Dallas Mavericks: Is Perimeter Defense an Early Concern?

With the Dallas Mavericks off to a less than promising 1-3 start, no area of criticism or analysis can be left to doubt. One of those areas is the lack of consistent team defense, with an average of 102.7 points against, good for 27th in the league. 

Within that spectrum of defense, it's worth noting that the lack of a big, physical defender at the end of games and in key moments seems to be hurting the Mavericks in the early stages of the season.

With the roster sitting at 14, the Mavs decided to go in another direction. Rather than add a physical defender, they settled on picking up former first-rounder Yi Jianlian on Sunday. 

That move surprises me, especially with the Vince Carter experiment not panning out on the defense end, as he looks to be a step late and frankly a little slow to recover.

And with newcomer Lamar Odom visibly out of shape and seemingly lost during his first four games, the jury is out on his level of effectiveness at guarding the best scorers in the league, at least until his conditioning is at an acceptable level to the Maverick coaching staff. 

During the title run, DeShawn Stevenson, Shawn Marion and Jason Kidd handled the bulk of guarding bigger guys that are counted on to score the bulk of opposing teams' points. Their combined effort on Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and LeBron James was a big reason they were able to win it all.

With Stevenson gone, Kidd and Marion another year older and a trade that sent two 6'6" guys (Corey Brewer, Rudy Fernandez) to the Denver Nuggets for a draft pick and cap space, the Mavs are left with a plethora of point guards in a shortened season.

And with undersized shooting guards Jason Terry, Rodrigue Beaubois and Delonte West taking the bulk of the minutes at the 2, there doesn't seem to be any solution anytime soon to the conundrum of how to defend bigger guards. 

James went for 37 on Christmas Day. Durant went for 30, and even Leandro Barbosa poured in 20 points off the bench for the Toronto Raptors during the Mavs first win.

It seems that Dallas is going to have to be more disciplined than ever on the defensive end, mixing in zones and traps out of Rick Carlisle's system to get teams off balance and out of rhythm on offense. 

If not, chalk up the rest of the newly arrived 2012 as a rebuilding one for the Mavs, who need that strong defense and discipline to compete with the high-octane early favorite Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder in the race for this season's championship.