MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Last year's league MVP remains the franchise's foundation. Dirk Nowitzki led the team in scoring (23.6), rebounding (8.6) and heart. His playoff flop a year ago wasn't repeated during the season or the first round against New Orleans. If the rest of the team cared as much as Nowitzki, the Mavs would still be playing.

MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYER: Josh Howard, hands down, takes home this (dis)honor with a selfish and confusing pattern of behavior late in the season. Not only did the one-time All-Star struggle to fit into the Jason Kidd-led offense, but his admission of marijuana use and decision to throw a birthday party after losing Game 4 puzzled/angered the coaching staff and several of his teammates.

BIGGEST NEEDS: The Mavs need an infusion of youth and athleticism, especially on the perimeter. A pair of swingmen who have been playing overseas, Reyshawn Terry and Renaldas Seibutis, and second-round pick Shan Foster will be given a hard look this summer. The team would love to find another minimum-wage gem, as it did with Brandon Bass a year ago.

FREE AGENT FOCUS: The team has interest in unrestricted free agent Antoine Wright. Reserve point guard Jose Barea, a restricted free agent, is an option, though the team will try to upgrade. The future is unclear for free agents Devean George, Eddie Jones (player option), Juwan Howard, Malik Allen, Jamaal Magloire and Tyronn Lue. Depth is needed at every position except power forward (Dirk Nowitzki and Brandon Bass).

PLAYER NOTES:

--F Josh Howard continues to try to rehabilitate his image. His frank comments of offseason marijuana use caused a firestorm of controversy during the playoffs, but he said he was just being honest.

"People's first reaction is that I just got high all day every day," Howard said. "I got on a radio station back home and talked about it. I've got nothing to hide. I ain't scared. There's been no backlash."

He did apologize to the team and the NBA.

"I called David Stern and apologized because I ain't crazy," Howard said. "I heard the backlash, and he could've been feeling the same way. I wanted to make sure he understood some of the things going on in my personal life. Really, though, it was just about being a man and dealing with it."

--G Jason Kidd, holder of a 44-0 record in international competition, headlined the 12-player team that will represent the United States in the Olympic Summer Games in Beijing, China. The player selections were approved by the USA Basketball Executive Committee and will be nominated to the United States Olympic Committee.

"It is a great honor on behalf of the Dallas Mavericks to represent my country in the 2008 Olympic Games," said Kidd, a member of the 2000 gold-medal team at Sydney. "I look forward to the challenge of winning a gold medal."

--F Dirk Nowitzki had a get-to-know-each-other visit from Rick Carlisle in Germany. Carlisle returned from his European vacation with a greater appreciation for the continent's most renowned NBA export.

"We're talking about the greatest European player in history," Carlisle said. "There's nobody else that's been an MVP in the NBA, and for him to do that coming from where he did and facing the challenges he's faced is phenomenal. And yet he's still a guy who's in his early prime and has a lot more years left."