Dallas Mavericks: Success Depends Heavily On Overall Team Health

The Dallas Mavericks are capable of being competitive in 2016-17, but they’ll need health on their side if they plan on winning in the playoffs.

The final moments of the Dallas Mavericks‘ 2015-16 season were defined by injuries.

Chandler Parsons had already suffered a season-ending knee injury. Deron Williams struggled to play through a sports hernia that cut his season three games short. David Lee’s heel injury kept him sidelined for three of five playoff games. And finally, Salah Mejri missed the final game of the playoffs due to a hip injury.

Then there were the other players, like Raymond Felton and J.J. Barea, that played through injury in the Mavs’ playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

It was a nightmare situation that would’ve doomed any team as it did the Mavs.

But now, the focus shifts to 2016-17, where Dallas has formed a younger team in hopes of more durability throughout the the long grind that makes up an NBA season. To make things more clear, the team had an average age of 29.3 in 2015-16, but after a few signings over the summer, the team has their average age down to 28.5.

Since their championship year in 2011, the Mavs have been gradually getting younger and younger in hopes of building a formidable core for the future.

However, even with a healthy team throughout the entire season, the Mavs are going to have a tough time keeping up with the rest of the Western Conference.

The Golden State Warriors made the signing of the summer by attracting Kevin Durant, the San Antonio Spurs signed both Pau Gasol and David Lee and the Los Angeles Clippers are still loaded. Then among teams near or above the playoff bubble–where the Mavs will likely be competing–the Memphis Grizzlies, Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz all made smaller, yet impactful signings.

The West somehow got even harder to navigate with playoff bubble teams possibly making the jump to the fourth, fifth or even sixth seeds in the conference.

While the Mavs will still have a good offense next season, and while they’re set to have an improved defense, their success in the 2016-17 season is going to come down to how many injuries they have and how serious they are.

Just take a look at their starting lineup. Only two players played 75 or more games last season.

Deron Williams has played 70 games or more in just one of the last seven seasons. He’ll likely have a few minor injuries over the course of the season. The Mavs showed last season that they had the depth to overcome his loss with both J.J. Barea and Devin Harris, but these two guards often had issues with minor injuries as well.

As for Wesley Matthews, he’ll likely be the most consistent player in the starting lineup. Besides his torn Achilles, he’s showed his willingness to play through injury.

Wesley Matthews: ‘I’m a whole different person’ further removed from injury https://t.co/ZBTCLkMKxo
— Kurt Helin (@basketballtalk) August 25, 2016

Harrison Barnes is another player that will likely play quite a bit, but even he missed 16 games last season due to an ankle injury.

Dirk Nowitzki has stayed rather injury-free throughout his career, but at 38 years of age, he’ll get his share of rest days and won’t have to carry as much of the load as he had to in previous seasons.

Then there’s Andrew Bogut–arguably the most important player on the team next season. Bogus’s defense and presence inside will be a major improvement for the Mavs, but like Williams, he’s been known to have an issue with minor injuries, and we can’t forget about his scary knee injury in the Finals.