Determining the Best Mavs Team in History…Tournament Style

With every NBA franchise, there are good teams and bad teams and the Dallas Mavericks are no different. But what if we want to determine who the best, most gifted Mavs team in history is? There is no choice…we must form a bracket.

The Dallas Mavericks have a relatively short history in the NBA. With the first season for the expansion team beginning in the year 1980, Dallas became the 24^th NBA team to join the league. Since then, players have come and gone and the franchise has gone in every direction.

The early 80’s started slow as the team worked to put together a roster. It was a difficult process but relatively short considering the first Mavs team to reach the playoffs was in the 1983-84 season, the 4^th year of the franchise.

Dallas would go on to qualify for the playoffs in 6 of the following 7 seasons leading right up to the year 1990. At this time, the problems for Dallas really began to set in as the team was unable to make the playoffs the entire decade. In fact, the team only had 1 winning record in the 90’s.

But, through all the agony and pain that the 90’s brought, it was flipped for some of the best basketball the Mavericks ever played. Starting in the 2000-2001 season, Dallas qualified for the playoffs every year of the decade. The teams that were on the court were fast, entertaining, and hard to stop no matter who was there.

That led into our current decade with the 2010-11 season which just so happens to be the lone championship for the Mavericks franchise. Since then, the teams have not been as dominant as before but have still managed to make it to the postseason every year except one.

With all this history of great players, great coaches, and great teams, we wanted to truly try and determine who the best Mavs team is in franchise history. Now seeing as many of us on the staff have our own viewpoints and opinions, we have decided to post the matchups on twitter to have the rest of the MFFLs help us in determining the best Mavericks season in history.

Dec 13, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks center Tyson Chandler (6) is knocked to the floor in front of Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) during the first quarter at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /

As always, we have decided that a bracket will be the best way to determine the best Mavs season in history. In a single-elimination bracket, we have prepared the seeding based on a mixture of season records, postseason finishes, and a few other unspecified factors to pick the squads.

We will treat each matchup like each team is putting out their healthiest lineup from that season in a seven game series similar to the current playoff format. We will break down hypothetical back court, wing, and front court matchups that would take place before picking out winner of the contest.

The matchups are as follows:

2010-11 Mavericks VS. 16. 1983-84 Mavericks

2005-06 Mavericks VS. 15. 1985-86 Mavericks

2002-03 Mavericks VS. 14. 2013-14 Mavericks

1987-88 Mavericks VS. 13. 2008-09 Mavericks

2006-07 Mavericks VS. 12. 2007-08 Mavericks

2004-05 Mavericks VS. 11. 2003-04 Mavericks

2001-02 Mavericks VS. 10. 2000-01 Mavericks

2009-10 Mavericks VS. 9. 1986-87 Mavericks

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Who is your favorite Dallas Mavericks team of all time? Does one stick out as more athletic than any other in team history? Keep up with us on Twitter to cast your votes and see how your bracket compares to the one here at The Smoking Cuban.

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