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Lin would drive Carlisle absolutely Linsane

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fify

The Mavs have put themselves in position to compete for the 8th seed again. They will pass Portland in the standings. I don't see anyone else dropping below them short of injuries. OKC will also jump them. It's pretty much the Mavs versus New Orleans and Phoenix for the 8th seed.

I like what the Mavs have done this offseason. They have put themselves in a nice position for the future with cap space and something to build around. I understand why there would be doubts around Jordan's potential or Mathews injuries. I understand the doubts about the Mavs point guard situation. Spoiler - the Mavs aren't winning the 2015-2016 championship. But it beats "Plan B" which would have involved dropping to the bottom of the Western conference with an uncertain future and no easy way back.

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Proposed 2-deep:

1. Jeremy Lin/JJ Barea

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Don't forget about Devin Harris. He and Brandon Wright had good chemistry in limited minutes. I think he and DJ could work well too.

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The Mavs have put themselves in position to compete for the 8th seed again. They will pass Portland in the standings. I don't see anyone else dropping below them short of injuries. OKC will also jump them. It's pretty much the Mavs versus New Orleans and Phoenix for the 8th seed.

I like what the Mavs have done this offseason. They have put themselves in a nice position for the future with cap space and something to build around. I understand why there would be doubts around Jordan's potential or Mathews injuries. I understand the doubts about the Mavs point guard situation. Spoiler - the Mavs aren't winning the 2015-2016 championship. But it beats "Plan B" which would have involved dropping to the bottom of the Western conference with an uncertain future and no easy way back.

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Agree that it puts us in a good position for the future. If we can land a solid point guard and/or PF in the next two years, we should be set up nicely. I think we could surprise some people and be better than what people are expecting this year. If we stay healthy, we may have a decent shot at seeds 4-7. I think everyone forgets how well the Mavs were playing pre-Rondo last year. There's a good chance we would not have been the 7 seed if we didn't do the Rondo trade. We have improved this year, so we could have a solid record in the regular season.

GS and the Spurs are obviously a tier above everyone. But then it gets a little unclear about who will be 3-8. I could easily see the Mavs moving past the Clipps and the Blazers. Memphis is also getting another year older, but should be about the same team next year. Rockets have the same team as well. Thunder will obviously be improved if healthy. Pelicans should be a little better just because of Davis but haven't really added anyone to help him.

It'll be fun to watch.

Good or bad (usually good until late in the 2015 season), Ellis was key in generating offense for this team. That is definitely still a huge question right now.

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The Mavs have put themselves in position to compete for the 8th seed again. They will pass Portland in the standings. I don't see anyone else dropping below them short of injuries. OKC will also jump them. It's pretty much the Mavs versus New Orleans and Phoenix for the 8th seed.

I like what the Mavs have done this offseason. They have put themselves in a nice position for the future with cap space and something to build around. I understand why there would be doubts around Jordan's potential or Mathews injuries. I understand the doubts about the Mavs point guard situation. Spoiler - the Mavs aren't winning the 2015-2016 championship. But it beats "Plan B" which would have involved dropping to the bottom of the Western conference with an uncertain future and no easy way back.

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Agree that it puts us in a good position for the future. If we can land a solid point guard and/or PF in the next two years, we should be set up nicely. I think we could surprise some people and be better than what people are expecting this year. If we stay healthy, we may have a decent shot at seeds 4-7. I think everyone forgets how well the Mavs were playing pre-Rondo last year. There's a good chance we would not have been the 7 seed if we didn't do the Rondo trade. We have improved this year, so we could have a solid record in the regular season.

GS and the Spurs are obviously a tier above everyone. But then it gets a little unclear about who will be 3-8. I could easily see the Mavs moving past the Clipps and the Blazers. Memphis is also getting another year older, but should be about the same team next year. Rockets have the same team as well. Thunder will obviously be improved if healthy. Pelicans should be a little better just because of Davis but haven't really added anyone to help him.

It'll be fun to watch.

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Golden State, San Antonio, Memphis and OKC will be the top 4 teams. Rockets could surprise once again (likely flipping spots with Memphis) but they likely are the 5 seed. Mavs, New Orleans, Phoenix, LA Clippers likely fighting for the 6-8 spots. Wouldn't be shocked if the Jazz and Twolves compete for a while this season as well.

Mavs, in my eyes, are likely in the playoffs but won't do much without a point guard. Only major free agent PG available this coming offseason is Mike Conley...and Rondo. Pickings are slim for PG until 2017 unless they make a trade.

I think there is an outside shot (slim) we could get a 3-4 seed. Decent shot at getting 5-6. Obviously won't be shocke if we get 7-8 either. If I had to pick a seed now, I'd probably guess we'd get the 6 seed. If Wes or Parsons don't fully recover or we have other injury concerns, this year will be a struggle though.

I'd love Conley next year, but he may not want to leave Memphis.

I don't think we have to have a great Point guard to be able to compete though, assuming we can land a solid PF to take over for Dirk next year. We didn't have a good point guard last season, and we were on pace to have the best offense of all time. Carlisle can make the offense work as long as the point guard can shoot the 3.

Don't kid yourself. Dallas is a tier below Houston and LAC. They will probably be fighting Phoenix and Sacramento for the right to get but f***ed by the Spurs or Warriors.

Barea signing 2 year deal. PG position solid.

Also, the Mavs won in 2011 w/out an elite PG. Not saying it WILL be done, but it can be.

Mavs might be getting JET back.

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Also, the Mavs won in 2011 w/out an elite PG. Not saying it WILL be done, but it can be.

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Kidd was still an elite passer and shot a very good 37% from three in the playoffs.

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Mavs might be getting JET back.

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Are they going to bring anyone else back from that 2011 squad?

Shaun Marion, Corey Brewer, Ian Mahimi?

I could make an argument for ranking those teams in any order. As of now, if probably rank it Rockets, Mavs, Clipps. But I think rockets/mavs are close, a lot closer than what people think. Mavs definitely got better. Rockets will still be good but the gap between the two should be smaller this year (it was already very small last year pre-rondo). Clipps definitely got worse from last year. They literally may have to play javale McGee at center. And I'm not sure if adding lance makes them better or worse. He was abysmal last year.

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Don't kid yourself. Dallas is a tier below Houston and LAC. They will probably be fighting Phoenix and Sacramento for the right to get but f***ed by the Spurs or Warriors.

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Sacramento? You lost me. Post is invalid.

Who would you put above Sac for the 10 spot then? 10th is usually competitive with 8th place for most the season.

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Who would you put above Sac for the 10 spot then? 10th is usually competitive with 8th place for most the season.

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So where do you have New Orleans, Portland, Utah and Minnesota? With the disaster between Karl and Cousins going on at the moment and Rondo coming in, I see all of them finishing above the kings.

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Let's be honest, he just wanted to sneak in an a-shole remark.

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Yup, saw him talking up his spurs on the other thread. Typical.

The butt**** talk gave him away as a spurs fan. They love it. Especially Timmy D.

Am I the only that didn't Houston was really that good last year?

And, I know the spurs have been good for along time, and Aldridge is a great player and I would have loved to get him. How are he and Duncan going to be able to play together, they lost their other reliable big man, and tony parker is old finally and coming off an injury. Leonard is awesome, so I guess him and Aldridge together is enough to put them top 4...I just think they have a ton of lineup questions as well.

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Am I the only that didn't Houston was really that good last year?

And, I know the spurs have been good for along time, and Aldridge is a great player and I would have loved to get him. How are he and Duncan going to be able to play together, they lost their other reliable big man, and tony parker is old finally and coming off an injury. Leonard is awesome, so I guess him and Aldridge together is enough to put them top 4...I just think they have a ton of lineup questions as well.

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The Rockets are the most all or nothing team I've ever seen. When it's on fire like against the Mavs and in the last two games against the Clippers they are one of the very top teams in the League. But when one of their pillars crumble it completely falls apart. Like if the refs actually crack down on Harden's shenanigans, or if Dwight gets disinterested, or if their many many woeful free throw shooters combine to have a terrible night, or if Corey Brewer and Josh Smith aren't suddenly playing out of their minds. If just one of those things happens they instantly become average. And then I think they must be somewhat mentally fragile as well. When your best player/MVP candidate commits 13 turnovers in a close out game, it shows something about his mental state.

The Rockets were also down several guys at the end of the year; assuming health they will be lethal because they can space, defend well, and Harden is a top 5 guy.

SA will be very deep and has the option to play LMA with or without TD; they'll want TDs minutes heavily managed until the playoffs. Again, assuming health, they are a top 4 team. GS, SA, HOU, MEM, OKC. Then you go down a tier to Mavs, NO, LAC, PHO, UT, etc.

Charlie V back on the team for the vet minimum. He is a good guy to have on the bench. Down 15 in the 3rd quarter and in need of some offense? Trot out Charlie V and see if he can bomb a couple of 3's to get you right back in the game. Also reported to be a great locker room guy.

I'll just leave this here

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Free agents are traditionally considered off limits once they strike a verbal agreement with a team during the NBA's annual moratorium period. Sources, though, said the Clippers have pushed to secure a meeting Wednesday in Houston for coach and team president Doc Rivers and possibly owner Steve Ballmer to make one last face-to-face pitch to Jordan in an attempt to persuade him to walk away from the four-year, $80-plus million max deal he committed to with the Mavericks and instead stay with L.A.

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This is really bush league by Deandre. Makes me think alot less of him that he is even agreeing to meet with them. If he wasn't sure, then he could have taken his time to make his decision. He wasn't in any rush.

I'm worried that he may decide to leave. If he wasn't considering leaving, he wouldn't take the meeting at all.

Meh.

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This is really bush league by Deandre. Makes me think alot less of him that he is even agreeing to meet with them. If he wasn't sure, then he could have taken his time to make his decision. He wasn't in any rush.

I'm worried that he may decide to leave. If he wasn't considering leaving, he wouldn't take the meeting at all.

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Do any of the reports say he's actually accepted a meeting with them?

If legit, looks really bad for Deandre.

At this point, I mm sure the Clips are trying, but I don't know how much DJ is actually entertaining. Needs to shut it down though. One tweet and his reputation stays clean.

I wish he would have said something, ANYTHING, over the long weekend about coming to Dallas.

No, they all specifically state "clippers lobbying DeAndre"

It seems Jordan's agent has placed a number of players in Dallas and is chummy with Cuban. I wonder if the Clips' angle is to go behind the agent's back and convince Jordan he got bad advice.

If so, Ballmer is a bigger snake then I imagined.

On the plus side for Cuban, does he get his $25k back if Jordan reneges?