Mark Cuban is celebrating his second anniversary this week as owner of the Dallas Mavericks, an occasion that all NBA refs, David Stern and Shaquille O'Neal will probably somehow manage to miss as they go about their busy schedules.

	Dale Davis is the type of player the Mavs' defense definitely needs.

That's fine with Cuban, who plans on marking the occasion by getting himself another ... shooter? If not now, soon.

"We're looking for one more," he said the other day.

It seems like overkill for the owner of the team with the No. 1 offense in the NBA. Isn't Dirk Nowitzki, Michael Finley, Steve Nash, Johnny Newman, Tim Hardaway, Juwan Howard and Danny Manning enough offense for one team?

"But getting another shooter will put us over the hump," Cuban said. "It'll take pressure off our first unit. And with the way the new rules are now, we can average 125 points a game. And Shaq can't match that."

If it's all going to come down to matching Shaq and the two-time defending champion Lakers -- and it will, not just for the Mavs, but for the San Antonios and Minnesotas and Sacramentos of the world -- then the Mavericks need more than another weapon to put in Don Nelson's arsenal.

Try a little defense, where Dallas ranks 28th in the league.

As Allan Houston put it after the Knicks stunned the Mavs last week in OT: "I don't think they care about defending, the way we care. They're better offensively than us. But not defensively."

They're winning the Don Nelson way, which is by outscoring people. That might be fine for filling their new American Airlines Center in Dallas, but how far has that ever gotten anyone in the spring?

The Mavs need to get some more bulk in the middle, where they don't have a soul to counter O'Neal's power game. That's the view from the bench, where Tim Hardaway now sits in his first season in Big D.

When Hardaway was asked what the Mavs need to get over the hump in the West, he identified the Mavs' Achilles.

"We need a forceful big man down low who can grab 10 rebounds-plus a game," he said. "We need a guy who can guard -- or, let me put it this way, attempt to guard -- Shaq. That's what we need. A big, powerful guy. A Dale Davis type. A Charles Oakley. An Antonio Davis. You know, whoever. Oakley hasn't called yet. He's under contract. But maybe he will."

Finding such a player, well, good luck. Oakley wouldn't mind a change of scenery, even if Bill Cartwright has come in stressing defense and is playing a much more active role in teaching and correcting mistakes than Tim Floyd did in the final weeks of his doomed NBA coaching career. Oakley still wants his ring and he'll never get one at the glacial rate that Jerry Krause's rebuilding program is taking, so he's a possibility.

As for Dale Davis, as long as Portland keeps taking on water, there's a chance Bob Whitsitt might make some moves around the trading deadline. Whether the Portland president wants to help Nelson, that's another matter. Toronto has been the underachieving team of the season in the East, but the Raptors can't afford to part with Antonio Davis, not as long as Hakeem Olajuwon is their starting center. Only Vince Carter means more to Toronto than Davis, who has had a disappointing season.

So who does that leave, Marc Jackson of Golden State? He's not the banger that Dallas needs. Some teams are skeptical whether Jackson can put up good numbers on a good team. That's why the Sonics, for instance, went for Calvin Booth over Jackson, last summer.

The perfect fit might be Arvydas Sabonis, who's been through the playoff wars with Shaq and is one of the few homo sapiens on the planet who can match muscle for muscle with the Lakers' bull and doesn't give much ground when Shaq decides he's heading for the paint. Sabonis would gladly come back to the NBA for a paycheck.

When Shaq sees the Mavs' big men -- the currently injured Shawn Bradley, Evan Eschmeyer and Wang Zhizhi -- it's like putting a red flag in front of his eyes.

"We think we can play with anyone, right now," said Hardaway. "We've already beaten San Antonio in San Antonio. But in terms of what we need for the playoffs, we've got to get that big guy and also show some toughness. We've got to prove that we can stand our ground and let nobody beat you up, physically. That's the first thing."

Maybe first in Hardaway's mind. But not, apparently, in Mark Cuban's.

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