One matchup is set in the Western Conference, and that is Hornets-Spurs. One team a perennial powerhouse, the other a “suprise” to the whole sports world. On the way to determining this second round matchup, both knocked off two teams who made desperate, midseason trades to try and win it all. And the Hornets and Spurs rewarded them with early exits(fairly easy ones i might add). So now for the Hornets and Spurs they have a series to look forward to and an oppourtunity to continue their journey to the NBA finals. Now, if your the Mavericks and the Suns the question is, What now?
Lets start with the Suns. They trade away Shawn Marion, a great all around player, I believe the only player on the suns who could play both sides of the floor on an all star caliber level. They get in return Shaquille O’ Neal with promises of an NBA finals trip. That clearly doesnt work out as you get bounced in 5 games in the first round. So now do you blame the coach? Possibly. I believe the problem is more then that. The Suns lost in the first round because they simply couldn’t contain Tony parker and Manu Ginobli. Why is that? They played poor defense. That’s a problem they’ve always had, even before the O’ Neal trade. So now, you ship out your best defender in Shawn Marion, and that problem becomes even worse. Then you throw on top of it the fact that Mike D’antoni is strictly an offensive minded coach. And you have a serious problem. High Tempo teams never win in the playoffs, they can make runs and upset teams because of there explosiveness. But the fact of the matter is, they can’t get the stops they need to make a full playoff run. With Steve Nash getting older as well as Shaquille O’ Neal, the Suns need a change in philosophy and a change in personel. Sorry, but D’antoni has to go. Not because, hes a bad coach but because he simply doesnt implement a style of basketball that wins in the postseason. However getting rid of D’antoni won’t solve all of the Suns problems. To become a solid defensive team you need to players to do it with, the Suns simply dont have that. Besides Raja bell, nobody on that team is a solid defender. Once again not a recipe for success. So in summary I believe this team needs to totally change there philosophy and start looking at life after O’ Neal and Nash.
Now, the Mavericks. Like the Suns they make a midseason gamble on an aging player and get bounced in the first round. They give up Devin Harris, half their team and half the cheerleading squad just to get Kidd. Things dont work out they way they planned and now theyre golfing. Do i Believe the Mavericks should replace Avery Johnson? Yes. Definetly. From what i saw in that first round series just giving away games due to poor matchups he didn’t do a good job at all. And calling off practice before an elimination game? Sorry, dont believe thats a good strategy. All the X’s and O’s aside it just seems to me like his routine is tired. He doesnt seem to have the same connection with his players he once had, or the ability to motivate them and get them going anymore. The players had to call for there own practice just to get themselves going before Game 5. So yes, I believe Avery has to go. Possible Candidates are Jeff Van Gundy and Mike D’antoni. Besides the coaching the Mavericks are an old team. Devean George, Eddie Jones, Juwan Howard, Jamal Magloire and Tyron Lue are all free agents this year. Personally i wouldnt resign any of them. None of them had any impact what so ever on this team. The Mavericks need desperately to get younger. They have a mid level exception, i would try and use that and whatever money they gain from the expiring contract of Lue, Jones etc. to mayb pick up a younger player or two. Namely and good post defender and shot blocker, as well as a quick, athletic guard because speed was clearly a problem the Hornets exposed. Some potential pickups could be Chris Duhon, Devin Brown, Beno Udrih etc. Some bright spots for Dallas, Brandon Bass looks to be a promising young player, i would give him more minutes next year and i’m gonna be interested to see how Antoine Wright develops.
Both of these teams are going to have a lot of thinking to do and decisions to make this off-season. We can only wait and see how it plays out.
