After a home loss to the Bulls in which Rajon Rondo was benched and a road loss to the Pelicans in which Dirk Nowitzki wilted down the stretch, it’s time to admit this:
The Mavs were a better team before the trade.
For now, anyway.
We keep waiting for Rondo to mesh with this team and to lead them to becoming a better defensive team. And we keep waiting for Chandler Parsons to grab more than rebound on 30+-minute nights. And, for the time being, we keep getting disappointed.
The Mavs are expected to add veteran big man Jermaine O’Neal in the next week or so. He’ll help with rebounding and interior defense. But they have to make more than a few tweaks before tricking us into thinking they can play for an NBA championship.
Before the Rondo trade the Mavs’ DNA was simple, and successful: Be the highest-scoring team in the league and win with offense. Now, their identity is …
A potentially great team that’s merely playing good during a bad stretch of the schedule.
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Yesterday there was a questionable foul call on Tyson Chandler in the final 12 seconds and Rondo couldn’t get an inbound pass to Monta Ellis, who had 36 points. It’s a lack of execution that is surprising, but becoming all too common.
Rondo was benched the final 5:12 of Friday's four-point loss to the Bulls. Nowitzki missed four consecutive shots in the fourth quarter in New Orleans. And Parsons, somehow, grabbed only one rebound in 30 minutes against the Pelicans. That, on the heels of one rebound in 38 against Chicago and two in 26 minutes against the Timberwolves. Add it all up and Parsons has four rebounds in his last 94 minutes on the court.
The Mavs with Rondo are obviously a work in progress. But there’s no denying this: They were 19-8 before the trade; 11-7 since.
A native Texan who was born in Duncanville and graduated from UT-Arlington, Richie Whitt has been a mainstay in the Metroplex media since 1986. He’s held prominent roles on all media platforms including newspaper (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer), radio (105.3 The Fan) and TV (co-host on TXA 21 and numerous guest appearances, including NBC 5). He currently lives in McKinney with his wife, Sybil, and two very spoiled dogs.
