Quick DFW Say, "Football? Let's Talk Mavericks"

Yes. Let's.

I could seriously learn to love Coach. He appears to have his head on straight. I like the battlefield concept; it's an attitude that seemed to be missing under Avery Johnson.

Training camp starts on the 29th over to SMU. Does this mean they're not going to be holding Fan Jam this year? God for-bloody-bid. Coach is talking about utilizing a more up-tempo game pace and whipping everybody's ass into shape. Two sessions a day, everyone goes home at night.

I'm pondering this a little more deeply than I perhaps ought to -- God knows the guys over on the DB.com Boards are picking Coach apart phrase-by-phrase. I just got done reading a short-attention-span (but fun to read) memoir by Jayson Williams, Loose Balls, and in Williams's opinion coaches don't matter that much. It's the player's responsibility to maintain their bodies, so he says, and training too long and practising too much is counterproductive.

I can see that. One of the news blurbs from the Olympics noted that Shawn Johnson only practises a couple hours a day. She even goes to a public school, which is unheard-of for an international level gymnast.

On the other hand, it could be argued that this is a team that hasn't been on the same page for a while now and needs the extra time. Once more, we have to trust that Coach and his staff know what they're doing.

It makes me wonder though . . . when Dirk said at Coach Carlisle's PC about the NBA being a player's league, not a coach's one . . . was that an indirect dig at Johnson? Because Johnson went pretty much straight from being a player to an assistant, then he was picked by Don Nelson to take over as head coach. The transition was PDQ, less than two years. It makes me wonder; is the root of his troubles as a coach the fact that he was reacting to situations as a player? Like he really wanted to be on the floor and got frustrated because he couldn't?

I'm shooting from the backcourt again, so I'll shut up.

Wishing Manu Ginobli a pain-free, prolonged (like the entire season) recovery from his foot injury, and praying to God somebody fucks Kobe's pinkie up royally . . . and permanently.

Later,
-BJ