After being eliminated 4-1 by the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Semifinals, the Dallas Mavericks another season end the same way every other year has: championship-less.
The season was one spent in mediocrity for a team that is not getting any younger. They won 50 games for the ninth season in a row and dispatched of an aging, depleted Spurs team, but their flaws showed up in the Denver series.
Maverick fans both are becoming or have become frustrated with the regime running the squad and are requesting some kind of change.
” It was a nice season,” said junior Industrial Distribution major Steve Brock, “but Dirk [Nowitzki] is not getting any younger, and this team needs to change something.”
As previously stated, Dirk Nowitzki is, indeed, not getting any younger. The future hall-of-famer is 31 years old, and though his statistics are not diminishing, his window as a dominant player is closing with age.
Nowitzki is not the only player whom is aging. The average age of the Mavericks’ starting lineup was 33 years old, putting them around the oldest team in the NBA. The team has made many decisions over the last couple years resulting in a slide from the NBA’s top tier to mediocrity.
There was the overpaying for Jason Terry sending the franchise over the salary cap. There was also, neglecting to re-sign Steve Nash in order to cut costs, and then using that saved money on the under whelming Erick Dampier. All culminating in last year’s panic trading of 24 year old Devin Harris and two first round draft picks for 36 year old Jason Kidd. Harris, the runner up for comeback player of the year, blossomed into an all star this season. Kidd aged one more year and proved to be a middle of the road point guard in the West.
Now, with room opening up under the salary cap, Mark Cuban and president of basketball operations, Donnie Nelson have one more shot and a number of options to get it right with this certain nucleus of players.
” In the last ten years, we’ve seen that Dirk can be a feasible first option,” said junior Petroleum Engineering major John Michael Fernandez, ” but we can not go back to being a jump shooting team. We have to find a style to blend with Dirk’s style, but also contrast it.”
The consensus around the league is that the Mavericks must get younger and more athletic after being shown up in the Denver series.
Only the future will tell with the Mavericks, but this off-season, as stated by fellow-Aggies, needs to be one of change.