Your 2012-2013 Dallas Mavericks (and Cap Space)

The Dallas Mavericks were all smiles after achieving what seemed to be improbable last season

The Dallas Mavericks were on top of the NBA mountain some 13 months ago after beating the Miami Heat in six games in the 2011 Finals.  As most people say, their run to the title was exemplary and was aided by a bit of luck given that they only had one established superstar (Dirk Nowitzki) in his prime compared to the Big Three the Heat had back then.

Wanting long term success, Mark Cuban and the Mavs front office opted to blow the championship team apart by allowing their key free agents in 2011 to go to other teams right after the NBA lockout was resolved. The lockout was key to Cuban's decision as the owner wanted to follow the stricter rules and avoid the harsh penalties imposed by the new NBA CBA.

A lot of Mavs fans (including me) were left scratching our heads as we saw Tyson Chandler go to New York, JJ Barea head to Minnesota, Caron Butler sign with the Clippers and so on. He also traded non-cap friendly contracts like that of the promising Corey Brewer (with Rudy Fernandez, who never actually got to see action for the Mavs)  to the Nuggets in order to clear precious cap room heading towards the summer of 2012 where he initially had three big fishes to try to land (Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Dwight Howard).

The Mavs looked promising for the 2011-2012 season as they got some key acquisitions for cheap that would have (key word is would have) made the team in tip-top shape to defend their title. Their poster boys actually looked like this before the season started last December.

The 2011-2012 hard-luck Mavs

Now we all know how the 2011-2012 season (started and) ended for the Mavs. In one word their campaign can be described as MEDIOCRE, as other teams in the NBA clearly displayed how superior they were to the then defending champs. Whether we blame Cubes for not giving his old team a chance to defend, Jason Kidd's advancing age, a lack of defensive presence in the middle or Lamar Odom-Kardashian's antics on and off the court for not defending the championship; it is clear that the Mavs were not really in it to win it last season.

Fast forward to present, the Miami Heat are your new NBA champs, the recent NBA draft saw a lot of talent influx to the league (I'm not even ranting about the rookies as I wanted to give them a chance to prove themselves) and the free agency period has commenced.

Oh wait, free agency, YEAH!!! Weren't the Mavs supposed to land a big fish this summer? Rewinding things a bit, CP3 and D12 exercised their player options for the coming season leaving the Mavs to concentrate on one (and hometown) fish in Deron Williams who opted out of the last year of his contract with the Brooklyn Nets to decide if he stays in the Borough or go home to Big D.  

CP3 and D12 decided to exercise their player options for 2012-2013

And we all know how the meetings with Deron go right? He chose to stay in BKN after strongly considering going to Dallas but was swayed due to the Nets superior talent (they have Joe Johnson via trade, Gerald Wallace and Brook Lopez as compared to only Dirk for the Mavs). Worse, the Mavs lost out on plan B too, as Dirk's longtime friend Steve Nash was sent packing to Hollywood by the Suns to team up with Kobe Bryant and chase a ring together.

No Stevie, No D-Will as well for the Mavs this year

Worst (see things got even worst), they let go of two more crucial pieces of their championship team when they allowed Jason Terry to go to the Boston Celtics (they did not even attempt to match the offer even if they can) and lost out on the Jason Kidd "sweepstakes."

Kidd will head to the New York Knicks and Terry will wear the Boston Celtics green next season

Now how sad is that if you are a Mavs fan huh? The team only has Dirk and Shawn Marion as the main contributors for their one and only championship run left (yes Brendan Haywood wasn't and we will get to him later). All of a sudden Mavs nation were asking, WTF was Cuban thinking? Most of them even wanted Dirk traded to a contender as respect to the player who gave Dallas glory a year ago.

I admit I almost cursed Mark Cuban and wanted to send him an email to state my intention to replace Donnie Nelson as the team's general manager (as I made a lot of successful trades and signings in NBA 2K12, LOL) but I waited to see if hey have a back-up plan amidst all the madness.

To my delight, not only did I see the Mavs management make key and affordable transactions that made the team look like a good team again. They were actually sticking to the original plan of pairing up Dirk with a high profile star (or even a pair of stars) in the future. Cuban was sticking to the plan that as long as they had the cap space they would definitely be in the running for superstars again. 

The Mavs made a flurry of transactions a few days ago that made their fans somehow smile again. They got a serviceable center in Chris Kaman (on a one-year deal) who still had quite a productive season after not being part of the plan in New Orleans last season. He is probably the best offensive center in Mavs team history and is looking at the chance to play with Dirk again after teaming up in the Olympics for the German national basketball team.

Kaman looks to play with Dirk again after a good stint together in the Olympics

They also get two players in return for one that they were giving up anyway as they made a sign-and-trade deal with the Pacers and shipped back-up center Ian Mahimni for guards Darren Collison and Dahntay Jones. Both players make the departure of Kidd and Terry bearable and yes they both also have only one year left in their current contracts.

The rumor mill also says the Mavs are front runners to Elton Brand (who was amnestied by the Philadelphia 76ers) and they have done the necessary preparations for this after amnestying Brendan Haywood as well (see I told you I was gonna mention Haywood).

They also have a back-up plan if they don't land Brand as they also look at Luis Scola as a possible pick-up from the amnesty pool (if the Rockets amnesty him). Finally, the Mavs are looking to trade for Raptors guard Jose Calderon (and his expiring contract) after Toronto deemed him dispensable after trading for Kyle Lowry.

New Mavs: The Dallas Mavericks add Collison and Jones through a sign-and-trade deal with the Pacers, sign Kaman to a one-year deal and hopes to land Brand from amnesty waivers

Now the Mavs look like a good team again. Not as good as the Oklahomas and Miamis of the NBA but clearly not pushovers like how they looked last week. They get legit starters in Kaman, Jones and Collison, which they can team up with Nowitzki and Marion to make a decent starting line-up.

Vince Carter will likely assume Terry's sixth man role and Brand (if they get him) will be a great back-up for Dirk. Rodrique Beabouis and Dominique Jones would look to earn more minutes while challenging Jared Cunningham (24th overall pick) for playing time. Second round picks Bernard James and Jae Crowder will look to crack the rotation as hard nosed defenders. And we haven't mentioned a possible reunion with Delonte West, should the Mavs get him and be able to trade for Calderon we are looking at a team that is possibly fourth best in the West and would give any team a hard time.

Finally, I would like to reiterate that all the moves made by the Mavs front office recently may have been showered with a bit of luck again. However, they are working really hard within the restrictions of the new CBA and staying in-course of a plan to get the best available talent to help Dirk win another title before he retires, as long as the talent is available.