Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE
When it comes sports whether its baseball, football, hockey, golf or basketball everyone loves predictions. Every sports fans wants a prediction from someone. They want to know what their team’s record will be, will they win a championship or will their team make a trade for somebody else? This article is going to be more than those things. This article is about the Dallas Mavericks in the next decade up to the year 2025.
If you think about it the year 2025 is not all that far away. Yes there will be a lot that will change over the next decade. It is more likely that the league will consist of over 30 teams. It is more likely that there will be at least a team or two in Europe in the start of an expansion overseas.
Of course Dirk Nowitzki will be long gone away from the NBA and probably have already started a family with another Nowitzki in the making. It is unlikely that Rick Carlisle would be here as a coach and most likely be in retirement from the NBA. The American Airlines Center will have a lot of major technological updates as long as Mark Cuban is still the owner of the Mavericks.
What about the years in between? Will the Mavs have more than one NBA Title by the year 2025? That’s one question that is hard to predict. These next two seasons will probably be the last chance to win a NBA Championship with Dirk Nowitzki in the line up since his contract expires in two years.
However, with the Los Angeles Lakers getting Dwight Howard and with the young talent that the Oklahoma City Thunder have it may be hard task for the Mavericks to accomplish. Even if they do make it to the NBA Finals this season or next they still probably have to face LeBron James and the Miami Heat who will be a very powerful team for the next five to six years, so winning another NBA Title seems unlikely, but not impossible, within the next two years.
With the new Collective Bargaining Agreement the Mavs have a shot for the first time in the “Mark Cuban Era” to build up a team when other “big market” cities are not able to. For an example: When the Brooklyn Nets decided to go all out and sign Deron Williams, Brooke Lopez and Gerald Wallace to big contracts as well as taking on Joe Johnson’s contract from the Atlanta Hawks the Nets have put themselves in a situation where they are not able to sign any big name free agents like a Dwight Howard or a Chris Paul in the near future. They are stuck what they have for the next six to seven years.
The Dallas Mavericks have cap room. They have contracts that expired this past off-season and the new contracts that they have signed will expire in 2013 and in 2014 and there is a reason for that. The Mavericks will for the first time will be able to sign a “superstar” or two next off-season or the next off-season. If they are not able to do so then they have more summers to work with.
Life after Dirk Nowitzki is not going to be an easy ride for Mavs Nation and fans have to come to terms with that. I still believe that the Mavs will still be playoff contenders as long as Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson are in control, so fans will not have to worry about that part in the next ten years.
Let say the Mavs do sign a big name player when no other team cannot or cannot provide that big name player with talent around him like the Mavericks can offer. Then the Mavs have very high likely shot in signing a superstar. It may not be next summer or the next, but someone will come along eventually it just takes some time. Remember the Mavs have young talent right now and that’s a formula that a team will want in luring in a superstar.
The Mavericks right now have Darren Collison who is only 25 years old who could become a great asset for the Mavericks. He could be the next leader for this team like Jason Kidd and Steve Nash were when they were on the team. Then you have young O.J. Mayo who is only 24 years old (soon to be 25) and he could be a combination of Jason Terry and Michael Finley when they were on the team. Right there the Mavericks have two guys who could one day become the Mavericks “Big Two” the only thing missing is that third player.
If the Mavericks grab that third player who would probably be a superstar during the next 2-3 summers then the Mavericks will have their own “Big Three” as they did when Nowitzki, Finley and Nash were on the team and possibly better. Doing so would instantly make the Mavericks a championship contender.
Think about it. The Lakers do have Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant, but how much longer will Bryant be in the NBA? He is 34 years old and has been playing the the NBA since he was 18 years old. That’s a lot of years on the legs and would not be surprising if he decides to hang it up in another year or two.
Steve Nash is also at that point of his basketball career where he will call it quits soon. He is 38 years old will turn 39 in February there no doubt that Nash will retire in the next year or two. That just leaves Howard if he decides to re-sign with the Lakers next off-season and everything I said about Bryant and Nash could be part of Howard’s decision.
If Howard does decide to stay then the Lakers will still be a title contender they have always been that’s why they have 16 championships. They have always had a young player turn superstar and that will continue to happen.
It’s Los Angeles what do you expect? Although, there may never be another “Kobe Bryant” or a “Magic Johnson” in the near future. That means that it may take awhile for the Lakers to become the way they have been in the last decade. It took them over a decade to compete at a championship level after Magic left and then Kobe came along, so once he retires the Lakers could be in that same boat. As Mavs fans there is only hope.
Then you have the young Thunder who have Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, but who’s to say that Westbrook and Harden will be part of that team in the near future? If the Thunder can’t get the job done in the next three to four years don’t be surprise if they decide to trade either of them. Trust me they do not want to lose Durant when his contract expires or they do not want him to demand a trade if things do not get any better in the near future.
That leaves the Mavericks. Yes there is the Minnesota Timberwolves, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers and the New Orleans Hornets who could become a threat in the West, but other than the Clippers those teams have a ways to go and there is no promises that they will come on top with the players they have now. Look at the Sacramento Kings they were great in the early 2000′s, but since then they seem to be stuck at the bottom of the standings each year and when players feel stuck they go elsewhere leaving that team still stuck at the bottom.
If Collison and Mayo become dominate players for the Mavericks then I have no doubt that a superstar will want to come to Dallas to have a chance to win a NBA Championship. However, if they do not become the players that Mavs Nation is hoping for then look out Mavs fans it could be another long 1990′s ride.
TO BE CONTINUED……
