7 Early Signs the Dallas Mavericks Will Not Repeat as NBA Champions

The Dallas Mavericks have not started the 2011-12 NBA season the way that many expected, and there are some early signs which indicate that the team is going to have a tough time defending its crown.

Not only have the Mavericks changed a ton of personnel on the roster, but the new guys who were brought in aren't exactly perfect substitutions for the subtracted parts.

The best thing about great teams is that they always find ways to overcome the odds and win no matter what, and that's what we saw from this group last season when Dallas went on a surprising run, which culminated in a title.

Unfortunately for fans of the franchise, this just isn't the same group of guys.

No Interior Presence

The loss of Tyson Chandler in free agency is really looming large early for Dallas, as it's beyond clear that the Mavericks really miss him and what he brings to the attack.

Chandler was seen as an ideal puzzle piece upon his arrival, but Mark Cuban gambled when he decided not to pay him in the offseason.

The early results haven't exactly been favorable.

It's not about the stats that Chandler registers on a nightly basis or what he does in New York for the Knicks, but the Mavericks were built to have a greater force inside than Brendan Haywood, who looks old, stiff and ineffective at this stage of his career.

Too Many Moving Parts

Players Out: PG J.J. Barea, G/F Caron Butler, G/F DeShawn Stevenson, C Tyson Chandler, G/F Corey Brewer, SG Rudy Fernandez

Players In: F Lamar Odom, SG Vince Carter, G Delonte West, F/C Brandan Wright, F/C Sean Williams

As evidenced above, there have been more than a couple of changes to the roster.

In a shortened season—in which chemistry is key—that type of shakeup is going to take some time to work, and these guys need to harness a familiarity with one another in order to build a winning team.

The game isn't played on paper, and the Mavericks had less than two weeks to practice before the first game of the season.

It's not as though the guys who left the team were sitting at the end of the bench during the championship run.

Another Year Older

There is nothing wrong with being a team built around its veteran leaders, but the Mavericks' key contributors aren't getting any younger.

Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion are both 33, Vince Carter and Jason Terry are each 34, and with Jason Kidd at 38 years old, none of those guys are spring chickens anymore, by typical basketball-age standards.

The average age of the roster is just shy of 30, but when the critical parts are another year older and nearing the back ends of their careers, that can be an awfully misleading statistic.

Turnovers

Turnovers can really kill any team looking to compete on a nightly basis, and simply put, Dallas is just committing too many of them right now.

According to John Hollinger of ESPN.com, The Mavericks are currently tied for No. 26 in the NBA, with a turnover ratio of 28.8, and that's just not going to get it done for a playoff-caliber team, let alone one that is looking to repeat as champion.

To put that into perspective, Miami is just two spots ahead, at No. 24, but Dallas doesn't boast anywhere near the offensive firepower than the Heat do to combat the issue on the other end of the floor.

Offensive Execution

There are some disturbing trends to monitor with the Mavericks, and it's not just about the team's getting blown out in each of its first two games.

Dallas's assist ratio is at a very mediocre 14.0, and the club is dead last in offensive rebound rate, at just 15.1 (Cleveland is first at 35.1), indicating a lack of opportunities for second-chance points.

With the team's struggling from deep (just 30.9 percent on 55 attempts), the Mavericks will have to find a way to get creative to scrape together offensive production going forward.

Defensive Efficiency

The Mavericks gave up over 100 points to Miami in the NBA Finals just once last season (a Dallas win). But the team has given up over 100 in both games thus far this season, and each has resulted in a loss.

It's really early in the season, but the lack of effort on the defensive end and the lack of help-defense when opponents are attacking the inside are downright alarming.

Dallas's current defensive efficiency is third from the bottom of the pack, ahead of just Utah and Houston.

It's not exactly the ideal way to begin the campaign.

Improved Western Conference

Looking beyond all of the struggles that are within the Mavericks roster, another factor in the team's struggles this season can be chalked up to an improving Western Conference.

There's no doubt that the West is wide open this year, and there are a number of teams (Portland, Denver, Los Angeles Clippers) that are probably going to be better than they were last season.

Better teams means more competition for seeding and less wiggle room available, so in a 66-game season, each loss is really going to hurt the Mavs, no matter what team it is against.