Chinese Democracy = Dallas Mavericks?

While watching the Mavericks roll last night on TNT, I couldn't help but make a few observations:

• Dirk looks like he is having fun out there. Over the last two seasons, I'm not sure that was the case.

• At one point in the 2nd quarter, I was reminded of the new Guns 'N Roses album, Chinese Democracy: "I recognize Axl...but who in the hell are the rest of those guys?!"

Seriously, the five Mavs on the floor consisted of: Jason Terry, JJ Barea, Brandon Bass, Shawne Williams and DeSagana Diop. JJ Barea?! Shawne Williams?! For a second, I thought that I had flipped over to the D-League! Strangely enough, it worked: The Mavericks outscored the Suns 31-22 in the 2nd quarter on the way to their 8th win in the last 9 games.

• The G-N-R similarities don't end there: Rick Carlisle appears to be very "democratic" with playing time, and just like Axl, he continues to move forward with new faces playing different roles. So far, Carlisle has used 10 different starting lineups, in 18 games, and during their recent hot streak, the 1st-year coach has given many unknown/unproven players extended minutes.

While this team doesn't look like a legitimate contender in the West, it's still exciting to see that they have crawled their way to a couple of games above .500 after sleepwalking to a 2-7 start. And while Shawne Williams and JJ Barea may not have the talent or pedigree of most NBA players, they have one thing that the Mavericks desperately needed: hunger.

Prior to 2008, JJ Barea and Shawne Williams had combined to average about 21 minutes/game.

Stretching over their last seven contests, the two unheralded players have averaged 37 minutes/game. They have both responded by playing hard, fighting for loose balls, crashing the boards and simply out-hustling their opponents. In other words, these guys are hungry...not just to win, but to earn playing time. Thinking back about recent seasons, would you have described any of the Mavericks as "hungry" for playing time? I know that I wouldn't.

Over the last two years, the Dallas' window of opportunity was closing faster than the Stars' organization threw Sean Avery under the bus. During that time, the Mavericks' primary bench players included:

• Jerry Stackhouse: NBA Veteran
• Eddie Jones: NBA Veteran
• Juwan Howard: NBA Veteran
• Greg Buckner: NBA Veteran
• Anthony Johnson: NBA Veteran

Guys like Stackhouse, Jones and Howard aren't going to get excited about "earning" playing time. Those are guys that had been stars throughout their life, had started in the NBA and were on the downside of their careers. And while some did provide quality minutes off the bench (especially Stackhouse), they weren't bringing heightened enthusiasm to the court. There was a lot of walking to the scorer's table, slowly removing the warm-ups and strolling onto the court. When summoned off the bench, Barea and Williams jump out of their seat and sprint towards the court! They appear to legitimately be excited about the game whereas many veterans view the season as a "grind."

Every good team needs a few "high-energy" players like Eduardo Najera, Luke Walton, Rajon Rondo: guys that weren't highly touted coming out of school and enter the league with a chip on their shoulder, determined to make a difference in each game by outworking their opponents.

The Mavericks either haven't had young, hungry guys recently or certain coaches (rhymes with Stavery Bonson), refused to hand the reigns to inexperienced players (see the Devin Harris trade). Whatever the reason, Rick Carlisle appears willing to give the young guys a chance, and so far, it's paying dividends.

It has been fun to watch the Mavericks add the much-needed infusion of youth an energy to the mix; however, anytime you play inexperienced players, there will be growing pains. Up to this point, Carlisle appears to have a necessary ingredient needed to deal with young players, as stated by Axl Rose:

"Patience."