2009-10 Dallas Mavericks
Second year Head Coach Rich Carlisle is taking his team into the new season with renewed confidence in his star player and team captain, Dirk Nowitzki. The power forward is averaging 26.7 ppg, 8.8 rbg and 2.7 assists per game. But riding the Nowitzki bus this early in the season could prove disastrous for the 31-year old German. Will Rich Carlisle risk pushing his star player 38.7 minutes a game (his career average is 36.6 MPG) in order to stay afloat in the talent laden Southwest Division?
Previous Seasons
Contending just won’t cut it for Dallas Mavericks ticket holders this season. Head coach Avery Johnson agrees. With All-Star Dirk Nowitzki and rising star Jason Terry, there’s simply just too much talent roaming around the court at the American Airlines Arena not to make a run at an NBA Championship. If the Nowitzki and company can make it happen, it would be a franchise first and a dream come true for enthusiastic owner Mark Cuban.
Dallas entered the NBA with an expansion team in 1980. The Dallas Mavericks got off to a rough start when their top pick refused to sign and was traded away. The team struggled in its first season, posting a 15-67 record but by their second season some signs of life began to emerge. That second season the mavericks were very young, featuring three key players in their first professional season. Jay Vincent, Mark, Aguirre, and Rolando Blackman took some time to jell, but by the end of the season the Mavericks were fairly competitive and finished with an improvement over the previous season of 13 wins to finish 28-54. The uphill trek continued slowly in 1982-83 as the Mavericks added another 10 wins to that total.
Dallas started things rolling early in the 1983-84 campaign and carried it through the season to finish at 43-39, the first winning season in franchise history, and earned a playoff berth with a 2nd place ranking in the Midwest Division, another franchise first. For a franchise entering its first post-season play, the Mavericks did well, knocking off the Seattle Supersonics in the first round before being eliminated by the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round. The momentum carried over to the 1984-85 season as Dallas continued to improve on its regular season record but in the playoffs the Mavericks failed to get past the first round.
