The Most Underrated Team in the NBA
I think if you surveyed NBA GM’s, scouts, players, and coaches, 9 out of 10 people would say that the Trail Blazers are the most underrated team in the League. Combine that with the 24/7 Greg Oden watch, and this team can’t really be called ‘underrated’ anymore. They’re the sexy sleeper pick, penciled anywhere from a four-seed down to a number eight.
While analysts clamor for Brandon Roy to make the All-Star game and for Oden to earn ROY honors, everyone is actually sleeping on a legitimately good Dallas Mavericks team. They’re being maligned as too old and too slow to contend in the 50-win minimum Western Conference. Add in the firestorm of negative press at Josh Howard and Jason Kidd‘s mediocre performance in Beijing, and it’s clear that the Mavs have as much incentive to prove their doubters wrong as any team in the League. Nothing will quiet the critics like success right off the bat.
I’m not just saying this because Dirk was my first pick (fifth overall) in my fantasy draft. (Please, Fantasy Doctor I need help!) Sure it’s true that Erick Dampier has the knees of a 60-year old man. Sure Jerry Stackhouse just turned 34. But those guys have been playing like they’re in their mid-30′s for a couple of seasons now.
On the other hand, Brandon Bass has officially arrived. He provides a tenacious rebounding force on the block. If he looks anything like he did in the preseason, this guy will be in the Most Improved Player conversation (heard it here first!). And though I’m not quite as enthusiastic about Gerald Green, he’s been playing like there’s no tomorrow. That’s because if he doesn’t prove himself now, there might not be one. A lineup of Kidd (35), Terry (31), Howard (28), Bass (23) and Dirk (30) is young enough, and plenty athletic.
We know that this team doesn’t have a great history of success when everyone is projecting them to win. The current perception of Big D will fuel the Mavs’ fire.
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October 27th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Sam I Am says:
YOU ARE CRAZY !!! (With all due respect of course)
The Mavs are done…If by sleeper pick you mean they will fall asleep while teams pick them apart, then YES, you are 100% correct.
The only thing good in Dallas is the Cowboys and chili, maybe Jessica Simpson too
October 27th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
RENO says:
@ Sam I Am
You sure about that Cowboys comment!?!
October 27th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
QuEsT??? says:
slowly the mavs are building for the future, they are grooming jj barea to be their next starting pg, they have gerald green, brandon bass, and josh howard.
October 27th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
got them..SCOOBY DO's says:
EVEN 2K9 has the Dallas Mavs weak!!!
destroying them with the Atlanta Hawks!!!! they’re freakin weak…
O`G
October 27th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
dh says:
change of subject*
have you seen the new guitar hero commercial with Kobe, Phelps, A-Rod, Tony Hawk?
http://sports.todaysbigthing.com/2008/10/27
October 27th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
BxBaller says:
Dallas isn’t really underrated because everyone knows that they are not a championship caliber team, and that they won’t make any noise in the West.
The Lakers, NO, SA, Utah, and Houston are all better than them. Plus Portland is going up, while Dallas is heading down. Remember this team just fought off the Nuggets & Warriors for the 7th seed last year.
Kidd is going to have his hands full with Parker, Paul, & Deron for a whole season.
October 27th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
karizmatic says:
I like Bass, but in this lineup Bass is your center and Nowitski the Power Forward? Please Bass is an undersized power forward and Nowtiski is a power forward that wants to play small forward, then they have Terry a shooting guard in am point guard’s body, they are easily a 40 win team and might even get to that 50 although it’s highly doubtful, but they’ve been high level for so long it’s impossible to call them underrated, but it’s easy to acknowledge their time is up.
October 27th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Kermit the Washington says:
The Mavs are rated weakly for a good reason! No underrating here…they collapse in the playoffs consistently with essentially this lineup. They will be rated low until they actually make real noise other than a good regular season record.
October 27th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
mavs all the way says:
maybe this is good for the mavs, low expectations yet they have all the recipe to win the chip. go mavs!
October 27th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Big V says:
I still don’t see what role Kidd plays in this offense.
Dirk doesn’t like to get set up, he prefers to shoot it off the dribble or take it to the rack off the dribble.
I think the loss of Devin Harris really starts to take its toll on this team.
October 27th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Mark says:
The Mavericks are still a good team, but the problem is that everything now seems to be dependent on winning a ‘chip. And even at that, one year out and people already count teams out, like with Detroit (maybe my pick for most underrated team).
I guess the whole ‘underrated’ thing is very much transient. I haven’t really heard major hype for the Green either, but I guess the novelty of under-the-table-trading for Ray Ray and Big Ticket have worn out.
October 27th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
robbie says:
finally : ) nice call. hoping for a good season
October 27th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Mr. TKO says:
I have to agree with you,
for some reason everybody is acting like Dallas still isn’t a threat anymore, like all of a sudden they’re going to just fall out of the playoff’s, and for the people that think I’m exaggerating, go check out some of these predictions with Dallas not making the playoffs, compare that to people thinking that Portland has a chance to make the WCF and tell me which one is underrated.
I also feel like Denver is Underrated, everybody is acting like they won’t have any defense at all without Camby but people are forgetting that Camby is like the Allen Iverson or Dwayne Wade of Big men when it comes to defense, He doesn’t shut other Big Men down, he plays the weakside really well (coming out of the blue to smack a ball into the stands which is cool…. but it’s not defense when you can’t stop people like Shaq, Bynum, Oden, Dhoward, Yao, Z Bo, Al jefferson from doing what they want in the post, That’s 24 games (maybe 17 looking at some of these names) where 235lb Camby gots to stop them from getting in the paint. Let me know how that works out for him.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
NB says:
Actually, I’m glad the Mavs are being written off this year. I really don’t know how they will finish, they still have some defensive issues to address, but I think the season opener against Houston will tell a lot. The Rockets are a trendy pick this year, and seeing how both teams will perform that night will tell a lot.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
jimmhumm says:
I agree. THey have at least as good of squad as the suns or on a good day the spurs. Kidd can’t gaurd Paul but not many west players can gaurd dirk.
October 27th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Drew Ricketts says:
Hmm…a stretch for sure.
October 28th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Big Shot BOB says:
The Mavs are soft and always have been since Dirk arrived. I say trade Dirk after this season or Josh Howard for a low post scorer. They just don’t have the tough guys needed for a championship. They need an enforcer. They should have traded Josh for Artest then they would have had a chance. Dirk’s soft so he needs to be on a team where he’s the third option like I don’t know the Rockets, Spurs, Lakers?