Re: Don Nelson's vision

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

Hi Joe,

I was kind of joking about this because I've been hearing a lot about
Nelson's crazy-sounding plan to have Nowitzki be a primary ballhandler
for the Mavericks. I'm not sure how Mercer fits in either although I
think he could play small forward, or Finley can play small forward
even though he's more comfortable at shooting guard. I guess a more 
realistic lineup could be Nowitzki, Trent, Mercer, Finley, Nash. 

Alex

> Alex Wang wrote:
> 
> > I could see acquiring another shooting guard to complement Finley
> > fitting into Don Nelson's new vision for the Mavericks, with Nowitzki
> > as his point forward. So you have Bradley, Trent, Nowitzki, Finley
> > and Mercer as his new weird lineup. And Nelson always seems
> > delusionally optimistic so he probably thinks a Mavericks first
> > rounder is expendable.
> 
> Although Finley averaged a surprising number of assists for a 6-7 player,
> do you really envision him at point guard alongside Mercer?  I guess Don
> Nelson is hoping to mimic the success of the Spree/Allan Houston lineup.
> I still totally fail to see how Mercer makes the slightest sense for the
> Mavs, even if they are dumping two non-contributers/bench warmers to get
> him. It's not as if the Mavs can trade Mercer right away either, as
> illustrated by the original Battie-Rogers mid-season trade that got
> nixed.