In the aftermath of the Maverick's loss to the Warriors much has been made of the Maverick's inabilty to slow down the tempo of the game consistently. More specifically, the glaring weakness of the Maverick's roster was exposed: They do not have a scoring option in the low post. Without the ability to slow down the game with teams such as the Warriors and Suns, the Mavs are going to continue seeing these types of failures in the postseason unlees something is done. The low post is not Dirk's game, and for all of the lip service being paid to him working on developing a better low post game over the summer, forget about it. That is not what Dirk's skill set dictates, and although perhaps you can teach an old dog new tricks, would you really pick Dirk over a Mike Vick trained Mastiff that has been lurking in the post for years? (Too soon?) The other low post options on the Mavs roster include Erick Dampier and DeSagana Diop, and for all of the rebounding and shot blocking help they provide neither could be said to be an offensive threat.
What the Mavs do have however, is a decently sized expiring contract for next season in Shawn Bradley's $5.2 million deal, which could help them acquire some veteran help in a trade with a cap strapped team. So now the question looms, where are the Mavs going to be able to get some help for Dirk in the low post? Barring any crazy, roster demolishing trades, here are some targets the Mavs should be looking at going into the offseason:
Anderson Varejao:
The Cav's rising young star is hitting the free agent market this summer, and would be the ideal remedy for what is ailing the Mavs. Varejao possesses the strong post game on offense that would benefit the Mavs against up temp0 teams, while still being athletic enough to get up and down the floor if the Mavs choose to go into a transition offense themselves. Varejao would probably be hard to acquire given the Mavs current cap situation ($62 million on the books already for next season), so the Mavs best option might be a sign and trade deal with the Cavs. And the other shoe that would have to drop in that scenario.....would be Jason Terry heading to the PG needy Cavs, who already have Drew Gooden and Ilgauskas to soften the front court hit of losing Varejao.
Jamaal Magloire:It would seem that Magloire's time is up in Portland, with his contract expiring and the Blazers having acquired LaMarcus Aldridge in last year's draft. Though Magloire has had two somewhat sub par seasons the last two years, it is important to recall that he averaged double figures in scoring in all three of his seasons with the Hornets. Also to his credit, Magloire is only 28 years old. With his stock down after only starting 21 games this year and losing time to the likes of Aldridge and Joel Przybilla the Mavs might be able to sign Magloire to a contract much smaller than what it would take to bring in Varejao.
Corliss Williamson: Sometimes, you just need offense. And in those situations, when rebounding and defense might not be of the highest priority for the Mavs, would be when Corliss Williamson would be most effective for them. Say what you will about Williamson's all around game, but there is no denying the fact that the man can put the ball in the hoop when he is in the game. And most importantly for the Mav's needs, he can put it in from the paint. Williamson, who will be a free agent this summer, would probably be the most affordable option for the Mavs, while perhaps also being the most situational.
Kendrick Perkins:
Let's just call this one the Greg Oden option for the Mavs. If the ping pong balls fall the right way for the Celtics to draft Oden, Boston would find itself in a predicament with Oden and Al Jefferson (whose second contract will be looming) sharing the frontcourt space with the raw talents of Perkins and Ryan Gomes. Why is this a bad thing? Well, for a team like the Celtics, it isn't very good to be paying $4 million plus to your 2nd or 3rd string PF when you have such an uncertain situation at PG. So remember Shawn Bradley's expiring contract I was talking about earlier? The Mavs could ship it along with a few draft picks to the Celtics for Perkins, giving Boston some added cap flexibility for the 2008 offseason which could see Baron Davis, Jason Kidd, Jameer Nelson, Chris Duhon, and Brevin Knight on the free agent market.
