Posted by Rob Mahoney on July 20, 2010 under The Grapevine | 
- Dirk officially signed his new contract with the Mavs yesterday, and here are the yearly values, according to Eddie Sefko: $17,278,618/$19,092,873/$20,907,128/$22,721,381.
- Congrats to Dominique Jones, who made the All-Summer League Team in Vegas. At the beginning of Summer League, we all figured Rodrigue Beaubois would be in thie position, but Jones’ offensive efficiency and defensive excellence weren’t necessarily surprising, but they’re definitely welcome.
- Something about this picture is just…weird.
- Omar Samhan on his decision to play professionally in Lithuania next season (via Jeff Caplan): “I didn’t have any offers for guaranteed money [in the NBA]. A lot of people wanted me to come to training camp, but they couldn’t guarantee anything. And, if I did make a team, I wouldn’t get playing time, I wouldn’t get a chance to develop a ton…So, it’s going to give me a chance to go over there for a year or two and really develop as a player. I plan on coming back and being an NBA player for the next 10 years.”
- Jason Kidd will help out Team USA this summer. He just won’t, y’know, play.
- Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News has a featureish piece on Ian Mahinmi for those that aren’t acquainted with his career in Austin and San Antonio.
- The Chicago Bulls are considering picking up Josh Howard for next season.
- Shocker: Brandon Bass doesn’t seem all that happy with his role on the Magic. In such situations, I recommend actually learning the playbook and rotations.
UPDATE (10:29 AM CST):
Posted by Rob Mahoney on July 8, 2010 under The Grapevine |
- Mark Cuban explains why he thinks LeBron James will stay in Cleveland. His thesis: “When in doubt, go for the love.”
- Jeff Caplan of ESPN Dallas: “Asked his goals for the coming season, Haywood laid it out there: 12-10-2 — as in 12 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots a game (and he added that he’d like to get closer to 2.7 or 3.0 blocks a game). Haywood has averaged at least 2.0 blocks only in the past two seasons. So, all of his stated numbers, if reached, would be career numbers and the Mavs would be thrilled.”
- Count Rick Carlisle among those happy to have Haywood back.
- Eric Freeman of The Baseline thinks that the Mavs overpaid for Brendan Haywood, but with Mark Cuban cutting the checks, it hardly matters. I’d definitely agree than having Cuban as the owner gives the Mavs a hell of a fall-back plan. They’re always able to survive a bad contract or two by flat-out eating it, and that’s a luxury that only a few NBA teams can afford to do regularly.
- Drew Gooden will wear #0 for the Milwaukee Bucks.
- According to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports, the Wizards, Nets, Heat, Knicks, Kings, and Clippers are all interested in signing Josh Howard. New Jersey, with Avery in the saddle…seriously?
Posted by Rob Mahoney on July 1, 2010 under The Grapevine |
- Regardless of whether Nowitzki wants fanfare or not, the Mavs have launched DFWDigsDirk.com for fans to show support for ze German. Nothing too special, but the Mavs’ official store is offering a 41% discount on all Dirk merch as part of Dirk’s honorary week.
- Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News: “…I would be shocked if the Mavericks don’t hang around the hoop and try to get a rebound in the Chris Bosh situation. People have been downplaying Bosh because he may end up being a package deal with LeBron James. But Bosh met early today with Houston GM Daryl Morey and if the Rockets are making a push for Bosh on the basis of pairing him with a perhaps-healthy Yao Ming, the Mavericks can do better than that. If the package deal with LeBron falls through, the Mavericks should be in the hunt for the 6-10 hometown kid, even if he’s a little reluctant to play in his backyard and put that extra pressure on himself. Dirk would help him alleviate it.”
Even though the Mavs may look like a better team on paper, the Rox are far and away the more likely Bosh destination. For one, Houston has a plethora of interesting assets (their own draft picks, the Knicks’ draft picks, young talent, expiring contracts) that could tempt the Raptors in a sign-and-trade, but the bigger issue is Bosh’s willingness to suit up for Houston. He’s a far more natural fit alongside Yao than he is alongside Nowitzki, and don’t think for a second that Chris doesn’t know that. Considering how set he is on playing power forward, he may be the least attainable free agent out there.
- Even though the summer’s premier free agents give the Mavs a nice pipe dream to chase, the far more realistic option is an Al Jefferson/Andre Iguodala style trade without the red tape of free agency.
- The Nets have signed Brian Zoubek to a make good contract, which guarantees him a spot in training camp but not a roster spot. Bummer. Devan Downey (Sacramento) and Mac Koshwal (Detroit) have also been picked up for Vegas Summer League.
- According to ESPN Dallas’ Tim MacMahon, the Mavs were one of the teams to contact Matt Bonner. He wouldn’t be a bad get as far as bench bigs go, really.
- Keep this page bookmarked, it will no doubt come in handy. This one, too.
- Ken Berger of CBS Sports reported that Miami and Cleveland have legitimate interest in Brendan Haywood, which appears to be true. However, he also reported (as did Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain Dealer) that there was potential for a double sign-and-trade involving Brendan Haywood and Shaquille O’Neal, which was denied by Marc Stein. It makes sense; sources with the Cavs might indicate that a trade was in the works, because it’s likely that Cleveland would initiate such discussions. However, there would be no reason at all for the Mavs to entertain the idea of bringing in O’Neal.
- In case you didn’t hear, Josh Howard is an unrestricted free agent. Sign-and-trade???
- Two days later, and this is still hilarious.
- Donnie Nelson clearly prefers veteran free agents to undrafted ones, and for obvious reasons. There are a number of intriguing veteran options to be had on the market for a chunk of the Mavs’ MLE, but I can’t help but wonder: does that also open the door for a D-Leaguer or two?
- Caron Butler on Twitter, back on Tuesday a little before midnight: “About to check out twilight ill get back and let you’ll know what’s good holla”
Tags: Al Jefferson, Andre Iguodala, Brendan Haywood, Brian Zoubek, Caron Butler, Chris Bosh, Devan Downey, Dirk Nowitzki, Donnie Nelson, Joe Johnson, Josh Howard, LeBron James, Mac Koshwal, Matt Bonner, Shaquille O'Neal, Yao Ming
Posted by Rob Mahoney on June 15, 2010 under The Grapevine |
- Mark Cuban is surprisingly receptive to the idea of Rodrigue Beaubois playing in the FIBA World Championships this summer, but his stance is a bit less surprising after considering his qualifier (via Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas): “I’m ok with it. I’ve always said that I would be fine with participation as long as there was a 23- or 25-year old age limit.” It actually makes a fair bit of sense; Dirk has never had serious injury issues during his career, but guys like Yao Ming, Manu Ginobili, and Pau Gasol have all had some kind of significant complication as a result of international play. There is a point where allowing players to play for their home country over the summer fails to make fiscal sense for the teams that employ them, and that’s a legitimate concern as players get older and older and need more and more rest.
- Proof that people do buy Jerry Stackhouse jerseys…even if they are of the ugliest possible variety. The teal days were dark indeed for the Pistons.
- Jason Kidd, on Avery Johnson becoming the next head coach for the New Jersey Nets (via Julian Garcia of the New York Daily News): “I think Avery is going to help give them structure and he’s going to be a big part of their success. He’s a good coach. He got the Mavs to the Finals. So it I think they’re going in the right direction…They’ve got a great coach, they’ve got a young team and they have a young owner who wants to win. So they have some of the pieces and now they just have to get some of the other pieces to be successful.”
- During his introductory press conference this morning, Avery Johnson said that Devin Harris would likely be given more freedom to run the offense due to his familiarity with the system and his experience as a PG. If that actually ends up being the case, kudos to Avery for taking a step back to let the players run the show. If not, well, I can’t say I’d be all that surprised. This is the kind of thing Mavs fans have heard from Johnson before, and while that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s doomed to fall into the same patterns, no one can blame an observer for thinking he might.
- For those looking to really deck themselves out in official merch, MavGear.com (the Mavs’ online store) is selling all jerseys at 50% off. Consider it the perfect opportunity to grab that shiny, gold Josh Howard jersey you’ve had your eye on.
- Courtesy of Sham Sports, two essential resources: a list of the NBA players with trade kickers in their contracts (including Shawn Marion, for you armchair GM types looking to deal him away) and a breakdown of the total committed salary for every NBA team going into this off-season.
- Spotted: Our friend Shawne Williams trying to get back into the NBA by playing in the Bobcats’ free agent “mini-camp.”
- UPDATE: The AAC could be paid off (by the city) by next year. Considering the initial bonds issued as payment were set to be redeemed as late as 2037, I’d say that makes the payment ahead of schedule.
Posted by Rob Mahoney on March 25, 2010 under Commentary |
“I mean, ‘Should old acquaintance be forgot?’ Does that mean that we should forget old acquaintances, or does it mean if we happened to forget them, we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot?”
We’re more than a month removed from the Butler-Haywood trade, and it’s already easy to forget that it was also the Howard-Gooden trade.
Josh’s exile from Dallas was long-awaited and highly anticipated by some, but for all of his struggles late in his Maverick career, his six and a half year stint with the team was undoubtedly a success. Could Howard have accomplished more as a Mav? Absolutely. Those shortcomings are well-documented, and hardly need to be revisited here. But the positives — his emergence, his All-Star appearance, his influence in the playoffs even as recently as last season — deserve numerous reminders. I can’t help but feel that his successes will always be overcast by his failures and limitations, which is a shame.
Whether we remember it now or not, there was a time where this guy meant something to Mavs fans. He stood as a pivotal component of the Mavs’ future, and he ended up that way…even if his final function as a Mav was to bring in two very good players.
Caron Butler took up some editorial space in the Washington Post to give a final goodbye to his fans in D.C. Josh Howard didn’t quite do the same, but the sentiment in a post on his blog seems equally sincere (via commenter ‘pau’):
I reflect fondly on my time in Dallas.
It was a wonderful experience. I was just talking to somebody earlier about how in my rookie year Marquis Daniels and I came in with people like Steve Nash, Dirk of course, Michael Finley, Tony Delk, Travis Best, Antawn Jamison.
Those were the veterans that I came up under so I was able to learn a lot from the jump. Then I went through my career with Don Nelson and Avery Johnson as my coaches, then the last two years with Rick Carlisle.
Coach Carlisle and I agreed on a lot of things and we had a great relationship. I wish the Mavericks the best. The trade did them good just like I think the trade did Washington good until I got hurt. I’m a fan of the game and I’m glad they’re out there playing hard, doing what they’re doing. I learned so much from playing under those coaches and with that team, so I have the utmost respect for Dallas.
I may not miss the step-back jumpers, but I will miss Josh.
Drew Gooden is a bit of a different story. He’s no stranger to being dealt, as he’s now playing for his ninth team in eight seasons. One: that’s ridiculous. Two: that’s incredibly unfortunate. Three: those of us that haven’t been in the NBA really can’t even begin to understand exactly what that’s like, to be uprooted so many times with the subtext of every move being that you’re not integral and you’re not good enough.
It’s a business. I know. I’m sure that as a player, you can feed yourself that line to make everything a little bit easier. But nine times in eight seasons? With a tenth likely on the way this summer? That’s tough. Gooden deals with it well (”But there’s been nothing bad about what happened for me, playing on a lot of different teams.”), and maybe it honestly doesn’t matter to him. Maybe he’s a true mercenary, a gun for hire that makes few judgments on the specifics of his employer.
I don’t buy it. Art Garcia of NBA.com asked Gooden about his departure from the Mavs for NBA.com (emphasis mine):
I was kind of upset because I committed myself to the team and I was so focused on winning and making a run to get in the playoffs. I knew how valuable that was and I wanted to do whatever it took to help the team accomplish that goal. I totally committed myself and bought into what coach (Rick) Carlisle was saying from the time he brought me in here. To leave that way, I was highly upset.
That doesn’t sound like “nothing bad” has happened for him, it sounds like he was leaving a situation and a team that he rather fancied. And that team, or at least its leader, fancied him too (from Marc Stein’s piece on Gooden for ESPN Dallas):
Asked if the Mavs miss Gooden’s contributions off the bench, Dirk Nowitzki said: “Hell, yeah.”
That’s quite the glowing endorsement for Drew’s service as a Mav. And he was so close to coming right back to Dallas a la Ilgauskas, but it wasn’t in the cards. Gooden’s path continues to go where it’s always taken him: around the NBA to stop after stop, with teammate after teammate, playing for coach after coach.
Gooden was only a Maverick for about half a season, but that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate what he did for the Mavs. As with Howard, I think there’s a natural inclination with Gooden to point out what he can’t do without proper respect for what he can. He was able to play some center for the Mavs, which was absolutely crucial while Erick Dampier was sidelined with various injuries. He didn’t help the Mavs to a huge win streak during that time, but he helped Dallas to tread water at a particularly vulnerable time. Pretty important.
Neither Howard nor Gooden will see their number hanging from the rafters, and frankly the thought is a bit ridiculous. Each does deserve the appropriate amount of kudos, though, even a month removed from their Maverick exits.
Posted by Rob Mahoney on March 13, 2010 under The Grapevine |
- First of all, congrats to Kevin and Farhan, the winners of the Two Man Game Giveaway.
- If John Hollinger is wrong about the Mavs and they win it all, what effect does that have on the progress of the statistical community at large?
- A note on point differential/winning close games to (hopefully) wrap up the Hollinger talk: the important thing that point differential demonstrates is not whether or not a team can win close games, though that’s important. It’s whether or not a team allows itself to get into those situations in the first place. Of course there are factors that will skew the numbers — fluffing free throws at the end of a win, late surges for the losers when the winning team puts in their garbage time players — but the data seems to, somewhat counter-intuitively perhaps, better describe the team’s performance during the meat of the game than the finale.
- Bradford Doolittle presents the Norman Dale Index, a junk stat that quantifies a team’s fundamentals. Doolittle used five criteria to calculate the NDI: taking care of the ball (turnover percentage), defensive rebounding (defensive rebound percentage), free throw shooting (straight up free throw percentage), challenging the other team’s shots (opponent’s effective field goal percentage), and ball movement (team touches per minute). It shouldn’t surprise you to know that each of the five criteria are Maverick strengths, which by this somewhat crude measure makes Dallas the most fundamentally sound team in the NBA.
- The Mavs have the most wins in the NBA this season after trailing by 10+ points (17). (via @mavstats)
- Checking in with long-time friend of the Mavs and former scout extraordinaire, Amadou Fall.
- Marc Stein on the Weekend Dime: “‘I’ve heard it. I’ve never agreed with it. That’s on you guys.’ Mavericks guard Jason Kidd, reflecting Wednesday night — after a come-from-behind victory over the Devin Harris-led New Jersey Nets — on the criticism he and the Mavs received throughout last season because Harris, now 27, was the centerpiece of a trade package Dallas surrendered to acquire Kidd at the 2008 trade deadline.It’s now a near-nightly occurrence for reporters to stop by Kidd’s locker and personally withdraw those sentiments, with the 36-year-old in the midst of a renaissance that has fueled the Mavericks’ 13-game win streak.”
- A happy birthday to Caron Butler, who turns 30 today. A 14th straight win is as good of a present as any, right?
- Michael Lee of the Washington Post (@MrMichaelLee): “I also asked Josh about DAL winning 13 games in a row. Howard smiled & said, ‘They got a streak going. Pretty good.’”
Posted by Rob Mahoney on March 10, 2010 under Commentary |
Sometimes it’s hard to get coaches, managers, and owners to speak up concerning the current goings-on of the team. Everything is played so close to the chest, and it’s almost like the media and the team stand diametrically opposed at times. Consumers of sports media want to know how things work — what went into making this decision, why this guy and not that guy, etc. — and ask the almighty “Why?” But the members of the team itself are also somewhat reliant on keeping that information internal. After all, you never know who might hear what, and specifics are, in this case at least, a team’s worst enemy.
But I applauded Mark Cuban’s willingness to talk about some of the Mavs’ decisions in the past, if only because it helps those of us on the outside to fill in the gaps. It’s nice to know why this or that was done, even if it’s a year or two later. And then again, sometimes when talking about decisions from the past, guys like Cuban still tip their hand a bit (perhaps intentionally). Read as much into this quote from Cuban as you’d like:
Sometimes [the players] need prompting [to figure out the best play], and the ones who don’t figure it out…I mean it’s true that’s a great point theres a subset of players that don’t figure it out, that cant figure it out, that don’t think. Those are the ones that are so blessed talent-wise that you try to make it work — like we had Gerald Green. [To the Celtics' Mike Zarren] You guys have had Gerald Green.
I just look at him and think ‘Oh my God!’ There are things that he’ll show you that are just ‘Oh my God!’ and then he just doesn’t understand the game of basketball and hopefully he’ll figure it out someday but you just keep giving him those chances. He ran out of chances (so far) this last time.
On its own, I think he’s just talking about the hyper-athletic Gerald Green and players of his ilk. But this topic was a recurring theme for Cuban in many of his panels: a guy that just can’t figure it out, that doesn’t think on the court, that isn’t a smart basketball player. Now, I could be mistaken here, but I seem to remember a lot of similar criticism being lobbed at a guy who played for the Mavs not too long ago. It would be completely unfair of Mark to take explicit pot shots at Josh Howard through media channels, but would I put it past him to perhaps offer a veiled criticism of Josh’s game? Not at all.
I’m not sure if Cuban was looking to send a message or just got stuck on a particular topic at multiple panels. But that doesn’t stop Green’s story from being any less of a condensed caricature of Howard’s career. I wouldn’t dare play team psychologist here, but from where I’m sitting, Howard’s troubles always seemed to be more mental than physical. It’s undeniable that he faced a lot in rehabbing and returning from various injuries, but the game within the game has always been to keep Josh on the same page as everyone else. He was fed shot attempts early in the first quarter, and there’s absolutely no doubt that he was treated differently than other players. That’s what it took to keep him functioning as a member of the team, and so its what the Mavericks did.
They hoped he would figure it out someday but they just kept giving him those chances. Josh just ran out of chances this last time.
Posted by Rob Mahoney on February 24, 2010 under The Grapevine |
- Brendan Haywood on the delicate balance between aggressive defense and avoiding foul trouble in tonight’s match-up with Andrew Bynum and the Lakers (via Todd Archer of the Dallas Morning News): “It’s tough matching up with Big Drew down there because he’s talented, he’s skilled, he’s athletic and he’s a load down there when they give him the ball,” Haywood said. “On the offensive end, I just try to be in constant motion, don’t let him rest. Quick duck-ins, post-ups, go to the offensive glass every play, working the baseline and trying to get open, not letting him just key on Dirk’s post-up, things of that nature. I have to be smart, but I can’t play scared. I can’t take a silly foul early on, because they’re too big for our back-ups. But at the same time, I can’t just give up layups and inside position because that’ll hurt us, as well.”
- 48 Minutes of Hell recently started up a Spurs podcast, and I joined Graydon Gordian and Andrew McNeil on the most recent episode with to discuss the Mavs latest moves, Mavs-Spurs, how Dallas matches up with L.A., and NBA players participating in international competition.
- This isn’t the first time that Dwayne Jones’ stay in the NBA was short-lived or over before it began, and Ridiculous Upside’s Scott Schroeder is a bit baffled as to why.
- If somehow you haven’t heard, EA Sports is releasing a new version of NBA Jam for the Wii that will reboot the series with current players while staying true to the style of the original. I tell you this not only because it looks to be awesome (and it will be), but because EA is selecting the three-man rosters for every team through online voting. They’ve cycled through teams over the last few months, and finally come to the Mavs. So go here, and vote between Nowitzki, Kidd, Terry, Marion, Butler, and Haywood for who you’d like to see represent the Mavs in the new Jam.
- A very happy birthday to Rodrigue Beaubois, who turns 22 today. ‘Day’ is a vestigial mode of time measurement based on solar cycles. It’s not applicable…I didn’t get you anything.
- Looking back at Caron Butler, the Wizard, in 2009-2010.
- Kevin Pelton’s SCHOENE projection system isn’t kind in predicting Dirk Nowitzki’s statistical production in 2010-2011 and beyond; it ranks him below Manu Ginobili, Joe Johnson, David Lee, and Rudy Gay (not to mention the obvious: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh) among the 2010 free agent class in terms of three-year production. Pelton qualifies the projections: “SCHOENE is also especially pessimistic about the group of Carlos Boozer, Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce (who is fairly unlikely to opt out of the last year of his contract and become a free agent). Boozer and Nowitzki are similar in that their projections for 2010-11 are pretty solid, but things go downhill quickly from there. In these cases, I’m somewhat less inclined to believe the projections. It should be noted, though, that Nowitzki has taken a clear step back the last couple of seasons, in large part because he is no longer a contributor on the glass. As recently as three years ago, Nowitzki was grabbing 14.7 percent of all available rebounds. This year, that’s down to 11.6 percent. The gradual drop can’t entirely be blamed on the Mavericks adding Shawn Marion to compete for rebounds with Nowitzki.”
- Via Mavs’ play-by-play man Mark Followill (@MFollowill), Dallas has only signed four players to a 10-day contract over the last decade: Charlie Bell, Mamadou N’Diaye, Kevin Willis, and now, Von Wafer.
- Caron Butler on playing alongside Kobe Bryant in 2004-2005 (via Todd Archer of the Dallas Morning News): “I say that’s the best thing that ever could have happened for me personally for my career. To play alongside a guy like that, see his preparation, see what it takes to get to that level, that’s why I was able to be so good in Washington because I took everything I learned from him under his wing.”
- For those still keeping tabs on such things, Kris Humphries has come back down to Earth.
- The bright side of Josh Howard’s injury? The Wizards won’t be tempted to pick up his option for next season.
- Howard’s history certainly makes him a nice fit in the greater context of the Wizards franchise over the last season.
Tags: Andrew Bynum, Brendan Haywood, Caron Butler, Charlie Bell, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwayne Jones, Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Josh Howard, Kobe Bryant, Kris Humphries, Shawn Marion, Von Wafer
Posted by Rob Mahoney on February 23, 2010 under The Grapevine |
- Brendan Haywood on the differences in coverage between the Mavs and the Wizards (via Todd Archer of the Dallas Morning News): “The difference for us a lot of times on a side screen-and-roll we used to call blue or icing, which means we tried to keep the ball on the same side of the court. They, I mean Dallas is more of a ’show’ team. They’ll show on a screen-and-roll and try to impact the ball a little more. It’s a little different for me. That and zone coverages are different for me too.”
- Former Mav Jerry Stackhouse apparently reached out to Chris Douglas-Roberts to console him on the Nets’ losing ways. Stack was always kind of a complicated character; he was tough on the court and when receiving clear opposition, but by all means a caring individual capable of tremendous personal acts. It’s hard to reconcile all of that with the shot-happy near-burden he aged into (especially when considering his earlier stardom), but in spite of everything that happened at the end of Stack’s career with the Mavs, it’s important that we keep a full view of him and his exploits, both good and bad.
- SLAM’s Tzvi Twersky has a nice interview with Caron Butler up, with a lot from Caron on the Mavs and the city of Dallas itself. Here’s Butler on what he was told to do coming in by Rick Carlisle: “Coach told me to be as aggressive as possible. Told me to stay aggressive, to not switch up anything. He keeps telling me to remain aggressive at all times, to not second-guess anything. And that’s the type of encouragement you need from a coach. And we’re learning everything on the fly. I went out there and played— myself, Brendan [Haywood] and DeShawn [Stevenson]—after landing in the city and not being able to practice because of trade waivers and stuff wasn’t clear. So we just walked on the court and basically played pickup ball. So we’re learning the offense on the fly, and so far so good.”
- Mark Cuban doesn’t quite seem content with the current collective bargaining model.
- Rick Carlisle’s reaction to the news that Josh Howard will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL (via Tim MacMahon): “That’s terrible. Circumstances that happen in this sport and just the timing of things is crazy. I’m very disappointed obviously for him. He’s not deserving of that kind of luck at this point.”
- If Zydrunas Ilgauskas wasn’t determined to go back to Cleveland 30 days after his buyout is finalized, Dallas would probably have a decent shot of signing him — Z and Donnie Nelson have history from when Donnie was with the Lithuanian national team.
- Kelly Dwyer on the decidedly awful game last night: “This was one of Dallas’ worst games of the season, and somehow they still managed to win in a walk.”
