The Dallas Mavericks somehow overachieved last season because many experts predicted that they could even miss the playoffs, but Dallas ended the regular season with a 50-32 record and beat the Spurs in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs. However, let me say that they didn't start well the season. With a new head coach in Rick Carlisle, the Mavs started 2-7 on their first 9 games of the season, having lost their first 4 home games of the season, just to win 32 of their 37 remaining home games afterwards.

You may not like Mark Cuban due to his arrogant attitudes. In fact, there isn't any person in the NBA more fined than Cuban these past years, however we must respect all the effort (and money) that Cuban put in order to improve his team. If the team will succeed or not, it's completely different story, but we can't accuse Cuban of not trying. For this season, Cuban added more talented pieces to the Mavs' roster and we can expect them to be more competitive this season.

Regardless of any off season addition, this is still Dirk Nowitzki's team. Nowitzki has been for years one of the best offensive players in the league and last season was no exception: he averaged 25.9 points per game, while shooting 47.9% from the field and for this season, he can expect similar numbers from him. He didn't participate in the Eurobasket competition for his country this summer and we can count on him to be fresh and healthy going for this season. Note that although he is labeled as a "soft player", Dirk is a pretty durable player. On his past 10 seasons, he has missed a total of just 28 games. With that kind of security and statistical versatility, Dirk is an easy choice as a mid first-round selection.

Jason Kidd signed a 3-year deal during the summer, as Mark Cuban thought that Kidd still has the ability to run smoothly the show in Dallas. He may be 36-years old, but he is coming from a good overall season last year. I remember that Kidd and the Mavericks were destroyed by Chris Paul's Hornets two seasons ago and many suspected that Kidd was in the decline of his career. He obviously isn't the same player that he was on his prime, but he had some versatile numbers last season with 9.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, 8.7 assists and 2.0 steals per game. However, the Mavericks need to find a way to decrease his minutes per game during the regular season. JJ Barea will be his backup and Barea had some flashes last season, proving that he can be a solid player coming off the bench. He is undersized even for a PG, but his quickness and ability to find the open team mate makes him a good piece for the organization.

Over the last seasons, Josh Howard has been the X factor for this team. When 100 % healthy, the Mavericks are a potent offensive team that can beat any team in the league, if he's not, the Mavericks simply don't belong to the elite. Unfortunately for him and for the team, he played much of the 2008-09 season on an ankle that needed surgery and even though he battled the whole season with pain, he never quited. The challenge for him is to remain healthy for the season, as he can be once again the X factor of this team.

The biggest addition of the off season was Shawn Marion and basically Cuban got Marion in exchange for nothing really. Since Marion left the Suns and Steve Nash, his numbers were never the same and this is kind of normal because his stats were inflated thanks to Nash's and Mike D'Antoni's offensive system. However, we can expect Marion to have better numbers this season because Dallas will play a lot of small ball with Nowitzki being the center and Marion the Power Forward and surely Marion can be an important piece to provide Rick Carlisle an alternative model.

Jason Terry was the best sixth-man in the league last season and he earned such distinction by averaging 19.6 points per game and guiding the Mavericks bench to be the most prolific unit in the NBA last season. For this season, there isn't any reason to think that Terry won't fight for the same award, as he is a talented player with the leadership skills well needed for a team.

The biggest problem for the Mavericks is the center position. They have in Erick Dampier their only legitimate center and this isn't good news for them. In fact, that was the main reason for Carlisle having created an alternative offensive plan, as although Dampier will likely start for the Mavs, he won't earn major minutes. Mark Cuban added also Drew Gooden, Tim Thomas and Kris Humphries to the frontcourt and these three players will bring depth and quality for the team. Gooden will likely have the majority of the minutes, as he will substitute Brandon Bass. I wouldn't be surprised if Rick Carlisle gives him the starting nod at center, but again I don't expect him to play major minutes.

Since they went to the NBA Finals, the Mavs are yet to make a solid run for the Championship in the postseason. Mark Cuban didn't wait more time to add some pieces for this season and we can expect the Mavericks to run multiplies offensive schemes during the games. The question is to know if their improvement will be enough for them to belong to the elite in the NBA. In a first analysis, I say that this will be tough to reach, however with them having a lot of veteran players and a deep roster, the Mavs can surely be one of the biggest surprises of the league this season because almost no one is betting on them to be on top this season.