The Dallas Mavericks: An obituary

They were the story nobody saw coming. They were the Cinderella team of the playoffs; a bunch of vets long past their expiry date and one superstar who put his foot down and said: enough is enough. In the Finals, they played the franchise that beat them in their only other Finals appearance, back in 2006. It was grudge series with a history of bad blood between the teams. The opposition was a team of superstars, a team everybody wanted to see beaten. And the Dallas Mavericks did it. They beat the Miami Heat in six games to be crowned 2011 NBA champions. Mark Cuban, their rockstar gazillionaire owner, was on top of the world. At least two NBA legends got their first rings – Kidd, Nowitzki – and a bunch of other former stars as well (Carter, Marion, Butler).

The Mavs looked rejuvenated; analysts believed they had enough to compete for multiple championships, and were favored to repeat the following season, in 2012.

And then, before you could say “boo”, Mark Cuban pulled the plug on the team. He refused to re-sign their defensive anchor, Tyson Chandler to the maximum contract Chandler was being offered by multiple other franchises. Chandler was the defensive soul of that championship team. Cuban didn’t re-sign diminutive point guard Juan Jose Barea either, their lightning in a bottle during the playoff run. Barea was possibly the key reason for the Heat’s loss in the Finals. Cuban spoke of “cap flexibility” and “future opportunities”. Translation: he wanted Dallas native Deron Williams or superstar Dwight Howard during 2012 free agency and needed to preserve cap space for that. And he was willing to blow up a championship team in the process. 2011-12 was mortgaged; the Mavs traded for a disgruntled Lamar Odom to bolster their team. We all know how that went.

And just like that, the Mavs turned into a middling playoff team, a one-and-done, convincingly thrashed by the franchise of the future, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Through all of this, Cuban stuck to his guns. Cap space, flexibility, Deron Williams. The Mavs really believed they were going to land another superstar to pair with Dirk. After all, it happened with the Heat, and the Heat are nowhere near the kind of big-market basketball city that Dallas is.

2012 free agency is here and the big deals are all done. And the Mavs are left picking up the pieces. Last year, it was all champagne, parades and the NBA gold at this time. Now, six of their key players from that team are gone. Instead they’re left with seconds and thirds; guys picked off the amnesty wire, former All-Stars signed to one year contracts. The clock is ticking for Nowitzki; he’s already 34 years old. He’s got one, maybe two good seasons in him and the Mavs are preaching more patience. The plan now, after missing out on Deron Williams, appears to be postponed to the 2013 free agency, when both Dwight Howard and Chris Paul can potentially become free agents. But here’s the thing: it’s a stretch that the Mavs land Paul, who has repeatedly said he plans to re-sign with the Clippers. As for Howard, well, there’s nobody on earth who can tell you what Howard might or might not do. Dwight might be as likely to sign with Charlotte as he would with the Mavs. Beyond these two marquee names, there are slim pickings in the superstar category in free agency next year.

So what do the Mavs have right now, apart from “cap flexibility”? They’ve got a 33-year old Elton Brand off the amnesty waiver. Brand averaged 11 ppg and 7 rpg in 29 mpg last season for a Philly team that made it to the second round of the playoffs and pushed the Celtics to seven games. Is Brand a good addition? Absolutely, if only because the Mavs had only two players on their entire roster capable of starting a basketball game prior to that signing. They also added Chris Kaman, who is at least three seasons removed from his prime. There’s no way he’s going to play the entire season next year without getting injured (he’s on a one year, 8 million contract). When healthy, he’s capable of solid numbers; in 47 games last season, he averaged 13/8 in 29 minutes per game. Considering they also have Shawn Marion under contract, four of the Mavs six best players are currently big men (who have similar games, one might add); the only quality guards are recent additions, OJ Mayo and Darren Collision.

Mayo’s on a multi-year contract, which means he is conceivably part of the team’s long term plans. Let’s not overstate Mayo though; he’s a volume shooter who can catch fire occasionally but is mostly an erratic decision-maker and a defensive liability. Collison’s the only intriguing player on the entire roster for the Mavs (apart from Beaubois, who has been “promising” for about three years now). Though his splits for last season – 10p/5a on 44% shooting – are less than stellar, he’s only 24 and has a high ceiling. The flipside? He has an expiring contract, which means the Mavs might not be able to re-sign him next year (by salary cap law, you can’t use cap space as well as bird rights – which would enable you to re-sign players going over the salary cap – in the same off-season). And oh, there’s the bench; it doesn’t exist.

The Mavs are gearing up for another one-and-done season. There is, as there was last year, the promise of next year’s free agency. But the cold reality is something else: the Heat got lucky in free agency; they’re the exception, not the rule. The Mavs will realize that as they put a middling team on the floor in American Airlines Center next season. Meanwhile, Cuban can stare up to the rafters, watch the fluttering blue-and-white that reads: Dallas Mavericks, 2011 NBA Champions, and wonder about what could have been.