12:46 PM CST on Monday, January 16, 2006

By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News

Avery Johnson took Dirk Nowitzki and Keith Van Horn aside a few hours before Saturday's New Jersey game. The coach wanted to gauge his power forwards' thoughts on getting on the court together more often.

"They said, 'We've been waiting for that,' " Johnson said.

It hasn't been realistic until now, however. There's a new center in the Mavericks' starting lineup, and they hope it's like having a new sheriff in town. It will be DeSagana Diop's job to patrol the paint better than Erick Dampier did, although the former starter will still get chances to earn his paycheck.

As the third choice among big men.

Diop's move into the starting five starts a domino effect on Johnson's playing rotation. Before, Diop always came in for Dampier. Now, Johnson has options. Against New Jersey on Saturday, Van Horn was the first big man off the bench, playing alongside Nowitzki. That means one of them has to play center. But it's a role that was vital in the Mavericks' strong finish last season.

Other than Yao Ming and Shaquille O'Neal, what centers strike fear into a coach who wants to go with two power forwards? There aren't any. But until now, Diop was the reserve center, and his shot-blocking skills made it necessary to play Van Horn behind Nowitzki, not with him.

"That's not really what we did last year," Johnson said. "We played Keith and Dirk together a little more. We had three [guys] in our big-man rotation. Now we got a four-man rotation. So we'll get back to it some more. I think it works well for Keith because Dirk draws so much attention."

Now he can. And it will be fine with Van Horn, who had his best offensive night of the season Saturday, hitting eight of nine shots. It should be noted Nowitzki and Van Horn were on court together for only 6 minutes, 22 seconds.

"When we finished last season 18-2, we went with that lineup a lot," Van Horn said. "It's something we've had some success with."

There could be other tweaks in the playing rotation. These may not be evident until Marquis Daniels gets back from his neck injury.

The determining factor will be how players perform – both on an individual basis and with certain combinations of other players.

"Nobody's off limits on our team," Johnson said. "Nobody's flawless, obviously. And the coach definitely isn't. We've seen this happen before in professional sports. It's just a matter of me making a decision at this time that I think is best for our team."

But changing a starter invariably changes the dynamics of who plays with who, when reserves enter the game, and in what order.

"It's all about winning," Johnson said. "It's all about our system functioning at a high level. I had a tough decision to make last year in the playoffs. I really didn't want to play Dirk at center. But sometimes, you got to do what you got to do. I think they know that I care enough about them that whatever decision I make is in the best interests of the team. There's nothing personal with me."

Shooting for Houston: Jason Terry has been one of the best 3-point shooters in the league for several seasons, yet he's never been in the Long Distance Shootout during All-Star Weekend.

TOM FOX/DMN

Keith Van Horn (2) and Dirk Nowitzki will join the rotation at center now that DeSagana Diop is the starter.

He hopes that changes next month in Houston.

"It would be cool," Terry said. "I would definitely love to do it. I've watched it over the years. I definitely want to shoot in it."

Devin Harris would seem to be a natural for the game pitting sophomores against rookies as well as the skills competition.

Barring a significant slump by the Mavericks, Avery Johnson will be charged with coaching the Western Conference stars. The coach of the team with the best record in each conference leads the all-star squad. Since San Antonio's Gregg Popovich did the honors last season, he's ineligible this year.

Let the Damp-ness begin: Johnson said he hopes Erick Dampier takes it personally that he was moved out of the starting lineup.

"I want him to do his job," Johnson said. "This is not about one person or who is making what or who the coach likes or supposedly doesn't like. It's all about the Mavericks and us winning a championship."

Could it be a motivating factor for Dampier?

"We'll see," Johnson said. "I expect him to not be satisfied. And because he's not satisfied, I expect him to make somebody pay. Damp is a professional. We've just had a lot of inconsistency there, and we're looking for some consistency."

E-mail esefko@dallasnews.com