Dirkless

Missing his Teutonic buddy

One of my favorite sports personalities and pundits is Bob Sturm. He made the note on Twitter after the Dallas Mavericks were whipped by the Indiana Pacers 102-89 last night that the Mavericks -- without Dirk Nowitzki and Caron Butler -- were a lottery team.

My first thought: "What took you so long?"

What about the Mavericks impresses anyone -- on paper or on the court --without Dirk and Butler?

An aging Jason Kidd, whose only real skill currently is passing. Jason Terry, who you can pay more attention to without any other scoring threat.

DeShawn Stevenson? Tyson Chandler? J.J. Barea? Shawn Marion? Brian Cardinal?

They bleed lottery team. Even with Butler, I still contend they are a nine or 10 seed in the Western Conference.

All of those guys are better with Dirk Nowitzki playing. Dirk's not just a great player. He quite literally opens up everyone else's game without getting 15 assists. He makes everyone else better. He gives Kidd lay-ups. He takes pressure off Butler, Terry and Chandler.

It's a different team. They are without a doubt a lottery team without Nowitzki. He has to come back soon.