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As I watched Goran Dragic drop 26 points on the Spurs last night with 23 of them coming in the 4^th quarter, it made me depressed and it reminded me of the Mavs Rodrigue Beaubois.

Here is a young guy in Dragic, who also like Roddy B, is from overseas and is just getting his NBA career underway. Dragic played a few seasons professionally in Europe, but is only 24 and in his second year in the league after being drafted by the Spurs in 2008. Rodrigue Beaubois just finished up his rookie season where he showed a lot of potential, but there is one big difference between these two players…Dragic was given the chance to succeed.

Goran Dragic appeared in 80 games this season for the Suns. Rodrigue Beaubois appeared in 56 games for the Mavs and in a lot of them, the minutes were meaningless. The Suns have been preparing Dragic all season long and it paid off for them in game three against the Suns. The Mavs ignored Roddy B on many occasions and thought Jason Terry or J.J. Barea would be a better fit.

The other issue I have is that Suns Coach Alvin Gentry was smart enough to realize who had the hot hand and stuck with it. Dragic was on fire in the 4^th quarter and instead of bringing Steve Nash back in the game, he stayed with Dragic and it paid off for him. On the other side of that coin is Mavs Coach Rick Carlisle, who in game six against the Spurs had a hot Roddy B who scored 16 points in 21 minutes. That apparently wasn’t good enough because Rick Carlisle decided to bring Jason Terry back into the game for a majority of the 4^th quarter and the Mavericks ended up losing the game and ending their season.

It is amazing what happens when a coach shows faith in a player and puts him in situations to succeed. I think a lot of coaches tend to use their veteran players as crutches and leaning on them too much can end up becoming a bad thing. This was an example of two different coaching philosophies from two different coaches and one is sitting at home while the other looks to be advancing to the Western Conference Finals.

After 24 hours of digesting the Mavs 97-87 game 6 loss to the Spurs in San Antonio, I feel like I can finally talk about. I am writing this a lot earlier than expected, but after three first round exits in the last four years, I have come to expect that.

I guess I will start with coaching. I hate blaming things on the coach, but Rick Carlisle was out coached by Greg Popovich in every aspect of the game. From rotations to strategy to anything you want to throw out there. The idea to bench Caron Butler for the 2^nd half of game 3, and not going to Roddy Beaubois earlier in the series will continue to baffle me.

Which brings me to my next point… I was one of those people who have been hesitant on Roddy B. I didn’t think he should get a ton of minutes and I didn’t expect Carlisle to play him, but when you go down 3-1 in the series, you have to change things up. Also, once Coach Carlisle became desperate and did decide to go with Roddy B, why did he sit him for the majority of the 4^th quarter of game 6?

Outside of Dirk, the so called “leaders” and “veterans” of this team were nonexistent. Jason Kidd and Jason Terry were horrendous. I usually defend Jason Kidd all I can, but I can’t say anything good about his performance in this series. This is back to back years where JET has been bad in the postseason.

Erick Dampier…I don’t expect much from you, but you failed to score one single basket the entire series and you are 7 feet tall. Not one! Not an offensive rebound for a put back, you didn’t luckily get open for a pass, you didn’t make one shot from the field. That is terrible.

Dirk was a beast and does what he does. I don’t have anything else to say about him. I hope he doesn’t opt of his contract, and I don’t think he will, but we will have to wait and see.

This was obviously another disappointing season for the Mavs. I thought this team was finally assembled to make a deep post season run, but I was wrong. I’m not really sure what to expect from next season, but it should be a long and interesting offseason.

DALLAS- Mavericks Head Coach Rick Carlisle was named Western Conference Coach of the Month for April, the NBA announced today. Carlisle led the Mavericks to a 5-2 month while securing the Southwest Division title and the Western Conference’s two-seed. Carlisle is joined by Orlando’s Stan Van Gundy as Eastern Conference Coach of the Month.

Carlisle becomes the fourth coach (eighth time) in Mavericks history to earn Coach of the Month honors, and the first since Avery Johnson (Feb., 2007). The win is the third of Carlisle’s career. He was honored previously in Feb., 2002 (Detroit) and Nov., 2003 (Indiana).

Dallas won five straight games to close the regular season, winning by an average of 14.0 points. The Mavericks finished the regular season with the most road wins in the NBA (27-14 overall) following a three-game sweep of Portland, Sacramento and L.A. Clippers. Their 96-89 win over San Antonio in the regular season finale clinched the two-seed, Dallas’ highest finish since earning the one-seed in 2006-07.

The Mavericks begin their series vs. seventh-seeded San Antonio on Sunday night at 7:00 PM (CDT) on TNT. The game will also be broadcast locally on TXA-21.

DALLAS- Mavericks Head Coach Rick Carlisle was named Western Conference Coach of the Month for April, the NBA announced today. Carlisle led the Mavericks to a 5-2 month while securing the Southwest Division title and the Western Conference’s two-seed. Carlisle is joined by Orlando’s Stan Van Gundy as Eastern Conference Coach of the Month.

Carlisle becomes the fourth coach (eighth time) in Mavericks history to earn Coach of the Month honors, and the first since Avery Johnson (Feb., 2007). The win is the third of Carlisle’s career. He was honored previously in Feb., 2002 (Detroit) and Nov., 2003 (Indiana).

Dallas won five straight games to close the regular season, winning by an average of 14.0 points. The Mavericks finished the regular season with the most road wins in the NBA (27-14 overall) following a three-game sweep of Portland, Sacramento and L.A. Clippers. Their 96-89 win over San Antonio in the regular season finale clinched the two-seed, Dallas’ highest finish since earning the one-seed in 2006-07.

The Mavericks begin their series vs. seventh-seeded San Antonio on Sunday night at 7:00 PM (CDT) on TNT. The game will also be broadcast locally on TXA-21.

Angry Trey’s NBA previews and discussions continue today with more talk about the Mavericks. A lot of analysts have been sleeping on this team, but I give you 5…scratch that, I mean 4 reasons why the Mavs are improved and will increase their number of wins from last season. Josh Howard being helthy was one of my five reasons, but he isn’t healthy yet, but should be… hopefully… maybe…

1. Head Coach Rick Carlisle is in his second season with the Mavs. There won’t be as large of a learning curve for the players and himself this season. Last year everything was new to everyone. This year, players know the system and already know most of the plays. On the other side, Coach Carlisle is more familiar with his team and the things he can expect from each player.

2. Josh Howard should be healthy. Everyone could tell that Josh wasn’t healthy at all last season. It was also evident how much he means to this team by he was able to do in the San Antonio series. J-Ho had surgery in the offseason to fix some ankle problems and will be back to the Josh of old this season. He will also benefit from having Shawn Marion on the opposite wing.

3. Mavs no longer have to rely solely on Erick Dampier at center. The addition of Drew Gooden means minutes at the center position will be mainly shared by Gooden and Dampier. All of the good big men reside in the East and there is no center in the West that Damp and Drew shouldn’t be able to tag team. If for some reason those guys get into early foul trouble, Dallas also can use Dirk and Chris Humphries, which brings me to my next point…

4. Kris Humphries is as good as or better than Brandon Bass. The Mavericks lost Bass to Orlando in the offseason, but acquired Humphries through the Shawn Marion trade. Humphries has had a very nice preseason and has shown he can be a good piece off the bench for this team. He will not be as big of a liability size wise as Bass was, and he can also do a few more things offensively.

5. Shawn Marion. Do I need to say any more? Probably not, but I will. The Mavs have been in desperate need of an athletic player who can create his own shots and slash to the rim. The Matrix is that exact player. He can create on his own, throw down the alley-oop, run the floor, and play solid defense. Marion will benefit tons from playing with Jason Kidd.

Angry Trey’s NBA previews and discussions continue today with more talk about the Mavericks. A lot of analysts have been sleeping on this team, but I give you 5…scratch that, I mean 4 reasons why the Mavs are improved and will increase their number of wins from last season. Josh Howard being helthy was one of my five reasons, but he isn’t healthy yet, but should be… hopefully… maybe…

1. Head Coach Rick Carlisle is in his second season with the Mavs. There won’t be as large of a learning curve for the players and himself this season. Last year everything was new to everyone. This year, players know the system and already know most of the plays. On the other side, Coach Carlisle is more familiar with his team and the things he can expect from each player.

2. Josh Howard should be healthy. Everyone could tell that Josh wasn’t healthy at all last season. It was also evident how much he means to this team by he was able to do in the San Antonio series. J-Ho had surgery in the offseason to fix some ankle problems and will be back to the Josh of old this season. He will also benefit from having Shawn Marion on the opposite wing.

3. Mavs no longer have to rely solely on Erick Dampier at center. The addition of Drew Gooden means minutes at the center position will be mainly shared by Gooden and Dampier. All of the good big men reside in the East and there is no center in the West that Damp and Drew shouldn’t be able to tag team. If for some reason those guys get into early foul trouble, Dallas also can use Dirk and Chris Humphries, which brings me to my next point…

4. Kris Humphries is as good as or better than Brandon Bass. The Mavericks lost Bass to Orlando in the offseason, but acquired Humphries through the Shawn Marion trade. Humphries has had a very nice preseason and has shown he can be a good piece off the bench for this team. He will not be as big of a liability size wise as Bass was, and he can also do a few more things offensively.

5. Shawn Marion. Do I need to say any more? Probably not, but I will. The Mavs have been in desperate need of an athletic player who can create his own shots and slash to the rim. The Matrix is that exact player. He can create on his own, throw down the alley-oop, run the floor, and play solid defense. Marion will benefit tons from playing with Jason Kidd.

Mavs kicked off training camp from the campus of SMU this morning. We have a full recap and all the audio you need to hear.

- One of the biggest surprises to the media this morning was Kevin McHale in attendance. McHale and Coach Carlisle are good friends and he will be in town all week helping out the big men with their low post moves.

- Heavy defensive practice this morning. The team went through multiple defensive drills, and expect to hit the offense tonight in the second practice. There seems to be a much stronger emphasis on defense this season, at least from what we have heard and seen so far.

- Coach Carlisle is working Josh Howard in gradually. The team is airing on the side of caution, but the treatment is very aggressive.

Mavs Training Camp Audio

Coach Carlisle

Kevin McHale

Dirk Nowitzki

Shawn Marion

Drew Gooden

For more, go to DallasBasketball.com