Five Questions the Dallas Mavericks Must Answer before Training Camp

Everyone is wondering and waiting for draft day festivities. 

Who will the Mavericks take with the 22nd pick, or better yet...will they trade up? 

Can they afford to re-sign Kidd? 

Can they afford not to? 

Will the Mavericks be healthy by training camp?

So many questions to be answered before the seasons starts.  For now, I'm just sticking with five I think are most pressing. 

1.  Are the Maverick financially strong?  I'm not the team's accountant, but, based on the fact they regularly sold out all their home games, I would say yes.

Let me go into more detail. 

The heart of any sports team budget is revenue generated from home-ticket sales.  NBA teams are of no exception.  What is unique to major sport venues is television revenue.

When a team has its home game aired locally, the home team receives a portion of the advertising dollars from the local broadcaster.  That is money paid by advertisers for commercial air-time to the local station. 

So, all those goofy commercials we see on TV during our home games, remember they are paying for our player's salary.

Now, here is where it gets tricky. 

There is a little mandatory requirement for the home team to qualify for this bonus money.  They must sell out that would-be aired home game.

Failing to sell out a given home game will cause the local broadcaster to impose a local black-out. 

What does that means to us home-bound Mavericks fans? 

Well, unless you have the NBA package on your TV or can get last-minute tickets, more than likely you are not going to see the game live.  Meaning, the game is not aired on the local team's station.

Fortunately for Mavericks fans, our team knows how to sell its tickets. 

Remember last season? 

The Mavericks were selling tickets for $2 a seat.  This was more than Mark Cuban being generous to the "little fan." 

This was a sound business decision. 

So, giving away tickets for $2 was not a crazy idea; it was financially smart.  It ensured the Mavericks would maintain that inflow of capital from the television revenue. 

Folks, Mark Cuban wasn't born a billionaire.

2.  What will the Mavericks do on draft day?  There is a good possibility the Mavericks might move up in the draft order.  The financial situation of many teams will force them to severely cut salary.

These teams did not share the same fortune as the Mavericks in selling out their home games, therefore these teams lost revenue for last season and are finding themselves in a financial hole.

Another financial hit to all the NBA teams is the new salary cap for the 2009-2010 season.  It will be $1.38 million less at $57.3 million for the coming season.

And to add even more salt in the wounds of these financially ailing teams, the NBA imposed luxury tax has been lowered, making it even harder for these financially strapped teams to stay under cap.  

So, some of these financially hurting teams would rather part and sell their high draft pick.   Some teams are not financially able to pay a top draft's salary and would rather trade away that top pick. 

They are willing to take a lower and less expensive player than pay another multi-million dollar contract. 

Being a more financially solvent team, here is where the Mavericks can make some killer deals.  The Mavericks have three things these hurting teams need: 

1.  We have a lower, less expensive pick in the draft.  2.  We have tradeable contracts to help these teams get under cap.  3.  We have the one thing everyone needs, cold hard cash.

The Mavericks could also help these teams with high draft picks by taking current players from their roster.  After all, the Mavericks are in need of a better-than-Damp center, a real shooting and scoring starting two-guard, and a possible starting point guard.

The Mavericks are shopping to return to the elite of the NBA.  Their owner, Mark Cuban, is willing to pay the luxury tax, but only if it will benefit the team. 

3.  Will the Mavericks find a dominant center?  As I have hinted already, the Mavericks need to replace Erick Dampier.  The Mavericks need a dominant center,  someone who will take responsibility for the team's rebounding, and who can ignite the transition offense with defensive stops. 

All of last season the Mavericks had trouble consistently running their transition offense.  The major problem is they rebound by committee, which means whoever can get the rebound. 

What usually happens is one of the wing positions, usually Dirk Nowitzki or Jason Kidd, will get the rebound.  

What is happening folks is that all of our wings are playing for a spot to get the rebound.  That is putting them behind and out of position to take an outlet pass from the point guard. 

How it's supposed to work: the center rebounds the ball while the wings are positioning themselves ahead of the point guard to take the outlet pass.  This has to be very quick, before the opponent has a chance to set up on defense.

There are more centers available this summer than I have ever seen.  Dampier's contract has reached a point to where it is tradeable. 

We need a dominant center. 

Where is such a man?

4. Will the Mavericks find another scoring option?  The Mavericks were hurt last season. 

Heck, they were beat up badly.  Too many games were played with only two scorers. 

Josh Howard was in and out and missed 31 games.  We would get Josh back, and we would lose Jason Terry.  We would get Terry back, and we would lose Josh.  We were short on offense all season long.

Antoine Wright played the two-guard for most of last season.  Being young, he has a lot to grow before he becomes a stellar defensive guard.  He has even further to grow to become an offensive threat.

Jason Terry gives the Mavericks much-needed offense off the bench.  Terry is really too small, body-wise, to be an effective defender to match up against bigger two-guards.

The Mavericks need another scorer, a true shooting guard or small forward.  Again, this free agency has a lot of players on the market. 

Will the Mavericks make a move to trade for the better? 

5.  Just what will the Mavericks do about Jason Kidd?  As of right now, this very minute, the Dallas Mavericks do not have a starting point guard. 

Doesn't anyone think that the Mavericks haven't been thinking about this for a while?

Rest assured, Jason Kidd is too. 

The question is, will both sides come to a mutual agreement? 

Kidd wants a three-year deal. 

Will the Mavericks give him his deal? 

If not, the Mavericks will have to quickly find a suitable starter. 

There are quality veteran point guards available in free agency this summer, and any one of them would not put the same strain on the team's salary cap as Jason Kidd.

Sure, I might be dreaming, but there is a real chance the Mavericks could get Chris Paul.  They tried last season only to fail. 

Why not make it for real this season?