Heard It Through the Grapevine

Posted by Rob Mahoney on August 11, 2009 under The Grapevine | 7 Comments to Read

  • Could Drew Gooden’s contract be more valuable (trade-wise) than we were led to believe?
  • Charles Barkley was asked once again about the playoff hullabaloo surrounding Dirk and his “praise” for the Nuggets’ defenders, and he’s still missing the boat (via Sports Radio Interviews): “If a guy was sleeping and thought he could stop me, I’d go over to his house in the middle of the night and slap the hell out of him.  If he even was dreaming about the fact that he could stop me, I would go to his house, and I’d just walk in his room and slap the hell out of him, and say, ‘Wake up.  Don’t even think you can guard me.’  That’s the mentality you have to have if you’re gonna be a superstar in this league.”  This.  Will.  Not.  Die.
  • A recount of the fateful 2004 summer that brought Steve Nash’s departure and the acquisition of Erick Dampier.  I’m not sure it’s entirely fair from the Mavs’ side of things, but the point is made: Damp is no Nash.
  • Von Wafer and Glen Davis, two recent residents in the Mavs’ rumor mill, have signed with Olympiakos and the Celtics, respectively.  For what it’s worth, Davis ended up signing for far less than the potentially gaudy contract that haunted my nightmares.  Logic prevails!

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  • http://www.loveaware.org Rhett

    Something leads me to think Charles would be more likely to go over to his house in the middle of the night and raid his fridge for leftovers.
    Actually, Denver did a great job of ‘holding’ him down. He barely managed that 44 points in game 4. Or the thirty something in the previous game. Or the the thirty something in the last game. They really shined in the first game when they ‘held’ him to his series low of 28.
    They did a better job ‘holding’ Kobe than they did Dirk. I don’t know if Charles is suggesting Kobe make house calls.

  • Jeff

    Barkley’s criticisms will never die because it’s all he has left. His personal life hit the fan on numerous occasions and his body seems to have fully rejected him. Now can we please have some more “don’t talk to my mama like that” comments from Webber? Love that TNT crew.

  • Kevin

    I don’t think Charles really watches basketball anymore. He’s always thought of Dallas and Dirk as soft so he’s gonna take those comments as Dirk being scared. He talks a lot of shit for a guy who never won a title and had to try to ride Hakeem’s cotails to one.

    Also, with all the talk of the big mistake of 04 we made the finals with Damp having to guard Gasol, Duncan, Amare and Shaq in the playoffs that year, we probably don’t make the finals if we keep Nash and don’t get a center. Just think about the San Antonio series Nash and Dirk guarding Parker and Duncan. Woof.

  • Charles

    Now I’m just dreaming of all the things that Damp+Gooden can bring to the team via trade.

  • benway37

    Agree with Kevin:
    Overpaying Damp and not overpaying Nash are mutually exclusive, and ridicule the choice all you want, but Damp has played in the finals, and Nash has not. Dallas has had more success with Damp than they had with Nash. Since Nash left Dallas and joined the Suns, Dallas has been more successful than PHX.
    I’m not suggesting that Damp was the catalyst, but he certainly has contributed, and despite numerous efforts to replace him with someone (anyone?) else, guess who is still our starting center?
    The deals are mutually exclusive, but if you must compare the approach, you must also factor in the result.
    Put it to you like this: there are a couple centers in the league that make Damp look horrible, but Nash gets lit up by guys who are option 4 or 5 on their teams. That’s a recipe for disaster.

    As for Barkley’s criticisms of Dirk, you have to consider Barkley’s perspective: Barkley spent his whole career in Jordan’s shadow. He never led a team to a title. Never contributed to a title, even though he played on 2 Houston teams that featured 4 of the 50 GREATEST PLAYERS OF ALL TIME. Let me say that again. Barkley (himself on the Big 50 list) failed to win a chip on a team that featured one of the top 5 big men in the history of the game (Hakeem), plus clyde drexler, then scottie pippen. The year before he joined Houston, Barkley’s Suns had the Rockets down 2-0, yet found a way to lose the series.
    So I guess what I’m saying is, there might be merit to Barkley’s criticisms, b/c if anyone knows what it is like to be shackled when it matters most, if anyone knows what it is like to underachieve with the better team, if anyone knows what life without a Chip is like, it would be Charles Barkley.
    I liked Chuck a lot when he played, but if he fairly assessed his own career, he was exactly the kind of player that he would rip on today, lots of numbers put up that don’t add up to squat.

    Webber ripping Dirk is just laughable.

  • http://www.loveaware.org Rhett

    I certainly understand the logic and admire the sucess the Mavs have had with Damp. My rational mind is completely on board.
    However, I will always feel a little jipped having not seen Dirk and Nash play together in thier primes. Nash certianly had, and has, his failings but it was awesome to watch him and Dirk turn into pick and roll doom and dustruction together, make All-Star teams together, ect. As a fan its great to watch your favorite players develop and reap the rewards of their greatness. I would like to be journalistic about this and judge the results from the win/loss column, but as a fan, I can’t deny that when Nash left I also lost some emotional connection to the team that Dampier did not replace.

  • http://www.nba-blog.de David

    I read something about Nivins ist heading to Spain for one season.

    Good luck there Big Fella!

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