I'm thinking of Dallas and and San Antonio with this topic, but feel free to bring up any other teams first.
Dallas Mavericks
They've got a legit MVP candidate in Dirk right now, but their supporting cast is pretty amazing. Kidd is ageless and probably has the overall best court vision in the game even at this stage in his career. Butler is starting to figure out his role a la Richard Jefferson. Maytch(ha!) is coming off of the bench, Chandler is playing out of his mind, and Jason Terry is still some of the best instant offense in the league. 1-7 this team is putting high quality players on the floor at all times, and if Dirk is what he's supposed to be, they have a top 5 go-to scorer in the game in the closing moments.
Concerns: Perimeter defense against elite players. Marion is still a high quality defender for bigger players, but overall their backcourt is either small or slow against the top competition depending on who's on the floor. At the end of games, the Mavs have a tendency to be a bit of a jumpshooting team. If Dirk takes his turn around below the FT line, it's good news because he's drawing the defense in and possibly getting a foul, and if he doesn't make a play for someone else that is a high percentage shot that Chandler/Matrix/Kidd can rebound. If he or Terry are taking those long jumpers or 3s at the end, the elite teams have better options for the end of the game, and this could cause a loss in the playoffs.
People have written them off, and I don't agree with that. The Lakers look to be the better team and other Western teams will certainly give them trouble in the post season, but not enough that I could write them off. Talent, depth, leadership, shooting, rebounding and defense--this is a very well rounded team.
San Antonio Spurs
I haven't seen that much of the Spurs this year, but from what I have seen Tony is back, Manu has gotten healthy and figured out his veteran play, Jefferson has fit into the system(%s out of this world), McDyess still won't miss from midrange, Hill and Blair have the experience to go with their youth and Bonner and Neal are assassins from 3. Thiago Splitter will be an X factor. Timmy's production is way down but the word is he's taking it easy to save it for the post season. Even the biggest Spurs optimist won't expect him to return to his prime form, but even 70% of that is formidable when you consider the shooters on that roster.
Concerns: Oddly enough, defense, which sounds crazy when talking about a Spurs team. In a championship discussion, we're only talking about them beating the playoff teams in the West--Jazz, Lakers, Mavs, Thunder, Nuggets, Hornets, Suns(I don't think Memphis/Portland/GSW can possibly beat the Spurs, even if they sneak in). The elite scorers pose serious problems for the Spurs across the board. They don't have a Marion or Sefolosha that they can throw onto a big guard, they'll have to play Dirk 1 on 1, and no one can guard Deron or CP3. In the playoffs, I'm curious to see what Popp does to field a defense that gives them enough to support their offense.
Dallas Mavericks
They've got a legit MVP candidate in Dirk right now, but their supporting cast is pretty amazing. Kidd is ageless and probably has the overall best court vision in the game even at this stage in his career. Butler is starting to figure out his role a la Richard Jefferson. Maytch(ha!) is coming off of the bench, Chandler is playing out of his mind, and Jason Terry is still some of the best instant offense in the league. 1-7 this team is putting high quality players on the floor at all times, and if Dirk is what he's supposed to be, they have a top 5 go-to scorer in the game in the closing moments.
Concerns: Perimeter defense against elite players. Marion is still a high quality defender for bigger players, but overall their backcourt is either small or slow against the top competition depending on who's on the floor. At the end of games, the Mavs have a tendency to be a bit of a jumpshooting team. If Dirk takes his turn around below the FT line, it's good news because he's drawing the defense in and possibly getting a foul, and if he doesn't make a play for someone else that is a high percentage shot that Chandler/Matrix/Kidd can rebound. If he or Terry are taking those long jumpers or 3s at the end, the elite teams have better options for the end of the game, and this could cause a loss in the playoffs.
People have written them off, and I don't agree with that. The Lakers look to be the better team and other Western teams will certainly give them trouble in the post season, but not enough that I could write them off. Talent, depth, leadership, shooting, rebounding and defense--this is a very well rounded team.
San Antonio Spurs
I haven't seen that much of the Spurs this year, but from what I have seen Tony is back, Manu has gotten healthy and figured out his veteran play, Jefferson has fit into the system(%s out of this world), McDyess still won't miss from midrange, Hill and Blair have the experience to go with their youth and Bonner and Neal are assassins from 3. Thiago Splitter will be an X factor. Timmy's production is way down but the word is he's taking it easy to save it for the post season. Even the biggest Spurs optimist won't expect him to return to his prime form, but even 70% of that is formidable when you consider the shooters on that roster.
Concerns: Oddly enough, defense, which sounds crazy when talking about a Spurs team. In a championship discussion, we're only talking about them beating the playoff teams in the West--Jazz, Lakers, Mavs, Thunder, Nuggets, Hornets, Suns(I don't think Memphis/Portland/GSW can possibly beat the Spurs, even if they sneak in). The elite scorers pose serious problems for the Spurs across the board. They don't have a Marion or Sefolosha that they can throw onto a big guard, they'll have to play Dirk 1 on 1, and no one can guard Deron or CP3. In the playoffs, I'm curious to see what Popp does to field a defense that gives them enough to support their offense.
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