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First in a 15-part series ranking the Mavericks' 2011-12 roster in importance of bringing back next season.

The offseason certainly arrived much sooner than anyone could have predicted, just like Lamar Odom's premature exit from the Dallas Mavericks.

The 6-foot-10 forward kicks off our offseason blog series that ranks the 2011-12 Mavericks roster in order of importance for the front office to bring back. Four of last season's six free agents found new homes with the exception of Peja Stojakovic, who called it a career after winning his first championship, and Brian Cardinal, who re-signed but made virtually no impact on the season.

Eleven months ago, the title team proved difficult to rank in importance and I started the Countdown with DeShawn Stevenson as the least important. It drew quite a few raised eyebrows from those wondering how I could possibly consider the defensive bulldog and surprisingly valuable 3-point shooter the least important member of the title team to bring back.

In retrospect, the choice probably violated the spirit of this series. I chose Stevenson not because I didn't think he was an asset and worthy of returning for a chance to repeat, but because the Mavs traded for shooting guard Rudy Fernandez, a move that, to me, signaled that Stevenson wouldn't be back. Who would have figured that neither Stevenson nor Fernandez would start the season with the Mavs?

This time around the lead-off man in these rankings is a no-brainer. Odom's career-worst season has to go down as the most disappointing season in the league and one of the more frustrating ones for a franchise in recent memory.

With that, on with the series:

LAMAR ODOM
Pos: SF/PF
Ht/Wt: 6-10, 230
Experience: 13 years
Age: 32 (Nov. 6, 1979)
2011-12 stats: 6.6 ppg (35.2 FG%), 4.2 rpg
Contract status: Signed through 2012-2013
2011-12 salary: $8.9 million
2012-13 salary: $8.2 million ($2.4 million guaranteed)

His story: There's a certain reality TV show on a certain entertainment channel starring a certain Kardashian sister and her basketball-playing husband that can provide the background of what went wrong in Odom's four short months with the Mavs. What didn't go wrong? Dallas thought it was getting a versatile forward who would help ease the pain of losing Tyson Chandler by supplying his unique skills that had helped the Lakers win back-to-back titles. Owner Mark Cuban says he'd make the trade all over again that brought the emotionally bogged-down Odom to Dallas for a draft pick and a trade exception. And hey, when the stunning trade went down Dec. 11, most thought the Mavs had just pulled off a coup and wondered why in the world the Lakers would seemingly just hand over last season's Sixth Man of the Year to the team that swept them out of the playoffs. Now we know.

His outlook: Odom is actually under consideration for a spot on Team USA for the London Games because of the rash of injuries that have taken out star players like Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard. Cuban actually said he'd love to see it, but only because he has such disdain for Olympic basketball, so he figures the two were meant to be together. Where Odom lands next season will be a far more intriguing story to follow. For starters, Dallas will try everything it can to dump him off on a team with loads of salary cap space such as Toronto or Sacramento and throw in $3 million to offset the $2.4 million guaranteed on Odom's deal next season. If the Mavs can't dump him in a trade, they'll waive him and be responsible for the $2.4 million, which will eat into their cap space this summer. Such a result will not please Cuban. No matter what, Odom will be long gone from this organization. A return to the Lakers is not likely since they can't add him to the roster for a full year after the date he was traded, Dec. 11. Could he land with the Miami Heat, one of his former teams that obviously will be a contender for years to come? Well, if he wants to sign for a fraction of his actual 2012-13 salary, then it's possible. Of course, no team might risk much more than a couple million anyway. How about the team with which he started his career, the Los Angeles Clippers? Possible. Caron Butler is signed for two more years at small forward, but Kenyon Martin and Reggie Evans are free agents.

The Countdown
No. 15 Lamar Odom
No. 14 Coming Tuesday

DALLAS -- Whether Rick Carlisle returns to the Dallas Mavericks next season or takes his coaching chops somewhere else, no one can take away the day he raised the banner to the rafters.

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"It was great," Carlisle said during Sunday's exit interviews when he still kept talk of his contract status under wraps. "The raising of the banner is one of the most emotional moments I’ve had in 28 years in this league. Really, it’s hard for me to explain, but when I walked out there with my daughter, it was the beginning of a season no one believed was going to happen [because of the lockout], and the banner was there ready to be raised. I became very emotional and I was choked up about it, for a lot of reasons.

"Part of it is the personal journey you go through during that period of time and you think about the opportunity you were given to come into that situation and how grateful that you are, and also the great players you had to work with. And again, probably the foremost thing was just the experience that the fans got to go through when we were able to win it that year."

The lockout provided the Mavs the rare opportunity for multiple celebrations. They raised the banner before the season opener Dec. 25 and then had the ring ceremony a month later when J.J. Barea and the Minnesota Timberwolves rolled through town. Then there still several more more ring deliveries when departed members of the title team like Tyson Chandler, Caron Butler and DeShawn Stevenson came in with their new teams.

During each ceremony, Carlisle brought the player to midcourt with a heartfelt introduction.

"That was a great moment, giving the guys their rings was a great moment," Carlisle said. "It was just one of those years, every time we handed out rings, we ended up losing games. Not every time, what was it two out of four? Thank God Butler missed that shot. I never would have heard the end of that in a text message from him."

Butler nearly hit a game-winning 3-pointer in his return to the AAC with the Clippers. Hard to believe just 11 months ago, Butler, unable to play despite his frantic rehab to get back on the floor, was on the stage on Miami's home floor raising the championship trophy.

Now Butler has the best chance of any of the title-team Mavs to advance to the second round. And the Mavs have plenty of time to watch.

"Time goes by fast and it doesn’t seem like 11 months ago," Carlisle said. But look, as great as the championship run was, there always comes a time when you have to look forward and that’s where things are at now. I look at this summer for this franchise as a summer of opportunity and excitement, and I don’t think anybody should look at it any differently."

DALLAS -- If guard Jason Terry has played his final game with the Dallas Mavericks, he will leave feeling he and the remaining members of the championship team didn't get a fair shot to repeat.

Terry was the most vocal Mavs player throughout the season regarding owner Mark Cuban's decision not to re-sign key free agents from last season's championship team because of changes to the collective bargaining agreement. After being swept out of the first round by the rising Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night, Terry, a free-agent-to-be for the first time in his career, said the personnel on this team wasn't good enough to contend.

"Every year I’ve been on the Mavericks team and we’ve had a realistic chance, it’s because of the personnel," Terry said. "Look at your personnel and what they surround you with, your core nucleus, and you can see if you have a realistic shot. For us, it was a long shot. Nobody’s going to downplay that at all. If you look at our roster to a man, it was a long shot this year. But we still made the playoffs, but we just didn’t have enough."

Terry said Cuban knows that this team didn't have a fighting chance to contend.

"Yeah, he knows it, the city knows, we all know it as players," Terry said. "But with the team we have, the nucleus we have, the core group of guys, we feel like we can beat anybody, that’s just us as competitors. But, again, you have to have the personnel. You have to have the personnel to get it done."

Cuban maintained from early in the season to as recently as right before the playoffs that this team was better than the one that bulldozed through the Trail Blazers, Lakers, Thunder and Heat to win the franchise's first title in 31 seasons. Cuban, citing changes to the CBA that focused his team-building strategy on cap space for the coming summer, did not bring back defensive-minded center and team leader Tyson Chandler, penetrating point guard J.J. Barea and gritty defender and 3-point shooter DeShawn Stevenson, among others.

Prior to Saturday's Game 4, Cuban said he had no regrets about not bringing back the title team and said he fielded the best possible team he could given the constraints of the new CBA.

The Mavs' key acquisitions included Vince Carter in the twilight of his career and Lamar Odom, whose emotional baggage got the best of him and forced Cuban to kick him off the team.

Asked if he believed last year's title team would have had a legitimate shot to repeat if left intact, Terry initially said he didn't know before quickly changing his tune.

"I do. Why not?" Terry said. "That’s the team I wanted, so I believe we’d be just as good as anybody. But you can hope and wish and think about that all you want, but the reality of it is the season’s over and we’ve got the future to look forward to. Thank God for my health and my family."

Terry received support from longtime teammate Dirk Nowitzki after the game. Nowitzki has mostly toed the company line when it came to talking about not bringing back the team.

“Knowing as players, we were for sure disappointed in December in free agency when we didn’t get the same team back,” Nowitzki said. “That’s for sure.”

Now Terry, after eight seasons in Dallas, and the Mavs head toward a crossroads this summer. Terry, 34, will likely be seeking a new home to end his career as the Mavs face an overhaul of the roster and their most uncertain future in Cuban's dozen years as owner.

"You know we like to make changes year-in and year-out, but not a complete overhaul," Terry said. "That’s what this is going to be, an entire different ballclub I would expect. But, the formula is there, the formula’s there. We set the bar very high last year with what we did and what we accomplished. They know the formula and it’s on them to put it back together."

It's only two games and with a little late-game luck the Dallas Mavericks' 0-2 hole might have been a 2-0 cushion with the series shifting to Dallas for Thursday's Game 3.

Late-game luck isn't the only difference in a postseason rematch with the Oklahoma City Thunder that threatens to make the Mavs the first defending champs since the 2007 Miami Heat to go down in the first round. Dallas needs more of the unexpected, more of what the Thunder have received to take control of the series.

The unexpected?

Serge Ibaka's 22 points in Game 1 was a season high. The last time he scored 20 in a game? Try Jan. 27.

Derek Fisher's 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting in Game 2 -- after being invisible in Game 1 -- was his most efficient outing in 22 games with Oklahoma City and it tied his second-highest point total.

Kendrick Perkins' 4-of-5 shooting in Game 2 was the first time he had done that since Feb. 22, and he hadn't topped the 13 points he scored since March 25 with 16, his only game of the season with more than 13. Keep in mind that OKC's two wins have come by a total of four points.

The unexpected.

"They’ve gotten better, no doubt about that," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said, comparing this Thunder team to the won Dallas disposed of in five games in last year's Western Conference finals. "You've got to give them credit for the plays they made in this series and for the year that they’ve had. At the same time, we’re right there and we've got to make the plays coming back home."

The Mavs have received nothing out of the ordinary. Remember the championship run when a different Mavs player seemed to step up every night with something different? Whether it was Corey Brewer for eight minutes against the Lakers, or J.J. Barea putting up consecutive 20-point games -- one against the Thunder -- or DeShawn Stevenson twice dropping three 3-pointers in the Finals or Peja Stojakovic scoring 21, 21 and 15 points in the opening two series, it's the unexpected performances that carry teams to unexpected results.

The Mavs will need to get some punch-quiet sources on their home floor over the next two games to stay alive.

The most likely candidate for a breakout is Vince Carter. He's 7-of-23 from the floor. Delonte West had 13 points in Game 2 but is 7-of-17 from the floor and has yet to make a dent with the type of feisty defense he's known for, that the Mavs are counting on. Starting center Brendan Haywood has seven rebounds and two blocked shots in 30 minutes and was benched to start the second half of Game 2.

Fan favorite Brandan Wright has so far shown that the playoff pressure might be too big in his first postseason. In logging less than 13 total minutes, he hasn't come close to one of his patented dunks and had a case of butterfingers in five awful minutes in Game 2.

If the Mavs are going to survive, the expected performances from Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion that have enabled Dallas to have a chance late must be met by unexpected ones.

Just ask the Thunder.

Rodrigue Beaubois remains somewhat of a riddle as the guard with Globetrotter-like flair from the little island of Guadeloupe nears the end of his third NBA regular season.

Is he a point guard or a shooting guard or both? Can he be more of a competitor than an entertainer? Does he merit a significant role once the Mavs’ roster is fully healthy?

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ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM's Tim MacMahon joins GAC to discuss what went wrong for the Mavs in their loss to the Lakers and if booing Lamar Odom was the right thing for Mavs' fans to do. Listen

And the biggest question right now about Roddy B.: Can the Mavs really count on the kid in prime time?

The answer to that question at the end of Beaubois’ injury-interrupted sophomore season was absolutely not, which is why the Mavs’ vets successfully lobbied for DeShawn Stevenson to replace him in the starting lineup for the regular-season finale and postseason. The Mavs are still in the process of figuring out whether Beaubois is really big-game ready after another year of seasoning.

His splendid performances in wins over a pair of playoff teams -- the Spurs and Nuggets -- during the last week were certainly encouraging. Was Beaubois’ off night in the loss to the Lakers just a hiccup or him reverting to form against high-caliber competition?

“These are all great opportunities for him to get better,” coach Rick Carlisle said after Wednesday night’s loss to L.A., when Beaubois had six points on 3-of-12 shooting and struggled defensively when matched up with Kobe Bryant or Ramon Sessions. “This has been one of the more difficult teams for him to play against if you look at his history, but I will remind everybody that the last two games were against pretty damn good teams, too, and he played terrific.

“We’ve got to stay the course with him. To be fair, we’ve got to look at larger blocks of time and we’ve got to have discretion about when we get the microscope out.”

It’s notable that this was the first time Beaubois got off the bench against the Lakers this season. He sat during the Mavs’ first two losses to Kobe and Co. this season, as Carlisle called those “veteran’s games.”

As Carlisle mentioned, Beaubois has never had much success against the Lakers. He had a couple of particularly painful-to-watch performances in losses to the Lakers during the brief experiment with Beaubois as a starter last season.

Is that because of matchups -- good luck finding many guards who feast against Kobe -- or because the figurative lights are too bright for Beaubois?

“It just wasn’t a good night for me,” Beaubois said. “It was tough for me to find a rhythm and the shot wasn’t going in. That doesn’t help, but I have to find a way to help the team even when my shot doesn’t go in. Tonight, that wasn’t the case. I have to do a better job of that.

“It happens, but I have to be ready for the next one.”

The next one happens to be against the Spurs, the one elite West foe that Beaubois has given fits.

Beaubois only non-garbage time playoff experience came out of desperation when the Mavs dug a big hole in a win-or-the-end Game 6 against the Spurs in the 2010 first round. He got the Mavs back in the game with 16 points in 21 minutes before Carlisle made the controversial decision to go with ice-cold Jason Terry as the Mavs fizzled down the stretch.

Two of Beaubois’ best games this season came against the Spurs. As the fill-in starting point guard, Beaubois had 14 points and seven assists in a Jan. 29 overtime win, when fellow Frenchman Tony Parker was 2-of-11 from the floor and watched the entire fourth quarter and OT from the bench with the rest of the Spurs’ starters. Beaubois had 16 points and a career-high-tying eight rebounds in last week’s win over the Spurs.

“I don’t think he looks at any game like prime time,” Jason Kidd said. “I think he just wants to get better at his craft and we all want to help him get better. It’s not about prime time. It’s just a matter of being good and being consistent. That’s what we all fight to try to do.”

That might be true, but Beaubois has more to prove than any other holdover from last season’s Mavericks' roster. With the Mavs two games into a 10-game stretch against playoff competition, he’ll have plenty of opportunities to do it.

For the fifth and final time, the Dallas Mavericks will have a ring ceremony. This time it will involve one of the biggest pieces from their 2010-11 NBA championship -- Tyson Chandler. Chandler, the starting center on last year's team, will be presented with his ring prior to the Knicks-Mavericks game Tuesday night at American Airlines Center.

The Mavericks held ring ceremonies for the returning players from that title team and individual ones for Caron Butler, DeShawn Stevenson and Corey Brewer. Peja Stojakovic and J.J. Barea attended the team ceremony.

Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle will say a few words prior to tip-off and present Chandler is ring.

"It's been a moment I've been waiting for really since we won," Chandler said. "[Been] doing a lot of celebrating and looking forward for the hardware."

Monday was the first time Chandler had been in the AAC since the end of the ticker tape parade through downtown Dallas. The Knicks practiced on the Mavericks' practice court and it brought back some great memories for Chandler.

"Coming back in this gym was an amazing feeling, just remembering the practices we went thought to get to the championship," Chandler said. "It brought back a lot of memories and a lot of motivation again; it couldn’t have happened at a perfect time. It's given me motivation for the second half of the season to definitely get my team over the hump."

After that championship season, Chandler expressed a desire to re-sign with the Mavericks, but owner Mark Cuban elected not to bring him back. So Chandler signed a four-year deal with the Knicks to add to a front line that already had Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire.

Chandler said he's not upset to not be playing for the Mavericks and still stays in contact with several former teammates, including Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion.

"It was confusing at the time," Chandler said of how he left the Mavs for the Knicks. "Once I became a Knick, I let it all go. I never harbor any feelings. I understand this is a business at the end of the day. So you can't get frustrated or angry with somebody for making a business decision that they think ultimately is what’s best for their franchise, whether or not I think it's right or wrong."

Chandler, who is averaging 11.6 points and a team-leading 9.8 rebounds, is playing through a left wrist injury that requires him using a pad to minimize the force to his hand and also has his wrist taped. He's having difficulty grabbing the ball and fumbled a pass tossed to him by point guard Jeremy Lin during Sunday's overtime loss to the Boston Celtics.

He hasn't been a major force this season like he was in Dallas, but he's not second-guessing his decision to sign with the Knicks.

"No, I just understand [the business]," he said. "I know what it takes to win a championship. At this point, I'm not going back to the early days in my career where I sit around and I don’t voice my opinion. I'm going to push my teammates and myself and hopefully at the end of the day it makes us a contender."

DALLAS – If you’re looking to blame somebody for the Mavs’ failure on the final two possessions, pin it on coach Rick Carlisle.

But the majority of Tuesday night’s 93-92 loss to the New Jersey Nets is on the Mavericks’ players.

The Mavs rallied from a 10-point deficit midway with five minutes remaining to put themselves in position to pull out a victory in a game they really had no business winning. The Mavs got two chances to win it after the Nets regained the lead with 42.4 seconds remaining, but both possessions ended with bricked 3-point attempts by Jason Kidd.

“It didn’t work out, so that’s on me,” Carlisle said when asked about the final possession of the game. “In fact, the last two plays of the game -- those are on me. I take full responsibility for those.”

After Brook Lopez’s free throws, the Mavs tried to operate the offense through Kidd on the post despite the fact that Nets All-Star Deron Williams is a strong, physical defender for a point guard. That possession turned into a scramble that ended with Kidd jacking up a contested 3 as the shot clock ticked down.

On the last possession, the Mavs went to a play that used to be Avery Johnson’s favorite, getting Dirk Nowitzki the rock above the elbow and letting him go to work. Nowitzki kicked it to the corner to Kidd when the double-team came as he dribbled, and Kidd ended up putting the ball on the floor before throwing up a 3 with DeShawn Stevenson all over him at the buzzer.

The ball didn’t even draw iron.

“I should have shot the first ball that he gave me,” said Kidd, who was 1-of-7 from the floor with his lone bucket a 3 that briefly gave the Mavs the lead in the final minute. “I had a wide-open look. And then D-Steve got his hands on the pump-fake.”

Added Nowitzki, who finished with 24 points but was 7-of-19 from the floor, including 1-of-6 in the fourth quarter: “Me having the ball in the high post, I don’t think that’s a bad play. We’ve seen that a million times. The one before that was probably a little questionable.”

Jason Terry certainly wasn’t thrilled with the plays called down the stretch, but that’s because he’s a competitor who wants the ball in his hands with the game on the line. Yes, even on a night when Terry was 4-of-14 from the floor and 1-of-5 in the fourth quarter.

“I don’t know if it’s lack of execution or play-calling or whatever you want to call it, but we didn’t get the shot we wanted,” Terry said. “That’s why we lost.”

Actually, you can make a strong argument that the Mavs lost because they let a bad team build a double-digit lead. The Mavs stunk it up on both ends for most of the night against the 11-25 Nets.

And it’s sort of a stretch for Carlisle to take all the blame for the final two possessions, although it’s in character for him. Maybe his best move in his tenure as the Mavs’ coach was taking the blame for the Game 4 collapse in the first round of last postseason, when he fell on the sword for failing to adjust defensively as Brandon Roy carried the Trail Blazers to a comeback from 23 points down.

We all remember how the Mavs rallied after that moment of misery.

Carlisle considers it his duty to call himself out in this sort of situation, even though he had two future Hall of Fame players on the floor that failed to execute. It gives him the credibility to call out his players when necessary.

“If I’m going to get on their ass about not being into the game early, then I’ve got to be willing to take the heat when the two plays at the end of the game don’t work out,” Carlisle said. “It’s accountability; that’s how it works.”

Brendan Haywood just can't catch a break around here. When he showed up in the Josh Howard trade with Caron Butler and DeShawn Stevenson, he quickly caught everyone's eye with some impressive play.

Then Erick Dampier got healthy, got his starting job back and Haywood was perceived to have sulked. That summer, with Dampier on his way out, Haywood thought he had the starting job sewn up, and why not, coach Rick Carlisle promised it to him. Along comes Tyson Chandler, who goes on to change everything we always thought we knew about the Mavs.

Now Chandler's gone and this 6-foot-11, energetic French kid is stealing the spotlight.

But Haywood isn't letting Ian Mahinmi's surprise rise get him down. The 7-foot veteran is just going about his business and getting the job done on the defensive end, a significant reason why the Mavs are the third-ranked defensive team in the league.

Haywood, bouncing back from tough night against skilled Lakers center Andrew Bynum, logged two of his higher-minute games in the back-to-back set against the Clippers and Jazz, and for good reason.

Wednesday night in L.A., coach Rick Carlisle tried to give Dirk Nowitzki a break by putting him against offensively limited center DeAndre Jordan while the 7-foot Haywood took on athletic and rugged power forward Blake Griffin, who averages 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Haywood, playing 26 minutes, used his size effectively and held Griffin to 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting (Griffin did miss some point-blank attempts and he did get to the free-throw line eight times, making just two). And what happened with Jordan, who averages 7.8 points a game? He went off for a season-high 19.

In the big win Thursday at Utah, Haywood logged 29 minutes -- nine more than his season average -- and made smooth-scoring center Al Jefferson work for his 22 points on 18 shots. Haywood also supplied three assists and he was a perfect 4-of-4 -- no kidding -- from the free-throw line.

Carlisle called Haywood's game against Jefferson and the Jazz probably his best work of the season.

On the surface, Haywood's 4.3 points and 6.7 rebounds in the first three games of the road trip don't leap off the screen, but he's been a steady presence in the paint, the area of top concern entering the season.

LOS ANGELES -- The Dallas Mavericks aren't alone in their struggles to put the ball through the old peach basket. The entire NBA is stinking it up, and while players keep saying offense will improve once they get their legs under them one has to wonder if the nature of the schedule will ever allow that to happen.

"Throughout the season," said Dirk Nowitzki, averaging just 17.9 points on 46.9 percent shooting and 19.2 percent from 3-point range, "I expect a lot of ugly games like that to happen. It's just normal."

Nowitzki is referring to Monday night when Dallas lost a game in which it allowed 73 points, including a franchise-record low seven in the third quarter, 38.2 percent shooting overall, 10 percent from 3-point land and held the league's leading scorer to 18 points under his average.

How is that possible? Because Dallas shot 35 percent and while the Lakers managed a single point in the final 6:58 of the third quarter, Dallas went scoreless for 5:01.

"Hasn't been there all year," Terry said of a Mavs offense that ranks 21st in scoring at 92.6 points a game and 22nd in field-goal percentage at 43.1. "But defensively, we're doing our job. We just have to make shots. Stay encouraged; defensively we're playing our ass off. We'll get there. Again, it was just an uncharacteristic, off-shooting night for us. I'm not really concerned."

Only it wasn't all that uncharacteristic. OK, there haven't been many 4-of-26 nights from beyond the arc. Unless you count the 1-of-19 night at San Antonio, the 7-of-24 showing at Minnesota, the 9-of-28 against Miami, the 8-of-27 against Denver or the 9-of-26 night at Oklahoma City. Dallas is shooting 30.9 percent from downtown as a team, and there are six teams shooting worse.

The Mavs have room for improvement, but so does the rest of the league. Scoring and field-goal percentage are down dramatically from last season. In 2010-11, 11 teams averaged 100 or more points and eight averaged 101 or better. Through the first three weeks of this season, five teams are averaging 100 or more with just two at 101 or better. The Mavs averaged 100.2 points last season, ranking 11th. This season, that number would rank fifth.

A whopping 19 teams this season are averaging 96 points or fewer with 16 averaging 94 or fewer. Last season, only eight and four teams, respectively, matched those numbers.

As for field-goal percentage, 21 teams this season are shooting it 45 percent or worse compared to 13 last season. Dallas' 43.1 shooting percentage would have ranked 29th last season, just one-hundredth of a point from being dead last.

Mavs coach Rick Carlisle suggested early on that he hoped his team's defense would be ahead of the offense. At the time it seemed odd just because it just figured that this team could always score while it would have to adjust defensively to the losses of Tyson Chandler and DeShawn Stevenson.

But Carlisle was right. The defense is light years ahead of an offense that can only keep shooting to cure its ills. If defense is all about effort and energy, than offense is about timing and rhythm and flow.

"Look, I'm not going to get into an excuse-fest about the compressed season," Carlisle said. "Everybody's dealing with the same thing. We/ve got to just continue to grind and get better."

Our weekly look at the Mavs whose stocks are rising and falling.


STOCK UP
Delonte West – Never mind whether West is welcome in the White House or his unfortunate Twitter rant. West has established himself as key piece for the Mavs, which makes his NBA minimum salary a major bargain. The Mavs have managed to go 3-0 without Jason Kidd in large part because of West’s performance. He’s certainly not in Kidd’s class as a facilitator, but West had 10 assists in the win over the Pistons. He had 12 points in each of the other two wins over the last weeks and continues to be a tone-setting defender. He’s replaced J.J. Barea’s offense and DeShawn Stevenson’s defense.

STOCK DOWN
Rodrigue Beaubois – Roddy B. scored 11 points in 16 minutes (on 4-of-10 shooting) in Saturday’s win over the Hornets. Coach Rick Carlisle responded by grumbling about the young guard’s lack of defensive intensity, and Dirk Nowitzki added that Beaubois’ decision making must improve. Beaubois has been a nonfactor in the two games since then, scoring a total of five points on 2-of-8 shooting in wins over the Pistons and Celtics. If he can’t make much of an impact when Jason Kidd doesn’t suit up, the odds of Beaubois cracking the playoff rotation seem pretty slim. He’s buried on the depth chart at shooting guard and hasn’t proven that he can play point guard.

After watching the defending NBA champions stumble out of the blocks, it’s easy to say this team has gone back to being the same ol’ soft Mavericks.

Even if it isn’t true.

“They really miss Tyson Chandler and DeShawn Stevenson,” Charles Barkley said during a Tuesday appearance on ESPN 103.3’s Galloway and Company. “They were the two best defenders and brought the toughness, and I don't see how they'll replace those two guys. And I think they would have repeated if they kept those guys, but now I don't think they have any chance of winning the West.”

We’ll find out whether the Mavs have a chance to win the West, but the defensive presence that left Dallas in free agency hasn’t been this team’s problem.

The defense was no doubt dreadful during the Mavs’ 0-3 start, especially in the back-to-back blowouts by the Heat and Nuggets. But the Mavs haven’t allowed an opponent to crack triple digits in the last seven games.

The Mavs had a longer streak of holding foes under 100 points only twice last season – once during the regular season, once during the playoffs.

The Mavs have actually been more efficient defensively so far this season than they were a year ago. They’re allowing 101.8 points per 100 possessions, down from 105.0 last season.

Granted, scoring is down across the league, but the Mavs’ biggest problem has been putting the ball in the basket. Their offensive efficiency has dropped from 109.7 last season to 100.7 through 10 games.

Maybe the Mavs will miss the toughness of Chandler and Stevenson. They’ve missed their shooting touch more so far, though.

It's tough to find much teamwork in Washington D.C. these days, so President Barack Obama knows it when he sees it.

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President Barack Obama congratulates the Dallas Mavericks on the franchise's first NBA Championship. Listen

During Monday's championship ceremony at the White House, Obama credited the Dallas Mavericks' team-oriented style of play last season as the key to their run to the franchise's first championship, and dumping that little team down in Miami.

"Nobody gave them much of a chance," Obama said. "People said that Jason Kidd was too old -- and I will say that this is the first time I’ve been with some world champions that are my contemporaries -- they said J.J. Barea was too small, that Dirk Nowitzki was too slow -- they said you had a great jump shot, but… -- they said DeShawn Stevenson was too crazy. They said the Jet was terrific, but they weren’t sure whether that tattoo was such a good idea.

"But, these players got it done because they know how good teams win, not just by jumping higher or running faster, but by finding the open man, working together, staying mentally tough, being supportive of each other, playing smarter. That’s how the Mavericks took down some of the league’s best teams, including the Miami Heat, who got a little bit of attention last year."

Obama, an avid basketball fan, ended the ceremony by telling the Mavs that it's too bad it will be his hometown Chicago Bulls visiting the White House next year. Then he said the Mavs told him not to count them out just yet. Obama added: "This team really does have a heart that is the size of Texas."

DALLAS – Vince Carter has been called “Half Man, Half Amazing” and many other things throughout the course of his potential Hall of Fame career. But the term “energy player” had never been used to describe the 20,000-plus-point scorer.

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Until now.

“He’s been an energy player for us,” coach Rick Carlisle said, “and that’s something that a lot of people wouldn’t have expected.”

Carter hasn’t shot the ball well for the Mavs, but Carlisle couldn’t be much happier with how the swingman known primarily as a scorer has contributed in other ways. That is epitomized by the play Carter made at the end of the third quarter of Wednesday’s win over the Suns.

The 6-foot-6 Carter battled hard for an offensive rebound, leaping a few times to outfight bigger Phoenix players for the ball. After finally securing the rock near the right elbow, he gathered himself to shoot, then made a smart, unselfish, accurate pass to a wide-open Jason Terry, who knocked down the buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

“It was an all-out effort play,” said Carlisle, who walked nearly to half court to show his appreciation by slapping fives with Carter. “One of the things I really like about Vince is he’s making a lot of those kinds of plays.”

Carter broke into a big grin when informed that Carlisle called him an “energy player,” a term usually reserved for less talented grinders like DeShawn Stevenson. But, in some respects, it’s the ultimate compliment Carlisle can pay to the professionalism of a former superstar who is willing to do whatever the Mavs need.

“Hey, I’m OK with that,” said Carter, who had seven points, six rebounds and five assists in 22 minutes against the Suns. “It’s just doing your role. Look at this team, we have eight guys who can start anywhere. In my mind, just come in and just go for it because when you sit down, the next guy can come in and give you something.”

The feed to Terry at the end of the third quarter wasn’t Carter’s prettiest pass of the day. He dropped two beautiful dimes to Lamar Odom for layups in the first half to help get the struggling Sixth Man of the Year in a rhythm.

But the hustle and savvy that led to Terry’s open 3-pointer personified the spirit that Carlisle wants from his team – and that keyed the Mavs’ title run last season. It also provided evidence to back up Carlisle’s claims that Carter is one of the smartest players he’s been around.

“I remember seeing [Terry] on my second or third jump,” Carter said. “As I took the dribble to go shoot, as I saw both [defenders], I was just hoping he was still there. He was right there with his hands ready.”

Of course, you can always count on Jet to have his hands ready to shoot.

“Absolutely,” Carter said, laughing. “I’ve learned that quickly.”

He’s also learned quickly how to make his coach happy.

DALLAS -- If Vince Carter can't be the Dallas Mavericks' starting shooting guard on a consistent basis it would seem to complicate coach Rick Carlisle's plans to use Delonte West predominantly as Jason Kidd's backup.

Reserve point guard is critically important to ensure Kidd gets the rest he'll need throughout this whirlwind, 66-game schedule.

The 6-foot-6 Carter lasted one half as the starting shooting guard. West started Monday against Denver, but then Jason Terry started the second half. How will Carlisle address the position tonight against an Oklahoma City Thunder backcourt of point guard Russell Westbrook and shooting guard Thabo Sefolosha?

"Right now, we’ve got to start the game with five guys in a stance and getting after it defensively," Carlisle said. "We’ve got to find the right formula, but the right formula has got to start with tough defense. That’s just how we’re going to do business, that’s just how it’s got to be."

In the West finals, shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson allowed Carlisle to switch defensive assignments. Stevenson would start off on Westbrook, and Kidd, at a rugged 6-foot-4, guarded Sefolosha, a less athletic player and a far less dangerous scoring threat than the fourth-year Westbrook.

Carter would seem an adequate cover on Sefolosha, but that would leave the 38-year-old Kidd to tackle the 23-year-old Westbrook, making a Mavs backourt of Kidd and West seem more equipped to handle the Thunder's All-Star point guard.

For West, the sudden dual responsibility on a team also adjusting to an influx of new faces is a clear challenge.

"It is tougher coming into a new system because playing the point you’re trying to make sure everyone else is in their spots, and you have new guys also that are a little out of sort," West said. "And then once you get off the ball, you’ve got to reprogram your mind in a quick second to attacking, and that’s going to come.

"Honestly, up until really today, I didn’t have down where I was supposed to be at off the ball. I was thinking so much like trying to get guys the ball where they want it, trying to get this guy over here, get Lamar Odom down on the block. But J-Kidd has been working with me religiously, knowing the positions and I’m watching Jet play off the ball. So give us about two or three weeks and you won’t be thinking about these first two games."

Carter's start to the season has not been encouraging. He turns 35 in less than a month and the athleticism that allowed him to become a spectacular player in his prime now eludes him. He has 16 points on 5-of-12 shooting with six assists, three rebounds, five turnovers and seven fouls in 41 minutes played.

He doesn't provide the kind of tenacious defense that pushed Kidd, Terry and Dirk Nowitzki last season to twice lobby for Stevenson, now with the New Jersey Nets on a one-year, $2.5 million contract, to be the starter.

Carlisle called Carter a Hall of Fame player and said he will fit in.

"Vince is still a terrific athlete and off of 2 ½ weeks with him, he is one of the most knowledgeable players that I’ve ever been around," Carlisle said. "He totally understands the game. Look, he’s an eight-time All-Star, he’s a Hall-of-Famer; you look at Hall of Fame guys, guys that are eight-time All-Stars are Hall of Famers, and there’s a reason because he’s been a great player and he knows how to play. He’s going to fit in great with what we’re doing just because he’s a helluva basketball player."

DALLAS -- Jason Terry didn't have much desire to contemplate former teammate Tyson Chandler's comments Tuesday regarding his non-surprise at the Dallas Mavericks' ugly, 0-2 start.

"Don’t care what Tyson’s saying or what he’s doing right now," Terry said following Tuesday's defense-intensive practice. "He’s not a Maverick, so it is what it is."

Here's what Chandler had to say Monday as chronicled by ESPNNY.com:

"Honestly, I'd kind of seen it coming because when you put a team in a situation and you say, ‘You're the defending champions and we're not necessarily trying to repeat.’ "When I say that, I'm not saying that they don't have the pieces there. I obviously think very highly of those guys. But I say that because they offered everybody one-year deals so they knew nobody was going to necessarily accept that. So you’re basically telling all the players in the locker room we're playing for free agency next year after a championship.

"You've got veteran guys in the locker room. The type of guys that they've got at this time in their career, it's tough to face that so I think they're just going through a little lull right now. But I'm hoping for those guys that it turns around because there's truly good guys in the locker room."

Because of the NBA lockout, the free agency period was a whirlwind. In a matter of days, the Mavs' roster changed dramatically. Players began to understand that owner Mark Cuban's business philosophy had changed under the parameters of the new collective bargaining agreement.

Cuban decided to offer one-year contracts to his free agents (with the understanding it would not be good enough to retain those players) with the goal of going into next summer with plenty of cap space to chase free agents for the first time in Cuban's ownership.

Terry said once it became clear that Chandler, J.J. Barea, DeShawn Stevenson and Caron Butler would not be back, it didn't take long to adjust the mindset.

Of course, after two blowout losses to start the season, if the psychological adjustment wasn't difficult, than it appears that the physical adjustment on the floor will be a process, and perhaps even a bumpy one.

"After you knew he wasn’t coming back, it was over," Terry said. "Again, we have a totally different team this year. We’re searching right now for an identity for this particular ballclub and we know that’s going to take some time. But, again, winning cures all, and watching on film definitely helps, because each person can be accountable and see where they can make an impact on the game."