I am absolutely fed up with the ignorance and short-sightedness that comes with Mavericks’ “Fans” acting like if Dallas had kept Tyson Chandler then they would be about to win their third straight title. Not only is that an absolute pipe dream, it also shows the greed that Dallas fans have developed. I mean, a year ago the Mavs were raising the banner, do you not remember? Now you want to second guess and criticize ownership/management. The first thing to do is dispel the theory that Tyson Chandler can be a centerpiece to an NBA title team.
“But Michael, the Mavs won it all with Tyson as a key part!”
Like I have said previously, Chandler was probably the fourth or fifth most important reason that Dallas won that year. His lack of an offensive game besides alley-oops and put-back dunks cannot carry a team in today’s NBA. He has never even averaged 12 points a game for the season! Not only that, but he has only one season averaging a double-double.
“But he is the Defensive Player of the Year!”
Tyson is not even in the top 35 in blocked shots this season, nor has he ever averaged over two a game. He has upped his rebounding average, and he still is a top 15 defensive player, but his effect on the game is not strong enough to overcome his offensive deficiency. He does affect many shots, and his rotations are usually spot-on, but he largely won the award last season because of the playoffs the year before. By the way, only three times has the Defensive Player of the Year won the NBA title the same year, and only Ben Wallace was an offensive burden (but they had four other All-Stars around him).
“But the Knicks are at the top of the East with him!”
New York has a Top-4 in the East roster without Tyson Chandler. For comparisons sake, let’s look at the Mavericks’ roster if they had kept Tyson compared to the Knicks now. Carmelo is far and away better than Dirk now, with the injuries and age factors. There is no OJ Mayo here with Tyson’s big contract, so JET and his washed up jumper (42% FG/35% 3P) is the second best player. J.R. Smith is a taller, more athletic, younger, and better defensive version of JET. Raymond Felton has taken the next step to becoming a high-level point guard, and Amare Stoudemire is coming off the bench. Ya know, Amare Stoudemire who would be the Mavs’ second best player right now. Besides, last year with Tyson, Amare and Melo, the Knicks got just as far as the Mavs: first round defeat. The fact of the matter is Chandler is a role player on the Knicks, and even then it does not automatically equal a contender. He would have to be the second fiddle in Dallas.
“But Dallas won it all once! Why couldn’t they do it again?”
Need I remind you how lucky Dallas got on that playoff run? They earned and deserved the championship, but the stars were perfectly aligned. They got an over-rated Portland team that was a good matchup. They then got to play the Lakers who showed their implosion factor during game four of that series, as well as Pau Gasol no-showing due to off-the-court issues. Dallas then played the Thunder, whose top four players were all just 22/23 years old and not quite ready for the big time yet. Lastly, the Mavericks played the Heat when they were still figuring out how to play together. Miami did not yet add the perfect complimentary pieces they have since (Battier, Miller, Allen) and LeBron was still playing second fiddle. If LeBron would have taken over (like last year’s playoffs) the Mavs would not have stood a chance. There was no way that the Dallas title team could have beaten OKC or Miami last year, Tyson Chandler or not. Nor would they be able to beat the top teams now, who have only gotten better.
“But if we at least had Tyson, then he could be used as a trade chip!”
While this argument actually has merit, the basis on which the signing would have happened would have been completely illogical. Dallas would have had to have ESP to know that Dwight Howard would choose to not opt out of his last year, starting a domino effect that really hamstrung the Mavericks’ plans. Deron and Dwight wanted to play together. Period. The only places possible were Dallas and Houston, with both openly preferring Dallas. The Orlando/National media pushed Dwight into making the bad decision to not opt out because he does not want to be seen as the bad guy. If he does, then the Mavs have all three D’s playing right now, and no one would be talking about Tyson Chandler.
Furthermore, does no one else remember Tyson Chandler before his season in Dallas? Ten years, where he missed at least 12% of the season in seven of them, over half of the year in three of them. So by signing Tyson Chandler, you would have been saying that you are going to go to battle with him as your second best player (which to keep him you would have had to pay him that much). No championship team since the Celtics with Bill Russell has had a second best player who averaged less than 15 points a game. It is just the facts. Imagine if they had signed Chandler, and Dirk would have been hurt the past couple of seasons. It could have gotten ugly without Kaman/Carter/Mayo/Brand this year, which none of them (maybe Carter) would have been here with Chandler.
So please stop acting like the Mavs threw away Dirk’s prime or more titles. They did not. They set the team up for the future, rather than rolling the dice on a guy who can’t score three points a quarter with a lengthy injury history. If Dwight Howard would have made his decision sooner, then maybe the Mavs keep him for the trade purposes he would now be helpful with. However, Donnie Nelson and Mark Cuban went with the more likely option of signing a superstar free agent or just keeping their options open rather than being stuck with an injury-plagued offensive-liability with a max contract. For goodness sakes, we just got to experience a title a year and a half ago. Trust in the front office to take the Mavs back.
No comments:
Post a Comment