The Mavs are about the same age as I am, and they beat me to an NBA Championship. Even still, I think of losing when I think of the Mavericks, as a result of their first 20 years in the NBA. Their first coach, Dick Motta, took them from 15 wins to 55 in 7 years, but then he left and the team was in the cellar for the next 15 years. The bulk of those losing years were headed up by Richie Adubato, with Quinn Buckner doing a one year cameo and flirting with the all-time losingest record. Fortunately, the Kings were there to help the Mavs break losing streaks of 15 and 16 games. Sadly, neither of those were the longest streak of the year. They reached 20 consecutive at one point. I’ve been in attendance for a 20th consecutive WIN before, but I can’t imagine what they felt after a 20th straight loss. That season has since remained the benchmark season for the franchise in my mind. But despite all the losing, they’ve had some pretty good players pass the through the tunnel at Reunion Arena. Here is my all-time Dallas Mavericks team, PRE-Dirk and Don Nelson……
G – Rolando Blackman
G – Derek Harper
C – Shawn Bradley
F – Sam Perkins
F – Mark Aguirre
Bench – Roy Tarpley
Bench – Herb Williams
Bench – Jamal Mashburn
Bench – Jim Jackson
Bench – James Donaldson
Bench – Popeye Jones
Bench – George McCloud
Inactive List – Brad Davis
Inactive List – Terry Davis
Inactive List – Sean Rooks (gets the nod over Samaki Walker)
June 14th, 2011 at 9:43 am
I think I would’ve started Mash over Aguirre, but after looking up some stats it looked like Aguirre started a lot more games for the Mavs over his career. I probably just remember Mash more because he was around when I was over 10 years old…
Love the inactive list haha!
June 14th, 2011 at 5:04 pm
I feel like Mash did more for the Hornets and Heat. Of course I think of Aguirre as a Piston too so who knows. It was tough!
June 16th, 2011 at 9:00 am
Wow the “Hoop” magazine haven’t seen that in years…They used to give these away at the CBA (Quad City Thunder) games before Isiah ran that league into the ground
Meehan
June 17th, 2011 at 9:58 am
Yeah man, I believe it used to be the official program of the NBA. I know I have a few with Mitch Richmond on the cover…
June 16th, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Goodness, look at that lineup.
No wonder they sucked for so long.