Raef LaFrentz and Nick Van Exel may just get the Mavericks to a championship. Not as players, but as soothsayers, pointing out how living and dying from behind the arc and late-season roster overhauls don’t win titles. So if the Mavs and their fans get nothing else out of the trading-deadline deal that brought Raef and Nick on board, it should be this: pack away the deep-playoff-run expectations now and accept that this team is farther away from championship caliber than it was after knocking off the Jazz last spring.

Van Exel said it flatly after the Mavs narrowly lost to the two-time defending champion Lakers while taking (40) and making (15) a record number of threes for a Lakers’ opponent. Nick was quick to announce to the Los Angeles Times that "teams don't give you three-pointers; they welcome your three-pointers. There's no way you can win a championship shooting three-pointers." If the Mavs aren’t a three-point-shooting team, what are they?

LaFrentz, meanwhile, pointed out the bigger problem in shaking up a playoff contender so late in the season -- too much to learn in too little time. "I haven’t hesitated when it’s my turn to shoot," LaFrentz told the Dallas Morning News. "It’s figuring out when it’s my turn to shoot. I struggle with, ‘Is that the best shot we get?’ "

Suffice it to say the Lakers, Kings, Spurs and Blazers (amazingly enough) face no such quandary. Suffice it also to say that a team’s ability to execute without hesitating under do-or-die pressure is tested nearly every minute of every postseason game. It is what determines who wins, more so than pure talent. What LaFrentz is telling us is that the Mavs have 16 games to work out the hiccups. These are hiccups that last year’s Mavs worked through in beating Utah and worked on under second-round pressure against the Spurs.

Whatever flaws last year’s Mavs had, they had learned to deal with them under postseason duress. When was the last time Raef faced that sort of intensity? Nick? It’s not just each individual handling it, either -- it’s Steve and Dirk and Fin knowing exactly where Nick and Raef are going to be and what they’re going to do with everything on the line. How could they possibly learn that any other way than to experience it?

I’m well aware that the style of play in the league has changed, and that needing a defined low-post offensive scorer isn’t as essential as it once was (re: last year’s Eastern Conference finalists, 76ers and Bucks). But being able to defend inside still is a prerequisite and the Mavs seemed almost resigned to giving up interior baskets last weekend in L.A. Defense is as much an attitude as it is a skill, and Dallas just doesn’t look to have much appetite for it.

Not to get all Hubie Brown here on you, but that’s a huge postseason problem because no matter how many weapons you have, a quality NBA opponent with time to prepare will take away what you like to do most. A team that isn’t comfortable going a half-dozen possessions without scoring is sure to collapse in the postseason, because that is going to happen several times every playoff game. The team that believes it can counter such a dry run by stopping the other team seven times is the team I like to advance. Does that sound like the Mavs?

Now I’m all for being unconventional and daring. But I’m also for drama and suspense, which was going to be hard to find anyway with the Lakers being so much tougher mentally than everyone else. By eliminating themselves as a legitimate threat, the Mavs just made it worse. Of course, I believe owner Mark Cuban stockpiled the current talent not with an eye on this postseason, but with the thought of future deals for the missing parts the Mavs need, rather than duplicating what they have. He couldn’t say that because the public isn’t that pragmatic, particularly a public that has waited as long as Dallas has for a team that can foster title-contention dreams.

Make no mistake, though, they’ve taken a step back. Now it just remains to be seen if it translates into two steps forward.

AND ONES: Agent Dan Fegan, whose clients are Jason Richardson, Gilbert Arenas and Troy Murphy, spent last Saturday watching the Mavs beat Golden State in a luxury suite with Warriors GM Garry St. Jean. Word is Fegan and St. Jean have discussed and resolved many of the gripes and concerns the young rookie trio had about the team’s direction … Scottie Pippen wasn’t incensed about the Bulls not releasing Charles Oakley to join a playoff contender just so he could fire salvos at Jerry Krause. The Blazers also were in the running to land Oak; look for him to sign with the Blazers next season … Jamal Mashburn is still working with his same strength and flexibility coach, even after the stomach muscle tear that sidelined him for most of the season. One reason Mash didn’t opt for surgery is that it would have severely hampered his ability to continue their routines … Even the Worldwide Sports Leader can be slow on the uptake -- look closely at the NBA team gear ad on ESPN.com when it features the Nets. Yes, that’s a Marbury jersey being hawked. Now there’s a hot item.

Ric Bucher covers the NBA for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at ric.bucher@espnmag.com.