ball
at the post with more frequency.
Haywood was not all good, as he struggled at times with the
pick and roll, though he also excelled at times. Still, we could have cut
off one of his hands and he would have struggled to perform as poorly as
Dampier. My argument that Haywood should have played more and
started in the playoffs is as much to say he is clearly a superior player to
Dampier as it is to comment on just how poorly Dampier played.
JJ Barea
Regular Season: C
For stretches, Barea was more than any of us could have
asked for, even filling in well as a starting SG for a few games. Much
like many things, however, he was allowed to do this beyond its time of
effectiveness. Many people seemed to turn on Barea this season, and he
did have stretches where he struggled on offense. As a one dimensional
player, this is particularly hard to endure.
Barea once again showed a knack for drawing offensive fouls,
but I still feel this is a poor defensive play most of the time. Much
like many steals, it is a gamble that just as often left his man wide open as
it did get him a call.
Finally, simply put, like Terry, Barea is a poor
defender.
That said, were there no Roddy on this team, I don’t think
half as many people turn on Barea as they did. He still filled his role
adequately, though like Roddy, often showed that he is not a capable backup
PG…..at least not capable enough to give Kidd the needed periods of rest on a
consistent basis. Much live everyone not named Kidd, he is a SG in a PG’s
body.
Playoffs: C
I actually didn’t think Barea played that poorly in the
playoffs, though the stats would not seem to back me up. He certainly was
not great, but in my opinion, he probably outplayed Jason Terry.
His defense was what we should expect from him, poor.
He did provide a spark from time to time, and his biggest detrimental influence
was much more on the hands of the coach than himself, as he was left on the
court beyond the point of exhaustion at times.
Rodrigue Beaubois
Regular Season: incomplete – Coach’s Decision
“What could have been” is the biggest question most Mav fans
have pertaining to Roddy. He showed flashes of brilliance at almost every
glimpse. In a season that saw Barea struggle at times on both ends of the
court and Kidd playing far too many minutes, it’s hard to believe this kid
didn’t get a little more burn. So much potential, so little opportunity.
I can understand the lack of court time in a vacuum, but the
more you look at the Mavs situation, the more you have to wonder why he wasn’t
given more of a chance to play, and perhaps garner enough trust to be an early
option in the playoffs.
Or, did Carlisle play it perfectly and build up Roddy’s
confidence level without the stain of failures? It’s hard to say for
certain, but the playoff results can’t help but affect your opinion here.
Playoffs: Incomplete – Coach’s Decsion
In a series which showed to key Mav guards severely
struggle, Terry and Kidd, it’s hard to believe there weren’t a few more minutes
to be found for Roddy. In game 6 he did exactly what so many people
thought he could do, and was then benched for almost the entire fourth quarter
as we all watched Jason Terry continue to hurt this team at both ends of the
court.
Where Butler, Haywood and Marion were all benched for
extended periods, it’s hard to believe Terry continued to “earn” as many
minutes as he did as he battled to out crapify any of those guys.
Roddy was great in game six, but there’s simply too small of
a sample size to accurately assess how he would have performed.
DeShawn Stevenson
Regular Season: B-
As a perimeter defender and spot starter at SG, Stevenson
provided much more than most of us expected when he came over in the
trade. He quickly showed that while he may not be as strong a defender as
Marion, he could certainly challenge him for the title of best defender on this
team. Just before the playoffs, he even seemed to find his shooting
stroke.
Stevenson was what many teams crave, a role player who has
embraced his role and can excel at it.
Playoffs: DNP a single meaningful minute
In a series where Najera made a strong impact without
gathering stats simply due to his disposition and general ability to play
tough, it’s hard to believe there wasn’t a place for Stevenson.
Personally, I would have loved to see him out there getting in George Hill’s
head – something no other Mav was capable of doing. He could have pushed
him around some, and given how little he played, I suppose even if he picked up
six fouls in five minutes, it wouldn’t have hurt anything….in comparison.
Even over Roddy and Haywood (or at least at the same level),
I see this as one of the largest mistakes by Carlisle in this series. One
guy was consistently killing the Mavs, and that one guy was not a wily veteran
with years of experience dealing with guys like Stevenson on the biggest stage,
it was a second year player with zero experience for it. Carlisle let a
huge asset go unused, untested and unappreciated.
Eddie Najera
Regular Season: C (compared to expectations, I’d give him an
A)
I thought the Mavs acquired the corpse of a former player
when they traded for Najera. In comparison to that, he was great.
He found ways to impact games and assert his toughness. He was what
Stevenson was in the regular season, a role player that knew and embraced his
role.
Playoffs: C
After a shaky start, Najera made an impact on this
series. While he didn’t make any friends in San Antonio, he did manage to
change the feel of the series. Had the rest of the team followed his lead
in this area, we’d probably have just finished two home games against the Suns.
Matt Carroll
Regular Season: F
Who cares?
Playoffs: Incomplete
Again, who cares?
Rick Carlisle
Regular Season: B-
You can’t deny the results. The Mavs finished as the
#2 seed in an ultracompetitive Western Conference. Those are good
results, even if most of us find significant flaws in how he got there.
In the end, all that matters in the results.
Playoffs: F-
Of course, when considering results, you are ultimately lead
to the playoffs……where Carlisle provided one of the worst coaching performances
I have ever seen for a team I follow closely. Just about every decision
was late, unwarranted or just flat out wrong. The examples are littered
above. What Dampier was on the court, Carlisle was worse beside it.
Players performed poorly, but Carlisle failed to hold up his
end of the bargain and did not frequently put them in positions to
succeed. Most of the time, he did quite the opposite.
