Dallas Mavericks: Better Off Without Dirk Nowitzki?

When the Mavericks lost reigning MVP Dirk Nowitzki to a knee and ankle sprain for at least two weeks—adding insult to the injury of falling to 0-8 against playoff teams since the Jason Kidd trade—things were looking bad. The doomsayers, smelling blood, came out and started proclaiming fire and brimstone for Dallas.  

 

However, the latest coming out of this camp is that not everything is gloomy on the Dallas front. In fact, Dallas figures to improve with Dirk out of the lineup. How is this possible? Are we putting our credibility on the line? While this may seem quite contrarian the opinion, upon further investigation, you will find that it is quite valid. So, just how will Dallas be better with Nowitzki, at least to finish the regular season? (No one is suggesting that Dallas won’t need Dirk for the playoffs).

 

Dallas currently has one of the most motionless offenses in the league—their half-court sets consist mainly of isolations and teammates standing around. This completely takes Jason Kidd out of the game, for Jason Kidd thrives on setting teammates up and running offensive sets. Jason Kidd’s half-court ventures with Dallas consists of throwing post-entry passes to Dirk and Josh Howard, and missing jumpers—Smush Parker could do the same thing. Currently, Jason Kidd’s only value is in running, and forcing, the fast break.

 

Dallas resorts to grinding it out at the end with teammates taking turns getting isolations. Why, then, do they lose? Because they don’t have a premier individual offensive weapon to close out games. Dirk, Howard, and Stackhouse aren’t the isolation players that Kobe Bryant or Lebron James, or even Dwyane Wade, are. And while elite teams have team-oriented offensive options to mix in with isolations (Detroit motion, Laker triangle, Utah pick and roll, New Orleans’ Chris Paul brilliance, Phoenix run and gun) – Dallas really doesn’t have that alternative. They don't have effective offensive sets. So, Dallas is forced to go isoand they have come up short.

 

Without Nowitzki in the lineup, there will be a lot less isolations, and the team will have to run offensive sets to get buckets. This usually does wonders for team chemistry and teammate recognition. Energy levels pick up, teammates feed off each other, and assists will go up. With more easy buckets and less grind-it-out possessions, the free flowing style (think back to the Steve Nash days, only with Jason Kidd) will return to Dallas. Case in point, on Sunday, Mike Breen suggested out loud that they run the pick and roll with Terry more often – yes, team play usually is more effective than individual play.

 

The game has changed now, and teams are moving faster and going smaller. Teams can get by with one slow, traditional big-man (think Shaq on the Suns, Yao on the Rockets, Dwight on the Magic, but he can run too) – but two big men on the court, the same time, slows the game down too much. Dirk and Dampier are like two dinosaurs out there.

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