• Will the Dallas Mavericks Pursue Rashard Lewis?

    It’s obvious that the Dallas Mavericks’ roster needs some serious attention. Granted, if the Atlanta Hawks or New York Knicks could get their hands on this roster, they’d wet themselves. But we’re not New York or sucky Atlanta. We’re the big D, the home of the next NBA dynasty… at least, that’s what we thought.

    Now we’d settle for another run at the title. We’d settle for someone who can stop Baron Davis from playing like Superman. In short, we need someone like Rashard Lewis.

    As I’ve admitted in previous posts, I know very little about free agency and the current status of players’ contracts. If you keep up with that kind of thing, you probably won’t find my sports opinions very useful. They’re more for the dreamer than the know-it-all fantasy league member.

    In a previous post, I called on the Mavericks to trade Dirk Nowitski. Cuban made it clear in his recent teary-eyed lovefest at Nowitski’s MVP ceremony that he thinks Dirk is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Which means no trade. No consideration of trade. No entertaining the hypothetical benefits of trade. Cuban is the wizard behind the curtain, and his strongest feelings will win out over anyone else’s reason.

    So since we’ve got ourselves a giant German dilemma, we best get to steppin’ and find him some serious help on the perimeter. And you can’t find a better free agent this summer than Seattle hero, Rashard Lewis. As far as free agents are concerned, he’s the baddest, most expensive option out there. He also would rather stick with Seattle, or so he says after opting out of his last 2 years on the contract. Methinks it just a safe way to not tick off the team you can count on in case the other teams’ offers suck.

    Based on the 2006-2007 regular season stats, let’s take a gander at the league leaders:

    Points Per GameÂ

    • Kobe Bryant – 31.6 pts
    • Carmelo Anthony – 28.9 pts
    • Gilbert Arenas – 28.4 pts
    • LeBron James – 27.3 pts
    • Michael Redd – 26.7 pts

    Rebounds Per Game

    • Kevin Garnett – 12.8
    • Tyson Chandler – 12.4
    • Dwight Howard – 12.3
    • Carlos Boozer – 11.7
    • Marcus Camby – 11.7

    I could go on to assists, steals, blocked shots, and turnovers, but you won’t find a Dallas Maverick in the top 5 in any major category except free throw percentage, where Nowitski did have an amazing 90% free throw shooting average.

    When looking for suitable support for Dirk, Dallas better be going down the list of leaders and seeing who they might get in a trade. Toss a couple guards and a draft pick at someone for their team’s star. Do whatever it takes. Phoenix has proven that it doesn’t take a deep bench to win playoff games. And San Antonio has proven that starting superstar talent and a deep bench win championships.

    Dallas supposedly had the winning combo, but unfortunately the depth of their bench is significantly better in the league than the talent of their starting 5. As much as I like the guys, Jason Terry, Eric Dampier, and Devin Harris are all expendable. Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone will ever consider taking on Dampier’s massive (and undeserved) contract. Devin Harris could probably develop into a top 10 point guard in the next 2 years, but he and Terry are probably the only 2 starters that Dallas will consider trading. Terry alone isn’t enough to get someone worthwhile, so they’re either going to have to trade both guards and a pick or Terry, a pick, and some cash.

    Gilbert Arenas would still be an awesome move too. I’m looking at Rashard Lewis and Gilbert Arenas and Tracy McGrady, and I think we can’t do better than these three. Vince Carter is definitely someone I would refuse. We don’t need a spoiled crybaby on the team. We already had Antoine Walker.

    Some would argue that Dallas has never been a thuggish team, and that Arenas would only spoil the attitude. There is defintiely a chance of that, but we also want someone with enough confidence to carry the team in the playoffs. Dirk doesn’t have it, and I seriously doubt he’ll develop it. Something has to change, and it needs to start with how the management and coaches view the actual abilities and attitude of this team.