Mark Cuban doesn't think any Maverick will average 20 PPG
The Dallas Mavericks believe they're a better, deeper and more well-balanced team than the 2013-14 team that landed the eighth seed in the Western Conference and nearly upset the eventual-champion San Antonio Spurs.
Part of that balance and depth means that owner Mark Cuban thinks the team will be without a lone primary scoring option. As Cuban explained to The Dallas Morning News in an interview published Thursday:
I’m not expecting anybody on our team to be a 20-point scorer. Not Dirk (Nowitzki). I don’t want him to be a 20-point scorer. Seriously. Monta (Ellis) has that capability. (Tyson) Chandler has that capability. Dirk has that capability. Richard Jefferson’s got that capability. Jameer (Nelson could score) 15. Raymond (Felton) could do 15, if that was the focus, but that’s not our focus.
That’s the cool thing. There are going to be times when we overpass. And that will be one of the challenges that (coach) Rick (Carlisle) has, that some guys are too unselfish.
On the surface, some of what Cuban is saying makes sense. Dallas ranked as the league's third-best offense last season with Nowitzki averaging 21.7 points and Ellis averaging 19, with no other player averaging as many as 12. You can see how a small dip for Nowitzki – not a certainty given how well his primary asset is aging – could be more than made up for with the team's additions.
At the same time, some of what Cuban is saying is crazy. Namely, that Tyson Chandler can score 20 a night (his career-high is 11.8), or that Ray Felton (career-high of 15.5) could. Well, maybe could, but that would require offenses more ill-functioning than the New York Knicks' from last season.
The assertion that an elite offense doesn't need a 20-point scorer isn't crazy, though. Pro Basketball Talk pulled data since 2000-01, showing that eight top-five offenses have been missing a 20-point scorer in that time frame. Most recently, the 2012-13 Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets both had top-five offenses without a leading scorer cracking the 20-point mark, and the Spurs managed it in 2006, 2010 and 2011.
With the coaching of Carlisle, the lethal shot of Nowitzki, the pick-and-roll ability of Ellis, the finishing of Chandler and so on, it wouldn't be a surprise if Nowitzki saw his numbers dip into the high-teens, nobody reached 20 points a night and the Mavericks were still pretty deadly.