August 2, 2006 by wescx
Well, after just a few short months at this address, the site is switching for the third time. Don’t worry, it’s found a much more permanent home.
I’ve joined on at Sports Blog Nation. The new site is now located at www.MavsMoneyball.com.
Sorry for the inconvenience of having to change bookmarks, site links, and news feeds. I think when you have a look around the new site you’ll realize that the move is well worth it.
This will be the last post at this url.
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August 1, 2006 by wescx
The 2006/2007 NBA schedule was released today and the Mavs will be the last team to play their first game.
The Mavericks season will begin on November 2nd at Dallas against the San Antonio Spurs.
That’s 93 days away for those who are counting.
Fun Schedule Facts:
- Longest Home Stand: Four Games (twice)
- Longest Road Trip: Six Games (late March)
- 32 games will be on national TV
- Oddity: Dallas will play at Memphis on November 17th. They will then play Memphis at Dallas on November 18th.
- 13 back-to-backs
- 4 Games in 5 Days: Once (November)
March will be a very interesting month. They play a brutal 15 games in 30 days. That’s also the month with the six game road trip. The good news is that they play some pretty bad teams in March as well. Only four of the games are against the Western Conference. They play two games each against Boston and the Knicks and one against Atlanta.
Links:
Posted in The Offseason | No Comments »
August 1, 2006 by wescx
After a week of indecision, George has signed with the Mavericks. Dallas had to add another year on to the contract, bumping it up to a 2 year deal worth around 4.2 million. The Mavericks originally offered a one year deal at the veteran minimum.
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August 1, 2006 by wescx
Let me start off by summarizing how Carlos Boozer ended up in Utah. For those who aren’t aware, it was quite a controversial event.
It was 2004. Carlos Boozer had just finished his second year in the NBA and was quite successful, averaging 15.5 points and 11.4 rebounds per game as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Then things got very interesting. Boozer had been a second round draft pick which meant Cleveland held a team option on Boozer for the 2005 season at the basement price of just $695,000. Boozer wasn’t to fond of that idea, so he made a promise to Cavaliers management that if they declined their option he would sign a long term deal with Cleveland that would pay him 40 million dollars over six years. Cleveland agreed thinking it would cost them much more to keep him if they waited another year.
There was one problem. Soon after Cleveland declined his option and Boozer became a free agent he signed a six year deal with the Utah Jazz for 68 million dollars and left Cleveland in the dust. Boozer denied he ever made a promise to Cleveland, but the Cavaliers would never have declined the option had they not felt an agreement was in place. Boozer and his agent completely screwed Cleveland - no way around it.
Fast forward to 2006.
23 year old Frenchman Yakhouba Diawara is playing for George Karl in the Vegas Summer League and doing quite well averaging 12 points, three rebounds, and two assists per game. The summer league ends and George Karl verbally offers a two year deal to Diawara at the league minimum (a total of 1.1 million). Diawara is obviously thrilled and agrees.
There was one problem. Denver wasn’t the only team impressed by his summer league play. Avery Johnson and the Dallas Mavericks had been watching as well. Dallas was slightly more impress and offered Diawara a two year deal worth 1.8 million.
Here’s where the two stories begin to fork. Yakhouba Diawara turned down the Mavs offer and signed with the Nuggets instead. Why? His verbal promise to George Karl. He turned down $700,000, a 60% raise, on principal. Even though he turned down the Mavs, I’ll be rooting for him to end up with a long term Boozer contract of his own some day.
Posted in Around The NBA, The Offseason | 3 Comments »
July 31, 2006 by wescx
The NBA is officially on summer vacation. The draft, the summer league, and then free agency gave us our NBA fix for a little while, but there is not much left now. In fact, until Art Garcia’s Maurice Ager article in yesterday’s paper, the Mavs had been absent from Dallas newspapers for four days.
There is a little bit still going on with the Mavs. Devean George has been offered a one year deal but hasn’t accepted or declined at this point. And Keith Van Horn still doesn’t have a team which leaves the door open for a sign-and-trade.
In the meantime, I suggest you listen to the newest podcast at The Basketball Jones. They pick their offseason winners and losers, talk about Phoenix North and Team USA, and award ‘Wanker of the Week’ to Mike James.
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July 28, 2006 by wescx
Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!
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July 28, 2006 by wescx
Steve Kerr listed the six teams he feels made the shrewdest offseason acquisitions on Yahoo yesterday. These aren’t the teams he thinks made the biggest signings, but the teams who made the best under-the-radar and good value moves. There were two Mavs related snippets.
He loved the Bulls signing of Adrian Griffin.
“Unfortunately for Dallas, Griffin played so well last season that he earned himself a three-year contract with the Bulls. Chicago has an interesting mix of young and old, and Griffin is the type of player who can help build a winning culture. Griffin is also a big defender at the guard spot. He’ll help the Bulls deal with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.”
The last sentence caught me off guard since Wade killed Griffin during the Finals to the point that Avery ended up using Harris and Howard on Wade more than Griffin. Adrian was still a good piece for the Mavs last year though, and the Mavericks had hoped to resign him but didn’t feel comfortable matching the three year deal that the Bulls offered.
Fortunately, the Mavs signed Greg Buckner a week before Griffin left, another move that received high praise from Kerr.
“To replace Griffin, the Mavericks brought back Buckner, the former Mav who is not only a tough defender but also a much improved shooter. By the end of last season, he was Denver’s best three-point shooter. And he’ll provide a good veteran influence in the locker room.”
Buckner has improved his shooting, but it didn’t take much to lead the Nuggets in three-point shooting last season. Denver was the worst three-point shooting team in the league, making just 32.5% of their attempts. Greg Buckner shot 39.5% from beyond the arc last season, but the Mavs had three players shoot better than 40%. For the Mavs he’ll be there to stretch the floor as a threat, but he won’t be looked to as a consistent long range weapon. He’s here for his defense.
One non-Mavs related signing I wanted to point out is the Spurs signing of center Jackie Butler. Steve Kerr highlighted it as well.
“As for Butler, he showed flashes of brilliance in New York. He’s young and athletic and has a chance to be a good player, particularly by learning from Duncan.”
Butler is a 21 year old center who started to show signs last season that he might be finally be figuring it out. He was a restricted free agent, but the Knicks gave up on him and didn’t match the Spurs three year 7 million dollar offer. Last season his minutes progressed throughout the year and in the final month of the season he averaged 9.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in 21 minutes per game. Young centers usually take a long time to adapt to the NBA and poorly run teams, like the Knicks, often make the mistake of losing patience and cutting their ties after the rookie contract expires. It’s how the Mavs got Diop last offseason, and I think Butler might be ready to make a similar impact for the Spurs next season.
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July 27, 2006 by wescx
Turns out all the reports that the Mavs and Jason Terry had agreed on a 6 year 50 million dollar deal were false. The deal is actually 6 years and 57 million. Here is how it breaks down by year according to hoopshype.com.
- 06/07 - $7,500,000
- 07/08 - $8,287,500
- 08/09 - $9,075,000
- 09/10 - $9,862,500
- 10/11 - $10,650,000
- 11/12 - $11,437,500
That’s the exact same deal that Denver gave Marcus Camby back in 2004 and slightly less than they gave Nene this offseason.
Golden State gave Troy Murphy 6 years 58 million last offseason.
The Knicks gave Eddie Curry and his heart 6 years 60 million.
The 76ers decided Samuel Dalembert was worth 6 years 58 million.
There’s a reason those teams are what they are and that the Mavs are what they are.
Posted in The Offseason | 1 Comment »
July 25, 2006 by wescx
Posted in Quick Points | 1 Comment »
July 25, 2006 by wescx
Now that the Johnson vs. Cuban non-fiasco is behind us there is some actual Mavs news to report.
Most importantly, the Mavericks are very close to signing Laker veteran forward Devean George. The deal is reportedly for the veteran’s minimum of 1.2 million. George made 5 million last year in his seventh year as a Laker. Griffin would make a great bench player for this team and he has three championship rings, so that’s cool too I guess. He’s about as veteran as you can be when you’re only 29.
The Mavs and assistant coach Del Harris have agreed to a one year contract as well. Very good news. Avery Johnson attributed much of his success last season to Del Harris, so I’m glad he and his hair will be back on the sideline next season.
On the project player front, summer league players Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Jackson Vroman are expected to get invitations to training camp. Corey Belser, Jose Barrea, and Darius Washintom might be extended invitations as well.
And to counter Jennifer Floyd Engel’s unwarranted assault on Mark Cuban yesterday, Kevin Sherrington reminds us that Mark Cuban is not stupid.
“Not if you’ve paid attention to Cuban’s track record.
As he notes in his blog, if an employee lives up to his end, “It’s my job as an employer to know what makes you happy and try to get you there.”
Bottom line: Don’t fret over issues involving Mavs employees and Cuban’s money.”
“Occasionally, the lesson took too hard: Letting Steve Nash go to Phoenix for nothing. Prediction: Cuban won’t make that mistake again. The next time Dirk Nowitzki’s contract comes up, he’ll make around $20 million a year because that’s what the top five players in the league get.
Avery Johnson will get his, too. He did a great job in his first full year, better than anyone could have hoped. But it was still just his first season. He’s got a lot more in him. Fortunately, Cuban’s got a lot more money, if David Stern doesn’t get it all first.”
Posted in The Offseason | No Comments »
