What We Learned From the Dallas Mavericks' Loss

After watching the Mavericks lose in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs against the San Antonio Spurs, I learned a lot of things about what is wrong with our team and what we need to do to get better.

Jason Kidd is not capable of guarding anyone.

Yes, he is our best option at point guard and is the most efficient at running our team, but if we can't stop anybody, what good does it do to have him?

He is too slow to guard point guards like Chris Paul and Tony Parker and he is too small to guard shooting guards like Brandon Roy and Kobe Bryant.

In this series, he looked too slow to be guarding anybody, no matter who it was.

I watched Matt Bonner drive by Kidd twice on consecutive plays. If you are not capable of guarding Matt Bonner, who can you guard?

Kidd is still one of the best passing point guards in the league. He has the experience you want in a point guard, but that experience has really worn down his body.

Rick Carlisle is a good coach, but he doesn't know how to coach under pressure

After watching strange occurrences such as J.J. Barea playing as much as Shawn Marion and Caron Butler combined, I really began to question if Carlisle knew what he was doing with this team.

Then, after seeing Rodrigue Beaubois tear up the Spurs' defense and spark the Mavericks' comeback, I saw him sit on the bench for the first 10 minutes of the fourth quarter, arguably the point when the Mavs lost the game.

Carlisle is excellent when it comes to basketball knowledge, but he has no idea how to manage a team. He doesn't know when to change up his approach, and this cost the Mavericks dearly.

Dirk Nowitzki still has it

Anyone who thinks that Dirk is getting too old and is losing his touch, take game six as evidence that he is still a top 10 player in the league.

Nowitzki scored 33 points on 13-21 shooting in game six, hitting shot after shot, leaving the Spurs searching for an answer.

With that being said, the Mavericks still need to find a backup for Dirk. Once Brandon Bass left, we had no one else that was a traditional power forward.

Eduardo Najera is not the answer and Shawn Marion is much better suited playing small forward. Tim Thomas might have been a decent option, but he has been out for quite a while now.

The front office needs to find a legit shooting guard

Jason Terry is too small, can't play defense, and is too streaky of a shooter.

Jason Kidd is too slow, doesn't shoot well enough, and also can't play defense.

Caron Butler is better suited to play small forward, where he isn't relied on as much too handle the ball and make outside shots.

Dallas does not have a first round draft pick in the upcoming draft, so they will have to find someone via free agency. Erick Dampier has a huge contract where they could do a sign-and-trade with a team looking for some compensation for losing a player, but other than that, the Mavericks don't have many options.

DeShawn Stevenson is a good defender, but he can't be counted on to do much on offense. And don't even think about Matt Carroll.

Shawn Marion isn't as good as we think

He is still a good glue guy, but he would be better suited to be the eighth or ninth man on a team, rather than starting at small forward.

He is an above average defender, and can guard pretty much anybody but bigger centers. He is also a good rebounder for his size.

If the Mavericks can find a legitimate shooting guard, they can move Caron Butler to small forward and move Marion to the bench.

Rodrigue Beaubois needs to get a lot more playing time.

If you watched any of game six, you know what I'm talking about. He has too much potential and talent to leave him sitting on the bench.

He is still learning from Jason Kidd, and he will still make dumb mistakes, but you will live with those mistakes because of the good things he can do.

I still think the Mavericks have one or two more years of good basketball and the potential for a championship, but if they don't correct these things, nothing good will ever come of it. We have too much talent on this team to let it go to waste.