Cheap Seats

The bottom line is, someone has to be held accountable for what's happened since Dallas blew a 2-0 series lead and a double-digit lead in Game 3 with six minutes left in the NBA Finals against Miami two years ago. What seemed like a dynasty in the making became one of the biggest group of choke artists in recent league history.

There's one person in the Mavericks organization that is completely free of blame, and that's Dirk Nowitzki. Everyone else, from Mark Cuban to J.J. Barrea is expendable here. Well, Mark's not expendable, so we'll go with Donnie Nelson.

I talked about it with some friends yesterday afternoon before the game -- I felt like we would be witnessing the end of the Mavericks as we've come to know them over the last decade. I vividly remembered watching Dallas upset Utah in the opening round back in 2001 and wearing my homemade "Kiss My Azz, Utah Jazz" T-shirt to my U.S. History Post Civil War class and getting lots of high fives.

I remember the city's elation when Dallas beat San Antonio in the conference semifinals in seven games two years ago and then breezed through the Suns before blowing their 2-0 lead against the Heat. I remember thinking the Mavs were the epitome of a team on a mission last year when they won 67 regular-season games before bowing out in the first round to Nellie and Golden State. And then, this year...

I think the Mavs fans should be appreciative of what Avery did for this team. He obviously took them somewhere that Don Nelson couldn't in his time as head coach. He got them over the plateau and into the Finals.

There's no doubt this team had its guts ripped out in the Miami series and then that was worsened with last year's Golden State loss. The team had no chance of making a run as it was constructed this year, hence the Kidd trade. It needed to be blown up somehow, and that was the opportunity to do it. It obviously didn't work, but now this team must be blown up completely.

As much as I love Dirk and how much of a warrior he is, he's not untouchable in this either. In fact, he might be the only player with any significant value. Jason Terry's great at times, but is horribly inconsistent. Jerry Stackhouse's best days were behind him a couple of years ago. Brandon Bass is a great young player, but I'm not sure what he'd bring in return in a trade. I'd like to see Dallas hold on to Dirk and Bass and start over fresh, but I don't know that that's possible.

Two years ago, Josh Howard was untouchable. Now, he's a pothead that would rather attend his birthday party than rest up TWO NIGHTS BEFORE an elimination game! He's so gone, and I don't think Dallas will get much in return for him.

Basically, what I've been saying here is to prepare to see a three- or four-year run (at least) of mediocrity, at best because this thing is getting blown up to bits, and it started today with Avery's ousting. Ultimately, it'll be a good thing, but those fun-to-watch Mavericks teams that we've grown to love over the last decade are a thing of the past, and it's a little saddening.