Worth It All

The lost glasses -- currently on the old pair and have a nice tension headache -- the sore feet -- stuck in standing room only -- and the lost voice.

Technically, the Mavs clinched a playoff spot on Monday night as Memphis officially slid under the waves. But that wasn't what it felt like. Much depended on last night. The second seed. The chance of someone else taking care of the Lakers (please please let Portland get the eighth seed!). Getting some pride back after getting owned when the Mavs hit Denver last. Writing a new page after getting knocked out of the playoffs. The tiebreaker, just in case.

I was terrified. In an eighty-two game season, there are exclaimation points. The home game against Boston and the game in Portland were two of the most recent, and the Mavericks dropped them both for bad reasons. Surely not this night. But suppose . . . suppose . . .

It is my delighted pleasure to report that the Mavericks did not let that happen. Play down to an opponent missing their best defender and their head coach, playing their second night of a back-to-back? Nope. Let Carmelo do what he does? Nada. Let Chauncey put the team on his back? Niente. Let themselves get outphysicaled by a team whose defensive raison d'etre is to beat you up without seeming to? Nein. Let the bad/lack of calls mess with their heads? Hell no!

Pick your cliche -- the Mavs stepped on their necks, broke their backs, sent them home to their mommies, beat them up and stole their lunch money, reduced them to piles of bones and shredded blue cloth, nuked them back to the Dark Ages. It all boils down to a sixteen point win, in fine style. In amongst that, we get fine play from the bigs, a freed Roddy B, Jet shifting into overdrive in the fourth, and oh yeah, that Dirk guy -- TRIPLE DOUBLE!!!

I'm tempted to call it a throwback game -- since when does Dirk take more than one or two threes per game anymore? -- except it's not. MVP? Try Hall of Fame.

Props must also go to Shawn Marion and Caron Butler, who held Carmelo Anthony eighteen points (!!!) below his season average. It's easy to harbor a little bit of resentment towards Shawn, because his shot just looks so bloody awkward; you expect it to miss and overlook when it hits. But opponent megastars tend to have bad nights against Dallas, and Marion's the reason why.

So after last night, we're in second place (with Utah breathing down our necks, that's a problem) and in case of Dallas and Denver finishing neck-and-neck, we got the tiebreaker. That's something; it is, in fact, a great deal.

Denver Nuggets, this song's for you:


-BJ

Uh-Oh

There are a lot of possible storylines that could grow out of a matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and the Golden State Warriors -- the Great Meltdown of 2007, the Warriors' steep downward trajectory from those days, the game earlier when the Mavs outnumbered the Warriors two to one and still lost, the Organization and fanbase's strange and enduring fascination with Golden State coach Don Nelson . . .

And, with 3:18 left in the first, every single one of them was rendered irrelevant.

Choosing to go small after Haywood jammed a finger, Coach put in Rodrigue. And Rodrigue--

I saw it and I still don't believe it.

40 points, 15-of-22 including 9-of-11 on 3’s, eight rebounds, three assists, and three blocked shots.

Coach is going to have some hard explaining to do if we don't see Roddy B on the floor in every game we have left. And I don't mean garbage time either. Jet's face is still puzzling itself together; there really isn't any reason for JJ to spell Jet as a shooting guard. Particularly in light of . . . well you know he . . .

(giggle)
-BJ

Gotta Give Portland's Defense Credit?

Bullshit I do.

We're down eighttenthirteen, and we're going to lose this game.

I'm not being a pessimist. The time hasn't run out yet. Something could happen.

A hard thing to learn -- miracles are treasured because they are rare. It will take one -- a small one, but even so -- to win this game. All the Mavericks are doing right now is treading water. My guys have solved many teams so far this year, picked many locks, battered down many gates, stormed and conquered, crushed our enemies and left their women and children sobbing over what's left. We have not solved Portland.

Doesn't help the refs are wearing their Mavericks colored glasses. That T against Caron was bogus.

In my layperson's opinion, the Mavs fell back in love with the jump shot, the panic threes are not falling, we're over-relying on Dirk when it's clear he's having an off night, Dampier's malfunction needs to get fixed right fucking NOW, and why did Coach not put Rodrigue in when it was clear JJ was in over his head (literally).

Fuck it. I'll squeeze what I can for the quoteboard and hit the hay.

I will admit my hopes for this team are not as high as they once were.
-BJ

Kicking Out The Mirror

Ever seen the second Conan movie? The one where Wilt Chamberlain rocks the leathers? If you haven't-- seriously, what kind of pop culture junkie are you anyway? Go rent them both immediately. Watch the first one because it's a good movie in spite of itself, and the second one so you'll get what I'm about to discuss.

About halfway through the movie, Conan is trapped in a room lined with mirrored panels and attacked by a scaly lizardman monster. The SLmM is invulnerable, stronger than he is, and has big claws and sharp cruel fangs. After finding out the invulnerable part, Conan accidentaly breaks one of the mirrors. A long ugly gash appears on the SLmM's chest and it howls in pain. If this were a comic, Conan would have a '!' in the balloon over his head as he shatters another mirror with his sword and the SLmM is injured again.

Since the hero can't get let off that easy -- and really, who could ever get enough of Basil Poledouris's score? -- the SLmM gets under Conan's guard, picks him up, and drapes him over the SLmM's back, with Conan dropping his sword in the process. Conan manages to wiggle into position, draws back his feet, and slams them into the nearest mirror. The SLmM shrieks and drops Conan, the music shifts into The Hero Is Kicking Epic Monster Ass mode, Conan picks up his sword and thus begins an extended montage of Conan slo-mo'ing his sword into mirrors intercut with shots of the SLmM howling in agony at each new wound. Since Conan is the Hero of this picture (and we all know what happens to the villian), he prevails and the story moves on.

Flash back, if you will, to last night. Almost four minutes gone in the third, the Mavericks are in the process of surrendering yet another lead after playing quite prettily in the first half, and . . .

In terms of What're The Odds, it's on a par with snow in Miami. Former Maverick Drew Gooden pushed Dirk in the back. No whistle. Surprised at the lack of call Dirk went up to contest Gooden's shot and got him on the arm. Whistle. Foul on #41.

Dirk: "Bill that's a two-hand push!!!"
Blind and Possibly Brain Damaged Ref: "Bam! Right there!" (throws the T)

I don't know what Dirk said next -- the Painted Fan section's not quite that good. Either the BaPBDR was having a bad night, or Dirk said something reeeeaaaalllly objectionable. Second T and the BaPBDR made the universal ref gesture of Get The Fuck Off My Floor! Led by a blazer and bracketed by cops, Dirk marched to the locker room.

Thus began the total erasure of the lead and the Clippers going up by four. Anyone else want to argue about how crucial Dirk is to the Mavericks?

And then came the kick. Jason Kidd, who turned 37 yesterday, threw a lob pass and Rodrigue Beaubois leapt. He's about six-three; how the hell did he clear the basket by three feet? Catch, bam. Commence screaming. The Mavs went on to win it by ten.

So that would be kicking out the mirror. Not the turning point -- that would've been the trade -- but the part where the turn becomes impossible to ignore and impossible to stop. Scaly Lizardman Monster's going down.

So, is this it? They proved it against Los Angeles, against the Magic, ad infinitum against teams that don't matter. There's the sword, and in a pinch we can manage without. All we need is the will.

Guys?
-BJ

These Are The Celtics. They Are The Ruiners Of My Day.

Sensed it coming.

The visit from the Boston Celtics back in '08 was the second live game I attended. First of all, it was bright and sunny but viciously cold. Second, I got hung up at work. Third, I missed the bus and had to wait 45 minutes for another one (at the time I worked out at the butt-end of Irving, clear the hell to fuck and gone by DFW Airport). By the time I got to the arena, the first quarter was over. The Mavs losing 94-90 was the rancid pickle on a shit sandwich of a day. PS: I hate pickles.

Yesterday followed a similar pattern -- no measureable impact on the Daily Chore List (the Mavs Fan Shop doesn't carry sweatshirts/hoodies/jackets in sizes larger than 2X, the cell phone I want is out of stock everywhere), a communication breakdown between me and my ride, a Painted Fan section full of Painted Fan virgins (yes I know it sucks that half the section is standing room only, it wasn't my idea) and the Mavericks doing the resident Celtics fans a favor by getting a lot of it wrong at the worst possible time.

To be fair, this wasn't as bad as last year's Boston at Dallas -- the one where we blew a 20+ lead and Coach asked Dirk to be Jesus. But it was bad enough.

Being surrounded by Painted People when the game looks like a winner, when you've been genuinely thrilled, when things are going well, is a joy. And then it all went wrong. My brain, still happily drunk on dopamine and other THIS ROCKS! brain drugs, watched in horror as a seven point lead evaporated, as everything Boston threw up went down and through, as the panic shots missed, as every attempt at an offense led to Bad Things.

I'm not in the habit of second-guessing Coach, not really. But Rajon Rondo is exactly the kind of point guard the Mavericks have problems with, because he can think and move very very quickly. My specific second guess has to do with not putting Rodrigue in the game sometime in the first half whilst Rondo was in for Boston and seeing if that matchup was workable. And if it had been, serving Roddy some fourth-quarter minutes at the two or the point.

In any event, the Mavericks have dropped two of their last three making a lot of the same mistakes. I went outside in a bad state and stood there forever waiting for my ride. Wearing a T-shirt and a wrap. In twenty degrees.

Dear Mavericks et al; if I get pneumonia and die, it's you guys's fault.
-BJ

Murphy's Law, Squared

To wit, if it can go wrong, it will make a specific point of going wrong, simply to ruin your day.

So a moment of silence, please, for the longest winning streak since the storied 2006-2007 season.

. . .

The Knicks shoved it in and broke it off, guys. There is not one thing that went right for the Mavericks last night. Not one thing. Inside shots? Nope. Free throws? An uncharacteristic (and migraine triggering) 19-26. Outside scoring? 7-21 on three point shots. Sharing the ball well? 14 assists. Interior defense? New York got 46 points in the paint? Perimeter defense? The Underpants got 16-30 from beyond the periphery; way beyond in several cases. Rebounds? Enough! Uncle! Mustard! Safeword! Cut it out, can't'cha?

So, last night, New York got some of their own back and Denver skipped over us in the standings. And I am going back to bed.

Shawn; "Throw it out the window." Coach; "Tonight was ugly."

And Dirk; "Screw the streak."

Word, man.
-BJ

I'm Sorry, I'm Confused

Thank God nobody takes me seriously.

Okay, I'll admit it. I was happy to forget statistics after studying it as part of Algebra II back in high school. Seeing John Hollinger's name come up as a subject of derision more than once over at Dallasbasketball.com inclined me not to trust his methods, and the latest rankings (the Mavericks have actually slid down to 13) just seemed silly.

Then I read Rob Mahoney's post saying very clearly what brand of salt Hollinger's opinion should be taken with. Not evil, just overly objective (athletes are not just and only stat machines). So I deferred to Mr. Mahoney's opinion, because he knows more about the sport and the advanced stats used in defining it. I posted an apology and all was well.

Then this evening when I got home, this hit me in the face like a rolled-up sweat sock.

So how seriously am I supposed to take a numbers guy who comes up with imaginary matchups, cites factors used in making his decisions that he specifically ignores in his calculations (the Bucks trade for Salmons was better than the Mavericks trade for Butler/Haywood/Stevenson?), and glosses it over with things like, "[T]he only reason the Magic lost is because, 'Orlando also shot 4-for-25 on 3s in that game -- an event unlikely to repeat itself in future meetings.'"

Uh-huh. We're back in "bad science" territory.

And then over on the boards . . .

I'm including the full post because it bears reading. It's also gotten the Good King Of Numbers stamp of approval:

"But, here's the thing...I'm not even sure Hollinger knows what true 'statistics' are. I understand that baseball 'stats' are relatively simple 'hits/at bats = BA', but Hollinger goes by this 'Advanced Level Stat' creed, so he should be held to higher standards. I'm speaking specifically of his power rankings system...I haven't looked the intricacies to his PER calc (maybe they're good). His formula 1)doesn't use ANY statistical method to evaluate the numbers, and 2) (speaking as a financial analyst who scrutinizes formulas all the time) is completely arbitrary.

"Here's the formula RATING = (((SOS-0.5)/0.037)*0.67) + (((SOSL10-0.5)/0.037)*0.33) + 100 + (0.67*(MARG+(((ROAD-HOME)*3.5)/(GAMES))) + (0.33*(MARGL10+(((ROAD10-HOME10)*3.5)/(10)))))

the first part is a strength of schedule calc, and the second bracket is the strength of schedule in the last 10 games. You'll notice he's multiplying the first one by 2/3 and the last 10 games by 1/3, which just means that's he 'weighting' the significance of these numbers, and then adding them together. Well....how did he come up with 2/3 and 1/3? That's totally arbitrary...it can be adjusted at his whim. If he had solid STATISTICAL evidence proving that weight, then that would mean something. But the fact that he's using such simple fractions is a clear indicator that he pulled them out of his ass. Same thing with the Margin of victory portion of the calculation. A REAL statistical model (and, mind you, I'm not expert...I will have my MBA in a few months and I've been exposed to lots of stats methods, but I don't claim to be any good at them) would look for SIGNIFICANCE in the numbers that he is coming up with. That is what statistics is all about...what are the MEANINGS of these numbers. Are they reliable? How volatile are these variables? Well, the fact that the Mavericks are being popped out as #13 in his rankings should send a red flag to John that his 'model' is off. It's not reliable. But, instead of looking for ways to improve it (which would be welcomed by anyone I would think) he tries to defend it (with shocking arrogance, I might add) and paints himself into an even smaller corner than he was before.

"He's not a 'statistics' guy in a real sense. He comes up with sports 'statistics', but tries to pass them off as something more than they really are. A person better at stats than I should take all of his final regular season power rankings from the past few years, and run regression analyses against actual finishes as well as head-to-head matches during the season. The answer to 'how reliable are these rankings' is in there...it's just math. But, as I sit here and look at this formula more, I want to laugh at how simplistically stupid it really is. Yes, it will rank teams semi-appropriately, but he acts like it can quantify those 'hidden' variables in teams. It's a joke."
-duxthaman
http://dallasbasketballdotcom.yuku.com/topic/40338

Is there a peer review process for sports statisticians? And if there isn't, could one be created? It's one thing for a guy like Hollinger -- who's really for entertainment purposes only -- to cover the weaknesses in his system by massaging numbers and flashing number-scaled red herrings. It's quite another if the stats guys in front offices do so. If you believe him, Avery Johnson swears he went SmallBall against Golden State in 2007 because he followed the advice of the Mavericks' statistician who told him it would be advantageous to do so.
-BJ

But They're Good For You

A few days ago, in a fit of righteous homer indignation, I posted what I thought was a nice little flaming of John Hollinger and his Amazing Basketball Calculator.

Then I read a few thoughts from Rob Mahoney on the subject. And should I ever meet Mr. Hollinger, I owe him an apology.

Of course he's not taking into account how much better the Mavs could get. That's not his mission and he says so up front. Hard numbers are his game and by those numbers -- pure production and nothing else -- his opinion is valid. I chose to overlook that, and that was incorrect.

Do I think his opinion of the Mavs is unfairly low? I can't answer that; I've never met the man. I also need to bear in mind the ultimate standard everyone is measuring against; defeating the LA Lakers in a playoff series. And in spite of some recent reality checks, LA is still the team to beat in the West.

So, Mr. Hollinger, I'm sorry. Calling your work "bad science" was inaccurate, unfair, and really rather mean. And as to your assertion the Mavericks can't beat LA . . . we'll see. I'll tell you one thing; the Lakers better bring their lunches.
-BJ

SQUEE!

I am such a girl.

1. Whenever I pass a pasture, I point and squeal, "Horsies!"

2. If I win the hundred million dollars I intend to fly back to Grand Rapids, walk into Herkner Jewelers (best damn sparkly stuff outlet in West Michigan), and buy it.

3. The reaction to seeing this on DallasBasketball.com involves a lot of giggling. There might've been high-pitched noises.

Doesn't look like any such of a much, just some quote-mining from the 13th straight (more giggling) Mavericks win. But note please, the byline.

:-D

Me and my giggling fit are going to bed now.
-BJ

Crunchy Numbers

This is a little dated -- this is the NBA, things get old in a hurry -- so bear with me. Last week the Evil Numbers Maestro John Hollinger posted his ultimate prediction of the 2009-2010 Mavericks. Using statistical modeling he takes the raw data for the season and gives his opinion regarding possible postseason success.

His opinion? Boil it down and he considers Dallas a second-tier team at best.

I won't argue any specific point. I'd get shellacked if I did that, because Hollinger is smarter than I am and has a better grasp of statistics.

However.

The bulk of his data -- roughly eighty percent of it -- is flawed. The after-trade Mavericks are a substantially different beast than the before-trade Mavericks. I don't see this version giving up an at-home blowout to the Utah Jazz, do you? And not just production, it's attitude. Granting that the Bobcats lost that game just as much as the Mavericks won it, the Mavs did win with an eighteen hour turnaround time between games and with a starting lineup that had had to play heavy minutes the night before. There would have been disappointment but no real surprise if the Mavs had simply waved the white and crawled back to the plane to get some sleep, and if this was the team still trying to figure out how to get blood out of a stone that might've happened. It didn't.

I also think Hollinger is enough of a statistician to know that. It's hard to imagine he could get a feel for where the v2.0 Mavericks are going with a sample size of only eight games. So in the end, I think he's based his prediction on what he expects to see out of the Mavericks -- an excellent team, but lacking the extraordinary factors that separate excellence from Best In The World -- and backed it up with bad numbers.

Starting an experiment with a theory already formed and ignoring results that don't support your theory . . . it's called bad science. Is there peer review for sports statisticians? Might be a question to pose at Dorkapalooza (Sloan Sports Analytics Conference).
-BJ

BADASS VICTORY THEME!!!

I thought for sure if there was ever a speed-bump on the way up to the sky, it would be this game. The Timberwolves have played much better than they have any right to against Dallas, and right now we're the walking wounded (again). Jet Terry's out with a cracked eye socket, Dampier's still working on his finger, and Brendan Haywood's been out with a bad back.

Nope. Now as a game it was so stuffed full of 'bawful that I'm expecting McHale to give it its own Worst of the Night entry (title it The Neverending Quarter), but the Mavs got out of it with the win. However, we took casualties. JJ's toe caught the floor and his ankle folded up. He had to leave the game immediately. No word yet on how bad it is.

But-- twelve straight! Two and a half out of first place! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

And something else. I was at the watch party up in Lewisville tonight -- Dallasbasketball.com and the Frisco D-League Blue Crew teaming up for funzies. Had to wait forever for a seat, because the place was packed and my happy fat ass doesn't fit in their booths. Mike Fisher saw me waiting and kindly invited me to shoehorn in with his family and friends. Later, he called me over for a conversation. Situation developing, more to come later. If it works out, much yay.
-BJ

PS: Whenever I go to a watch party, I keep looking around and thinking, "I thought you'd be taller." Shrug.

Hitting The Ditch Switch: A Look In Rewind

I've been trying to write this for over a week now, a deranged layperson's take on the trade that excised another piece of the 2006 Finals team and got us . . . what? So screw it, let's work the chronology backwards:

February 26-March 1, 2010
With some superhuman performances by Dirk and Kidd, the Mavericks manage wins against the Atlanta Hawks, the New Orleans Hornets, and the Charlotte Bobcats. They currently ride the longest win streak in the NBA, and their longest win streak since January 2008.

February 24, 2010
See previous entry for bliss. After two blowouts the Mavericks successfully defend home court and tie the season series.

February 17-22, 2010
After an embarassing loss in Oklaholma City, the new version Mavericks notch four wins in six nights, including an impressive victory over Dwight Howard's Orlando Magic. The team has yet to hold a formal practise session since the trade. As a result, Jason Kidd is playing extended minutes and putting up some of the most impressive work since he was traded to Dallas in 2008.

February 16, 2010
The first game since the All-Star Break and the first since the trade with Washington. Because of the delay involved in player trades -- red tape with the league -- the team has not practised together yet, and it shows as the offense goes totally ice-cold in the second half. Erick Dampier suffers an open dislocation of his middle finger and undergoes surgery to repair it after the game is over. He is out indefinitely; estimates range from four to eight weeks.

February 13, 2010
Washington trades Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson to Dallas in exchange for Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, James Singleton and Quinton Ross.

February 9, 2010
The Mavericks go from a win in Oakland to a thoroughly humiliating gang-rape of a 36-point loss in Denver. Seriously. Tears were shed. The Nuggets are allowed to shoot 60% from the floor and outrebound the Mavericks 47-28. The game becomes unwatchable in the second quarter. And then it gets worse.

January 11, 2010
Dallas acquired forward Eduardo Najera from New Jersey for forward Kris Humphries and forward Shawne Williams.

December 31, 2009-February 5, 2010
The new decade is not kind to the Mavericks. In a stretch of nineteen games, the Mavericks are 9-10, including two harsh losses against the first-place Lakers, two blowouts to the Jazz, and some real cry-tears-of-blood to Toronto, Philadelphia, Minnesota . . . The team slips to 4th in the Western Conference standings. Josh Howard bounces in and out of the starting lineup, his numbers drastically down from even last year. It becomes increasingly obvious he is not the player he once was. Jason Terry's numbers are also down by almost three points per game. True bright spots are few and far between for a team with title pretensions.

December 18-27, 2009
On the 19th, a freak collision between Carl Landry and Dirk left Landry less five teeth and Dirk with an interesting gash on his shooting arm. He sits out the next game against the East-leading Cavaliers; confounding all expectations, the Mavs come out of it with a victory. The next week is a mixed bag, as Josh's place in games is constantly tinkered with -- as a two, as a three, as a starter, as a bench guy. On December 27th, the Mavericks face the Denver Nuggets for the first time since the playoffs last year and notch an impressive win (unless one factors in that Chauncy Billups was out with an injury).

October 27-December 16, 2009
After a bit of a gross-out loss to open the season, the 2009-2010 Dallas Mavericks are off to the races, making the best of a demanding schedule. Josh Howard is not officially available until the November 7 game against Toronto and only plays one more game before being deactivated again. The Word is his ankle's still recovering. Shawn Marion is perhaps not as productive offensively as the Mavericks might've hoped, but he's a part of a team defensive machine considered one of the best in the league.

July 9, 2009
Dallas traded guard Jerry Stackhouse and cash considerations to Memphis for guard Greg Buckner; traded forwards Devean George and Antoine Wright to Toronto for forwards Shawn Marion, Kris Humphries, center Nathan Jawai and cash considerations as part of a four-team deal.

Postseason, 2009
The Mavericks, widely considered first round chum, surprise the league by taking San Antonio in five games. However, in the second round the bigger and more athletic Nuggets defeat the Mavericks 4-1, bringing the 2008-2009 campaign to an end. After playing effectively through the San Antonio series and less-effectively but with a lot of grit against the Nuggets, Josh Howard undergoes arthroscopic repair surgery on his injured ankle and wrist.

November 18, 2008
During a game with the Charlotte Bobcats, Josh Howard steps on a foot and twists an ankle. The injury will sideline him for over half the season.

August 2008
Josh Howard is arrested for street racing, speeding, and all the other charges that go along with doing ninety in a forty-five. The street racing charges are dropped later.

Summer, 2008
Someone with a camera phone takes video of Howard muttering, "I don't respect that [the National Anthem]; I'm black." Meanwhile, the Mavericks hire Richard Carlisle to replace Avery Johnson as head coach.

Postseason, 2008
After Game 4 of the first round series with the New Orleans Hornets, Josh Howard attends a late night birthday party, in direct defiance of Coach Avery Johnson's expressed wishes. The coach cancels practise the next day; the team holds a players-only session without him. The Mavericks are eliminated in the next game. Avery Johnson is relieved of his duties two days later.

February 19, 2008
Dallas signs Keith Van Horn and trades Van Horn, Devin Harris, Trenton Hassell, Maurice Ager, DeSagana Diop, first-round draft choices in 2008 and 2010, and cash considerations to New Jersey for Jason Kidd, Malik Allen and Antoine Wright; waives Nick Fazekas.

Why have I done it this way?

I think after Devin Harris was traded, Josh gave up emotionally on the Mavericks. There was a lot of talk at the time at how he and Jason Kidd were having trouble with working together on the court (by contrast, Kidd and Nowitzki clicked almost immediately). Josh also had to deal with a couple of deaths in the family at the time. His behavior in the New Orleans series and during the offseason was considered eccentric at best, earmarks of serious psychological problems at worst. People questioned his reliability as a player, whether or not he would lay it all on the line to make his team do as well as possible. I was one of them.

To be totally fair to Josh, I think he tried all through last year to make it work. I wonder if things would've shaken out differently if he hadn't gotten hurt . . . but he did. It's like a couple trying to reconnect after someone goes through a life-changing event. Sometimes you can fall in love again, and sometimes you can't. At best, he needed a new place to try and get his production going -- his contract has a team option at the end of this year. At worst, he was poison on a team that thrives best when the locker room is an upbeat place.

So when Washington dropped an anvil on their team in the wake of Arenas's Stupid Gun Tricks, the Mavericks were there with Josh's contract and a few trade chits.

I thought I'd miss Josh . . . until I saw his reaction to rumors that he might've missed a game in January due to the brown-bottle flu. Went from muttering about not responding to lies to muttering about hearing from his lawyer. Bullshit detector goes off, and there goes missing Josh. I'm glad my team won't have to deal with him for a while. That said, I was sorry to hear he went down with a torn ACL week before last. I hope he heals well and is able to get another contract.

Quinton Ross I never really got to know. Drew Gooden was traded to the Clippers and is doing all right. I wish the Clips would've waived him; that would've given Dallas a chance to get him back with a new contract and we need all the depth we can get at the 4 and 5. I was also really impressed with how he played while in Dallas and he seemed like a good guy. Singleton . . . I think he's an interesting guy and I respect him a lot, but, let's face it, the best the Mavericks could give him was eleventh man or so.

That's what we've lost. A locker room toothache, and three guys we like. What did we gain? I'll get into that later.
-BJ