Vince Carter and Lamar Odom were summoned as replacements, and so far the results have been abysmal. The Mavericks lost five of their first eight games, looking old and disheveled. With the shortened season, they are under more pressure to improve in the bizarre Western Conference.
General manager Donnie Nelson is banking that his veterans return to form - that Carter can somehow find a spring of athleticism and Odom can shoot better than 27 percent.
“When you are trying to integrate new faces in key positions, it just takes some time,’’ Nelson said. “We’re going through the growing pains right now. There are some games where it’s clicking and we’ve kind of got the old magic. There’s other times when it’s a little bit more of a roughshod situation. We’re grinding it out and making our way through it.’’
Nelson was in the unenviable position of putting together a roster with limited resources and with his best defensive player (Chandler) an unrestricted free agent. Chandler was moved to the Knicks in a three-team deal with the Wizards for two second-round picks, and Barea signed with the Timberwolves.
With the salary slot created by Chandler’s absence, the Mavericks were able to acquire Odom from the rival Lakers for a trade exception. Carter was added for offensive punch, with the Mavericks hoping a chance to compete for a title would perhaps curtail his decline. Meanwhile, Jason Kidd, who will be 39 in March, is averaging career lows in points, assists, and shooting percentage.
“It’s like anything else, you know the team isn’t going to come back exactly the same,’’ Nelson said. “Given the fact that we want to be free agent players later this summer, it restricted negotiations to a certain extent, but that’s expected. I think for the most part we made the best of a difficult situation.’’
