By AC Young

The Dallas Mavericks have hit the headlines plenty of times since season 1980-81. For every Rolando Blackman and Derek Harper there has been a Roy Tarpley or Leon Smith. There has been the success of Dirk Nowitzki, the failure of Uwe Blab while Detlef Schrempf's Dallas time was somewhere in between those two. The latest Mavericks' news, the acquisition of LaFrentz and Van Exel, was due in part to Denver GM Kiki Vandeweghe. But Vandeweghe also helped build the original Mavs team, two decades ago.

The expansion Dallas Mavericks drafted Kiki Vandeweghe to be the cornerstone of their franchise. But after a holdout Vandeweghe was traded to Denver, in a move that would help both teams for years to come. While success on the floor was rare their first year, the trading of Vandeweghe brought the pick that Dallas would select Rolando Blackman with. Another trade, with Cleveland, would provide a future pick which turned into Derek Harper. Dallas did sign Brad Davis, and he would be the only original Maverick still around when Dallas was a successful team.

The 1981 draft produced Mark Aguirre, Rolando Blackman and Jay Vincent. They all had one common skill, they could score. The 1983 draft provided more firepower with Derek Harper and Dale Ellis. Dallas' first winning season, 43-39, got them to the playoffs but as always the Lakers were there, defeating Dallas in the second round.

Dallas had been ineffective in the paint during their early seasons. They had Wayne Cooper for a season, the undersized Pat Cummings and also Kurt Nimphius. Drafting Sam Perkins in 1984 gave the Mavericks a more balanced unit, but interior help was still needed.

With three first rounders in the 1985 draft Dallas could have added the inside strength it was lacking. Charles Oakley, Karl Malone and AC Green were all available but Dallas took Schrempf, Bill Wennington, and Uwe Blab. On a brighter note they did add James Donaldson, a big body to battle Kareem and Hakeem. A playoff loss to the Lakers showed they needed that one extra inside player.

Roy Tarpley. Tarpley gave the Mavericks' its best shot at the title, only seven years after coming into the NBA. But Tarpley, an all-rookie selection, gave Dallas more grief than anything else, despite helping Dallas to 55 wins his first season. The seven footer, who won the NBA's 6th Man Award in 1988, was to succumb to injuries and substance abuse.

Dallas were also faltering, by not realizing the talent they had. Dale Ellis was traded for Al Wood and the rights to Mark Price were sent to Cleveland.

The 87/88 season was to be the top of the mountain for Dallas, but they couldn't overcome Los Angeles to get to the finals. What followed was a trip downhill that would last a decade.

Tarpley was banished from the NBA, Detlef Schrempf and Mark Aguirre were traded. James Donaldson injured his knee. The early 90s saw picks traded away, or worse, high picks being used on Randy White and Doug Smith. Fat Lever was acquired but rarely played due to injuries. Sam Perkins left as an unrestricted free agent. A team that was a role-model for how to build an expansion team into a contender had fallen apart.

After trying to keep afloat by adding veterans, like Rodney McCray, the Mavs decided to start again. Rolando Blackman was sent to New York and the team was turned over to pick 4 in the 1992 draft, Jim Jackson.

But a contract holdout by Jackson was not a good start. He only played 28 games his rookie year. The next two drafts added Jamal Mashburn and Jason Kidd. The Mavericks now had a trio to build around, much like their early teams of Harper, Blackman and Aguirre.

The team could score, but defending and teamwork weren't there. Dallas tried to remedy this by sending two picks to Boston, they received big Eric Montross and moved down to a later pick in the 1996 draft. Boston picked Antoine Walker, and Ron Mercer the following year, while Dallas only gained Samaki Walker.

Don Nelson had arrived in Dallas and was ready to change things around. By the end of the season, only Samaki Walker was left. The 96/97 season saw Kidd go to Phoenix, Mashburn to Miami and Jim Jackson to New Jersey. Dallas now had a team centered around Michael Finley, Shawn Bradley, Robert Pack and AC Green.

The 97 draft produced Chris Anstey, acquired for the rights to Kelvin Cato. But the next draft would turn everything around, although it took a year or so.

Tractor Traylor. When Dallas used pick 6 in the 1998 draft on power forward Robert Traylor they had the bait to make things happen. Several teams wanted the huge player with potential, and Milwaukee used their later picks to land the big man. Dallas took one of these Milwaukee picks, Pat Garrity, and added a future pick of their own to acquire Steve Nash from Phoenix. Dallas kept the other Milwaukee selection, pick 9 Dirk Nowitzki.

A year went by and Dallas looked like the loser, Nash was shooting 36%, Nowitzki produced 8 points, 3 boards and 40% shooting and Phoenix used the Dallas pick to get Shawn Marion.

Season 99/00 saw Dallas start ascending, going up the mountain again. Michael Finley became an all-star, Nash shot 48% from the field and big Dirk became a player. Headlines were made by new owner Mark Cuban, and by a forward who played 12 games during which he averaged 14 rebounds a game, Dennis Rodman.

More recent times have seen Dallas still trading, for Howard Eisley, Christian Laettner and Juwan Howard, then trading them away. A return to the playoffs last year showed everyone that Dallas had finally recovered from its decade of suffering.

With Denver needing to start afresh, Kiki Vandeweghe traded to Dallas Raef LaFrentz, Nick Van Exel, Avery Johnson and Tariq Abdul-Wahad. For not the first time in the history of the Dallas Mavericks, they hope they have added the final pieces so they can get to the top of the mountain, and finally get past the LA Lakers.