ROWDY TIME SPORTS

And so it begins. With the NBA season finally over, the question of who needs to sign who in order to dethrone San Antonio will begin spreading faster than California wildfire.

Heck, the fan pressure on who the Mavs need to throw money at started before the Finals even began. And as usual, it involves the supposed biggest fish in the pond.

Two years ago, it was Deron Williams. Last year, it was Dwight Howard.

This year… CARMELO ANTHONY????

Is it just me, or are these choices getting worse with each passing year?

D-Will was somewhat understandable. Dwight would have been a mistake, but you could kind of see what people saw in him. This… this is beyond the question of “WHY???”

This isn’t a case of missing the forest for the trees in thinking Carmelo would be a good addition. This is a case of missing the root rot that slowly kills the forest.

This is probably one of the biggest examples of how fantasy sports has killed the reality of how you build teams, with too many believing that plugging bottom line numbers together equals championship and completely disregarding issues like chemistry and being able to work within a system.

Two areas that by now Carmelo has pretty much made clear he’s incapable of succeeding at.

There is a reason pretty much every team Anthony has played for has never come close to championship material. The guy simply poisons locker rooms and can’t function within a team atmosphere.

And yes, the Mavs have in the past taken in players with supposedly similar attitudes like Nick Van Exel and managed to make them work. They’ve also seen horrible failures like Lamar Odom. If nothing else, hopefully that debacle taught them when it’s not a good idea to the such risk. And this is one such area when it’s not okay.

Dirk Nowitzki is trying to play the PC card and say he would gladly adapt his game to have someone like Carmelo on the Mavs. Problem is, that adaptation would translate to “never be able to take a shot again.”

But what makes this make even less ensue is how Carmelo is almost exactly the same type of player Dirk is: a swing forward that is primarily in to score. In other words, not an immediate need for this team.

Especially when the Mavs’ immediate needs are for someone who can defend either in the paint or on the perimeter, which Anthony is incapable of doing either.

His Knicks teammate, Tyson Chandler, is, and a much more attractive option. Granted, I admit bias from seeing what Chandler did in Dallas three years ago and have to consider the possibility that an older Tyson might not be able to be that effective.

But it still would be a better choice than Carmelo. At least you know Tyson will fit in and give an all-out effort – something you can’t guarantee with Anthony, to say the least.

I’ve heard other options, such as Luol Deng and Boris Diaw .All would be attractive options and possibly the right cogs that Rick Carlisle needs to complete a unit that could possibly make one last run with Dirk.

But those aren’t sexy picks. And too many people in this town want the sexy pick. Because winning the offseason is what wins you the championship.

Just like it’s done for the Rangers, right? Oh, yeah…

Two years later, seeing the mess the Nets have turned into, it looks like the Mavs diddled a bullet in not getting D-Will. My gut says Howard and the Rockets will look the same very soon.

The mavericks don’t need to put themselves in a similar disaster by bringing in someone like Carmelo Anthony.

As much as I hate to say it, would the Spurs ever let Carmelo on their team? That’s pretty much all you need to know.

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