Posted by Rob Mahoney on November 9, 2010 under The Grapevine | 
- Jason Terry, doing his best Michael Caine (via Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News): “We endured.”
- Zach Lowe wrote a fantastic piece on Tyson Chandler and the Mavs’ defense for The Point Forward (SI’s NBA blog). I’m going to quote it liberally, but follow through and read the piece in its entirety: “[At] the 3:45 mark of the second quarter, when Paul Pierce appeared to have Caron Butler beat on a drive along the left baseline. Chandler, who was guarding KG on the right baseline, took a big slide-step into the paint and deterred the drive without giving Pierce an easy passing lane to KG. Pierce pulled up for a contested mid-range shot and missed. That type of shot — a contested, mid-range shot — has been the basis of Dallas’ stinginess so far. Only five teams are allowing opponents to take more shots from the “floater” region between the rim and 10 feet out, and none are holding teams to a lower percentage on those shots than Dallas (33 percent). Boston was 5-of-18 from that range Monday.”
- Could this be why Caron Butler has been so ineffective?
- Paul Pierce on Rajon Rondo’s decision to take what could have been a game-winning three in the final seconds of last night’s game (via Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe): “He’s wide open. He was open two or three seconds before he even took it. We were begging him to shoot it. Hey, we’ll take that, a wide-open look. Rondo, he’s showed he can make those shots, especially under pressure situations. I take it. I told him after the game, I’ll take that shot.”
- Two fantastic points from NBA.com’s John Schuhmann: Jason Kidd’s presence may make the 1-3 switch easier on the Mavs than any other team in the league, and Rajon Rondo has attempted just five three-pointers this season, all of which have come with the clock winding down.
- A stray thought forgotten from the recap: the Mavs did an excellent job of completely eradicating the threat of Rajon Rondo’s scoring.
- Dirk Nowitzki nails the irrelevance of Terry’s starting status (via Jeff Caplan of ESPN Dallas): “His role, starting or not, is not going to change much. We want him to score. We need him to score and we need him to be aggressive.”
- A thought that teams should play more zone on endgame out-of-bounds plays, in part because of one particularly successful Mavericks play.
- Again, wayward Celtics fans: don’t blame the refs.
- The first installment of John Hollinger’s Power Rankings has emerged. Be angry, if you’re the kind of person who likes to rage against the Mavs’ statistically inferior start.
- Del Harris is now doing radio broadcast work — in Spanish!
- Not to get snooty, but isn’t Mark Cuban bigger than an “Owner:” headline?
Posted by Rob Mahoney on November 4, 2010 under The Grapevine |
- Trey Kerby of The Basketball Jones: “If Chauncey Billups and Jason Kidd were a wrestling tag team, their combined age would be 71.”
- Chris Tomasson of NBA FanHouse: “Dirk Nowitzki has a seen a lot of basketball. Entering Wednesday, he had played in 923 career NBA games. He had no clue who the guy guarding him was at the start of his 924th game. ‘I actually did not. I had no idea,’ Nowitzki said. The 13-year veteran Dallas forward wasn’t alone. Mavericks center Tyson Chandler also had zero knowledge of the guy wearing No. 0 and starting at forward for the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center. ‘I didn’t know who he was before the game and, for a while, when he kept hitting jump shots, I was trying to figure out who he was,’ Chandler said.”
- Dallas Mavericks: you got dunked off.
- It seems like ages since Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry were both Bulls, but Chandler still has a pretty clear soft spot for his former teammate. (via Henry Abbott)
- Matt Moore of CBS Sports’ NBA Facts and Rumors: “The trap we often fall into when evaluating great performances is that somehow, the defense was useless. That they were pathetically overmatched by the greatness we just witnessed. But in truth, it’s often a great performance in the face of great defense. Great players hit tough shots and figure out a way to get it done. And that’s what Dirk Nowitzki did against a surprisingly good defensive approach from the Nuggets. Rookie Gary Forbes and Al Harrington did everything they could, had position, got a hand in his face, and Nowitzki just kept working them over with the fadeaway. There were a few times when questionable switches and assignments doomed the Nuggets. J.R. Smith trying to defend Dirk? Aaron Afflalo? That’s not going to work, kids. He may be “Euro-soft” or whatever (averaging 9.8 rebounds this season), but he’s still 7 feet. And he took advantage of it.”
- Dirk Nowitzki, as Fabio-esque smutty romance novel cover boy.
- I recently joined Brian Doolittle on his radio show, At the Buzzer, to preview the Mavs’ season and the Southwest Division. Check it out if you’re into that sort of thing.
- From the Elias Sports Bureau, via Marc Stein of ESPN Dallas: “Wednesday’s victory in Denver marked the 21st time in Jason Kidd’s career that he registered at least a dozen assists while managing no more than one field goal. Which is, obscure as it sounds, an NBA record.”
Posted by Rob Mahoney on November 1, 2010 under The Grapevine |
- If you’re interested, you can enter a contest to win a date with Shawn Marion via Facebook and Twitter. You’re interested. (via Jeff Weiss, Trey Kerby)
- Shawn Bradley is on Twitter. (via ShamSports)
- Dirk Nowitzki might have some bad news about Rodrigue Beaubois’ timetable for return. It’s a guess, but it’s a guess from a guy who’s pretty plugged in, no?
- Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com: “A strategic switch was flipped very early in the Mavs’ 99-83 win Sunday afternoon at the Clippers. It’s not the sort of thing the coaching staff will be able to take much credit for, because who is going to ballyhoo a strategic admission to failure? The original plan: Dirk was going to guard “second-year’’ rookie Blake Griffin, the double-double machine. If Nowitzki could survive that, the logic went, the domino effect would allow Dallas to win matchups at the other positions, including Tyson Chandler guarding the dangerous Chris Kaman. Dirk guarding Griffin? It lasted two possessions. The UberMan can do a lot of things, and because Griffin is an untested commodity, there was no way to know for certain whether he can do this. Now we know. After a blow-by and after a rag-dolling, now we know. He can’t. So Rick Carlisle flipped the switch. Quickly and smartly.”
- Nick Fazekas will be the No. 1 pick in tonight’s D-League draft. Don’t laugh too hard, we may see him back in the NBA pretty soon. Matt Hubert of D-League Digest has the Texas Legends slated to select Tennessee’s Chris Lofton with the No. 4 pick in his mock draft.
- Kurt Helin credited the Clippers’ poor shooting numbers to user error rather than the Dallas defense at ProBasketballTalk: “The Clippers just missed everything — they started the game 3-17, but they were outworking the Mavericks on the boards and stayed close. In the second half they just kept missing, with the team’s starters shooting 30 percent for the game. Give the Mavericks a little credit for their defense, but the Clips were just cold.”
- Whut.
- Tony Parker will be a Spur for the foreseeable future, until trade do they part.
- Dirk Nowitzki takes a shot at a teammate (via Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News): “We talked about making it a priority that our defensive field-goal percentage has to get better. We all know that’s what wins in this league. If you play defense consistent, you give yourself a chance every night. We’ve been working hard at it. Even Jet [Jason Terry] is trying to chase guys, which I haven’t seen in seven years.”
- Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas prodded Rick Carlisle about the Mavs’ shot distribution: “Caron Butler has led the Mavs in shots attempted in the first two games. That isn’t by design. ‘If he’s open, he should shoot,’ coach Rick Carlisle said. ‘But I don’t expect him to be our leading shot-taker. He’s going to be one of our top three or four obviously and be in the top three most likely. But, look, this is two games out of 82. Come back in two weeks and see where we are.’”
Tags: Blake Griffin, Caron Butler, Chris Kaman, D-League, Dirk Nowitzki, Donnie Nelson, Jason Terry, Moussa Seck, Nick Fazekas, Rick Carlisle, Rodrigue Beaubois, Texas Legends, Tony Parker, Tyson Chandler
Posted by Rob Mahoney on October 28, 2010 under The Grapevine |
First, in case you didn’t have time to check out all of my season preview work, here’s a quick run-down so you can catch up:
Also, if I may:
- If you’re following me on Twitter, you probably already know this, but in addition to my work here, at Hardwood Paroxysm, and at ProBasketballTalk, I’ve also joined the New York Times’ Off the Dribble Blog as a contributor. Keep an eye out there for some more of my general NBA work, though I’m sure the Mavs will inevitably pop up from time to time.
- Matt Moore and I recently launched Voice on the Floor, an NBA audio blog (striving to be an NPR for the NBA, in a way) that has been a blast so far. It primarily consists of extended interviews from Moore, as well as spoken word essays from myself and various contributors. I’m very excited about the project and its potential, so I hope you guys will tag along.
Back to business as usual:
- Since 2000, no player in the NBA has had more 25 & 10 nights than Dirk Nowitkzi. Not Tim Duncan, not Kevin Garnett, not Shaquille O’Neal. No one.
- Dirk Nowitzki on Tyson Chandler (via Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com): “He’s just so unbelievably active, I’ve never seen anything like it…He’s got to be the best runner at the 5 position and one of the most athletic 5’s right now in this league…he covers a lot of ground out there and he’s plugging holes for us defensively.”
- I guess this kind of confirms something Nancy Lieberman hinted at back in July: Moussa Seck seems set to be a Texas Legend.
- Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer: “Turnovers were this team’s flaw all last season, and nothing changed in the season-opener. Twenty-one turnovers led to 28 Dallas points. As a tennis guy (no double-fault is good, but some are far worse than others), I buy Larry Brown’s principle that there are acceptable turnovers (daring passes, intended to make for easy baskets, that just don’t work out), and unacceptable turnovers (lazy ballhandling at mid-court that leads to easy opponent scores). Wednesday the vast majority of the turnovers were the ones that scorch you. Especially so with a Jason Kidd pushing the ball for the other team.”
- Adventures in overstatement: According to Jason Kidd, having Tyson Chandler as a lob option “changes the whole game.” Right. It’s handy, sure, but game-changing? Play-changing, perhaps. It forces opponents to be conscious of him on the roll, but let’s not get carried away.
- The Mavs committed more money this off-season to free agents than any other team, save the Heat.
- Charlotte looked like kind of a mess last night, which prompted David Arnott of Rufus on Fire to engage in an interesting exercise: if on were writing Bobcats scouting reports based solely on last night’s game, what would they say? Follow over to RoF an leave your thoughts, but we could do the very same for the Mavs here.
- Brendan Haywood didn’t start last night, but he’s playing nice so far (via Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News): “Sometimes things don’t go the way you plan. You just got to make the best of it.”
Posted by Rob Mahoney on October 26, 2010 under The Grapevine |
- Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don’t Lie previews the Mavs’ season, which he pegs for 52 wins (though Dwyer notes that such a mark is easily beatable by this collective): “…as much as age sets in, and as much as a lack of depth will likely keep the Mavericks away from the ranks of the championship contender, Dallas will still field a sound rotation of basketball players that will give them a chance to beat every team – every single one of them – soundly on any given night. Even if Jason Kidd won’t be able to pop jumpers all night as a threat off of a screen and roll, and if Dirk finally does decide to not act like an All-NBA player, the core is good enough to keep this team competitive, and in the race for that distant second spot behind the Los Angeles Lakers.” Also, the Brian Cardinal picture is worth a click-through alone.
- Check out The Basketball Jones’ season preview for the Mavs, and while you’re at it, the Jones’ first full-length episode of the season. Rejoice!
- Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com: “I suppose there is a fine line between being ‘detail-oriented’ and being a ‘dictatorial control freak.’…let’s put Rick Carlisle and the Mavs coaching staff in the former category, shall we? Remember one of Rick’s main gripes about his players in the San Antonio playoff series: Dallas didn’t win its share of the “50-50 balls,’’ that is, the loose balls on the floor that can be gathered up to gain or retain possession, that can be fast-break starters, momentum-grabbers, game winners. On Sunday, guess what the Mavs worked on? Hustle and angles and attacking, all as they relate to loose balls. A basketball version of football’s ‘fumble drills,’ basically.”
- Von Wafer (Celtics), Mo Ager (Timberwolves), Jeremy Lin (Warriors), D.J. Mbenga (Hornets), Pops Mensah-Bonsu (Hornets), Shawne Williams (Knicks), and Malik Allen (Magic) all made opening day rosters. Jake Voskuhl, Dwayne Jones, J.R. Giddens, and Joe Crawford did not. (Thanks to Scott Schroeder of Ridiculous Upside for compiling a hell of a list.)
- From Sports Illustrated’s “NBA Enemy Lines” feature, in which an opposing scout gives his take on a given NBA team: “Their big pickup, Tyson Chandler, is important to them because teams anticipate being able to penetrate from the top against Kidd, Terry and Barea, who all have a hard time keep anybody in front of them. So now the Mavericks should be able to bring over a big guy to meet the penetration, whether it’s Chandler or Brendan Haywood. The fundamental problem remains on the perimeter, but at least now they have some long and mobile big guys who are capable of changing shots. Haywood doesn’t excite anyone too much, but he’s serviceable as a long guy you have to shoot over. I hear people saying he’s soft, but I think that’s a bad rap. He’s effective and he has a nice right hook. Most of the time he’ll be able to turn to that shoulder and get off the shot whenever he wants.” For the record, haven’t heard much of anyone calling Haywood soft. You?
- A handy tidbit from Jason Terry (via Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News): “We have 17 of 26 games at home to start the season, so we need to set a tone.”
- Shawn Marion has a lot of faith in Tyson Chandler’s ability to make an impact on defense.
- Tyson Chandler, from his official site: “To do that, we have to have strong leadership and it’s been great working with a dedicated owner like Mark Cuban. Cube, as we call him, is dope. He’s a cool-cat. He obviously loves the game and he loves to be around it. We know that we have a passionate owner and that’s always a good thing. His only motivation is to win championships…I’m so happy to get a chance to play with two of the best in the game at what they do in Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki. J-Kidd is the ultimate professional. He comes in to work every day and he sees things that I don’t even know if a coach can see. But he sees them in real time, right there on the floor, in the flow of the game. He’s an incredible passer and he’s definitely going to improve my game. Dirk has always been an incredible scorer and an assassin on the offensive end and that’s coming from me being on the other side. Now, getting to watch that daily, I see why he’s one of top players in our league. He’s almost unstoppable.”
- Mark Followill’s scouting report on Dominique Jones for DallasBasketball.com: “Jones has the strength, tenacity and desire it would appear to defend well at this level, although he has been caught reaching a few times this preseason rather than playing solid defense by using his feet. The weakest part of his game right now is definitely the outside jump shot. Improving that doesn’t appear to be a mechanical issue, but more about spending time in the gym working on it and developing confidence. I’ve seen some good decisions from him with the ball when he drives in terms of passing. I don’t think that makes him a point guard, but its good he can make smart decisions if he is going to be getting down into the paint with regularity.”
Tags: D.J. Mbenga, Dirk Nowitzki, Dominique Jones, Dwayne Jones, J.R. Giddens, Jake Voskuhl, Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Jeremy Lin, Joe Crawford, Malik Allen, Maurice Ager, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Rick Carlisle, Shawn Marion, Shawne Williams, Tyson Chandler, Von Wafer
Posted by Rob Mahoney on October 25, 2010 under The Grapevine |
- Dirk Nowitzki is on Twitter, and if you’re not following him, you really should be. Follow him, RSS his feed, add it to your bookmarks, do whatever you have to do. This is Dirk at his finest. (via Trey Kerby of The Basketball Jones)
- Jason Kidd, from his official website (via Henry Abbott of TrueHoop): “I’ve been working on my outside game a lot. Hopefully I can improve, shoot the ball a little bit better this year and that’ll make the game much easier for my teammates. One point of emphasis for me was the pick and roll. Being able to knock down jump shots coming off the pick and roll is really important in this offense.”
- Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News: “Jason Terry is one of the most optimistic people around and it shows in the new tattoo on his right biceps. It’s a picture of the NBA championship trophy. There’s no date on the ink. ‘That’s the first thing my wife asked me when I got home,’ he said. ‘I’m leaving it open for when we get one.’ That’s when. Not if. And that’s not all. ‘I’m leaving the spot open on the other arm, too,’ Terry said, just in case he needs a place for multiple trophies. That’s the way the Jet rolls down the runway. He just knows this is the year the Mavericks will find the right mixture of talent, chemistry, luck and everything else to be a championship unit.”
- Neil Paine of Basketball-Reference.com is previewing every team in the league, and I contributed to his installment on the Mavs. Check it out.
- Zach Lowe of Sports Illustrated’s The Point Forward, details a familiar preseason theme: “If you’re searching for another team that might be able to rise up against the Lakers (assuming everything goes right), you could do worse than the Mavericks. But “everything goes right” encompasses many more things in Dallas than it does in most places. Outside of Dirk Nowitzki and perhaps Brendan Haywood, everyone is a question mark to some degree. Can Jason Kidd keep doing this? Can Jason Terry, at 33, make last season’s decline a temporary blip instead of the start of a downward trend? Can Tyson Chandler stay healthy? Will Caron Butler stop the ball and jack questionable 20-footers or attack and get to the line? How quickly will Roddy Beaubois recover from a broken foot, and when he does, will Rick Carlisle play him as much as he probably needs to when the games count? That’s a ton of questions, and we haven’t even mentioned Shawn Marion. There is a load of talent here, but I have no clue how it will play out.”
- It looks like local Dish Network subscribers will be missing out on the season opener.
- Slow and steady is the company line on Rodrigue Beaubois’ status.
- Combination Shawn Marion fans and Food Network enthusiasts: your day has come.
- Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News: “Caron Butler and Shawn Marion are not going to be mutually exclusive when it comes to court time. Though they ideally play the same position, they are going to be on the court together during games, Carlisle said Sunday. Those are going to be important minutes because it’s quite likely that their time playing together will come when Dirk Nowitzki is resting. ‘They played well [together] in stretches in preseason,’ Carlisle said. ‘The reality is our [forward] positions are going to be covered by three guys for the most part – Caron, Dirk and Shawn. Marion and Butler are going to be playing together 10 to 14 minutes per game. And we’ll continue to work on the chemistry of that group.’”
- Mavs alumnus Jerry Stackhouse has signed with the Miami Heat.
- Bradford Doolittle of Basketball Prospectus: “I think defense is the end of the floor in which Dallas can make the biggest leap as it tries to get over the hump in the West, and Chandler should be a big part of that. However, he could also become the same sort of quasi-viable offensive option he was with the Hornets considering the talent that will be surrounding him in the Big D.”
- Chandler, former thorn in the Spurs’ side.
Posted by Rob Mahoney on October 21, 2010 under The Grapevine |
- Mark Cuban. The Situation. Why not? (UPDATE: See the pairing, along with Vinnie and Ronnie, in all of their photoshopped glory.)
- Rick Carlisle, on his trip to Orlando last summer to recruit and sign Marcin Gortat (via Eddie Sefko): “I came down here and had a great recruiting trip. He let me drive his car. It could go 220 mph. At one point, he said: put the pedal all the way down to the bottom.” Carlisle wouldn’t divulge his top-end speed, although he acknowledged it may have been a shade over the local speed limits in Orlando. “It didn’t work out,” Carlisle said. “We wish him the best. He still stays in touch with me. He’s a terrific guy.”
- The Texas Legends are big time. So big time, in fact, that they’ll be broadcasting one of the Legends’ preseason games, against the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, on VERSUS. Not too shabby for a team that has yet to play a single game in a league that has lacked the exposure it deserves.
- Mike Prada unveils the second edition of the Watchability Scale, and the Mavs fall understandably in the middle of the pack under the header “RELIABLE, PREDICTABLE.” Hard to argue there. Dallas is rock-steady, and while their approach has gotten them 50+ wins every season for an entire decade, it does make them a bit of a broken record. Through Nellie, Avery, and Carlisle, a lot has changed, but the bread and butter of the Dallas offense hasn’t.
- In a chat with Quick DFW, Mark Cuban was asked if he ever envisioned what the Mavs would be like had Dirk left this summer. Cuban’s response? “No. I have pictures, so I knew we were safe.
” (via DOH at Mavs Moneyball)
- Tyson Chandler suffered a boo-boo in last night’s preseason game against the Magic, which has since been stitched up and will need about a week to heal. What happens next week again? Oh, yeah.
- Dominique Jones, on the difference between himself and Mavs’ assistant coach Darrell Armstrong, who was the point guard for the Magic when Jones was growing up in Orlando (via Eddie Sefko): “I don’t take charges.” Well, he had better start taking them if he wants to be an effective NBA defender. Armstrong, of course, chimed in as a voice of reason: “He’s got to learn how to take charges. I think he took one in summer camp. That might have been the one that hurt his feelings and he said, ‘I don’t take charges.’ He might not know how to do it, but that’s another something I got to teach him.”
- J.J. Barea is still the back-up point guard, though Carlisle hinted the job is probably Rodrigue Beaubois’ upon his return.
UPDATE:
- Royce Young had me over to his place to preview the Thunder’s upcoming season. OKC will be battling with the Mavs every step of the way, so familiarize yourself. Also, while you’ve over at Daily Thunder, take a peek through Royce and co.’s preview magazine. Very well done.
- A few scouts think Dallas can make it to the conference finals, and one picks San Antonio to win it all.
- Eddy Rivera of Magic Basketball recapped the Mavs’ brief success in their game against the Magic last night: “The Mavericks did put up a fight in the first half, trailing by two points at halftime. A big reason for that was because the Magic’s second unit got killed in the second quarter against the 5-man combination of J.J. Barea, Dominique Jones, Caron Butler, Dirk Nowitzki, and Tyson Chandler. Dallas put on a clinic offensively, running a lot of pick and pops for Nowitzki, pick and rolls for Chandler, backdoor screens for the wing players, and more. It was just beautiful to watch. Likewise, until the starters for Orlando checked into the game at the 4:37 minute mark in the period, the reserves were struggling to create for themselves on offense. That was a big reason for Dallas’ 16-2 run and six point lead in the quarter.”
- A closer look at J.J. Barea’s Under Armour kicks.
Posted by Rob Mahoney on October 18, 2010 under The Grapevine |
- Art Garcia profiled the ’05-’06 Mavs in spectacular fashion for NBA.com. Among Garcia’s collection of quotes and anecdotes from that season was those Mavs’ little-known team motto: “Know when to party.”
- This is a fantastic highlight mix of last season, complete with very high quality video. Questionable music choice, though…but then again, you’re asking this guy.
- Rick Carlisle on the use of advanced stats in basketball (via Steve Aschburner of NBA.com): “Statistical analysis has gone two or three generations and now it’s at an extremely high level. So more teams are using that for everything, from performance of combinations to individual performances, to probability of injuries and everything else you can possibily imagine. It’s unbelievable. At a certain point, it’s making sure you don’t have too much information. In most cases, what you believe in your gut is 80 percent right. There might be another 20 percent where the data will make you say, ‘Hmm, I didn’t realize that.’ Whatever that might be. Sometimes it’s a subtle thing, sometimes it’s pretty severe.”
- Jason Terry, on the prospect of taking over Rodrigue Beaubois’ (if you can rightfully call it his) starting spot (via Eddie Sefko): “Maybe I’ll just keep it warm. Or maybe I won’t give it back.”
- Shawn Marion’s value to the Seven Seconds or Less Suns is already well-established among NBA diehards if not the casual basketball fans of the world, but Tom Ziller takes everything a step further in saying that without Marion, playing Amar’e Stoudemire at center would never have worked.
- Marquis Daniels drains a three from half-court. As is everything with ‘Quis: no big deal.
- The Mavs could up keeping Steve Novak and Brian Cardinal. Or they could end up keeping neither. News! Either way, I think it’s safe to say that Dee Brown and Adam Haluska are dust in the wind.
- Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer: “[DeSagana] Diop has been a punchline the past year. On performance, he deserved it, but let me tell you something: If there’s a better guy in that locker room — and this is the best locker room I’ve covered in 21 NBA seasons — I don’t know who it would be. You don’t think Gana knows people ridicule him? If he became bitter and surly and introverted, who could blame him? But even when he never got a uniform, when he wasn’t activated for the playoff series to give fouls on Dwight Howard, he was gracious and classy.”
Posted by Rob Mahoney on October 15, 2010 under The Grapevine |
- Art Garcia previews the Mavs’ season for NBA.com, with some help from Jason Kidd: “Surveying the roster, Kidd points to the two candidates the Mavericks need to come through if that’s going to happen. ‘Shawn and Caron are the two guys that I would circle,’ he said. ‘We need them to have big years.’ Getting that out of them is a function of both understanding the system and each other. Shawn Marion is just one year into his Dallas career. Caron Butler arrived in February. The two former All-Stars are still transitioning to Carlisle’s system. There’s been a lot said and written about which of the two will start this season, since both are natural small forwards. They started together last season, with Butler sharing backcourt space next to Kidd. The starting point guard dismissed any notion that playing time or starting status is going to be an issue. ‘They’re going to be on the court together,’ Kidd assured. ‘It just goes back to being comfortable. When you’re comfortable and understand each other’s tendencies, the game becomes that much easier.’”
- For those of you who are fantasy basketball-inclined, Tom Carpenter pegged Rodrigue Beaubois as a legitimate breakout candidate.
- Another quality quote from Art Garcia’s preview, this time courtesy of Rick Carlisle, who accurately appraises the Mavs’ current value (emphasis mine): “We know we have a good team here. And what we want to be is a special team. For that to happen, we’ve got some improvement to make in some specific areas.”
- Courtesy of Tom Haberstroh: skew the stats just right (read: on a per-minute basis), and Ian Mahinmi is an all-timer.
- Chris Tomasson of NBA FanHouse on the Maverick bigs: “Nowitzki’s centers have included stationary objects Shawn Bradley, Raef LaFrentz, DeSagana Diop and Dampier. General manager Donnie Nelson said the Mavericks have had “your traditional aircraft carrieresque centers,” but not the agility and versatility they have in the pivot now with Chandler and Haywood. ‘We’re just going to keep bringing bigs and don’t have to worry about foul trouble,’ said Cuban, who also has in his stable two more centers in 6-11 Ian Mahinmi and 7-foot Alex Ajinca. ‘We can be aggressive, we can press and run and we can do a lot of things we couldn’t do before. It helps us match up against anybody, the Lakers in particular. If they’ve got Bynum, Gasol and Odom on the floor, we can match up. We don’t have to worry about one of those guys posting us up…We’ve got depth and we can put a lot of pressure on teams and hopefully wear them down over the course of a game.’”
- Dirk doesn’t think he’s “big-time” enough to throw out the first pitch at a Rangers’ playoff game.
- Dominique Jones, who is wise beyond his years (via Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas): “If you looked at me my whole career, when have I ever missed layups? We’re talking about layups. We aren’t talking about my jump shot or 3s. We’re talking about layups. I’m missing layups. If I keep going in there, something good is going to happen…I can’t be a rookie this year. I’ve never been a freshman, and I can’t play like a rookie, can’t look like one.”
- Apparently, when Jason Terry signs each tweet with “CTC,” he does mean “cut the check.” Only he doesn’t. But he still really does. Alright.
- Dominique Jones and the Dallas Cowboys’ Dez Bryant have had very different rookie experiences.
A few older links, from yet another unpublished edition of the Grapevine:
- It was once supposed that the Mavs might be able to flip some combination of expiring contracts (Tyson Chandler, Caron Butler, etc.) for an impact player mid-season, but Ryan Schwan of Hornets 24-7 made an excellent point to the contrary: the oversaturation of large expiring contracts on this year’s trade market will make the trade value of all such contracts decline, and the likelihood of any given team (in the case of his piece, the Hornets, and for our purposes, the Mavs) drop accordingly.
- According to Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News, “the Mavericks are fortunate to have a superstar who loves his surroundings and is willing to help make it work in Dallas.” I’d agree, but they’re just as lucky that Dirk Nowitzki never received a certain phone call.
- Per Art Garcia of NBA.com: “Byron Scott said Tyson Chandler is best & smartest center he’s ever coached.”
- The preseason matters more than we think, which probably isn’t what Mavs fans want to hear after going 1-3 on their preseason run thus far.
- Brendan Haywood as a selection on Kevin Sawyer’s All-Overrated team at Detroit Bad Boys. I couldn’t disagree more. Haywood’s good for a quasi double-double, and the real deal when he gets proper minutes. He’s a smart help-side defender and skilled in defending the low post. Considering how much a premium is placed on those skills, I fail to see how Haywood falls so miserably short, even if we use his price tag against him. Overpaid maybe, but necessarily so. Throw in solid finishing ability, a decent righty hook, and par-for-the-course rebounding, and you’ve got yourself a hell of a player that shouldn’t even sniff this list. (Link via Ball Don’t Lie)
- Udonis Haslem quietly killed the Mavs in the 2006 Finals, and the nearly came to terms with Dallas for the mid-level exception. What’s he doing these days? Oh, not much, just being a damn essential part of the vaunted Miami Heat.
Tags: Brendan Haywood, Caron Butler, Dirk Nowitzki, Dominique Jones, Ian Mahinmi, Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Rick Carlisle, Rodrigue Beaubois, Shawn Marion, Tyson Chandler, Udonis Haslem
Posted by Rob Mahoney on October 8, 2010 under The Grapevine |
- Chris Tomasson, NBA FanHouse: “Once again, Nowitzki has a picture of the Larry O’Brien Trophy in his locker to serve as his motivation. ‘That’s been there for a while,’ said Nowitzki, who signed a four-year contract last summer after becoming a free agent. ‘It’s going to basically stay there hopefully for the next four years. Hopefully, I’ll get one before then, and I’ll take it down. Or I’ll leave it up until I get a second one. That’s really what it’s all about now. I don’t think I personally have to prove or achieve anything (other than) just winning the ring. So that’s what I’m working on.’”
- Tom Haberstroh broke down the league’s 10 most untradeable contracts (Insider), and our very own Shawn Marion (four years, $32.2 million remaining on his deal) made the list at no. 10: “Already 32 years old, the veteran small forward will almost undoubtedly enact his $9 million player option in 2013-14, when he’ll be 36. Mavs owner Mark Cuban can probably stomach the $32.2 million outstanding on his deal, but that doesn’t mean it was a wise contract in the first place.” DeSagana Diop (three years, $20.8 million remaining) also made the list at no. 7.
- The Mavs will play an outdoor preseason game against the Suns on Saturday night, but Dirk Nowitzki won’t.
- Dee Brown won’t make the Mavs’ regular season roster, but he feels like he’s getting better year by year.
- They’re a few days old by this point, but there was plenty of Dallas love in the annual NBA GM survey. Among the most significant: 11.5% of GMs (tied for 3rd) think Dwane Casey is the league’s top assistant coach, 28.6% (T-1st) think Dirk is the best at his position (which marks the first year of Dirk’s career that Tim Duncan wasn’t the leading vote-getter), and 21.4% (1st) think that Rodrigue Beaubois is the international player most likely to have a breakout season.
- Mark Cuban doesn’t hate Don Nelson…anymore.
- John Stockton is the prototype for aging NBA players hoping to remain productive, and Jason Kidd hopes to follow in his footsteps as he continues to play on the brink of 40. Brendan Haywood chimes in: “He takes good care of his body and he’s a consummate professional. He can play forever.”
- Michael Lee of the Washington Post, on Josh Howard’s recovery from a left knee injury: “His improvement has been such a revelation that the Wizards may soon see him on the floor in the next few weeks. ‘If you watch him on the floor doing skeleton runs, you’d think that he could play that night. He’s pretty advanced. A lot more advanced than what we thought, but we’re going to take our time,’ Coach Flip Saunders said. ‘I would anticipate that he’ll probably facilitate things in the next two or three weeks. We’ll kind of take our time and see where we are at. We’re not going to push him back, but we’re not going to push him to get there. We’re going to make sure he’s back close to 100 percent.’”
Tags: Brendan Haywood, Dee Brown, Desagana Diop, Dirk Nowitzki, Don Nelson, Dwane Casey, Flip Saunders, Jason Kidd, Josh Howard, Mark Cuban, Rodrigue Beaubois, Shawn Marion, Tim Duncan