Whaddahell?

What?!?

The organization's waived Keith McLeod!

Didn't see that coming, not given how badly the Mavs need another backup point. Unless there's a free agent the Mavs have on the radar, or a trade scenario that's in progress.

For the Mavs, it's a matter of trusting Donnie Nelson. For McLeod, dude, that sucks. Fucking hamstring.
-BJ

Boy, Is It Ever Monday

No notes on the Bucks game. Is it being unfair to say the result was a foregone conclusion? Even with Jason Kidd taking a personal day and playing in the middle of nowhere? If you live in the neighborhood of LaCrosse, I'm not knocking your town. I'm from Michigan and I know how pretty the country is up there. For someone used to NBA-approved accomodations it probably feels like the Twilight Zone.

DLord crunches the dollars and cents of the Jones-for-Williams trade.

Okay, Mr. Nelson, I take back half the bad things I said about you over the offseason (you're not off the hook about Devean George).

This blows the season wide open. Williams's potential downside is considerable -- Pacman Jones has him beat in that Williams hasn't actually been convicted of anything -- but from a purely acquisitional standpoint we got him for loose change. Not as exciting as getting Ron Artest, but I think it's a safer bet. I have visions of Ron-Ron having to be taken out of restraints come game time.

Nnngh. Less than three weeks until the season opens. Meanwhile the preseason gets interesting with roadies at Indiana and Detroit. Of the two, I'm going to be obsessing over the Pistons game. Let's face it, the Wizards, Bulls, and Bucks were outclassed, under complement, and pretty much fucked from the start. Detroit, #2 in the Eastern Conference last year, are more like what Dallas should expect and fear in the coming year.

Oh, by the way, lineup on the floor at one point during the Wizards game -- Dirk at the 5, J-Ho, Antoine, Jet Terry, James Singleton. Hereby dubbed the Kentucky Fried Lineup; four wings and a biscuit. My phrase. Don't steal it.
-BJ

Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Ink In Your Roster . . .

Ex-tree! Ex-tree!

Check it out, yo. The Mavs have cut a deal with the Indiana Pacers to acquire Shawne Williams. The word around the campfire is the deal includes Eddie Jones and a couple of second round draft picks.

Not sure what to make of this, unless this is the Big Sou-Prize Donnie Nelson promised us way back in July. Jones is bench-bait for the Mavs at best . . . but what is Williams, exactly? According to the Morning News, his off-court doings are a definete cause for concern. Hanging around murder suspects, something happening in his house that might or might not have been rape-- schtick like that.

I'm wondering if the Mavs are placing too much stock in Coach's abilities as a wrangler of psychopaths. Or if being on a team led by the most unselfish, least drama-queeny, arguably hardest working star in the NBA is better for players than one might think.

Suddenly . . . our bench is looking deep, the team doesn't look quite as old, and how many days is it until the 30th?
-BJ

Nine More Hours

After a summer full of full-time committment (and pay, thank God) for part-time work, prayers that The Boards would be interesting without being bitchy (riiiiiiight), lots of lol cats (because monorail cats are funny), and too much time looking for good pictures of the big guy (damn pajama uniforms), the off-season is nearly over. We're sitting in the theater, suffering through easy listening and mediocre R'n'B, watching the ads and movie quiz cards flip across the screen (and they've already gone through the set eight times), and finally, there's a click, the screen goes dark, the lights go down, and the talking starts to quiet.

It's been a long few months. And it's going to be an even longer few months as I watch my Mavs become what they're going to be in 08-09. Will the new coach be as advertised, able to balance running offense with brick-wall D? Will Jason Kidd have one more season of greatness before riding into a future rich with alimony suits? Will Josh Howard finally crystalize under pressure, instead of just cracking? Will Stack's body hold out? Will the Four-String Motherfucker give us all the gifts the Hornets were too stupid to take? Will our young guns grow into heros in their own rights? Will Our Dirk become, once more, a player who kills so cleanly you're in Hell five minutes before you realize you're dead?

And will it be enough?

We'll see. Binoculars, train ticket, victory cigarette -- I'm ready!
-BJ

Couple Thursday Notes

Gerald Green's not looking at serious floor time? That's disappointing. I'd hoped to see some good stuff there.

I'm not schooled enough in the game to get why this is a big deal . . . but I'll note it for future research; the Mavs are working up a lot of depth at the center position. Dampier and 'Gana Diop are taking turns starting at scrimmage, Brandon Bass is being cross-trained as a 5, and Dirk's played center before. Still not sure why that's getting emphasized. I'll figure it out as the season gets rolling.

There'll be more scholarly stuff soon, promise.
-BJ

X-Factors and Other Intangibles

Put aside the potential problems in backcourt and perimeter depth (Hollinger, ESPN). Focus instead on those two little words everyone likes to throw around when competetive drive is aroused -- killer instinct.

The greats have it. Larry Bird eats baby kittens as snacks. Raw. Michael Jordan could've caused miscarriages with sheer force of mean. Michael Irvin (former Cowboy turned local sports blowhard), when his son points at his kid's league opponets saying "Dad they're my friends," barks "NO THEY'RE NOT!!!" Bill Russell writes, "No pussycats, please."

Killer instinct is about knowing where the other guys're weak and taking outrageous advantage of that knowledge. If that means making Shaq run his butt off when he's out of condition -- thereby making him look stupid -- you do that. If it means traipsing just this side of foul trouble manhandling Pau Gasol, okay. If it means making Dirk play on his toes when he's rolling on a bad ankle . . . if you're the bad guy (and may you burn in a Special Hell), that's a plan.

It's about fear. None for you, all of you. And it's something the Mavs have lacked.

Respect for this team is grudging at best, and nobody's really scared of us. Coach Carlisle is making a special note of that yesterday. "I’m looking for a few assholes here," said the coach. "Hating the opponent. Hating the opponent is a good start . . . Bird hated everybody."

Is that what we really need? A bred-in-bone son of a bitch? Or two? Or three?

Eagerness for the season just ticked up another notch. It'll be interesting to see what the players will do with permission to turn loose their inner bastards. I'm operating on the assumption that, in order to thrive in pro sports, every player's got one.

Meantime, I'd love to be a cat outside the gym there at SMU. Gauge the 'tudes of the players after practise. See if it's hit the "Somebody make the bad man stop" stage.

I'm evil that way.
-BJ

Weasel Words

I try to be rational where Dirk is concerned. I really do. You wouldn't believe some of the blurbs I haven't posted.

But the idea that he's looking forward to free agency -- implication being he wants to leave the Mavs for another team -- fills my head with flames. I'll accept retirement, or a repatriation back to Germany, but seeing him in the NBA as anything but a Maverick? Not in this or any other lifetime.

But anyway. Today is Press Day, and our man Fish is on the case. The team had physicals on Saturday, and training camp starts tomorrow. I believe the players will play their guts out -- that's what they do. The nerves come from the idea that the organization's upper levels -- coaching and management -- do not have a strong history of making sure the team's effort doesn't go to waste.

If this line of reasoning is flawed, please explain why: championships can't be won at the organizational or coaching level, but they can be lost there.

More later,
-BJ

Can We Make Scrimmage Shirts Vs. Skins? Please?

Squee!

The Morning News, absent anything new to print about the Mavs (I'm avoiding Mr. Cuban's blog, because I don't have anything to add to the arguement and reading it will just annoy me), is rehashing the point we all grasped way back in May; everything depends on how the players mesh under the new coach. Nothing we haven't read or intuited.

At the end, under Mavericks Key Dates:

Sept. 30 -- Training camp opens with two practises.

Oct. 4 -- Two-a-days end.

Oct. 7 -- Preseason opens vs. Washington at AAC (7:30 p.m.)

Oct. 17 -- Fan Jam at AAC (5:30 p.m.)

Oct. 27 -- Rosters set for opening day (5 p.m.)

Oct. 30 -- Regular season begins vs. Houston at AAC (7 p.m.)

Italics mine. Fan Jam!

Ticket for the first preseason game is bought and paid for and will be waiting for me at the AAC. I can't wait.
-BJ

The Subtle Taste Of Sneaker

Wah!

Dude. Please. For the love of God, I am begging you.

Shut up!!!
-BJ

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

An Open Letter To Donn Nelson

Probably the first of many.

Dear Mr. Nelson,

I'll admit to knowing exactly jack shit about how the business end of this sport works. My familiarity with collective bargaining agreements begin and end with the UFCW They Can't Fire Me Unless clauses (God bless Local 951).

That said . . . I have to wonder what your line of reasoning is when the team's representatives negotiated Devean George's new contract. If I'm intepreting the news correctly, he still has final veto power over any and all trade proposals -- a power he has abused in the past.

I must ask, sir, is George so valuable that he's worth the kind of embarassment he produced by crying foul over being traded to the Nets? I can appreciate that Mr. George has elected to keep playing at a substantial drop in pay, but as the Organization has shown many times it is willing to invest whatever's necessary to give this team every chance of success.

In short, is this a case of being penny-wise and pound foolish?

I have faith, but you're not making it easy.

Sincerely yours, et cetera et cetera et cetera.

Meanwhile, the Olympics are coming down to the wire. Win or get lost. The semifinal game is tomorrow morning CST. The final is in the middle of the night Saturday night.

Argentina first. Defending gold medalists, with Manu Ginobli as The Man. Excited, but not worried . . . not terribly worried, anyways. The final will be up against Lithuania or Spain. Spain's no problem; Lithuania's an unknown factor.

I think hara-kiri's in the plan if Team USA has to settle for anything less than a gold medal. Don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying it's going to take a bona fide Act of God to keep it from happening.

USA!
-BJ

Fatality

Jesus Christ.

I'm suddenly thankful I couldn't watch this one.

We all knew Team Germany was outclassed at this table. We all knew it was a worthy achievement for them to even make the Games, period.

But . . . oh, my God. It wasn't a cooldown, cats and kittens. Remember the original Mortal Kombat? The one where your best friend would inevitably kick your ass by playing Sub-Zero? Like that.

Short of a meltdown of supernova proportions or major injuries to Dwayne Wade (who by the way is beginning to scare me) and LeBron James and all three of the point guards -- a run-in with the Dallas Derby Devils perhaps? -- Team USA's solid. When they recap the gold/silver game for the closing ceremonies, I think the theme from The Untouchables is a good choice for background music.
-BJ

Pau Gasol = Weenie

Have you guys seen the picture Team Spain took for an ad in a Spanish newspaper? The one where they're holding their eyelids in a slant?

Okay, how is that not racist, how could the Spanish Olympic Committe/Team Spain/the sponsors/Marca the newspaper/any of the players be that fucking stupid, and why hasn't FIBA or the NBA publicly condemned Team Spain?

(Pau Gasol's defense is he was pressured into taking the picture. Hence the title of today's post.)

Think I'm being oversensitive? Let me put it this way; imagine if Team USA pulled something like that (a dance mime to Smack My Bitch Up, perhaps). My imaginings include a torch waving mob, suspensions from playing in the regular season, massive fines, and a lot of extra time spent with NBA Cares. Political correctness gets taken to absurd, logic-bending lengths -- but is it really such an evil idea to think before you do something and consider whether or not it'll make you look like a bigoted asshole?

I'm with Basketbawful. It's a little weird to get news of low-class racist fuckery and realize it doesn't involve Americans.
-BJ

It's Tomorrow's Bedtime There . . . I Think

- They're here! They're here! Four years of sport flirting, foreplay, and heavy petting has led up to this -- the Olympics. Meant to be a celebration of brotherhood through competition, these days they're more like a sort of organic billboard for whoever's got The Cash. Whatever; my favorite player's there, Team USA looks ready to paddle tushies, and the VCR had damn well better work.

- It's official, yo. The 2008-2009 schedule for our Dallas Mavericks was announced day before yesterday. Opener -- which begs the question who came up with these matchups -- is against the Rockets on October 30. I am so there. Mr. Ming, I respect you, but your ass is going down.

- Our draft pick, Shan Foster, signed a contract to play for a year in Europe. I'll admit I'm a little disappointed we're not going to see him in action right away, but all things considered it seems a smart move. The Mavs still have his NBA rights, and if he distinguishes himself he's got a decent shot at making the team sometime in the next couple years.

- And because I can't go more than a day without an update on my guy, Dirk's been selected as Germany's flagbearer for the Olympic opening ceremony. For that? Joyous. For the haircut? Not so much. That does it; no one's allowed near Dirk with clippers, ever. Gentlemen, the Roman skullcap doesn't look good on anybody.

I'm doing this from memory, so bear with me. This is from Magic Memories on Ice, two-time Olympic gold medalist (men's singles) Dick Button:

"The Olympics are sometimes critizied for being overblown in proportion to an athlete's overall career. And that may be. But the test of the Olympics is for man's ability to call upon himself for the best he has, at the time he has to have it."
-BJ

Like I Needed Another Reason To Stress!

With our team captains in Beijing and the Organization ominously quiet on the talent-acquisition front, one would think the average MFFL has enough to worry about, right?

Basketball Gods must not think so:

Josh Howard arrested for street racing in North Carolina.

I requested permission to PANIC! and didn't get it. So I'm not. Panicking.

But my God, man, if you're on thin ice it's not a good idea to take up tapdancing. "You idiot!" about covers it. "Where are your brains, in your ass?" would do as well.

Mr. Howard, in the win-the-lottery chance you'll ever read this blog, I have something to say.

First of all, I'm not mad that you like driving fast. I like to drive fast. I'd love a chance to take my friend's Miata out for a stroll against whatever sportster his bosses have him driving that week. On a track. With an emergency team nearby. And no necks at risk other than my friend's and my own.

Secondly, I'll assume that you've stayed clean for this offseason since a drug test is SOP for this situation. Good for you.

The issue isn't the moral problems of drug use and public endangerment (although those are thorny enough). That's for the law to sort out. From a Mavs fan perspecive, the issue is you're acting like boy half your age when your credibility is at low tide. And if we can't trust you to obey the law, how are we supposed to trust you'll deliver the best you have when the team has to have it? I'm sorry, but you're performance hasn't been consistant enough to make that an irrelevent concern.

Spend time at home with the folks. Talk to your preacher. Tour the Carribean. Take a trip to Disneyworld if that's what it takes. But please, for the love of God, get your shit together. You're not fourteen any more. Behave like it.
-BJ

Push The Button, Frank

Ron Artest to the Rockets.

Deeeeeeep huuuuurting.

Ron-Ron, provided he doesn't implode and wind up in legirons or a straitjacket, is an asset the Mavs could very much use. Was.

Now I am not going to panic. As of yet, we do not have permission to panic. But anxiety's ranked up another notch. I've thought for a while now that the Organization was serious about taking the Mavs to the new seasons as is. Upside -- with the major difference of Jason Kidd at the point, that would be essentially the same team as the '06 Miracle-Crash-And-Burn. Downside -- the rest of the world's caught up and passing.

And then there's the downsides the Rockets are dealing with. Yao sat out half of last season because of injury (there was even talk of him missing the Olympics, although I get the idea that he'd play standing up dead if that were required). Ron-Ron is, to put it mildly, a toxic presence on any happy team (the league suspended him for 73 games as a result of the riot at the Palace a few years ago).

And . . . okay, my optimism died. With a healthy Yao and a good Artest-tamer, the Rockets can kick our asses. And they got him for the NBA equivalent of loose change.

I think I'm going to go into the corner and suck my thumb for a while. Or the grown-up equivalent -- line my mouth end-to-end with lit Djarum Blacks and breathe deep.
-BJ

God, Please Don't Let This Kill The WNBA

Malice at the Palace, part II.

Holy shit, what happened?!? WNBA.com's not giving me anything but the boxscore. I had to get the scoop from Yahoo!Sports.

Somewhere David Stern is locking the door, getting into his jammies, and hiding under the covers sobbing into a Nerf ball.

I don't see anything positive coming from this. Women's basketball isn't going to get any more respect from the blowhards for this -- quite the opposite (a quick glance at the DB Boards bears this out). The league is still trying to live down the Pistons-Pacers brawl. And like Detroit needs another black eye!

The Palace at Auburn Hills; where respectable basketball goes to die.
-BJ

Must . . . Get Through . . . Offseason . . .

News Bits:

- The Rocky Mountain Review -- the second half of the Summer League, it isn't being televised locally -- is in gear. Last night our Mavs beat down the San Antonio Spurs 84-77, and from what I'm hearing it was anchored by a Mighty Man effort from Gerald Green. Are the Basketball Gods possibly cutting us a break here? Is the young Gerald getting a game together? We'll see.

- He made it! He made it! Sunday night Germany beat out Puerto Rico for the last slot in the Olympic Men's Basketball Tournament. Germany's going to the Olympics, first time since '72. That's one more big goal checked off Dirk's career To Do list. All that's left is the NBA Championship. Most of us MFsFL are geeked for the guy . . . just please to be minding those leg joints, okay dude?

- Team USA is getting together for their training camp. Our Mr. Kidd is one of the starters -- he was on the last Olympic team to win it all (2000 Sydney games). Give you an indication of how fast the rest of the world catches up and passes; Team USA slunk out of Athens with a bronze. FAIL.

- The Olympic Tournament has twelve teams playing, divided into two groups of six. In the preliminary round everyone gets a game with each other team in that group. The four best records advance to the quarterfinals. After that, it looks like straight single elimination, with the medals going to the three teams left standing. Group A consists of teams Argentina, Australia, Croatia, Iran, Lituhania, and Russia; Group B of teams Angola, China, Germany, Greece, Spain, and United States.

- Team USA's Preliminary Round schedule looks like this:
8-9, 9:15 AM CST, versus China
8-11, 7:00 AM CST, versus Angola
8-13, 7:00 AM CST, versus Greece
8-15, 9:15 AM CST, versus Spain
8-17, 7:15 AM CST, versus Germany

- Experience is something you underestimate, especially if you don't have it. A lovely and thought-provoking article on Basketbawful (of all places).

Happy Tuesday, yo. Is the offseason over yet?
-BJ

I. Am. Calm. Dammit.

So far in Summer League, our Mavs are 0-2.

Determined not to overreact. Unlike the Clips and the Warriors, who still have vital roster spots available (ones with playing time), the Mavs have all but one slot spoken for -- and the consensus is they're going to leave that slot open a while and see if anything Really Interesting happens later this summer. Most of these guys're going to Europe or the D-League, and they know it.

Not going to panic. This is not worth panicking over.

(whimper) I'm so spoiled. I'm used to three-point shots going into the basket.

In other news, I swung by West End and caught the finals of the NBA Nation's Kia Motors Performance Challenge. Basically a lap around the court -- starting with a layup, then a dribbling weave through some cones (well they were silhouette cutouts but in a gym class they would've been cones), then a bounce-pass through a target hoop, then a free throw, then a chest pass through another target hoop, then another dribbling weave, then finish with another layup. Add brillant sunshine, blazing heat, and an erratic breeze; this wasn't no stroll through the mall.

You wouldn't know it by watching the eventual winner though, a family guy named Tony wearing a Jason Kidd uniform. His final score was 19.3 seconds, about four seconds better than the next best time. Cooler than an Eskimo's fridge, guys. His prize? A brand new car. Man was in tears when the Kia guy handed him the keys. NBA Nation hasn't updated their website yet, but they should sometime in the next few days. Check it out.
-BJ

PS: I'm with Fish. Send the TXA guys to work the games. The national-level announcers drive me nuts.

Fresh Meat!

First of the new blood, the future swinging big dicks of the NBA, cannonballed into the talent pool last night. Check out the live blog at Dallas Basketball dot com, or the video clip at the Morning News.

Speculation that the Mavs were planning on buying a first round pick came to zip as the Organization stuck with #51. I hope Mr. Nelson and the rest of the suits know what they're doing. The next few seasons is when the Mavs have to start developing talent ready to take over the team when Dirk retires. I'm all for finding a vampire and making Dirk immortal, but the NBA probably has rules against undead players. They're shortsighted that way.

But, nobody was willing to bite with what the Mavs were offering ($3 million) . . . at least not publicly. As Mr. Fisher points out, the back-door deals are also beginning, teams trading picks for established players, cash, and so on.

For now, our FNG is a young man by the name of Shan Foster. He's a graduate of Vaderbuilt University and that school's all-time leading scorer. He's being considered (how seriously is a matter of speculation) as a backup shooting guard or small forward.

With the draft done, free agency begins to warm up. Negotiations between franchise reps and players' agents begins July 1, players can sign on July 9. I'll look up those particulars later.
-BJ