By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
What if you “wave the white flag of SmallBall’’ – and then, upon further review, decide to pick up the flag and drag it back into your foxhole?
Old friend and colleague Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News’ suggestion that Don Nelson’s decision to dump his centers and retreat backwards to an old and failed Mavericks strategy – “the waving of a white flag,’’ Tim calls it -- is misguided on a number of levels, as evidenced in both Tuesday’s win over the Cavs and in Thursday’s 127-117 home blowout over the Kings.
COWLISHAW COLUMN
MAVS-KINGS BOX
Let us count the misguided ways by insisting:
1) The commitment to SmallBall is just talk
2) The commitment to SmallBall isn’t really a commitment at all
3) The commitment to SmallBall could be temporary
4) How Small, really, is SmallBall?
5) This team CAN WIN with SmallBall
In the wake of the Sacto game, allow us, please to explain each of these positions:
1) The commitment to SmallBall is just talk: Nellie made the pledge to return to SmallBall before Sunday’s win in Orlando. He also said his starting five in that game – Dirk, Walker, Nash, Daniels and Howard – would be his typical starting five. One game later, that changed, as Michael Finley was re-inserted into the lineup, and because the lineup was the same against Cleveland and Sacto, maybe the Mavs have settled on a fivesome to start games?
Don’t bet on it. .
Nellie has at different times this year vowed a skillion different things, from Eduardo Najera’s vast importance in the middle of Dallas’ zone to Tony Delk’s vast importance in the starting lineup to Antoine Walker being the team’s best player to two rookies never deserving to be on the floor at the same time. In almost every case, with almost every pledge, Nellie takes less than 48 hours to break the vow.
Why? Because when he discusses ideas like this with the media, he’s just talking, thinking and tinkering out loud.
Finley’s work in the two games speaks to that flexibility. He got only 10 minutes against Cleveland. Against the Kings, he started, played the entire first quarter, and ended up with 42 minutes, was 13-of-22, had seven rebounds and 29 points.
2) The commitment to SmallBall isn’t really a commitment at all
Consider again the Cleveland game. Nellie’s first substitution, six minutes into the first quarter, was Howard for Finley. Still SmallBall. But with 1:28 left in the quarter, Bradley entered. And Bradley started the second quarter. By game’s end, Bradley had registered 14 minutes, 2-of-3 shooting for four points, five fouls, two rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks. Against the Kings we saw a beginning of a pattern, as Bradley once again entered the game at the end of the first quarter, immediately contributed with a couple of offensive rebounds, and was allowed to start the second quarter. Three minutes into the quarter, Nelson apparently judged Bradley as not effective enough, and substituted in long long Eduardo Najera, who contributed his traditional momentum-grabbing hustle and received 17 minutes.
Good thing Nellie refuses to play any of his centers anymore, eh?
Put it this way: Nellie may be starting some of these games without a center – but he’s taking just 10 minutes or so to get to one.
3) The commitment to SmallBall is temporary:
Cowlishaw suggests that the use of point guard Nash surrounded by an entire team of small-forward types cannot possibly succeed in the playoffs against, say, a Shaquille O’Neal-led Lakers team. Let’s assume for a moment this is true. …
Why says that’s how Nellie will play it?
Go back to Dec. 12. Mavs at Lakers. Shaq played, and got his 25 points and his 14 rebounds. And who did he play against? Danny Fortson, one of Nellie’s allegedly soon-to-be-forgotten centers. Final score: Dallas 110, LA 93.
So why wouldn’t Nellie play Fortson (who didn’t appear at all against Sacto) again? Why is he certain to play SmallBall against Shaq just because he did it against Orlando? Who knows how much Scott Williams might have played against Sacto had he been healthy enough to avoid the DNP?
Heck, if the Mavs-Kings meet again in the playoffs, Nellie isn’t even guaranteed to do anything he did against them Thursday!
4) How Small, really, is SmallBall?
This is where we get caught up in clever nicknames for styles instead of facts. Fortson is considered a center, a “big.’’ Jamison is considered part of SmallBall, and is often a “small forward’’ in SmallBall.
Um, Jamison is, at 6-9, at least an inch taller than Fortson. So who’s small? Nowitzki at almost 7-1? Walker at 6-9? Daniels, the 6-6 backup point guard?
When Nellie calls it SmallBall, he’s talking more about a playing style, and about his players’ skills, than he is about their actual height. So, contrary to what some apparently think, it’s not like he’s sending Billy Barty out to cover Paul Bunyan.
5) This team CAN WIN with SmallBall:
The acquisition of Jamison in exchange for Nick Van Exel added to this team eight inches and eight rebounds. And this club last year, with the 6-1 Van Exel playing a pivotal role in SmallBall, made it to the Western Conference Finals.
If Nellie can have some playoff success with 6-1 and 6-2 guys playing SmallBall, why can’t he have it with 6-8 and 6-9 guys playing SmallBall?
Oh, and if Nellie and the Mavs can have success with SmallBall against a playoff powerhouse in early April – SmallBall success stories such as Steve Nash’s career-high 19 assists with 20 points, Finley’s 29 points, rookie Daniels’ 16 points, and a victory that gives the Mavs a 3-1 regular-season mark against the Kings – then they can do the same thing in mid-April.