After the Golden State Warriors hosted the 2015 Larry O’Brien Trophy claiming their first championship in forty years, the NBA offseason gave players, coaches, and trainers over 100 days to prepare for the next arduous season. The 2014-2015 Dallas Mavericks were coming off of a surprising season in which the team signed All-Star and veteran point guard Rajon Rondo, but ultimately saw Rondo show no signs of dedication to the Mavs that ended in a 4-1 loss to the Houston Rockets in the 1st Round Playoffs. Although the Mavs won an unexpected 50 games for the 13th time since 2000, the depth and strength of the Western Conference place the Mavericks at the 7th seed without home court advantage. As the 2015 Mavericks season came to a close in early May, owner Mark Cuban and General Manager Don Nelson looked for an additional big man who could post up and take shooting pressures off of the guards and future Hall of Fame inductee Dirk Nowitzki.
Unfortunately, the Mavs offseason didn’t go according to plan as the team let go of Chandler and became home to one of the most controversial decisions of all time when DeAndre Jordan decided to stay with his Clippers. Even though Jordan verbally agreed on a four-year $84 million deal with the Mavs, he reversed this decision just 24 hours later and inked his tenure with the Los Angeles Clippers for the next few years. While infuriating the entire organization, Cuban and Nelson looked beyond this annoyance and signed veteran point guard Deron Williams from the New Jersey Nets, center Zaza Pachulia from the Milwaukee Bucks, low-post big man JaVale McGee from the Denver Nuggets, and shooting forward Jeremy Evans previously off of the Utah Jazz. With the 21st overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, the Mavs selected Justin Anderson, a polished shooting guard from Virginia’s elite college program. With the depth and strength of the Western Conference, the Mavericks felt their only shot to make the playoffs would be through large blockbuster deals and a strong draft.
Perhaps the most important to piece to the Mavericks success this year is Head Coach Rick Carlisle, who totals 338 wins for the franchise and currently needs one more win to tie Don Nelson for the organization’s highest notch. In August, the Mavs agree to another four extension with Carlisle, the only coach in the franchise to win an NBA championship and have a winning record in his playoff coaching career. With Carlisle at the helm, the Mavs need to rely on his leadership as well as the guidance from Dirk Nowitzki to establish a true identity in a nearly new roster from top to bottom.
Indisputably, Dirk Nowitzki enters this season as the perennial face of the franchise, as he leads the Mavs all time in points, field goals, free throws, three-pointers, rebounds, games, shooting percentage, and is second in blocks and steals. Dirk comes into the season in his 18th season and has already established himself as arguably the greatest shooting seven-foot player ever, the most versatile power forward to post up, and convincingly the best European player ever to perfect his signature “step back” fadeaway jump shot. Dirk needs less than 500 points to pass Shaquille O’neal on the All-Time scoring list and is also less than 3,000 points away from passing Wilt Chamberlain, before striding closer to Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. In other words, Dirk has already solidified himself among NBA royalty and has another season to climb the ladder in all-time statistics and even qualify for his 16th All-Star appearance.
The 2015-2016 Dallas Mavericks season started on Wednesday, October 28th with a convincing 111-95 win over the rival Phoenix Suns, the new team of former Mavericks center Tyson Chandler. Most impressive was the fact that eight players scored in double figures, a stat that tied the franchise record. However, the schedule will not be easy, primarily because of the strength of the Southwestern Division, a division which includes teams like the Spurs, Pelicans, Grizzles, and Rockets, who all made the playoffs last season.
The projected starting lineup for this season includes Devin Harris at shooting guard, Deron Williams bringing up the point, Zaza Pachulia down low as center, Chandler Parsons in the backcourt as shooting forward, and Dirk Nowitzki posting up as power forward. The Mavericks bench, while not including illustrious and decorated players, provides much needed depth such as NBA Champion J.J. Barea, Raymond Felton, Wesley Matthews, John Jenkins, Charlie Villanueva, and rookie Justin Anderson.
As for a season projection, I see the Mavericks winning between 42-46 games to sneak into the Western Conference Playoffs for another season, securing the 8th seed. The Mavericks will benefit greatly from a fast-paced and high scoring offense of Parsons and Williams, while still relying on clutch shooting from Dirk in the fourth quarter. Pachulia and McGee can gobble up twenty rebounds between the two of them every night and will protect the glass down low. Coach Carlisle has a phenomenal playbook and will keep fresh bodies on the floor at all times to give the Mavs the best chance at hopefully making a postseason run.
Here our my predictions for the entire 2016 NBA Playoffs:
Western Conference Playoff Prediction:
#1 Golden State Warriors vs. #8 Dallas Mavericks (Warriors win 4-2)
#2 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. #7 Memphis Grizzlies (Thunder win 4-1)
#3 San Antonio Spurs vs. #6 New Orleans Pelicans (Spurs win 4-3)
#4 Los Angeles Clippers vs. #5 Houston Rockets (Clippers win 4-2)
Eastern Conference Playoffs Prediction:
#1 Chicago Bulls vs. #8 Indiana Pacers (Bulls win 4-1)
#2 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. #7 Miami Heat (Cavaliers win 4-0)
#3 Atlanta Hawks vs. # #6 Boston Celtics (Hawks win 4-3)
#4 Milwaukee Bucks vs. #5 Washington Wizards (Wizards win 4-2)
NBA Finals Prediction:
#2 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. #1 Chicago Bulls (Thunder win 4-2)
