The Mavericks took Roy Tarpley with the 7th pick in the first round of the 1986 NBA Draft. He played in 280 games (57 starts) for the Mavericks in his career averaging 26.7 minutes, 12.6 points, 10.0 rebounds, 1.0 assist, 1.1 steals and 1.2 blocked shots per game. Tarpley had big problems with drugs throughout his career which ended way too soon. Tarpley would have been a NBA star if he could have just stayed off the sauce. What a waste of talent.

31-year old power forward Dirk Nowitzki keeps rolling along for the Dallas Mavericks. He has played in 36 games (all starts) for the Mavericks this season and he is averaging 37.8 minutes, 25.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.0 steal and 1.3 blocked shots per game. Nowitzki has now played in 875 games (851 starts) in his career with the Mavericks and he is averaging 36.6 minutes, 22.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.9 steals and 1.0 blocked shot per game. Nowitzki is the rare 7-footer who is a great outside shooter as he has hit 37.9% of his shots from three point range in his career. Nowitzki is the face of the Mavericks’ franchise and he is showing no signs of slowing down yet.

The Mavericks have acquired 33-year old forward Eduardo Najera from the Nets for 24-year old forward Kris Humphries and 23-year old small forward Shawne Williams. Najera played in 13 games (2 starts) for the Nets this season and he averaged 15.7 minutes, 3.8 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. He has now played in 533 games (82 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 18.9 minutes, 5.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. Najera is back to where he started his NBA career as he played for the Mavericks from 2000-2004. Kris Humphries played in 25 games (0 starts) for the Mavericks this season and he averaged 12.6 minutes, 5.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. Mavericks’ coaches were upset with Humphries who sometimes runs the wrong plays. Shawne Williams has not played in any games this season for the Mavericks. Last year he played in 15 games (0 starts) for the Mavericks in which he averaged 11.3 minutes, 2.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game on only 28.6% shooting from the floor. The Mavericks are really happy with this trade as it gets rid of a couple of problems while bringing in a player they have always liked.

The Mavericks really like rookie PG Rodrigue Beaubois but he is buried on the depth chart right now. He has played in 20 games (13 starts) for the Mavericks this year and he is averaging 11.9 minutes, 5.5 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Beaubois is also shooting the lights out so far this season hitting 51.1% of his shots from the floor. He will likely have a much bigger role down the road for the Mavericks but he has got to be a good sport and bide his time.

The Mavericks really need a healthy Josh Howard if they are going to really compete for a NBA title because he makes the team a really awesome offensive team with no weaknesses in the starting line-up when he is on the court. He has played in 13 games (3 starts) for the Mavericks this season and he is averaging 26.7 minutes, 13.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steal per game. When Howard gets 100% healthy he will give Jason Kidd a second lethal player on the fast break along with Shawn Marion which will make the Mavericks one of the funnest and best basketball teams in the NBA.