In the 1996-1997 season, the Mavericks experienced an extremely turbulent season, with three big trades in a row, sending away all the former Dallas triumphs, Jim Jackson, Mashburn and Kidd, and all the players at the beginning of the season were played to the end of the season, leaving only the team's newly signed Derrick Harbour and rookie Samaki Walker to stay in the team, and the team ushered in a rebuild again, and this season's 24-58 record is also in line with the current situation of the Mavericks.

The "Dallas Three" that the team managed to put together had not yet bloomed, and it ended because of infighting......

Not only was there a huge upheaval for the players, but also for the management, with owner Carter selling the team to Ross Pelott Jr., who hired Nelson Sr. as the team's general manager, who was single-handedly involved in the team's rebuild.

After the end of this season, Haber had no intention of participating in the team's rebuild, and switched to the Magic and the Lakers for a year each, but unfortunately in the final stage of his career, he failed to get a championship ring as he wished, in 1999, Derrick Haber announced his retirement, and in 2018, the Mavericks retired Haber's No. 12 jersey, which is also Haber's dedication to this team and the recognition he deserves.

Haber played eleven and a half seasons with the Mavericks, during which he was selected to the league's All-Defensive Team twice and was selected to the league's 2 teams, and is currently the Mavericks' all-time assist leader (5111) and steal leader (1551), and the 12,597 points scored for the Mavericks are also the fourth after Nowitzki, Blackman, and Aguirre, and in the team's all-time appearances, Harbour is also second only to Nowitzki and Brad Davis, ranking third. Putting aside the history of the Mavericks, Haber has a total of 1,957 steals, ranking 14th in the history of the entire NBA league, and 6,577 assists, ranking 25th in the history of the NBA league.

In the 1997 draft, the Mavericks were the 15th pick in the first round and chose the big center Kevin Cato, who is 211 cm tall and plays as a center, but the Mavericks' clumsy problems have not changed until the twentieth century, because the Mavericks have established the position of Bradley's starting center, resulting in the draft not over, and the Mavericks exchanged Cato for the Trail Blazers' 18th pick Chris Ansti and 300,000 cash.

Cato many people don't know, a brief introduction, to put it bluntly, is a black and hard, but play actively, dare to fight and dare to grab, after the Trail Blazers were depressed for two years, he was sent to the Rockets, here, Cato gave Olajuwon and Barkley the two gods to play as a substitute, and later as Olajuwon left Toronto, Barkley retired, Cato officially became the starting center of the Rockets, averaged 6.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, Yao Ming's first period to the Rockets, was to play ten games off the bench for Cato, and later, Cato and Francis were sent to the Magic, in exchange for super guard Maddy, and finally tossed the Pistons, the Knicks did not return to the court at the end of the 2006-2007 season, 10 years of career, played 541 games, can be regarded as a relatively good role player, then again, this Ansti played a total of 155 games in his 3-year career, averaging 5.2 points and 3.4 rebounds in 14 minutes per game.

The team went through a purge last season, the team is far from enough, the old Nelson signed the sharpshooter with 3 years and 2 million, Hubert Davis, Davis is 196 cm tall, his main feature is that he can shoot, currently with a three-point shooting rate of 44.1% second only to Steve Kerr in NBA history, ranked second, played four years in the Knicks at the beginning of his career, shooting an average of about 10 points per game, last year in the Raptors, signed by the Mavericks this year, played 81 games, including as a starting guard at the beginning of the season, He averaged a career-high 11.1 points per game while shooting 43.9 percent from three-point range and 45.6 percent from the field.

For 3 million a year, the Mavericks signed 30-year-old Dennis Scott - a career three-point shooter with a 40% three-point shooting percentage, and his career once shot 11 three-pointers in a game and went down in history (later broken by Kobe) But Scott was already at the end of his career at this time, and this was the penultimate season of his career.

Khaled Reaves at the No. 1 spot, Hubert Davis at the No. 2 scorer, Michael Finley at the No. 3 position At the No. 4 position is the 35-year-old AC Green and the No. 5 "Big Bamboo Pole" Sean Bradley, which is the Mavericks' starting lineup for the 1997-1998 season, with Samaki Walker, Chris Andes, Dennis Scott, and non-draft player Eric Strickland, who signed at the end of last season.

This set of lineups, seriously lacking competitiveness, and there is no good team building concept, it belongs to where to play, the only thing I have a little thought about is to look forward to Michael Finley's growth, can grow into a second master, just find a boss for Finley, can become a first-line star, find a helper for Finley, if it becomes a parallel import...... However, the new season of the Mavericks has been eye-catching, the first game of the difficult 90-88 victory over the league's newcomer Vancouver Grizzlies, and then the supersonics, the rematch Grizzlies also won, the Mavericks started with three consecutive wins, and the star Finley scored 16 points, 20 points and 29 points respectively, shooting 52% from the field.

Obviously, these three victories came against the weak team, plus the Mavericks were a little bit more lucky, after three consecutive wins, they knelt ten games in a row, losing an average of 14.4 points per game, especially on November 17, that is, the ninth game of the new season, the Mavericks lost 75:120 to the Trailblazers by 45 points, and this game has also become one of the biggest tragedies of the Mavericks this season.

Fortunately, in the next game, the Mavericks defeated the Toronto Raptors, a weak team that had only been established for two years, by 2 points, ending a ten-game kneeling streak, and then kneeling the Spurs by 9 points, and in the next game, 32 points, kneeling the Hawks, this is not kneeling, it is lying down directly.

In the first 16 games of the season, the Mavericks knelt for 12 games, and the team's general manager Nelson Sr. couldn't stand it anymore, fired coach Jim Clemons, and picked up the whip himself!

The general manager's personal appointment immediately had an effect, at least in the first game, against the powerful New York Knicks.

Before the game, Nelson Sr. patted Finley on the shoulder,

"Fenfen, don't you have a good time being the boss in the calf?"

"Pleasant."

"You're happy, I'm not happy, you can do it next time, if you can't do it, I'll send you to the Knicks and go to Alan Houston."

Finley finished with 27 points, six rebounds and three assists on 12-of-22 shooting.

Nelson Sr. has found a new signing, Hubert Davis.

"Dai Dai, what is your contract? I remember it seemed to be 2 million in 3 years, isn't it, in terms of your performance...... This contract is still a bit ......"

Davis couldn't help but shudder, shooting five three-pointers to score 20 points.

Nelson Sr. found A.C. Green again,

"Lin Lin, I don't think you're good this year, I see the NBA continuous playing record you hold, that's it, when you're older, you should retire, you have to retreat, can't I help you?"

Green looked at Nelson Sr. with a look of horror, and then shot 6-of-8 from the field, shooting 14 points and 11 rebounds on Ewing's inside.

Nelson Sr. glanced at Khaled Reeves at this time, although Nelson Sr. did not speak, but Reeves felt that Nelson Sr.'s eyes could eat him, and the muscles of his whole body were twitching involuntarily, and he scored 24 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.

In this way, the incomparably weak Mavericks on the lineup worked together to defeat the powerful Knicks 105-91, and the old Nelson got the first victory of the new season.

Old Nelson: You idiot, you head coach can't do such a simple thing, what can you do!

Clemmons: Chief, it's not that I can, it's that the enemy is too cunning and the lineup is insufficient, so they keep fighting and kneeling.

Nelson Sr.: Do I need to get you five Jordans to play for you!

After winning against the Knicks, the Mavericks were subjected to a wave of 15 consecutive kneeling ......

Clemmons: Boss, how can you explain this, I can't explain it.

Nelson Sr.: Forehead...... You see, your kneeling posture is wrong, although they are all kneeling, but my kneeling is obviously more high-end and atmospheric!

I have to say that although they are all kneeling, the old Nelson is indeed kneeling more high-end than Clemmons, this wave of 15 consecutive kneeling, the Mavericks only lost an average of 8.9 points per game, and there are 4 games with a difference of two points, that is, one trembling can win the game, but the luck is a little worse, and he didn't win a game.

The general manager of the team coaches the team, which is not news in competitive sports, many teams have done this, the advantage is that the general manager can personally investigate everyone's development trajectory, and is no longer facing the cold data table, every move of the player is in the eyes of the general manager, the general manager has the power of life and death, play well, it is possible that the general manager saw that you will get a raise and bonus next season, and if you don't play well, you may get out of the box directly next season, so let's say, just imagine, when you used to go to school, What it feels like to go to your homeroom class, that's what these players feel.

At this time, the season has passed halfway, the 42nd game of the season, the Mavericks defeated the SuperSonics, stopped 15 consecutive kneeling, and also won the sixth victory of the season, but 6-27, basically cut off the idea of the playoffs, the subsequent game has the old Nelson in charge, the players are obviously more active, in the absence of a big losing streak, basically one win, three or four games, another win, another four or five games, the end of the season, the Mavericks got a 20-62 record, It is also due to the crazy swing of the teams at the bottom of the rankings at that time, the Raptors and Grizzlies are the new army in the league, the key is that the Warriors, Clippers, Nuggets in order to get better draft picks, don't want to face, the former powerful Nuggets won 11 games in a season, the Clippers and Warriors got 17 and 19 games respectively, so calculated, the Mavericks' 20 victories are placed at the bottom of the league in the past, but this year it is still ranked tenth in the West, who do you say is reasonable?

Finley's performance throughout the season was very good, in line with the team's expectations, averaging 21.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game, shooting 44.9%, three-point shooting rate of 35.7%, a total of ten games in the season to score more than 30 points, but the ability to attack without the ball is a hard injury, in that era, if you want to be the boss, when the time comes to a goal, it must be the boss alone, but Finley's ability is insufficient, and in the Mavericks' lineup, there is no player with such potential, So there are 10 games in which the margin is within 1 point and 2 points in the whole season, of which the Mavericks have won 2 and lost 8.

In addition to Finley, another figure has to be mentioned, that is, Shaun Bradley, who is also the team's hopeful, he has been plagued by some minor back injuries and leg injuries this season, and has only played 64 games. Averaged 11.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.3 blocks in 28 minutes per game, which was his last season with an average of double-doubles per game, but his blocking efficiency was terrifying, in 64 games played, 15 blocks were 5 including 5 or more, on April 7, 1998, the Mavericks played at home against the Trail Blazers, this game was definitely the pinnacle of Bradley's career, facing Kevin Cato (how is it me again) and Rasheed Wallace sat on the inside, Bradley hit an alternative triple-double of 22 points, 22 rebounds and 13 blocks, and 13 blocks are also the highest record in the history of the Mavericks, and Bradley has hit 6 times in his entire career, blocking triple-doubles.

Midway through the season, Nelson Sr. made a trade to send Scott, who played in 52 games and averaged 13.6 points per game, to the Suns in exchange for 29-year-old forward Cedric Ceballos.

Ceballos is 198 cm tall, serving in the third position, he is one of the few examples of grassroots counterattack in NBA league history, his starting point is not high, the 21st pick in the second round in 1990, 90% of the players in this pick, usually 90% will not appear in the NBA three years later, Ceballos is very physically outstanding, was the champion of the 1992 slam dunk contest, but want to him, his skills are very rough, both offensive and defensive are too dependent on the body, and there is no three-point ability.

In the first two years of the Suns, Ceballos was not reused, but through his continuous efforts and hard training, Ceballos successfully became the 10% of the people mentioned above, and was reused by the Suns from the third season, and in the fourth season, the Suns sent Ceballos to the Lakers in order to get the Lakers' first-round draft pick (this pick eventually became Finley), and in the first year of the Lakers, that is, the fifth season of his career, Ceballos not only became a member of the 50+ points in a single game, It is worth mentioning that Ceballos was wearing the No. 23 jersey when he was in the Lakers, and many years later, LeBron James decided to join the Lakers and called Ceballos in person to ask if he could wear the No. 23 jersey, Ceballos not only agreed, but also gave James blessings, which is also a small episode.

After the Mavericks experienced the changes of the Dallas Three Jays, the team's record fell rapidly, the Mavericks urgently needed to develop a potential player and become the leader of the team, Finley is the better one in the whole team, but definitely not the best one in the league, and it seems that in addition to small forward and center, other positions need to be strengthened, and soon, after the end of last season's journey, the Mavericks came to the 1998 NBA draft, in this year's draft, the small hand has four draft picks, The No. 6 pick in the first round, the No. 30 pick in the second round, the No. 35 pick in the second round, and the No. 53 pick in the second round, soon, the moment to change the course of Mavericks history is coming!