Today Caron Butler had season ending surgery to repair a torn patellar tendon in his knee. His last full game with the team he hit 30pts in a loss to the Spurs at home. On the road against the Milwaukee Bucks you can hear him screaming in pain when he hit the knee in the first quarter. You knew then, it was not gonna be good.
Dirk missed his 5th straight game tonight against the Portland Trailblazers, a win by the way. But they have Oklahoma City and Orlando coming up, so will they rush Dirk back? The "Big German" has been a quick healer. The Mavs are only 3 games ahead of the Lakers and Utah right now. The biggest concern has to be falling further behind the Spurs in the division and the conference.
Who will step up now? That is the million dollar question for this team. Deshawn Stevenson had 21pts against the Cavaliers and 18pts tonight. JJ Barea hit 29pts in the loss to the Bucks. Tyson Chandler has back-to-back double doubles in rebounds and points. Jet Terry has been a 4th quarter savior in previous games, but is still inconsistent as a 2nd scoring option. Roddy B has not step a foot on the AAC floor this season and the rookie Jones unproven. This team needs a certified second option. The collective effort is good to make the playoffs, but once there, teams will again focus on Dirk and dare the team to beat them. A strategy that has worked the last 3 seasons.
Is a trade the only option? If Mark Cuban loves anything, he loves the Mavs. Say what you will, but no other owner will "spend-to-win" with no disregard for his personal finances the way Cuban does. The trade is inevitable. Mark has to be on the phone with Denver right? How attractive does Carmelo look now? Every player outside of Nowitzki, Kidd, and Chandler has to be on the table. Caron's contract is up at the end of the season, Kidd is not getting any younger, and Dirk keeps reminding us he is here for only 4 more seasons. The time to trade is now.
The Mavs were our #1 ranked team in our power rankings before the injury bugs infested the locker room. The team was starting to really gel has a title contender beating good teams like Miami twice, San Antonio, Denver, New Orleans, and even Boston. You could take a wait-and-see approach, but why? If the trade is out there...make it.
Today the Dallas Mavericks meet President Obama at the White House. Dirk took to twitter to expresses his thoughts on his missing championship teammates.
Arriving at the Mavs first official practice today one could easily assume that this team never won a title. A small group of media people that were all locally based, no ESPN talking heads, and only 10 basketball players made what should be a huge moment for a franchise with it's first Championship seem normal. Other than Shawn Marion's choice of hair color, the most eye catching issue were the players in attendance. Or the lack of players in attendance. During Coach Carlisle's q and a we learned that Brandon Hayward would be the starting center for the reigning champs. Sounds good on the surface until you realize that Tyson Chandler, the best center in Mavs history, is not on this team. He joins the NY Knicks frontcourt that Jason Kidd pointed out is the same the frontcourt that qualified the USA for the Olympics. Ian Mahinmi will be Hayward's back up for now. J.J. Barea, Deshawn Stevenson, Brian Cardinal, Caron Butler and Peja were all missing as well. So much for the deepest team in terms of talent in the league.
