11/21/24
February 21, 2002
Nuggets trade entire offense to Dallas for washed-up veterans.: Is Raef LaFrentz the last piece of the Mavericks championship puzzle? David Stern handing the trophy to Mark Cuban would be priceless.
posted by mmesker to basketball at 08:00 PM - 6 comments
I gotta tell you, I'm excited to see what the Mavs can do now. Could the Laker's domination of the NBA now be officially over? One other question....will Van Exel be willing to be a bench player? He may deal with it at the outset, but with his mindset, he wants to play all the time. Getting LaFrentz was key in the Mavs push for the West title. While he probably can't stop Shaq or Duncan any better than most other players, he does provide needed scoring ability from the center position.
posted by bcb2k2 at 08:34 AM on February 22, 2002
I'm not so sure Van Excel won't start right away. I thought Avery Johnson was brought in to play behind Nash, not Van Exel. I see a lineup of: PF Nowitzki SF Finley C LaFrentz SG Van Exel G Nash That is certainly an explosive lineup.
posted by gyc at 02:08 PM on February 22, 2002
That is an explosive lineup, but to me, it looks like the Kings of a few years ago: fantastic offense, no D, and we all know what the Lakers have done to those kinds of teams over the years in the playoffs.
posted by ajayb at 04:25 PM on February 22, 2002
But the lakers have never beaten a team with a center that can hit threes. If the refs in game 7 don't call ticky tack fouls on Sabas (You know what game 7 this Blazers fan is talking about, right?) Brian Grant is never asked to play defense on Shaq and the Rose City gets a championship. The Lakers dynasty is over.
posted by djacobs at 05:26 PM on February 22, 2002
A friend ran a credible statistical analysis via NBA 2k2 on X-box and concluded that the Mavs can not lose the championship this year. I would concur.
posted by catatonic at 12:27 AM on February 23, 2002
Dallas needed a true center bad, which is ironic for a team with 3 7-footers, and it seems LaFrentz certainly fills that hole. Van Exel is just icing on the cake for the Mavericks. It seems Mark Cuban is the George Steinbrenner of basketball that people like.