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This is one of the most foreign off-seasons to the Dallas Mavericks since the new century. There are no big time free agents being signed, nor surprising trades from owner Mark Cuban. This is a new era, or so we are told.

But the question remains if this makes the Mavericks a better team. The strategy is to get better from within, or like Dallas Mavericks head coach Avery Johnson puts it, the team just needs time to marinate.

Its sounds good, but do the Mavericks have the right ingredients?

Avery Johnson believes the Mavericks do and it’s hard to argue with a NBA world champion. The biggest thing Avery is looking for is consistency. We know Dirk is a perennial all-star and he’s going to continue to play great and put up excellent numbers. We know Jerry Stackhouse and Keith Van Horn will be one of the best combos off the bench next season. We know that a healthy Doug Christie will be a great role player and bring the defense Avery is looking for. But there are three players Avery needs more consistency out of: Erick Dampier, Jason Terry and Josh Howard.

If Avery can get these three guys playing at a high-level day end and day out, then Dallas can rise to an elite team.

The first and arguably the most important player next year is Erick Dampier. After many years of searching and even more years of failed experiments at the position, Dallas finally got their center. One can say what he wants about Dampier's unemotional ways or his inconsistency, but the guy still is one of the better centers in a league. He's a perfect fit as a physical, inside, defensive-minded player to put along side all-star Dirk Nowitzki's finesse, outside-oriented game.

So what's the problem here?

Last season, anytime Dampier would find himself in foul trouble, turn the ball over or make a bad offensive player, he would routinely see the bench for the next quarter and a half, sometimes more. His numbers dropped too, but even worse, so did his confidence.

However, Avery Johnson is the reason Dampier is a Maverick. He was the biggest supporter of the sign and trade in the 2004 off-season that brought Dampier to Dallas. And Avery also will need to instill the confidence and drive Dampier has shown in spurts last season.

In one stretch while Avery Johnson was the interim coach, Dampier averaged 31.2 MPG, 11.5 PPG, 52% FGs, 12.7 RPG, 1.9 BPG in 13 games. This is the kind of play Dallas wants and, more importantly, needs from Dampier. To expect this type of production is extreme, but averaging a double-double of 10-10 is well within his reach.

Going along with the defensive plan, Dallas wants Josh Howard to start playing like a veteran. Though this will be only his third year as a pro, he’s already 25, which seems unheard of nowadays. Howard’s improvements mainly need to come with his mindset and understanding of the game.

Avery has stated he plans to use Josh Howard as a point-forward at times and the only way this will be successful is by Howard understanding what he’s trying to do on the court. The sooner Howard uses his head as much as his skills, the sooner Howard improves even more as a player and Dallas consequently becomes a better basketball team.

Jason Terry is the last part to the equation. The playoff hero, as some would say, was one of the most inconsistent players for Dallas last year, offensively and defensively. He would string together a few double-digit assists games and then go for a week and not have more than 5 assists.

As a point guard and a player who is relied on by his teammates to create, Terry has to continue to give his teammates looks and opportunities to score.

However, Dallas will need their point guard to do more than just score. The presence of Doug Christie, who averaged nearly 5 APG in his stint with Sacramento early last year, will help Terry in the playmaking category much more than Finley did. Ultimately though, Terry has to become a second option for Dallas and be a threat to not only score 20 every night, but also set his teammates up time after time.

And the Mavericks will rest all of this on the shoulders of Avery Johnson: to get Dampier to show up every night; to get Howard to understand his role; to get Terry to become more of a playmaking pointguard. When Avery can get this out of his players, Dallas will be a team to beat. And the best part of it is that Avery wants the pressure all on him.

But of course, the great ones always do.