Jean-Jacques Taylor

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Let's not work ourselves into a frenzy over the Mavs' raggedy performance in their season opener against Washington.

Trust me, it's not worth the stress. Not right now.

This isn't the NFL, where our city's mood rises and falls with each Cowboys win or loss. This is the NBA, where the season doesn't really even start in earnest until after the All-Star break.

Mark Cuban says this team has the potential to be better than the one that lost in the NBA Finals against Miami after taking a 2-0 series lead. He says it's even better than the 67-win team.

Who knows?

What we do know is that Rick Carlisle is a quality coach who will maximize this team's talent just like he did last year, when the Mavs won 50 games and advanced to the second round of the playoffs before losing to Denver in five games.

The reality, however, is that it's going to take time. While it happens, more ragged performances will occur.

My advice: Deal with it.

First, we must figure out whether we believe Carlisle or Cuban as it pertains to Josh Howard's recovery from off-season ankle surgery.

On Monday, Carlisle said Howard would be out for several more weeks. Then Cuban said Howard would probably return in two to three weeks.

The truth probably lies somewhere in between.

My suspicion is that Carlisle believes Howard is such an integral part of the Mavs' long-term success this season that the coach doesn't want to yank him in and out of the lineup. He'd rather wait until Howard is 100 percent.

Frankly, you're really never going to see the Mavs' full potential until Howard and Shawn Marion play a few games together and Carlisle can get a feel for how they complement each other offensively and defensively.

That'll take at least five games. Maybe more.

And we haven't even talked about working in Tim Thomas to see how his ability as a 3-point specialist opens up the Mavs' offense, especially if they set him up on the weak side while Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry work their two-man game.

The possibilities are endless, especially if you choose to be optimistic. The bad news, of course, is that the rest of the NBA isn't going to sit around and wait for the Mavs to figure out what they do best on the basketball court.

Besides, Carlisle won't let them wallow. No time for that, which is why he can't stand talking about when Howard will return.

See, Carlisle isn't interested in giving his players any excuses for performing poorly or starting slowly. What else would you expect from a coach who makes every player on the roster earn playing time?

What a novel concept.

Guys who play well and practice well get minutes, while guys who play poorly and struggle in practice lose playing time. Do that and practice becomes more competitive, because players understand their performance – not their pay check or pedigree – is the only thing that guarantees them minutes.

"If you give minutes away without consideration, it's not good for the soul of the team," said Carlisle, "and it's not the right thing to do.

"We have a deep roster and a lot of guys that I'm not afraid to use, but we need our core guys to play well."

Dallas plays the Lakers, the defending champs, on Friday and the cursed Clippers on Saturday. Then comes a tougher back-to-back when the Mavs host Utah on Tuesday and travel to New Orleans on Wednesday for their fourth game in six nights.

You shouldn't be shocked if the Mavs are 1-4, though 2-3 is more likely. Whatever the record, it still won't be time to panic.

Don't forget, this team lost its opener two of the previous three years and still managed to win at least 50 games each season.

This year won't be any different.