Beat The Check To The Bank

For those who do business mostly by debit cards and don't remember when delays in bank processing worked as much in your favor as for the banks', let me explain:

In the days of yore, when one wrote a paper check, one could count on a delay of at least one full business day before the funds were actually subtracted from your balance. This is because checks had to be physically shipped to a processing center, have the information on them encoded by a data entry person, and go through a special machine. Meaning, you could write a check to pay your phone bill at AT&T's office on Thursday, make a deposit on Friday, and the odds were in your favor the check wouldn't bounce. These days, with Check 21 making electronic presentment legal, a check can clear the same day it's written. You can still try and play the game, but the window of opportunity is much smaller -- for the record no bank I know of honors postdated checks, the check is legal the day it clears, not the day you dated it.

The breaking news of the day is the Organization et al are pulling another Sign And Trade Holy Shit with Drew Gooden's contract. The details are still being researched by the Good King Of Numbers over on DallasBasketball (David Lord, folks, let's give him a hand). The figures we all of the great unwashed were given said Gooden was signed for most of the MLE -- about four and a half miles. Which is what it is and that's what'll be reported for cap purposes.

But . . . there's a window, from December 15 to January 10, when the Mavs can trade him, the receiving team can waive him, and a grand total of $5.725 million falls off their books. If I'm reading it right (and I'm not saying I am, cap rules confuse me), all the Mavs would be out in such a scenario is $1.9 million.

What this means is, between Greg Buckner (similar situation, his contract becomes guaranteed in November), Drew Gooden, and Erick Dampier (next summer), the Mavs are finding a way to create a little player-mobility wiggle room while still forking over almost $82 millions in payroll.

In other news, the schedule for the regular season was released last week.

Whelt, it's official, sports fans, the Mavs are no longer media darlings. No ABC Sunday matinees this year. Understandable, but it sucks. We've got back-to-backs coming out the wazoo, with twenty in all. Season opener is against the Wizards at home, first road game is against the Lakers. The Nuggets aren't coming to town until the end of March -- I've got a bullwhip saved just for them. And the Spurs are in town for the regular season finale.

Is the offseason over yet?
-BJ