Bleah. That's pretty much all that can be said about the game Saturday night. Its time to move on to the...

Boston Celtics

Well, maybe a game against one of the East's elite will jump start the Mav's season. The Celtics come into the AAC again looking like a top contender with a nice 6-1 record to start the season. Obviously, everyone knows about the Big 3 and Rondo, but the supporting cast is going to be key in deciding whether this team can ultimately win it all. In the past, they've built they're bench around solid role players like James Posey, Eddie House and Tony Allen. However, they took a turn this past off season and went after former stars in getting Jermaine O'Neal and Shaq. Combining those two with the group of Big Baby Davis, Nate Robinson, and former Mav Marquis Daniels, and the Celtics figure to have a pretty good cast around their stars.

As always, however, the stars will have to show up for the Celtics to win. Paul Pierce is what he is. He's going to provide a good game and solid leadership to help carry this team. While Ray Allen has continued to age, he's still been averaging at least 40 minutes a game this season. It'll be interesting to see whether he can hold up playing that many minutes for the rest of the season. The big difference in this team this season is going to be the play of Kevin Garnett. Finally fully healthy after that injury he suffered in Utah a few years back, Garnett seems to have some of his explosiveness back as he's been averaging almost a double-double this season. If he can somehow pick up his offensive game again, that team becomes even better. Lastly, what more can be said about Rajon Rondo? If last season's playoffs weren't enough, the guy has come out at a record pace as he's averaging almost 15 assists a game! There's no doubt he's one of the best young PG's in the game and if he can keep developing an offensive game, the Celtics will become that much better.

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Coming off a nice win over the Bobcats, the Mavs next opponent is going to be the Memphis Grizzlies.

Memphis Grizzlies

                After a resounding season opening win over the Bobcats, the Mavs’ next test is going to come from a rising division rival in the Memphis Grizzlies. Coming off a year in which they nearly finished at .500 and made a significant jump, the Grizzlies largely kept their roster intact as they opted to resign Rudy Gay at a hefty price while bringing in only a couple of role players in Acie Law and Tony Allen through free agency and Xavier Henry and Greivis Vazquez through the draft. While they return nearly everybody, things will be harder for the Grizzlies this year as they will not be able to sneak up on teams the way they did last season. This was particularly evident in their 119-104 home loss to the Hawks to open the season in which pretty much every Atlanta player had their way on offense. While the Grizzlies did lose, they did have a couple of bright spots. While guys like Gay and OJ Mayo are expected to have big games, it was surprising to see Mike Conley, who has been a big question mark at the Point, put up 23 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds. If Conley can play anywhere near the way he did on Wednesday, the Grizzlies could be set for a playoff run this year.

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Well, here we are Mavs fans, with the preseason finally done and out of the way, its now time for the start of the regular season! Looking at our first game ahead….

Charlotte Bobcats

Opening night brings a team in transition, the Bobcats, into town. After years of building, Charlotte finally made its first trip to the playoffs last season. Led by stars Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson, the team finished over .500 at 44-38 and made the playoffs as the 7^th seed in the Eastern Conference. In the playoffs, though, they were dominated by the Magic and Dwight Howard as they were swept out in 4 games. Although the majority of the roster returns intact from last year, there are some notable exceptions. Raymond Felton, who had spent the first 5 years of his career with the team and was their starting point guard, is now in New York, which is going to place a lot of pressure on DJ Augustin, the former UT star, who will have to man the role of PG by himself. On a similar note, the Bobcats also lost Tyson Chandler, who was traded to the Mavs as part of the Erick Dampier deal. After having released Dampier, it seems that they will be relying heavily to man the middle on former Mav DeSagna Diop and Nazr Mohammed.

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With the Mavs having just opened their preseason schedule, it deems that the main part of the rotation does seem full. However, there still remain questions over the last couple of spots on the team. Looking more in-depth at the roster:

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        With the decision by Tim Thomas to sit out this year in order to take care of his ailing wife, the Mavs are left with a hole on their roster at the backup power forward position. Now to the casual outsider, this seems like a moot point considering Dirk’s going to play 37+ minutes a night; however, the 10+ minutes that he’s going to be out of the game are absolutely crucial. While Dirk hasn’t shown much signs of wearing down, one has to assume he is going to show signs of age at some point and the backup PF position is one that the Mavs would like to hit in order to give him some breaks throughout games. With Thomas, the Mavs had a solid back-up who could fill in better than any of the new candidates that have come out. As of right now, though, there have been 4 names thrown out that have been thrown out that could be of some help to the Mavs.

• Brian Cardinal: According to a report last week, it seemed that Cardinal is the leading candidate to land on this team. Cardinal’s one of those guys that had one or two average seasons and somehow earned a large contract that he never lived up to. At this point, though, far removed from that contract, he remains a low risk option. He doesn’t really do anything off the charts well, but he does provide solid size and depth and would be an ideal fit for giving Dirk a breather in some games throughout the season. On the flip side, though, he is a definite step down from Thomas and the idea of having him on the Mavs is not one that fans are going to like to envision. But as the situation currently stands, he should be the clubhouse leader for that final spot and at this point, with training camp about to start, should be the odds on favorite.

• Bobby Simmons: This is the guy I’m most intrigued by. While he doesn’t really have the size to play the 4 on a consistent basis, he could be a nice fit for the Mavs on an occasional basis. Much like Cardinal, Simmons used one nice season with the Clippers to gain a large contract with the Bucks, and after one good season in Milwaukee, has really fallen off the map. He’s definitely a risky, reclamation project, but if he can somehow regain his old form, I don’t think there’s any doubt the Mavs would be better off with him than some of the other guys on the list.

• Steve Novak:  Pretty bleah. When he’s gotten playing time, Novak has done some nice things and has shown the ability to stretch the floor through his solid shooting fromy behind the arc, but at the same time, he’s been just as mediocre as the two ahead of him on the list and has less of a track record. Maybe might be worth a shot due to his size and shooting ability, but I think it’d take a lot for him to somehow end up on the team.

• Ike Diogu: Very, very interesting. The Garland product, Diogu has mainly failed to live up to the expectations that have surrounded him since he was the 9^th overall pick in 2005. While his lack of size has been seen as a problem in the past, he would be solid as the back-up 4 due to his prowess on the boards and the fact that he can put the ball in the basket. In other words, he may provide us some of what Brandon Bass gave, who really did make life hard for opposing defenses when he came in for Dirk. 

Sorry it’s been such a long time since my last history post, but I’ve finally got the next one ready. Since it has been a long time, here are the links to Parts 1,2, and 3. As for this part, we are concentrating on the 1987-88 Mavs, who were one of the best teams in franchise history.

This is by far one of my most favorite Mavs' videos. Just listen to the crowd at Reunion!

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Over this past off season and throughout the Summer League, a lot of people began to be excited about the future prospects of Rodrigue Beaubois (extending from last season) and Dominique Jones. Now as any NBA analyst would point out, these guys have very little experience and are unproven as late first round picks. The experience part is hard to argue, but the theory that late first round picks are often shoot and miss and will often turn out unsuccessful is interesting to look at.

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Well, after our first community report card, we have come up with these grades for the following people (10 is the highest and 1 is the lowest):

Dirk Nowitzki– 9/10 (too close to call either way)

Jason Kidd– 8

Shawn Marion – 6

Jason Terry – 5/6

Caron Butler – 7

Brendan Haywood – 7

Rick Carlisle – 5/6/7

If you have yet to voice your opinion on any of the players/coaches, go ahead and follow the links (click on the person's name to get to the polls) and vote! We'll try and do this again at mid-season with hopefully a larger amount of players to grade, but it is pretty interesting to look at these grades.

Any thoughts? Anyone too low or too high?

After looking at our last poll, most of MMB gave Brendan Haywood 7’s. Adding Butler’s grade to the mix, this is what we have so far:

Dirk – 9/10 (too close to call either way)

Kidd – 8

Marion – 6

JET – 5/6

Butler – 7

Haywood - 7

            The last person on our report card is going to be Coach Rick Carlisle.

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After looking at our last poll, most of MMB gave Caron Butler 7’s. Adding Butler’s grade to the mix, this is what we have so far:

Dirk – 9/10 (too close to call either way)

Kidd – 8

Marion – 6

JET – 5/6

Butler – 7

            The next player on the report card is going to be Brendan Haywood.

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After looking at our last poll, most of MMB gave Jason Terry around 5’s and 6’s. Adding JET’s grade to the mix, this is what we have so far:

Dirk – 9/10 (too close to call either way)

Kidd – 8

Marion – 6

JET – 5/6

            The next player on the report card is going to be Caron Butler. 

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        In the last part, the team's first playoff runs were mentioned, including the 1983-84 one, in which the Mavs made it into the 2nd round and gave the heavily favored Lakers many problems. Now, moving on, we look at the 1985-86 and 1986-87 season. Also, check out Part 1 and Part 2!

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According to ESPN Dallas, the Mavs are nearing in on bringing Thomas back on a one year deal at the veteran minimum. 

Power forward Tim Thomas will visit the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday and the sides are expected to reach an agreement on a one-year deal for the veteran's minimum his agent, Bob Myers, said Monday. 

Thomas, 33, played just 18 games with the Mavs last season before leaving the team to be with his ailing wife. He never disclosed his wife's illness, but she is apparently doing well enough for Thomas to return to the league. Both sides handled last season's situation in good faith and want to continue the relationship. ESPN.com's Marc Stein first reported in late July that Thomas and the Mavs were working on a deal. 

"If all goes well, we'll reach an agreement," Myers said Monday. 

Although Thomas did only play in 18 games last season, he did have some moments, the biggest of which coming in a 102-95 win over Cleveland, in which he led the way with 22 points and 7 rebounds as the Mavs won without an injured Dirk. For the most part, though, he remained either on the bench or in a limited role in his time with the Mavs before leaving to be with his family. However, with Dirk starting to get older and the Mavs looking to get his minutes lowered a bit, Thomas would seem to be an ideal back-up who could give the Mavs some time at the 4.

As for the roster, once Thomas is signed, the Mavs will be at 14. With Alexis Ajinca still looking for a trade, the number figures to change, but at the moment, the Mavs have only one spot left on their roster.

        After looking at our last poll, most of MMB gave Shawn Marion 6’s. Adding Marion’s grade to the mix, this is what we have so far:

        Dirk – 9/10 (too close to call either way)

        Kidd – 8

        Marion – 6

        Moving along, we’re going to take a look at the JET – Jason Eugene Terry.

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In Part 1, the early days of the franchise were mentioned as the Mavs had grown from a losing expansion team to a near playoff contender. Now, in Part 2, we  focus on the first couple of Mavs Playoff runs!

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                After grading Jason Kidd, it seems that most of MMB thought favorably of him this past season, giving him mainly 7’s and 8’s. Now we get onto the next player on our report card, Shawn Marion.

On another note, the remaining players I have left on these are JET, Butler, Haywood, and Roddy B. If there’s anyone I left out that you guys want to see, make sure and say it in the comments. 

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        To be honest, Dirk was probably the easiest person to grade on the roster. He earned mainly 9’s and 10’s, which he definitely more than deserved. Now, getting into the meat of the team, judging player’s grades should become much harder.

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I happened to be looking over at another one of our SBN sites (DefendingBigD) the other day and I saw a series of posts where they were grading every player on their roster the past season. Looking at the Mavs’ roster, it seems like a cool idea to do some of those over here. Now, whenever I do post these, I’m going to avoid players that aren’t here anymore (i.e. Matt Carrol, Eddie Najera, etc.) and players that really did not have much of a role on this team (i.e. Deshawn Stevenson). But for the most part, lets see what the community thinks of the Mavs’ roster!

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        Well, here’s my first post! As I said in my introduction yesterday, I really wanted to start doing a series of articles about the history of the Mavericks. So in this first part, I decided to start by looking at the early, formative years of the Mavs history! I'll try and include some videos to the next couple of history sections I do (sadly, there weren't many involving the early Mavs).

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