How the Matchups Fall: Portland Trailblazers

So, I got the special edition of the Spurs championship DVD collection and I've made it through all of the 1999 championship and am now on Game 2 of the 2003 finals, getting more into the flow of the game. While I understand the high amount of disdain for the somewhat ugly yet ultimately efficient brand of basketball Popovich puts onto the floor night-in and night-out, I also appreciate more what each player brings to the floor, and the amount of work and effort all the players out there are putting out to win that elusive Larry O'Brien trophy. That being said, Bob Nessler, Tom Tolbert, and Bill Walton are the worst broadcast announcers ever. Nessler is a passable play-by-play caller at best, Tolbert sounds and looks like he belongs behind a desk next to James Brown on FOX NFL games, he really doesn't know what he's talking about, and honestly, neither does Bill Walton, well, okay, I don't mind what Bill Walton says, but he just has to stop making stuff sound like some mystical proverb from Confucius. I'm glad they don't do this anymore. I rather appreciate Bob Costas and Doug Collins now from 1999.

Anyways, moving onwards with what I'm actually supposed to be writing about here, I would argue that the Blazers are probably the 3rd best team in the Western Conference. Some would argue the Nuggets, some would possibly even argue the Jazz, but to me, the Blazers are definitely up there in terms of talent and depth. The youth of the Blazers also lends them a very viable in the long run. To me right now, the Blazers look kind of like the Lakers, minus Lamar Odom. I'm not really going to go very in depth about how and why, but if you really want to know, just ask me. I'm sure you can see it for yourself if you look hard enough. Anyways, let's get moving:

San Antonio Spurs

PG - Tony Parker, George Hill
SG - Roger Mason, Manu Ginobili, Malik Hairston
SF - Richard Jefferson, Michael Finley, Marcus Williams
PF - Antonio McDyess, DeJuan Blair, Marcus Haislip, Matt Bonner
C - Tim Duncan, Ian Mahinmi, Theo Ratliff

Portland Trailblazers

PG - Andre Miller, Steve Blake, Jerryd Bayless
SG - Brandon Roy, Rudy Fernandez
SF - Nicolas Batum, Travis Outlaw, Martell Webster
PF - LaMarcus Aldridge, Jeff Pendergraph
C - Greg Oden, Joel Przybilla

I'm not really sure about whether or not the Blazers signed any of their draft picks, but remember hearing something about Victor Claver not coming to the states, so for all extensive purposes I'm going to list Pendergraph there, since he's the next highest pick. However, if I'm Nate McMillain, I might toy with the idea of playing Outlaw at the back PF spot if Webster does come back healthy. Which brings about another question, is Martell Webster fully recovered from his injury? Webster was supposed to be the glue guy, the guy that would defend the opposition's best player and hit crucial threes when needed, like James Posey for the Celtics, like Shane Battier for the Rockets, but due to injury, he only played 5 minutes the entire season. Nicolas Batum then stepped up, and was able to deliver effect defense and decent offensive touches for a rookie. Naturally, I'm sure that Pritchard is still working to move both Outlaw and Blake somehow before the trade deadline, so the team could change pretty drastically, but all in all, the core of the team, and the general mindset offensively and defensively should be the same.

If you recall from last season, Portland was offensively, the most efficient and effective team in the league, despite running a snail-like pace. Defensively, there were a lot of deficiencies, but Portland is probably hoping for Greg Oden's development to solve some of those holes. If you haven't already, there are a couple of very good pieces at BlazersEdge on both Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge that you should read. While I wasn't a huge fan of the Andre Miller signing, Kevin Pritchard could've done much worse with the available cap space that he had, much worse. In terms of production from the PG position, Miller is much better than Blake, but it's yet to be seen if he's a great fit in the system, I think you can work around what he brings to the table, but he'll only fit to a certain extent. However as it has been for the last two seasons, the players that any team playing the Blazers have to watch out for are Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge. Roy is a very crafty player, and the ability of his to create shots for both himself and teammates often draws him comparisons to the likes of Kobe Bryant, whereas LaMarcuas Aldridge's versatile game has likened him at times to the Spurs' own Tim Duncan.

I think this is one situation where matchups in the frontcourt might actually start proving to be somewhat problematic for the Spurs. While Oden is no David Robinson, I won't hesitate to say that the pairing of Oden and Aldridge is somewhat reminiscent of the heyday of the original Twin Towers (in 1999) of David Robinson and Tim Duncan. The primary difference being that I don't see Oden as being or becoming anywhere near as versatile as the likes David Robinson, even towards the end of his career. It goes without saying that if Tim Duncan had the opportunity to take Aldridge under his wing, and if Aldridge would've somehow become a Spur, I would've been drooling at the dynasty that the Spurs could have built, but alas and alack, it's but a dream. Back to the matchups, I think that if Oden starts showing flashes of something of an offensive game, we might have to just play size, unless McDyess can effectively contain Aldridge, I would expect Pop to put Duncan on him and put McDyess on the offensively less proficient Oden. If Ian Mahinmi's development isn't as far along as we would like it to be, especially on the defensive end, I can expect us to be seeing a fair share of Theo Ratliff in this matchup too. If we are to probe deeper into the bench on this matchup, San Antonio has more players, but Przybilla in and of himself is probably one of the better backups in the league. The issue then would be at the backup PF slot and if we could exploit that. The minutes are limited, but anything the Spurs can get is something. I wouldn't be surprised if he's not traded, for Nate McMillain to start playing Travis Outlaw at the PF spot at times to stretch the defense and to spread the floor. Running a smaller lineup of Miller, Roy, Batum/Webster, Outlaw, and Aldridge could cause a number of matchup nightmares for other teams. Outlaw is probably the closest thing Blazers have to a Lamar Odom type player right now. I don't know if Pop will try to match suit by playing Parker, Mason, Ginobili, and Jefferson next to each other or not, but again a lot of it depends on how well players like Haislip, Blair, and Mahinmi pan out.

The key in the backcourt will be for Pop to force McMillain to keep his scorers, namely Outlaw, off the floor. I think if it gets into a scoring match, Portland has enough firepower, youth, athleticism, and versatility to outgun the Spurs. A lot of it will depend on how much Batum's offensive game has developed, but Parker, Ginobili, and Jefferson all have to make the Blazers work on defense, make Brandon Roy have to play aggressively on wing defense, make the bigs pay attention when Tony Parker is cutting into the lane, make Nate McMillain have to keep Webster or Batum in the game instead of Outlaw's apathetic defense. It'll be difficult because there is so much firepower in that backcourt, with Blake and Fernandez coming off the bench as instant offense, the Spurs defenders will have to stay on their assigned players and resist the temptation to move over on help defense. While Brandon Roy is a proficient 1-on-1 player, Miller doesn't have enough of a well-rounded game to be as effective if you can stop him. The Spurs need to clog the paint and harass Miller into taking a lot of jump shots, one of the aspects of the game that he's not good at. Additionally, since Miller isn't great on defense, I can see Parker and Duncan attacking the paint a lot, a common goal of Popovich is to get the opposing bigs into foul trouble, and if Duncan and Parker can do that in the paint, it would be to their great advantage to saddle Oden and Aldridge with petty touch-fouls early on.

As has always been the case, despite the proficiency in defense, the offense just has to be running. Jefferson has been crucial in these matchups and will continue to be so. Richard Jefferson has to make the opposing defense work, making them either pay for ignoring him or forced to give him significant defensive attention thereby relieving pressure on Parker, Ginobili, and Duncan. While the same generally holds true for McDyess, his main goal is just to make open shots so the other big can't leave him to double Duncan. I mean, if Malik Rose could do a good enough job (see #1) then I trust McDyess to hold up the fort. While Duncan is getting older and the competition getting stiffer, he's still the closest thing to an automatic two points when he's in the paint. I can understand with how Duncan plays why his knees are starting to go, but he's still amazing despite that. While people like to cite Ginobili's health as an X-factor, where if completely healthy he's nigh unstoppable, I would like to point out that the biggest X-factor will be how the Spurs' youth movement pans out, while we know Parker, Duncan, and a healthy Ginobili will get their own, and that Jefferson and McDyess are both known factors, the question will be how well do Mahinmi, Blair, Haislip, Hairston, and Williams pan out. No one is asking anybody to be the next Bruce Bowen or Robert Horry, but if they can put out the same amount of defensive effort as say Stephen Jackson, Malik Rose, Rasho Nesterovic, or even Jaren Jackson, and then make their open shots, then the Spurs are on the right track. Aggressive, but smart, Pop hates dumb fouls.

Key Matchups:

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How the Matchups Fall: Utah Jazz

I used to be a big Jazz fan, back in the day. My brother would root for Jordan and the Bulls, and I'd root for Malone and the Jazz. I was always disappointed, but those were good times. It's more than 10 years later and Jerry Sloan is stilling running the same high pick-and-roll as he did with Stockton and Malone. I like most of the personnel on the Jazz, I like the roster, I like most of the players, but the one problem the Jazz always have is that no one is taking ownership of the team. While we like to say that Deron Williams is the centerpiece of the franchise, we can't rightly say that this Jazz team is Deron's Jazz in the same way we can say that these are Kobe's Lakers or LeBron's Cavaliers or even Chris Paul's Hornets. What's that mean? Well, there's no one outside of Jerry Sloan, no one who walks the hardwood floor in those blue jerseys that's willing to step up and take this team on his shoulders, Deron Williams is capable, but maybe it's not his personality.

Anyways I digress... The Jazz have been pretty consistent for the past couple of seasons, about as consistent as Jerry Sloan has been at losing to Phil Jackson in the past 10 years (I don't mean that as a burn, but I guess it sounds like one). The roster really hasn't seen much turnover or alterations. The main themes for the Jazz have been the development of Ronnie Brewer and Paul Millsap coupled with the issues of Andrei Kirilenko's deteriorating play and Carlos Boozer's imminent departure. They seem always on the brink of contention but never quite there, and their lack of improvement in light of the improvements made to all other contention level teams has really hurt them, tack onto that the amount of confusion going on and all that, and we have a pretty rough time for the team. Let's look quickly at the matchups.

San Antonio Spurs

PG - Tony Parker, George Hill
SG - Roger Mason, Manu Ginobili, Malik Hairston
SF - Richard Jefferson, Michael Finley, Marcus Williams
PF - Antonio McDyess, DeJuan Blair, Marcus Haislip, Matt Bonner
C - Tim Duncan, Ian Mahinmi, Theo Ratliff

Utah Jazz

PG - Deron Williams, Ronnie Price, Eric Maynor
SG - Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, Matt Harpring
SF - CJ Miles, Andrei Kirilenko
PF - Carlos Boozer, Paul Millsap
C - Mehmet Okur, Kosta Koufos, Kyrylo Fesenko, Goran Suton

The Jazz are solid, but again, they're not super exceptional, a solid playoff team as they've been. I'm not sure exactly how things will matchup, but I'm sure the Spurs want to keep Duncan inside, so he'll probably be guarding Boozer, leaving McDyess to chase Okur around the perimeter. This might be a situation where see a bit of Matt Bonner and Marcus Haislip, who are also fairly proficient perimeter bigs. The biggest question would be how motivated Boozer is in the light of the fact that his future is obviously not with the Jazz, and whether or not Kirilenko can regain any of his previous proficiency. What makes the Jazz dangerous is that while they're big at every position, they're a team that can still run. They have the ability to push the pace and keep up with any running team, which requires the Spurs to be much more active on defense. Both Boozer and Okur can spread the floor as well as play inside, Okur spreading to the 3 point mark, he's probably the 2nd or 3rd best 3 point shooter on the team (the best being probably Korver and then possibly Williams). The idea of a floor spreading big is something that the Spurs are relatively familiar with given Pop's pairing of players like Bonner next to Duncan. Personally I think Okur would be one of the most perfect fits next to Duncan as he's no slouch in the post either.

While Brewer and Kirilenko on the wings are more of a defensive presence, Kirilenko has been steadily deteriorating over the years. The biggest question then on the wings is can the Spurs exploit that? While Boozer's lack of defense and Millsap's lack of height might lend the Spurs to go to Duncan frequently, possibly forcing Sloan to play Okur or Kirilenko on him, Richard Jefferson becomes another key piece to the puzzle. The offensive punch that Jefferson brings to the table is so critical in keeping defenses honest and preventing help from clogging the lane, either smothering Duncan in the middle or keeping Parker from getting in. Jefferson needs to force whoever is guarding him (probably Brewer or Kirilenko depending of who's playing next to him) to pay attention, and the convert on the easy baskets when they don't. Previously, the Spurs did this by having Michael Finley and Bruce Bowen bomb threes from the corners, but now, with Jefferson, I think defenses now have to worry much more than just closing out on a shooter. On that same note, Jefferson can't allow Kirilenko to get into an offensive groove, though Kirilenko hasn't really found one in a while.

The biggest issue will be how the Spurs work to contain Deron Williams. While Parker has the speed to keep with him, he doesn't have the size that Williams does. When I think of Williams I think, Jason Kidd with a jumpshot, which in all honesty is pretty dang scary. While he doesn't seem as mercurial as his fellow draft buddy Chris Paul, he does have a better jumpshot and is what I would consider probably the 2nd or 3rd best point guard in the league. Williams has amazing handles and excellent court vision and passing ability, warranting even Jerry Sloan to hand the reigns of the offense over to him, making full use of his creativity and play-making ability, this was something that Sloan didn't even do with Stockton. Does this mean that Spurs have to play more George Hill with Tony Parker? Perhaps, while that solves the issue with Williams, Parker cannot be hidden on CJ Miles or Ronnie Brewer, both are too big for him to contend with if they start taking it hard to the hoop, while I think Parker might be able to keep a hand in Kyle Korver's face, playing a smaller tandem of guards to contain Deron might not be something that desireable from a Spurs perspective. I think then the biggest question them is; can someone like Marcus Haislip develop into a legitimate shotblocking presence? This way the Spurs can move to their previous defense of aggressive ball defense that funnels the handler baseline to a shot-blocker (Tim Duncan and/or hopefully Haislip or somebody) while blanketing all the passing lanes. Given the size the Jazz have, I suspect we'll see a more of Manu and some combination of Michael Finley, Marcus Williams, and Malik Hairston, and Mason used a little more sparingly.

While Deron Williams is the most dangerous weapon that the Jazz have, much of the brunt of the Jazz offense comes from the frontcourt, with a trio of Millsap, Boozer, and Okur, the Spurs will have their hands full trying to stop all comers. The key beyond keeping tabs on Okur around the perimeter is simply this, the Spurs have to box out. Millsap is one of the better rebounders in the league, and Boozer is no slouch either. I think when Millsap is on the floor Pop has either the option of trying to match his intensity with his own little big man of DeJuan Blair or trying to create some height mismatch with Mahinmi or something, but again, I think you go with the matchup that best limits second chance opportunities and is able to at least be competitive on the rebounds if not control the glass.

Key Matchups:

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How the Matchups Fall: New Orleans Hornets

I know that most teams probably aren't completely done tinkering their rosters, but still, we have a pretty good idea the direction that teams are generally moving in for the upcoming season. I'm writing these things up under the assumption that everyone is healthy, so it's a fairly ideal situation. Both Tony Parker and Ian Mahinmi are currently playing for the French national team, so it's an added risk, but both are young and so I have no major qualms about it. In fact, it'll probably be good for Mahinmi to familiarize himself with Parker and get some playing time under his belt, getting him in shape and working off some of that rust from injury last season.

As the 2nd through 7th seed are usually somewhat up in the air come playoff time in the Western Conference, and with the San Antonio Spurs usually falling somewhere around 2nd-4th, I realized I'm probably going to be writing about most of the teams in the West, as all of them are potential opponents then in the playoffs. I'm reserving the Lakers to have the better regular season again being top of the Western Conference going into the postseason and I'm leaving the 8th seed (the guys who play the Lakers in the first round) as a tossup between either Phoenix or Houston. That being said, this is a rematch from two years ago, where the Hornets were the cinderella team, barely ceding a tough 7 game series to the more experienced San Antonio Spurs. I can't really say the team's improved significantly, if at all, and while we were all enamoured of the team, honestly, there isn't much to it other than Chris Paul. Okay, that being said, let's just jump into it.

San Antonio Spurs

PG - Tony Parker, George Hill
SG - Roger Mason, Manu Ginobili, Malik Hairston
SF - Richard Jefferson, Marcus Williams, Michael Finley
PF - Antonio McDyess, Matt Bonner, DeJuan Blair, Marcus Haislip
C - Tim Duncan, Ian Mahinmi, Theo Ratliff

New Orleans Hornets

PG - Chris Paul, Antonio Daniels, Devin Brown
SG - Rasual Butler, Morris Peterson, Darren Collison
SF - Peja Stojakovic, James Posey, Julian Wright
PF - David West, Ike Diogu
C- Emeka Okafor, Hilton Armstrong

Uh.... wow. Okay. I'm not really sure where I should start with this. I've already talked a little about what Emeka Okafor brings to the Hornets, so let's start there. For all extensive purposes, Emeka Okafor is Tyson Chandler with offense, I'm not sure he has enough of an offensive game to really be able to effectively get around Duncan's stellar post defense, but he is younger and more athletic, though he is also smaller. However, Okafor is probably good enough defensively to give Duncan some problems, he is one of the better defending big-men in the league, and Duncan isn't really getting any younger, so it's hard to say. Frontcourt depth is something of an issue, as always for the Hornets, Julian Wright just hasn't worked, which leaves the frontcourt legitimately 4 deep, with Ike Diogu being relatively unknown as no one has felt inclined to play him, and Hilton Armstrong being serviceable at best. I get the feeling that Pop would probably try to overwhelm them by giving them a number of different looks, as the Spurs boast a frontcourt that's 7 players deep, by mixing and matching Duncan, McDyess, Mahinmi, Bonner, Blair, Ratliff, and Haislip the Spurs frontcourt will always be fresher for one, and the variety of players (despite Blair, Haislip, and Mahinmi being relative unknowns) could pose a lot of matchup problems for Byron Scott as well as wearing out his already short-handed frontcourt. There is also the possibility that if the Spurs are playing a little smaller, Scott might slide Posey to the PF slot to guard someone like Bonner, but there are just too many mismatches to exploit. While I think West might currently be the better player than McDyess, I don't know that it's enough of an edge to make a huge difference, their games are similar enough that I'm sure McDyess has ways to keep him from getting into a groove with that 20 footer.

The big story of the 2008 playoffs was how Tony Parker and Chris Paul were continually going at each other, especially after Pop moved Bruce Bowen back from guarding Paul just so he could keep a hand in Peja's face. 2010 is going to be a pretty different picture though, why? Well, for one, Paul probably won't get much of a break, even when Parker's not on the floor, in fact, I would say that Hill would probably give Paul a harder time on the floor than Parker would, and if Paul is expending that much energy just trying to keep his team afloat, it makes it harder for him to stay in front of anyone on defense. Furthermore, outside of James Posey, the Hornets don't really have anyone that can make buckets and defend at the same time. In the previous series Peja could be hidden on defense by playing him on Bruce Bowen, because Bruce Bowen just sat in the corner and shot threes, so you just had to keep a hand in his face and try to deny the kickout. However, now Peja has to deal with Richard Jefferson, who is much more aggressive and potent offensively. I think that's part of what would make Jefferson valuable, I feel that part of his work as the key defender, is to make the other team's key player have to work to defend him, whereby giving him less energy to do things on the offensive end. Peja just can't keep up with Jefferson, and Jefferson has the length to hassle him endlessly on the defensive end.

While Morris Peterson is supposed to be a defensive stopper, Byron Scott has stopped playing him in favor of the scoring punch of Rasual Butler and the defensive abilities of Devin Brown, unfortunately, I don't know that either match Ginobili, and tack on a good shooting night from Roger Mason (who I probably should've compared to Jaren Jackson instead of Steve Kerr) the wings just aren't there to match. The main issue the Spurs have in any matchup is the fact that no one is really sure what Malik Hairston, Marcus Williams, Marcus Haisliip, and Ian Mahinmi will contribute at the NBA level, but I have confidence in the scouts the Spurs use both overseas and in Austin.

Key Matchups:

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Update: Though this doesn't affect the matchup much, Rasual Butler was dealt to the Clippers for a pick.

How the Matchups Fall: Dallas Mavericks

So, now we're in the true offseason mode, which means that, aside from the odd free agent signings and all, there's not much going on in the league save for odd news clips here and there. Biggest news in the NBA recently (if you haven't heard already) is Rashard Lewis testing positive for steroids, or at least high levels of testosterone. From my perspective, Lewis made a careless mistake, and now he and his team are paying the penalty by having Lewis sidelined with a 10-game suspension. I'm inclined to believe Lewis when he said he simply didn't read the label, and while some might be inclined to disagree with conspiracy theories, both Shaq and LeBron (can't find the link, sorry) agree that Lewis wasn't really in it to gain any sort of unfair advantage.

Anyways, as the offseason is under swing, I figure I'd keep things going here by looking at the current roster as is and how it would match up to the competition, namely, potential playoff opponents and contenders, and how they match up against our dearly beloved Spurs. First let me start off by saying that this is possibly not a completed team, as we don't know what sort of moves RC Buford will potentially make during the season before the trade deadline. With a combination of Matt Bonner, Roger Mason, and Michael Finley; plus any one of the younger/new guys as a package (Ian Mahinmi, Marcus Haislip, Malik Hairston, Marcus Williams, Theo Ratliff, etc...) the Spurs have upwards of $10 million plus in expiring contracts and young guys available. That being said, as a caveat, as far as I can remember, no team making a major move just prior to the trade deadline has ever won a championship, at least as far as I can recall. Remember that Lakers lost to the Celtics in the Finals after the Gasol trade midseason, however, there might not be a correlation between the two, so let's not jump to any conclusions if the team does decide to swap for Marcus Camby or something.

With that, let's jump in to the current standing roster of the San Antonio Spurs:

PG - Tony Parker, George Hill
SG - Roger Mason, Manu Ginobili, Malik Hairston
SF - Richard Jefferson, Marcus Williams, Michael Finley
PF - Antonio McDyess, DeJuan Blair, Marcus Haislip, Matt Bonner
C - Tim Duncan, Ian Mahinmi, Theo Ratliff

Those are the 15 players, in my projected depth chart, for the upcoming NBA season. Now, let's look at the opposition. The natural place to start would be the first round victors from the previous season's playoffs, the team that beat San Antonio and knocked them out in a rather embarrassing 4-1 rout, the Dallas Mavericks. Being a fellow Texas team, there's a natural bit of rivalry between the two, now even more so after last season's first round matchup. Dallas looks to be an improved team, and with the volatile Western Conference rankings (that being that any team seeded between 2 and 9 can switch at the change of a game) it's entirely possible that these teams will match up again. Let's consider the Dallas lineup come tipoff time:

PG - Jason Kidd, JJ Barea, Rodrigue Beaubois
SG - Josh Howard, Jason Terry, Matt Carroll, Greg Buckner
SF - Shawn Marion, Quinton Ross, Shelden Williams
PF - Dirk Nowitzki, Drew Gooden, Tim Thomas, Kris Humphries, Nathan Jawai
C - Erick Dampier

Unorthodox is probably one of the first words that would come out of my mouth when asked to describe the Dallas Mavericks' roster. It's a strange combination of talent that emphasizes an outside-in sort of offensive game. While Marion is an improvement over Jerry Stackhouse or Devean George in the roster, the glaring lack of a shot blocker and post defender really hinders the Mavericks in this sort of a matchup.

While Jason Kidd can still produce, he's no where near as fast as he used to be, and with that, he gets burned more frequently than not on the defensive end. Tack on to that the fact that the Mavs have no shot blocking presence to cover for Kidd if someone blows by him, and add onto that the fact that Tony Parker is probably one of the fastest point guards in the league, and you've got a major matchup issue in favor to the Spurs. This has sort of been the story ever since Cuban and friends traded away Devin Harris for Jason Kidd, the Mavericks no longer have anyone that can remotely come close to stopping Tony Parker. As Parker continues to improve, and add that nice mid-range jumper into his arsenal and as Kidd continues to age, the disparity between the two guards becomes bigger and bigger. At the reserves we'll probably see JJ Barea, who, while playing well, is pretty undersized, and I think will be easily outmatched by the length and versatility of George Hill, who will probably smother him, and whoever he's guarding on the defensive end.

If Parker is going off, I can see Pop playing Hill next to him (Parker) as a major defensive stopper on Jason Terry. All in all, while the Mavericks have improved defensively, with the addition Marion, the lack of an interior defender that can body up against Tim Duncan and challenge Tony Parker in the paint still remains a major disadvantage to them. While Dallas has done much to bolster its bench, adding Drew Gooden and Tim Thomas, as well as picking up Kris Humphries and Nathan Jawai from Toronto, none of them are really defenders of any sort. They have more firepower, but saying that Drew Gooden or Kris Humphries is probably the most legitimate post player on the team is a pretty sad statement really. If and when this matchup does occur, I suspect that DeJuan Blair will be showing Dallas how much they miss Brandon Bass.

The biggest problem that Dallas will have in this lineup will be the fact that they will be forced to play extraordinarily small, having both Nowitzki and Gooden probably see extended minutes at center and Shawn Marion seeing a lot of time at power forward. This is a short team. While Nowitzki is a legitimate 7-footer, he plays like he's 6-5, seriously. When it comes crunch time, the best 5 that Rick Carlisle can put on the floor for Dallas will see Dirk at center, Terry and Kidd in the backcourt, and Howard and Marion at the forward slots. Meanwhile, Pop will probably be showing a lineup of Parker, Ginobili, Jefferson, McDyess, Duncan. Where does the matchup issue come in? Well simply put, it's height. Kidd and Terry are 6-4 and 6-2 respectively, fine, but Kidd doesn't really have any offensive game to speak of, and while Marion can score, you can't really say he has much of an offensive game either. Tack on to the fact that now we're playing a 6-5 small forward (Howard) and a 6-7 power forward (Marion) with a soft 7 footer (Nowitzki) and you can start to get an inkling of how things might be major matchup issues for Dallas. While Parker is only 6-2, he doesn't really need to do much except bother Kidd and get a hand in his face on defense, Ginobili is 6-6, Jefferson is 6-7, McDyess is 6-9, and Duncan is 6-11. Unfortunately for Dallas, their best post and perimeter defender is found in the 6-7 Shawn Marion, but the roster doesn't allow for switchups because of how potent the Spurs closing 5 has become. I'm fairly confident that Nowitzki cannot defend Tim Duncan on the block, and to switch Marion onto him so you try to hide Nowitzki on the less potent McDyess, just leaves Duncan to shoot over Marion at will, just ask Jeff Van Gundy about those moments he was forced to put the 6-6 Larry Johnson on Duncan in the 1999 Finals. The second major issue would be who Jason Terry guards. Logic would say put the bigger Kidd on Manu and then let Terry try to keep in front of Parker. Okay, that kind of makes sense, but it's still not an optimal situation. The only matchup that ends up working for Dallas is Howard would be expected to guard Jefferson, that's fine, but the problem is that now you can't really hide Terry on anybody. While they do manage to get blocks, Marion and Nowitzki aren't exactly what I would call shot blocking presences, in fact, they're less of one than Erick Dampier, who's not exactly stalwart defensively. What does that mean? If Parker gets in the lane (and Dallas hasn't had anyone fast enough to keep up with him since Devin Harris got traded) it's over, since there isn't really anyone to contest the shot.

I'm sure Pop knows all of this already, and I'm sure Rick Carlisle is trying to come up with a feasible plan to deal with it beyond trying to outscore the other team.

Key Matchups:

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