Dallas Mavericks
Longtime fans of the NBA may still think of the Dallas Mavericks as an expansion franchise, but in fact, they have been a part of the league for nearly 30 years now.
Donald Carter petitioned the NBA for a new basketball team in 1979, and the other league owners approved the move over the 1980 All-Star weekend. The Mavericks’ name was the result of a radio station Name the Team contest. The winner was the name “Mavericks,” after the TV western from the 1950’s and 1960’s starring James Garner.
The first head coach in the history of the Dallas Mavericks was Dick Motta. The first draft pick was Kiki Vandeweghe (number 11 overall) in the 1980 Draft.
Like nearly all expansion teams, the Mavericks had a tough first season. Unlike most expansion teams, the Mavs won their first game ever, a 103-92 stunner over the San Antonio Spurs. The young team’s euphoria soon faded, though, as they went on to finish the season at 15-67.
In 1981, the Mavs drafted the bedrock of their team when they picked up Mark Aguirre, Jay Vincent and Rolando Blackman. Guided by these young stars, the Mavericks steadily improved over the next two seasons, winning 28 and 38 games, respectively.
The Mavs drafted point guard Derek Harper in 1983, and in the following season Dallas posted their first winning season (43-39) and first-ever playoff berth. The fledgling playoff team from the Lone Star State won a five-game series with the Seattle Supersonics before falling to the Los Angeles Lakers in five.
The 1980s saw the Mavericks score points by the bucketload, and they always seemed to be in the playoff picture, but something always caused them to fall short. Despite the performances of players like Sam Perkins and Detlef Schrempf, they couldn’t to get past the Lakers, who owned the Western Conference in the ‘80s.
In 1988, the Mavericks finished second in the Midwest Division and charged into the playoffs with a vengeance. They swept the Houston Rockets in four games and dispatched the Denver Nuggets, four games to two. Then they faced the dreaded Lakers. Determined to beat their arch-nemesis, they took the Lakers to seven games, but lost the seventh.
The following season was a messy one for the Mavs, and after a 38-44 record they sat out the playoffs. Roy Tarpley, a talented but troubled forward, violated the league’s substance abuse policy and was suspended. This would be a pattern for Tarpley throughout his career. Other internal problems did little to help the team’s situation, and it was obvious some changes needed to be made.
In the 1989-90 season, Dallas returned with a new look, having traded away Aguirre for Adrian Dantley and Schrempf for Herb Williams. The revamped team went 47-35 and returned to the playoffs, but was swept in the first round by the eventual Western Champion Portland Trail Blazers.
The 1990-91 and 91-92 seasons saw the Mavericks return to the bottom of the NBA barrel. In 1992 the team drafted Jim Jackson, a highly-regarded scorer out of Ohio State. The following year, they picked Kentucky forward Jamal Mashburn, and in 1994 they drafted point guard Jason Kidd out of California. The arrival of Kidd began a new era in Dallas – the ill-fated Three J’s era.
Kidd led the league in triple doubles in the 1994-95 season and helped the Mavs post 36 wins – a 23-game improvement over the previous season. Things were looking up.
But in the 1995-96 season, Mashburn suffered a season-ending knee injury, Tarpley was suspended (again) and Jackson and Kidd refused to get along. Despite some individual successes, the Mavs finished 26-56, and Dick Motta was fired.
The 1996-97 season saw a compete revamping of the team. The Three J’s all went their separate ways, and Don Nelson took over as head coach.
The Mavs continued to struggle in the late 90s, but guard Michael Finley was excelling individually, and would play a part in the team’s future fortunes. Mark Cuban, who purchased the team in 2000, would also figure prominently.
Finley and Dirk Nowitzki led the team to a 53-29 record in 2000-01.
In the 2000-01 playoffs, the Mavs came back from an 0-2 deficit to beat the Utah Jazz in five games. The San Antonio Spurs were the class of the West by then, though, and they beat the Mavs in five games.
In 2001-02, the Mavericks moved from Reunion Arena to the new American Airlines Center. The team enjoyed much regular-season success, but little playoff success, in the ensuing three seasons. In 2004-05, the Mavs added new pieces, bringing in Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse and drafting point guard Devin Harris. This nucleus (led by Avery Johnson, Don Nelson’s hand-picked successor) advanced to the NBA Finals in 2006, where they seemed to have victory in hand. But after winning the first two games against the Miami Heat, they lost the next four.
The Mavericks began the following season on a mission to prove that they, not the Heat, were the league’s best team. They posted a scorching 67-15 record, and Nowitzki was named the league’s MVP. However, by the time NBA commissioner David Stern gave Nowitzki the award, the star and his team had been eliminated in the first round by the 8th-seeded Golden State Warriors.
Still convinced that they were capable of a title run, the Mavericks traded Devin Harris for former Mavs’ draft pick Jason Kidd in the 2007-08 season. But even Kidd couldn’t help them advance, as they were beaten four games to one by the upstart New Orleans Hornets. Coach Avery Johnson was fired after the season, to be replaced by Rick Carlisle.
With a team built to win now, and an owner who wants to win now, the time for the 2008-09 Dallas Mavericks seems to be…now.
