2011-2012 Finish: 39-27

Season Highlight
Hmmmmm. Lets be honest, it is kind of hard to pick a season highlight for the Mavs. It was a kind of mediocre season all round. There were some trades that worked well (more on that later), but the players brought in may only be short term contributors. It was a "winning" season, they recorded more wins than losses, so that's always good, but not an outstanding record. It was enough to get the 5th seed in the west (equal 4th actually), but only resulted in a first round exit. The highlight would probably come down to the performance of franchise player Carmelo Anthony. With Melo on the floor the Mavs went to another level offensively (more on Carmelo's performances later).


Season Lowlight
Just like there wasn't a stand out highlight, there was no real lowlight. If you were rating the Mavs season in terms of chilli hotness, it would definitely be mild. I guess bowing out in round one of the the finals was a blow. They went the full 7 games with the Nuggets and only home court advantage seemed to decide who won, which was unfortunate since they finished with an equal regular season record with their opponents (one more win and they could have had homeport).


Best Trade
The Mavs aren't one of the NLL's big traders but they got amongst it a bit this season - and at least one of those trades resulted in a fair bit of discussion. Like the mediocrity of the season, no, one trade stands out as very good or very bad - the Mavs got and gave pretty evenly really. But I will pick this trade as their best, if not because the the players they acquired, then because the the uproar greenmig started in the trade discussion - hehe. The Mavs acquired Carlos Boozer and Wesley Matthews for Mike Conely, an injured Varejao, a bunch of benches and a plethora of 2nd rounders. It's really no where near as advantageous for the Mavs as some argued, but it gave the Mavs a really solid big man and a gun scorer for the chance of a late season run. That run never really eventuated and Boozer is now gone, turned into Louis Williams, a good outcome also. BUT, at the time is was a very solid move - it didn't propel the Mavs into a great playoff run but it was solid.


Worst Trade
Again, like the best trade, there isn't really a worst trade for the Mavs, they know the ropes and get fair value in any deals. I am going to go out on a limb a little with this one and go with the trade that sent young and upcoming Nicolas "take that you dirty time waster" Batum away for the slightly off the rails OJ Mayo. Its not a disaster trade at all, OJ is a solid contributor in the game and stepped up when Melo was out injured at times. But giving up Batum for a guy who has a lot of questions hanging over him in the NBA was risky. It did make sense to allow Carmelo to play SF, Batum's favoured spot. As things transpired this trade could have been an absolute disaster, but a favourable NLL rule change saw the Mavs retain the ability to make Mayo a RFA.


Other Notable Trades
It could well be argued that the trade that sent Tony Parker + 1st rounder away for Mike Conley, Toney Allen, Tyler Hansbrough and Danny Green was the Mavs worst move. It was a nice salary saving return for a star, perhaps the 1st pick would have been nice to keep, but Danny Green is evolving into a solid player and Tyler, yay! The other move the Mavs made was getting Ramon Sessions for Patrick Patterson and Derek Fisher. Sessions is certainly a good pickup and the Mavs are fortunate the NLL didn't change the rules to remove his remaining contract year which was actually a player option which would have seen Sessions likely leave. He will stay another year, but will probably bail after that - perhaps the Mavs can get something in a trade before then.


Best FA Signing
Big man Eddy Curry - nothing else to say


Worst FA Signing
Big man Eddy Curry - nothing else to say


Star
Clearly this is Carmelo Anthony's team. He is the standout scorer - infact you could possibly say they are a bit one dimensional. Melo turned out to be so dominant offensively that his success or failure in any one game generally dictated the result. Melo scored 40+ in 7 games in the regular season and a season high of 52. He almost helped the Mavs overcome the Nuggets in a tight first round playoff matchup but his 45 in the final game wasn't enough. The Mavs have contemplated trading Melo and may be best served doing so as it seems his dominance doesn't translate to being a title contender, but can they get good value for him?


Surprise
OJ Mayo was a strong emerging young talent. In real life he seemed to go off the rails a bit for a time which saw his form drop and you would expect that to follow to NLL and make him a bit of a risk. But it didn't seem to slow his little animated version. When Melo was out injured OJ became the dominant Mav - of course Melo doesn't share well, so poor OJ didn't do as much when Melo was on the court. The other nice surprise for the Mavs is the emergence of Danny Green. While it hasn't translated to NLL yet, you can see him becoming a solid contributor off the bench in the near future.


Goat
Poor injured Anderson Varejao can take this one - it might be a bit rough dumping this on an injured guy, but it really hurt the Mavs carrying his big salary on the IR most of the year. He was eventually shipped out and replaced by Boozer who helped give them some dominance inside. Honourable mention to Brandon Bass who is no star, but you could expect a bit more from him.


Draft Report Card
The Mavs had no actual pick on draft day. They traded away their first rounder in the Parker deal and perhaps that was regrettable. And they traded their 2nd rounder and other 2nds they had acquired in the Boozer+Matthews deal. But they acquired the rights to the Bucks #27 pick in a prior deal and with that pick they got Arnett Moultrie. This is a good pickup for them as they traded away Boozer and need some frontcourt depth. He won't be the answer as a starter but he's a solid pick at 27.


Looking to the Future
The Mavs have long been a competitive team in the NLL. They've had a bumpy ride since they went into trade mode a few years back and started shuffling the deck. They now only have 1 star - and he is a big gun, Carmelo Anthony. This season he showed he is a dominant player - probably one of the most dominant scorers in the league. But can he share? It seems like the Mavs need someone else who can score 20+ points in games regularly to compliment Melo. But that doesn't happen often enough for the Mavs. Sessions, Mayo and Boozer (even Hawes) were good complimentary players, but none regularly stood up when Melo was in the team. Should the Mavs perhaps take a risk and trade Carmelo? Could they get some nice players in return that will work better together to take them to a new level?

But probably the most pressing issue for the Mavs right now is their front court. Boozer was only a short term rental. He has been moved on for another smaller offensive oriented player in Louis Williams. So there is certainly a heap of smaller scoring options now to go with Melo - OJ Mayo, Louis Williams, Wesley Matthews and Ramon Sessions. But there is a distinct lack of any tough presence up front. Hawes is relatively soft and not much of a presence on the boards. Bass seems to be under-achieving a bit. Moultrie could be good value down the road, but may not contribute much this coming season. Of course they have the mazing Tyler Hansbrough, the man who could turn a game with one stunned mullet look. Bolstering their frontcourt will be a priority coming into next season.

The other thing that will be an issue at some stage is the contract status of Ramon Sessions and Louis Williams. Both have a year to run on their contracts, but will likely want to move on after that. They will be good contributors, but the Mavs might want to move them so they can get some value without them simply walking.


Upcoming Free Agents
They have $17.6m available on their cap, but that will all be eaten up by the half a dozen FAs they need to sign. They are fortunate they will be able to retain OJ Mayo by making him restricted. And no one else looks likely to leave other than Goran Dragic. Mayo, Hawes, Bass and the Green(e) brothers should all be back in Mavs colours.