DALLAS — When the Mavericks failed to finish in the West’s top 10 last April (I hate to say they “tanked” their way out because that was the direction they were surely headed, anyway), they did more than miss the playoffs and play-ins just one year after reaching the Western Conference finals. They slid all the way to the No. 4 spot on our list of Next Local Team to Win a Title.
Is summer league optimism a valid reason to believe the Mavs are climbing out of that hole just as quickly as they disappeared into it?
I won’t spend much time today on the other three. The Stars inhabit the No. 1 spot after a second trip to the Western Conference finals in four seasons. This year’s club was actually better and deeper and, more important, younger at key spots than the bubble team that reached the Cup Final. If there is a title to be won here in the next 12 months, it will be the Stanley Cup.
