How hard is it to play defense even a little bit geez? I can play better D than these guys...they need to trade for someone like Artest or Bowen and get a defender, its like watching teams taking free jump shots on em its ridiculous.
If they had defense they'd have won a championship, but like Eclipse said, as long as Dirk is there it will be hard for the team and defense to comingle.
Nellie is half the problem (I secretly hoped Dell Harris would take the Atlanta job). When you watch them play, they have obvious strategic flaws. Way, way too much double teaming. This leads to open three pointers and easy penetration. The problem of Nellie is one that I don't know how to address. Personel is another issue, and we definitely are heading in the right direction. Dirk isn't Ben Wallace, but he can play decent defense if he can just cover his man and not have to cover two or three guys (see above about over-double teaming). Daniels, Howard, Harris, and My Man D.J. Mbenga are gonna be huge next year. We have the talent now to play way better than average D. Now it is up to Don.
No! it's up to the players too, and to get a defensive player doesn't mean they gonna win everything.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting bhavin:</div><div class="quote_post">How hard is it to play defense even a little bit geez? I can play better D than these guys...they need to trade for someone like Artest or Bowen and get a defender, its like watching teams taking free jump shots on em its ridiculous.</div> You are not saying anything new.....and I hope you were joking about your defense being better than theirs . Regardless of how poor it may appear to be on television, it's still NBA-calibre defense. Granted, it may be a 2-3 zone, but it is excecuted properly. The main problem is that despite Nash's abilty to move his feet, he got beaten off the dribble. Dirk is not a shot blocker, so even when he rotated or stepped out the player simply went around him or drew the foul. People attribute the points in the paint to their lack of a center, when really it was the individuals in the Zone defense.
ya, they always get offensive players, well defence wins championship and dallas just doesnt have it.
take out dirk and mavs lose a whole lot of offense. personally i think he ought to remain and trading him is fr from the answer to mavs defensive woes.
Well if you took out Dirk and added someone that could do both they wouldn't lose that much offense, but if a team has a guy like that they won't want to trade him for Dirk, and Dallas won't want to trade Dirk for a lesser player.
Dallas, in the last couple offseasons, have acquired the likes of Antwaan Jamison, Antoine Walker, and Jerry Stackhouse. They did trade off Jamison for Stack. But, all of those players are offensive-minded players. Dallas, from what I've seen, never goes after players who can play defense. Their main priority is always offense. Now, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with this, except, all the offensive firepower they add, can't play defense. That's the big problem down in Dallas. They bring in all these players, but, the players they get, are terrible on defense. And, to top it off, the coach, Don Nelson, is not a defensive minded coach at all. You figure the way his team gets scored on he'd preach defense, but, from the looks of the way they play defense, he doesn't. I think, unless they do something in the playoffs this year, Nelson will get fired. They need to find someone who can also bring in players to help on the defensive end. They have more than enough offense with the likes of Dirk, Finley, Walker, and Daniels. To me, bringing in Stack was unnecessary. The only positive that came out of that trade was they got Harris. But, with all that offense on the team, they have no defense at all. They need to trade some of those offensive players to get someone who can play on the defensive end.
Josh Howard can play defense... He'll soon grow to become a defensive stopper in the league just like Artest.
yeh dallas sucks at defense...i think they'll struggle just to make the playoffs this year unless they make bigger moves to improve their team...
Dallas can be a good defensive team if they choose to be. What does Steve Nash, Antown Jamison and Antoine Walker have in common? 1) They are all no longer Mavericks 2) They are all horrible, horrible defensive players Not only Howard, but Daniels and Terry can also play serious defense. We don't need to get rid of Dirk. You can have a good defensive team with four great defenders and one average/below average defender. Dirk will be the offensive go-to guy, and I wouldn't trade him. Hopefully Finley (also a bad defender (worse that Dirk)) will be more of a role player. The lineup of Terry, Daniels, Howard, Dirk, Booth can be very good defensively. That is, IF that is what their coach chooses for them. I'll never be convinced Nellie will try to play D until I see it. He has the weapons available to him.
I agree with you sunshine. But I as a Mavsfan think they play good D. Like the Times when they go on 10-0 runs and 10-2 runs. They do that because they play good D and keep the other team from scoring. Its not the kind of D that you see all the time but if they try they can play D. Or when they get a Defensive Rebound and then they go on a fastbreak. they played good D to keep the other team from scoring. I think if they played that kind of D more often throughout then they wouldnt have people saying that they cant play D.
In my opinion, here is in example of the problem that the Mavs have. This actually occurred in the fourth quarter of a game last year, I think against Philly or the Sonics, not sure which... The other team scored six straight dunks or layups. Don Nelson yanked Antwon Walker from the game and put in Bradley. Bradley played eight minutes, blocked three shots, and the other team did not score for eight minutes. Nash feeds the ball to Bradley, Bradley tries to dribble, bounces it off his foot and it rolls out of bounds. Don Nelson yanks Bradley, puts in Jamison. The other team scored eight consecutive dunks or layups. Them Mavs held on to win, barely. The next game, Bradley plays five minutes, gets four blocks, and is benched for the second half of the game for missing a jump shot. This is a glimpse inside the mind of Don Nelson. I know Bradley and some of these "defensive" players may look awkward with the ball in their hands, but you have to live with some of that if you want to be a top defense. Ben Wallace isn't exactly Kobe with the ball in his hands, but then Larry Brown doesn't see the game the same way that Don Nelson does.
I think Dirk's defense is getting better year after year. He will never be a defensive stopper, but i think in a year or two he will no longer be a liability on D. He is becoming a better shot blocker also. He averaged more blocks than Kenyon Martin, Jamaal Magloire, Shawn Marion, and about the same as Kelvin Cato. My point is that he is a better shot blocker than people give him credit for. Just my opinion
