Jason Terry endeared himself to the majority of MFFL’s in his eight-year tenure as a Dallas Maverick and it was sad to see him go despite knowing it was time. Despite his tendency to speak his mind a bit too much off the court, Terry’s contributions in the clutch were enough to mask his deficiencies on defense and his turnover-prone ways in plenty of games, and who can honestly not like any guy who did this in the NBA finals?

*Side note, Mike Breen needs to be cloned and put in every major sport, can you imagine “BANG!!!” after a Tony Romo to Dez Bryant TD bomb? Or a Josh Hamilton walk off homer? Chills would be felt*

Getting back on track here, Jet’s departure to Boston begs the question: Who takes up the mantle as sixth man?

We pretty much know who the starting five are going to be:

Dirk, Marion, Mayo, Collison and Kaman.

All five of those players are more than capable of making the early stages of games much more competitive, enabling Dallas to NOT be down by double-digits by the time the call to the bench is made, which happened a number of times in last years mediocre-fest of a season–especially against the upper echelon of teams in the Western Conference. But everyone knows that in the West, it is hard to compete without some scorers off the bench.

Looking at the roster, there aren’t any names that really jump out at you as shoe-in’s for the new “sixth man” monicker.

Apr 10, 2012; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Vince Carter (25) dunks against Sacramento Kings center Hassan Whiteside (33) at American Airlines Center. The Mavs beat the Kings 110-100. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE

Vince Carter was not exactly dazzling in his first year as a Mav (10.1 PPG, 41% Fg, 37% 3PT), he had a three point drop-off from his previous season in Phoenix and never really had that “click” during his first season as a Mav. Sure, he was good for a few rim-rattling dunks, circa the 2000 Slam Dunk Contest, but 10 PPG was underachieving in the eyes of many.

The upside here, however, is that Darren Collison creates a youth-infused offense and fans should expect more crisp passing and less sitting on the ball until the shot clock is almost expired; that should benefit a player like Carter immensely. Granted, moving without the ball isn’t exactly the primary agenda for a 35-year-old SG, but Carter wasn’t exactly helped by Jason Kidd’s worst passing season of his career and definitely would have been more successful with a younger player running the offense.

Terry’s departure should give Vinsanity more minutes,and a younger PG should give him better looks inside. Carter may not have lit up the box score, but the stats showed that the Mavs were a better team in both offense and defense when he was on the floor.

The big enigma is obviously Rodrigue Beaubois. The “free Roddy B” pleas that can be seen from many fans are starting to lose some of their weight. Does anybody really think if a veteran coach like Rick Carlisle thought Roddy was a budding superstar that he wouldn’t play him all the time?

It’s obvious that Carlisle isn’t sold on Beaubois and gets frustrated with his jekyl-and-hyde performances. Any fan who watches every game knows it. Roddy can score 40 points against the Golden State Warriors, and then go 1-12 the next night against the Lakers. That isn’t just inconsistency; it is MADDENING.

To be the new go-to-guy off the bench, Roddy has to become more of a slicer inside, the guy averaged barely one free-throw in 21 minutes per game. That is evidence right there that he settles for jumpers when he could be drawing fouls and getting easy points. If Roddy doesn’t become more efficient at creating his own offense, he will quickly find himself at the end of the bench next to Dominique Jones.

Another interesting prospect is Mavericks rookie, Jae Crowder. When you look at Crowder, the long dreadlocks and broad shoulders bring to mind Kenneth Faried, –and they look the same– an aggressive forward who contributed a lot for the Denver Nuggets last year as a rookie with 10 PPG and 7.7 rebounds. If the Mavs can get that same kind of consistency and energy-filled play from Crowder, he will become a fan favorite very quickly because of his Brandon Bass-esque style of play– Plenty of Maverick fans are still upset that Bass was never retained. Crowder can be a force inside and on the boards, using his size to get to the paint for easy buckets. Crowder averaged 17.5 PPG and 8.4 rebounds in his senior year at Marquette University.

March 22, 2012; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Marquette Golden Eagles forward Jae Crowder (32) drives to the basket against Florida Gators guard Erving Walker (11) during the first half in the semifinals of the west region of the 2012 NCAA men. CREDIT: US PRESSWIRE

Other players like Delonte West, Elton Brand, Dojo, Dahntay Jones and rookies Bernard James and Jared Cunningham will have their fair share of contributions, but none –except for maybe West and Brand– would be a strong candidate for much more than 8-10 PPG. Cunningham is an enigma because we never got a chance to see him in Summer League thanks to a hammy injury.

As  a 6″4, 195 lb combo guard, Cunningham is a guy who can create his own shot and play competent defense. That could already give him an edge over players like Roddy and Dojo who really don’t excel in that aspect of the game. He has been described as a quick backcourt player, and that is a primary reason the Mavs drafted him in the first place, they need speed.

James,a player that spend six years in the Air Force and served in Iraq, Quatar and Afghanistan, does not lack toughness and it is possible that he could fit into the rotation early if he shows the same propensity for double-doubles that he did in the summer. He averaged 10.2 PPG and 9 rebounds in five summer league games and the Mavericks are a team that desperately needs a player who can clean up the glass on offense. Dallas ranked near the bottom in offensive rebounding efficiency last season, posting a 23.4 ORR (offensive rebound rate), better than only Golden State and Boston.

The motto of the summer has been “keep the powder dry”, but the Mavs cannot afford to coast into a seven or eight seed this season and expect to draw the interest of players like Andrew Bynum or Chris Paul. Should be interesting to watch Dallas this year, not many people know what to expect.

That can only help the Mavs.

Choose your adjective of choice, but it is highly likely that one of those describes your reaction as Mavs fans when you saw on the ESPN ticker: “Dwight Howard To Lakers.” The summer had already been considered a disappointment when The Colony native, Deron Williams, decided to keep his talents on the East Coast and help usher in a new era for the newly located Brooklyn Nets. Now, to add on to that, Howard gets traded to a team who already addressed a big need earlier this summer by acquiring former Mavericks point guard Steve Nash, and isn’t exactly lacking talent with Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol.

Sure, this move doesn’t come as THAT unexpected considering the amount of times you would see “Dwight” and “Lakers” both trending on Twitter in the same sentences, but it came as a shock  that the Lakers were willing to part with Andrew Bynum, who had been a stalwart in the lineup the last few years since his knee problems had been remedied.

You could obviously cite his immaturity issues–it isn’t like Dwight is trailing Bynum by much in that department–  and undisciplined behavior as reasons why the Lakers weren’t that miffed to be rid of him, but he certainly did not make them a worse team in any respect (Unless he was doing this) and had become a top-tier center. Los Angeles pulled the trigger, though, and have become the most complete team in the Western Conference.

August 10, 2012; El Segundo, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard (12) during a press conference. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

Don’t mince words when you tell your Mavs friends how this makes you feel, it ticks you off! All the teams Howard could choose and it just HAS to be the Lakers and it HAS to be when Dallas thought it may have a real shot to land him next summer in free agency because of his indecisiveness on if he would sign a long-term contract extension to whichever team he was traded to this year. Don’t get me wrong, Dallas has improved greatly over the summer with the acquisitions of Darren Collison, O.J. Mayo, Chris Kaman, Elton Brand and Dahantay Jones.  None of those are sexy names that will give them a realistic shot to dethrone a team like OKC, though– let alone tackle the new foursome: “Dwobe Nashol.”

The Mavericks struggled mightily inside last year after choosing not to resign Tyson Chandler. Brendan Haywood had his worst year since his rookie season in 2001 and Dallas never found a comfortable rotation that they felt good with every night. Chris Kaman will be the best offensive center the Mavs have ever had, but he will not challenge the likes of Dwight in any contest.

The one weakness that still stands out about the Lakers is their bench, they signed NBA journeyman Antwaan Jamison, who averaged 17.1 ppg for the Cavs last year, and hope he can provide some punch off the pine along with Steve Blake and Jodie Meeks –another player signed for his outside shooting ability. I still feel like presence of Howard will run offenses out of rhythm and enable LA to press the ball and keep the opponent reliant on outside shooting, which will be to the Lakers advantage as it will take away points in the paint.

Let’s do a pretend interview between me and a “fan” to compare how the other teams in the West stack up to the quad-connection in Laker land. It will be like a Bill Simmons article without the pop culture references.

Me: So, who do you think has a chance to beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the West this year?”

Fan: “I just don’t see how the Lakers can beat OKC, the Thunder are too young and fast and have too much talent offensively”

Me: “You make some good points, anonymous fan, but what you fail to understand is that the Lakers now have a 26-year-old brick wall standing in the paint. In addition, LA has another big body in Gasol –not as proficient defensively as D12– who can clog the inside. The Thunder’s three primary scorers: Durant, Westbrook and Harden -who account for nearly 70% of OKC’s offensive output-  will have their inside game diminished greatly, which would be a detriment to Westbrook more than anyone, seeing as his game is predicated on the ability to penetrate in the lane. The Lakers would force OKC into a lot of turnovers which is how you frustrate a young team.

Fan: “Well ok, how about the Spurs? They are still a very solid team.”

Me: “True, but they are getting old and father time is catching up with Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobli. Ginobli looked as young as ever in London at the Olympics, but Duncan is not who he once was and SA doesn’t have the personnel to matchup with Dwight and double-team Kobe effectively. It is really a pick-your-poison option.

Fan: “If you are saying that young teams have the best chance, maybe the Clippers, they had a good offseason and are a good squad.”

Me: “Yes, the Clippers did have a nice free agency with the additions of Jamal Crawford and Lamar Odom, as well as resigning Chauncey Billups. Defense is the worry here, once again, nobody to stop Dwight crashing the offensive glass, and Howard basically makes Blake Griffin obsolete. Griffin is going to be a question mark coming back from knee surgery, also. The Clippers could not stop Andrew Bynum in 2011, Dwight is a step up on the totem pole from him.

The Lakers are the clear frontrunners in the west, does that mean they can’t lose? Of course not.

There is a certain “Big three” in South Beach who will tell you how tough it is to exceed expectations as the favorite.