Dallas Mavericks: A New Big Three in Big D?

Ah, the Dallas Mavericks.

This season they have become one of those elite teams whose window might be finally closing.

Yes, those Dallas Mavericks who, in 2006, were a quarter away from leading the Finals series, 3-0, before collapsing completely.

Yes, those Dallas Mavericks who were still shocked at the beginning of the 2006-07 season that they started 0-4.

Yes, those Dallas Mavericks who turned that season around into a 67-15 season, tied for sixth-best all-time.

Yes, those Dallas Mavericks who were led to that record by MVP Dirk Nowitzki.

Yes, those Dallas Mavericks who were the victims of arguably the biggest first-round upset in NBA history that same year, losing to the Golden State Warriors.

Yes, those Dallas Mavericks who panicked in the middle of last season and decided to mortgage their future by trading for Jason Kidd. (The guy they gave away for is making a good case for being an All-Star over in New Jersey).

And yes, those Dallas Mavericks who so far are 11-9 and are sitting one spot outside the playoffs.

Coming into this season, I think most people would have guessed that the three key guys for this season would be Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, and Josh Howard, right?

Well, I'm afraid you're 1-for-3, my friends.

Dirk Nowitzki has been and will be the guy for the Mavs. This year he is carrying the team so far. At 24.7 points per game, his scoring is at the highest its been since 2006, and he's also increased his shooting percentages from three-point land and the charity stripe.

No one can doubt that this team goes as far as Dirk takes them.

So you got one right.

But as for Jason Kidd and Josh Howard, they aren't two of the three main guys for the team this year.

Jason Kidd was the best at his position in his prime, but those days are gone and you can't expect him to still be at that all-star level. However, to his credit, Kidd isn't exactly doing awful. His best skill, his passing, is still giving the Mavs 8.7 assists a game, and he is shooting over 40 percent percent from three for just the second time in his career.

Though he is obviously a liability defensively against the likes of Chris Paul, he is also averaging roughly two steals a game, good for second in the entire league. Of course, he is averaging his lowest points total in his entire career, at just 9.7 a game.

Kidd is contributing well to the Mavs, but he isn't the saviour that the team hoped he would be when they made the trade last year. Though, to be honest, I don't think how anyone could have imagined he would be.

Josh Howard is having a great season...but only when he is on the court. After the controversial offseason that I described in my other two articles concerning Josh, he has proven doubters wrong by playing at an all-star level.

Unfortunately, he has been rather brittle so far, playing in just nine of the Mavs' 20 games, his last one being on Nov. 18. His ankle and wrist have been the main problems, but when on the court he has been averaging a career-high in points per game at just over 20, to go along with his career high of 8.0 rebounds.

Hopefully Howard will continue this trend when he returns to injury. When that occurs, he will undoubtedly be one of the main guys for the Mavs, but today he is not.

So who is?

Well, firstly, Jason Terry. He of open-layup-airballing fame is making a huge case for Sixth Man of the Year. He is a long time removed from the type of contribution he gave in '06, but is still leading all bench players in scoring and has been playing second-fiddle to Dirk very well.

In fact, he is actually averaging a career-high in points at 20.2 per game. Though Terry's percentages have fallen, all other categories have risen. There is no doubt he has stepped up and is a big reason for the Mavs' recent streak.

So who else?

Around a year ago, one of my favourite columnists wrote an article about how excited she was that Jose Juan Barea had been signed by the Mavs, and hoped that he got decent minutes because he would always play hard for each one of them.

It took a while to set in, but Barea is getting those minutes now and is taking advantage of them. He isn't producing huge numbers and won't be getting that many all-star votes, but numbers only tell so much of the story.

The Puerto Rican native out of Northeastern University is providing a huge spark off the bench and injecting some life into the team. In the last three games, he has scored 18, 22, and 21 points.

He started slow, having four scoreless games in five, but only in one of these did he play over 10 minutes. Now that he's getting his chance, he's proving his worth, having scored in double-digits in all of December's games.

Not bad for an undrafted sophomore.

Bear with me. Once the season is all done, will these three guys still be the key contributors? Dirk most definitely will, and possibly Terry, too. Once Howard is healthy he should be back as a major guy; but, today, it is these three.

Where is the team headed?

As I mentioned earlier, Dallas is sitting ninth in the West; it would almost be unimaginable that the team gets any higher than the sixth seed, and even that might be a stretch.

However, its important to remember that Dallas hasn't won fewer than 50 games since 2000!

I would imagine that they do scrap into the playoffs and will put up more of a fight than they did last year, but it's hard to see them getting out of the first round.

On the other hand...if they miss out on the playoffs, it may only be a small step toward rebuilding completely.