Vince Carter points out obvious, and subtle, concerns about future of Dallas Mavericks

The 2023 NBA playoffs are fast approaching the second round, and our local team is resting up for Game 1 of the 2023-2024 NBA preseason.

A little more than two weeks has passed since the Dallas Mavericks quit, and while the sting has faded the embarrassment of their season has not. Nor should it for a good while.

One year ago everyone associated with the Mavericks felt good about the now, and fantastic about the future. The Mavericks’ first round playoff series against Utah was tied at two, and that was with Jalen Brunson carrying the team because Luka Doncic missed the first three games.

Today, those optimistic feelings have morphed into fear, and disgust.

Watching Brunson carry the New York Knicks into the second of the playoffs for the first time since 2013 is another indictment on owner Mark Cuban and GM Nico Harrison’s inability to keep him in a uniform he never wanted to change.

Former Dallas Mavericks forward Vince Carter was recently in town to play the Invited Celebrity Classic at the Las Colinas Country Club, and he has thoughts.

Talking to Carter was a wonderful pain. He’s a wonderful guy to discuss nearly any topic, and it’s painful to hear him talk about the state of the team.

So much of this was avoidable.

When asked if he thought the Mavericks are close to contending, Carter said, “No. I don’t think so. Not right now.”

The reasons are many, but among them are they need, and don’t have, a Vince Carter-type. Not young, Vinsanity-Vince who could jump over defenders. They need veteran Vince; the one who understood the game, the locker room, the floor, and could in-bounds the ball, defend, and make shots.

What he said about the current state of the Mavericks is not encouraging.

“I do think (Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic) can work, the two of them together,” he said. “But I feel the issue is the roster; that’s the problem.”

That much we know.

It’s the next part that is worrisome. It’s the next part an NBA veteran understands, because he has lived it.

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“If you put a better roster around those guys then you can see if it’s a roster that is willing to do whatever, and buy in,” he said. “If you start out, and you’re not very good, after a while it’s, ‘I’m going to get mine. I’m going to get my numbers.’ To hit (contract) incentives. Maybe a guy a needs a new deal, or his contract is coming up.

“That’s the issue you fall into when you’re not winning.”

Bruson was an ideal player for the Mavericks. He was ideal to play behind/with Doncic. Brunson is an adult who could play. Brunson is a winner who understands everything necessary to win.

The Mavericks were not going advance past the Western Conference Finals with the roster they had in 2021-2022. That roster needed a rebounder, and a banger in the middle.

Adding Kyrie, “I didn’t like it,” Carter said, “and it has nothing to do with Kyrie. I didn’t like how much they had to give up to get him. They struggled defensively with two of your best defensive players, well, your best defensive player, and now they’re gone.”

Vince speaks of guards Dorian Finney-Smith and Spencer Dinwiddie, both of whom were sent to Brooklyn in the Irving trade.

“Every team they face, that comes into their building, will have two go-to guys. Not one,” Carter said. “So now, who is going to guard the other? That’s the problem. Finney-Smith isn’t a superstar, but he’s a gem. He’s a guy that will knock down a shot, and he’s going to guard their best player and he’s going to take the pressure off Luka having to guard somebody.”

GM Nico Harrison was not lying when after the season ended he pointed out that even when Finney-Smith was with the team, that the Mavericks were not a good defensive team. That wasn’t a rip on DFS. There was only so much a Finney-Smith could do.

Adding Irving gave the Mavericks an All-Star scorer, but his presence fixed nothing. The trade made an average defensive team horrible.

Carter does, however, think Kyrie and Luka can work.

“We have seen, to Kyrie’s credit, that it can work. When he was with James Harden (in Brooklyn), he said, ‘You run the point guard.’ He can do it,” Carter said. “I think he will allow Luka to be that guy.

“Then it comes down to (head) coach Jason Kidd making it work. If Kyrie is willing to allow Luka to do that to get him started, now Kyrie can be that with the second unit and be a more ball dominant guy and rotate it that way. Then, in the fourth quarter you just have to figure it out.”

The Mavericks have a lot to figure out this offseason.

After listening to Vince Carter … it’s hard to feel the optimism that everyone with, and around, the team felt this time one year ago.