Yahoo Sport 
The NBA's all-time starting five: Dallas Mavericks
You’re in your second semester of AP Basketball History, you love really good teams, and you love lists. With precious little drama left in the NBA’s 2015 offseason, why don’t we hit the barroom and/or barbershop, pour ourselves a frosty mug of Barbicide, and get to arguin’ over each franchise’s most formidable starting five-man lineup.
[Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]
Because we don’t like making tough decisions, the lineups will reflect the All-NBA line of thinking. There will be no differentiation between separate forward and guard positions, and the squads will be chosen after careful consideration of individual merits only – we don’t really care if your team’s top shooting guard and point guard don’t get along.
These rankings will roll out based on when each franchise began its NBA life. We continue with the Dallas Mavericks, who have had their ups and downs.
C: Shawn Bradley. We’re not goofing around here. Bradley was never an All-Star with the Mavericks, but that hardly matters as he gave the team nine seasons of professional pivot work. He averaged seven points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.1 blocks in 21 minutes a night with the Mavs. Without much else to talk about, here is the list of other centers the Mavs started in a failed attempt to unseat Bradley during his career:
Eric Riley. Chris Antsey. Samaki Walker. John “Hot Rod” Williams. Sean Rooks. Wang Zhi-Zhi. Christian Laettner. Evan Eschmeyer. Raef LaFrentz. Scott Williams. Danny Fortson. Calvin Booth.
He was eventually replaced, upon retirement, by Erick Dampier. We’ll get into this further in a bit.
F: Dirk Nowitzki. The greatest Maverick in team history is also the greatest player in league history to make the NBA jump directly from international play. Nowitzki’s talents were so rare that in the relatively troglodytic and sometimes out and out xenophobic NBA world of 1998, a jump-shooting 7-footer that didn’t (unlike Hakeem Olajuwon or fellow German Detlef Schrempf) go to an American school was still seen as a future star.
Dirk led the team to its first playoff berth in 11 years and playoff win in 13 years in just his third season, alongside a Finals appearance in 2006 and a title in 2011. Dirk paces the Mavericks in 12 different major regular and postseason statistical categories, and he is second place in three others. He is only fourth in regular season assists in the Mavericks’ all-time ranks, so he’s clearly a selfish player.
F: Mark Aguirre. A bruising, no-nonsense scorer that may have no-nonsensed his way out of a bruised Dallas locker room. Taken with the top overall pick in the 1981 draft after the Mavericks’ debut campaign, Aguirre averaged 24.6 points and 5.7 rebounds on Mavericks squads that (thanks to intelligent drafting) ended up making the playoffs five seasons in a row – culminating with a Western Conference finals showing in 1988. With the Mavericks struggling the season after and with Aguirre clashing with both teammates and coaches, he was dealt to Detroit for Adrian Delano Dantley.
G: Rolando Blackman. Born in Panama, Blackman was a standout at Kansas State but still somehow slipped to ninth in the 1981 draft. A three-time All-Star, Blackman had the confidence needed to survive on a Mavs team that had gone from laughingstock (its top pick in the 1980 draft, Kiki Vandeweghe, refused to play in Dallas and was dealt for draft picks that eventually included Rolando) to Western Conference playoff mainstay. Blackman averaged 19.2 points per game in 11 seasons with Dallas.
G: Jason Kidd. Kidd’s career in Dallas was very Jason Kidd-like. Heralded as a franchise savior upon his drafting in 1994, Kidd forced his way out of Dallas after two great seasons and one rather sulky half-year. Dealt back to Dallas in 2008 in what was a much-criticized deal at the time, a sturdier Kidd helped lead the Mavs to repeated playoff berths and the 2011 championship, turning his reputation around completely. He then drew the ire of owner Mark Cuban by reportedly going back on his word to re-sign with Dallas before signing with the New York Knicks in 2012, dragging it right back down in Big D (maybe). Averaged 10.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 8.4 assists alongside 1.9 steals in his time with the team.
The Bradley inclusion was not meant to be a shot at Bradley or the Mavs, it’s just that Dallas’ history in the pivot has been severely lacking. Tyson Chandler played well last season and was the starting big man on the 2011 championship club, but that’s just two full seasons. James Donaldson was an All-Star in 1988, but he averaged seven points, 9.3 boards and 1.3 blocks that year and 8.8/9.5/1.3 in his Mavs career. That line almost won him a starting spot. Roy Tarpley, sigh.
Outside of perhaps Josh Howard, the team’s other forward slots are somewhat thinned out. Sam Perkins was a steady contributor and did switch over to center some (I could have cheated!).
The team’s guard history is stacked. Michael Finley was an absolute workhorse on both ends for the team from 1996 until 2005, a two-time All-Star. Derek Harper was a Mavericks mainstay for years, and in spite of one notable postseason gaffe he was a beloved member of the Mavs for 11 years before being dealt to a championship contender in New York. Just as beloved was point guard Brad Davis, who was plucked from Continental Basketball Association obscurity to play nearly 900 games with the Mavericks as a steady starter and reserve. Jim Jackson was less beloved, to put it mildly, but he did average nearly 20 a night in 289 career games with Dallas.
Jason Terry and Steve Nash were mixtures of the two. It took the draft pick that became Shawn Marion (himself a Mavericks champion) to acquire Nash prior to the 1998 lockout, and he struggled with back and Achilles injuries in his first two years (including Marion’s standout rookie year), even hearing boos. The Mavs even signed Howard Eisley prior to 2000-01 to fight for the starting nod in training camp. Nash healed, and went on to a fabulous Mavericks career that ended when the team made what everyone thought was the right move at the time, in not overpaying for the guard early in his 30s.
Terry was Nash’s semi-replacement, a scoring point guard that drew the ire of Nowitzki during his first playoff with the team. JET went on, however, to be a cracking presence on several great Mavericks squads, winning the title with the team in 2011.
That’s our five. Who are you going with?
Previous entries: Golden State. Boston. New York. Detroit. Sacramento. Los Angeles Lakers. Atlanta. Philadelphia. Washington. Chicago. Houston. Seattle/Oklahoma City. Phoenix. Milwaukee. Los Angeles Clippers. Cleveland. Portland. Utah. Brooklyn. Indiana. San Antonio. Denver.
- - - - - - -
is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
