Which Former Maverick will be missed most?

With plenty of new faces, many of last season’s Dallas Mavericks are gone. Vince Carter is now with the Memphis Grizzlies. Shane Larkin, Jose Calderon, Wayne Ellington and Samuel Dalembert are in New York. DeJuan Blair will be suiting up for the Washington Wizards. And Shawn Marion and Bernard James are still on the market.

We are now asked,

Which former Maverick will the team miss most next season?

Bailey Rogers: I didn’t think I was going to say this, but I actually think Jose Calderon might be missed the most. Defensively, he couldn’t coexist with Monta, but the Mavs now lack a proven floor general who can coordinate the offense. Devin is serviceable, but skillwise, he overlaps a lot with Monta. Who knows what the Mavs will get out of Felton? And don’t get me started on Mekel. Also, while the Mavs have done a good job of reloading the bench with good shooters, none are quite the elite 3-point threat that Caldy was.

Brian Gosset: I can’t name one, but I think they’ll miss Calderon, Carter and Blair. Calderon because his threes. Nelson has the same IQ as Calderon, but isn’t as good of a shooter. He can penetrate better than Jose which could go a long way for the offense. Carter brought scoring and threes to the bench, but the team may not miss him as much with the signings of Aminu and Jefferson. I view Greg Smith and Blair the same, same build and hustles a lot. So in the end, I guess the Mavs will miss Jose’s threes the most.

Winston Zhang: Totally agree with Bailey, gotta be Caldy. It’s really odd to say so, especially considering the gripes we all had over the utter lack of defense from him last season, but I think we’ll really miss his sure hands. I never once felt like the ball was going to be thrown away when he was bringing it up.

Of course, his 3-point shooting will be missed as well, not just for the points it provided but also for the spacing it gave the rest of the players, which really cannot be understated, especially since it’s important to have spacing for the Monta-Dirk pick-and-roll magic to occur.

Ace Feltman: Until replaced, Jose Calderon’s three point shooting is, a glaring hole it will remain.

Sameer Moosa: Vince Carter. With the way the team is now constructed, I actually think Carter will definitely be missed the most. One major reason: his size as a two guard. If you look at our four guard rotation of Nelson, Harris, Felton (who doesn’t seem like he’s getting traded and is getting underrated), and Ellis, the tallest height is 6’3”.

That size is where Carter will surely be missed, since he could size up with some of the big 2 guards in the West. The backcourt defense and size is going to be a huge issue with Vince gone, not to mention that he is probably a better shooter than all of those guards.

Austin Ngaruiya: I think I’ll give the slight edge to Vince. Although Calderon’s shooting is irreplaceable, Vince was the Mavericks’ best two-way player last year.

He did everything well on offense: shooting, initiating pick and roll, and creating off the dribble. Furthermore, Vince was an underrated defender who almost never blew a rotation.

At 37 years young, Vince was more than willing to rotate and take the charge. Most importantly, his intangibles will be missed. Having a hall of famer like Vince willing to work hard and do the little things on defense can light a spark for a team; Vince was constantly this spark.