November 25, 2002

DEPTH OF MAVS, KINGS WILL END LAKERS THREE YEAR REIGN

       Just think of having these players on the court at the same time: Shawn Bradley at center, Popeye Jones at power forward, Walt Williams at small forward, Nick Van Exel at shooting guard, and Avery Johnson at point guard.  These players, though not stars—Van Exel notwithstanding—could be a very functional unit on an above-average team, as long as some decent players backed them up.  The startling point is that these five players are the second unit for a Dallas Maverick team that already boasts three unqualified superstars in Michael Finley, Steve Nash, and Dirk Nowitzki.  And Nowitzki is fast becoming a top five player in the league.  It is not surprising that this team has flown out of the gate this season—even though they have missed Jones for the entire season and Van Exel for most.  They have depth in scoring, depth in rebounding, depth in playmaking, and when starting center Raef LaFraentz, Van Exel and Jones return to help out super sub Eduardo Najera the Mavericks will have so many good players they may not be able to fit them all in.  Frightening.

       The Kings are in a similar situation.  They have a strong shooting point guard in Bobby Jackson, a shot blocker/rebounder in Keon Clark, an all-around player in Hedo Turkoglu, a high flyer in Gerald Wallace, and a mucker in Scot Pollard coming off their bench.   With Mike Bibby and Peja Stojakovic the Kings have two potent shooters in their starting line-up; they have Doug Christie, a hard working defender occasionally able to hit the outside shot, and Chris Webber and Vlade Divac each possessing quality inside/ outside games.  The advantage the Kings have over the Mavericks is in experience.  The Kings have played Los Angeles in each of the three Laker championship playoff runs.  The Kings pushed the Lakers up against the wall last season, and are itching to put the three-time defending champions straight through it this time.

       Besides the depth, the litany of star players possessed by each team, and the desire to dethrone the Lakers, the Mavs and the Kings have other things in common.  They both have dynamic ownership—the luxury tax figure is merely a rumour for these teams—they both have experienced coaches, and both teams feel that destiny is on their side.  One of them will likely be right at season’s end.

       The Mavericks have been building toward contention since early in the 1997 season when Don Nelson was brought in as General Manager and Coach to overhaul a roster filled with scorers that didn’t rebound and didn’t defend.  He shook the franchise to its core by trading its best player, Jason Kidd, to Phoenix in a multi-player trade that netted the Mavericks Nash and Finley.  But the draft day trade in 1998 with Milwaukee—a swap of picks with the Bucks getting Robert Traylor and the Mavs getting Nowitzki-- could go down as the most one-sided deal in NBA history.  By the end of Nelson’s third season a long-time losing franchise had risen to respectability, and with a plethora of young exciting players growing together the Mavericks served notice that they were a team on the fast climb up the NBA ladder.  The emergence of Nash as, not only a quality point guard capable of leading the team, but as a player able to break down defences and dish off to open teammates, pushed the Mavericks to the top.  Finley and Nowitzki, already emerging as stars in their own rights, were now able to shoot without defenders draped all over them.  With the many role players brought in by Nelson to do the dirty work the stars were free to reach their potential.  And they did.  The 2000-01 season saw the Mavericks leap from mediocrity up into the elite of the league with 53 wins, and they culminated their season with an improbable and heart-stopping three game comeback series win over the much more experienced Utah Jazz.  Dallas had served notice.  

       The Kings story is a similar one.  Rick Adelman was brought in before the 1998 season to add some respectability and experience to a team that had lingered for too long near the Western Conference basement.  This was a transition year for Sacramento.  GM Geoff Petrie remade the roster.  The Kings traded for Webber, signed Divac and Stoyakovic, and drafted Jason Williams.  Adelman looked at his roster, saw quickness, good hands, and athleticism, and instituted an up-tempo game plan that resulted in a solid regular season showing and a post-season berth.  That year the Kings pushed the defending Western Conference champion Jazz to five games and let the conference know that they would be a team to be reckoned with in the future.  The next season the Kings won 44 games and pushed the eventual champion Lakers to a full five games in the opening round of the playoffs.  It was merely the beginning.   The 2000-01 season saw the Kings match a franchise record 55 wins and an opening round win over Phoenix set up another tussle with the Lakers.  This was the best of these three-time champion Laker teams however, as Shaq was as unstoppable that playoff year as any player in NBA history.  The Kings were swept.  The Lakers lost only one game that playoff year—the first game of the NBA finals to the 76ers, on their way to the title.  But it was last season’s historic conference battle lost by the Kings in overtime of game seven that seemed to indicate that the margin between the two teams had shrunk.  The Lakers were on their way down, while the Kings were turning upward.  

       The Lakers will not be the team this year that disrupts the Kings ascent to the title—that team may very well be the Mavericks.  The Lakers look vulnerable.  Injuries are starting to take its toll on the behemoth in the middle, and the Laker depth is nowhere near competitive enough to match either the Kings or the Mavericks.  The Lakers are starting to show their age.  It may only be November but Dallas is playing with the kind of indestructible confidence that champions display.  Teams are facing the unbeaten Mavericks with the simple goal of breaking their undefeated streak, but each time the Mavericks have found a way to win.  Even in games in which they don’t play well, and the other team does, the Mavericks find a way late in the game to pull out the victory.  This type of domination sets into the minds of their opponents as they feel that, sooner or later, the Mavericks will get on enough of a roll to pull out the win.   The Mavericks won’t win every game, but they will certainly win 60 plus, and that likely will gain them home court advantage through the playoffs.  Sacramento will likely win their division and place second in the conference meaning that the Lakers will have to go through both teams to win their fourth straight crown—an unlikely occurrence. 

      So for all you NBA fans who are tired of watching the Lakers parade around with the championship trophy—rest easy, this year you will get your wish.  The only question at this point is whether it will be Dallas or Sacramento that wins the prize.  Either way it will be an exciting playoff match-up if these two fast-paced teams meet.  And all would be right in the cosmos if it were the Kings who eliminated the Lakers and ended their three-year reign as champions.  The Kings deserve that honour.