David wrote:The talent Nelson had, all played the same position. You could play two on the floor at a time but they played out of position to make it work. Plus, Antoine Walker is one of the biggest ball-hogs ever. He's not that good of a shooter. The other teams played off of him and kept Dirk from receiving the pass from Walker. Antoine didn't want to pass it anyway.
Antoine also proved to be a terrible free throw shooter. He almost had a mental thing about it. Antoine could drive the basket but if he got fouled, it did no good. He'd shoot 50% at best. Until the Mavs got him, I thought he was a pretty talented player.
There are more things than talent. It has to be the right talent, used in the right way. It was a miracle the Mavs won 52 games that year. The roster was an abortion.
uptempo wrote:1. Nelson put that team together, including acquiring the players.
Donnie put the team together at Cuban's direction. All the trades were made to bail Mark's @ss out of Raef's bad contract. It was Nelson who played the good soldier and made do and then took the blame because the team was less than it was before.
uptempo wrote:2. Nelson did not emphasis defense with his team.
They hired Del Harris to run the defense. He's still there, running AJ's defense.
uptempo wrote:3. AJ took that talent, emphasized playing defense (a necessity to advance in the playoffs), and got the team to the NBA Finals, something that Nelson has never done.
The Mavs now have centers, or weren't you paying attention? Statistically, the defense is virtually identical to the Nelson teams.
uptempo wrote:You should be appreciative of the job that AJ has done instead of pining for the return of Nelson. He, Nelson, is now our problem at Golden State.
I'm glad the Mavs have a good coach. They had a better coach. He's the solution at Golden State, not the problem.
uptempo wrote:Get over it; we don't need any Maverick trolls on the Golden State board.
I like going to the NBA finals. It's just that I think Nelson got cheated out of the opportunity to silence some very ignorant critics. Instead of calling names, perhaps you should check your facts.