For The Mavericks, Older The Violin, Sweeter The Music

[duncan228]

For the Mavericks, older the violin, sweeter the music (http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/1642318.html)
By Jan Hubbard

Mavericks fans will be pleased to know that when the team reported for media day Monday, no one needed a walker, cane, wheelchair or assistance of any type.

They may be old, but they’re mobile.

Dirk Nowitzki showed up looking like a latter-day Jeff Spicoli and acknowledged that like the free spirit of Fast Times at Ridgemont High he had a "summer-beach" look.

He did somehow find the restraint to not call anyone "dude."

Unlike his teammates, who perhaps aged during the summer, Nowitzki got younger. That’s what happens when you go through a process of kicking your girlfriend out of your house as she gets arrested for past transgressions, then sent to prison where she said she’s pregnant with your baby only to find out that, well, she’s not.

It takes away a few wrinkles and adds to your life expectancy.

"I feel good," Nowitzki said. "Obviously the news from a couple of weeks ago helped."

The Mavericks will start the season encouraged by the reality that they will have at least seven players who are 30 or older.

"I think having guys in their 30s is great because they have great experience," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "They understand situations. They understand magnitude. They’re terrific players."

If you are 30 or older and still playing in the NBA, you have to be pretty good. It’s a young man’s game and young men take jobs away from older men.

The age factor, however, is one that causes a few drive-by critics to doubt the Mavericks’ ability to compete for a championship, which, everything considered, is a step forward for the franchise.

Recall that last year, the previous head coach had departed after saying that it was a miracle that the 2007-08 Mavericks had made the playoffs. The team last year was not markedly improved, yet made the playoffs again.

No word on whether Carlisle walked on water during the summer.

A writer told Nowitzki on Monday that many people in the league believe the Mavericks are better with the additions of Shawn Marion, Tim Thomas and Drew Gooden.

But are they good enough to challenge teams led by Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James or Tim Duncan?

"We’re just going to have to see how it works out during the season," Nowitzki said. "I think we’re all going to fit in well, but we’ll wait and see how it goes. A lot of the great teams got better and made great moves, so we’re going to have to see how it works out. I think we can be right there."

No word on whether Dirk plans to cater his next dinner party with five barley loaves and two fish.

Successful NBA owners and general managers have a grand plan to compete for titles. It’s very simple: acquire talent.

Ideally, a team would look something like the 1990-91 Bulls with 27-year-old Michael Jordan and a pair of 25-year-olds — Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant.

Or maybe it looks like the 1999-2000 Lakers with 27-year-old Shaquille O’Neal and 21-year-old Kobe Bryant.

Or maybe it looks a little older.

"We went back and looked at Jordan’s ’98 team and everybody was like 50 years old on that team," Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said.

Actually, Jordan was 34, Pippen was 32 and Dennis Rodman was 36. Five of the top eight scorers on that team were older than 30.

But in trading for Marion, 31, signing him for four years, and giving the 36-year-old Kidd a three-year extension, the Mavericks have made a stand. They are going to rely on veterans who have been talented enough to stay in the league for a long time.

"The overriding issue is: Can they perform and do you have depth so you’re not wearing them out?" Cuban said. "Last year it was a bigger problem because we had no depth. This year we have Tim and Drew [Gooden], and we have guys we can bring off the bench."

Health is vital. Josh Howard missed 30 games with injuries last year and older players are obviously more susceptible to injuries.

If there is something that perhaps unperceptive cynics have overlooked, however, it is that most of the Mavericks 30-somethings are great athletes. Kidd may be 36, but he is still a world-class athlete.

Will the combination of veteran talent and a superstar with a huge distraction eliminated be good enough to compete with the great teams?

The Mavericks are betting their AARP cards that it will.

[lurker]

This article doesn't mention the best quote from the Mavs media day. "My sperm is getting slower, so eventually, I've got to trust somebody." - Dirk Nowitzki

[duncan228]

Nowitzki brings carefree look into Mavs’ season (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-nowitzki-newseason&prov=ap&type=lgns)
Schuyler Dixon

Dirk Nowitzki strolled back onto the scene Monday looking like a carefree surfer, his long, curly blond hair framing a wide smile.

The Mavericks forward even had a tan to boot, quite a departure from the ashen-faced All-Star who five months ago politely told reporters he didn’t want to talk about the arrest at his Dallas home of a former girlfriend who said she was pregnant with his child.

Dallas was days away from elimination in the second round of the playoffs by Denver when news broke of Cristal Taylor’s arrest on a theft-of-service warrant and a probation violation. The 7-footer couldn’t get home to his native Germany fast enough once the season was over, but he looked just as eager to be back on media day leading into his 12th NBA season.

“He looks like he just got off the beach. How can you not look happy?” said Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. “If I could grow my hair down to my shoulders and look like I just got finished surfing, what’s not to like? That’s just Dirk.”

The 38-year-old Taylor is now serving a four-year prison sentence in Missouri on the probation violation. Nowitzki’s attorney says prison records show Taylor isn’t pregnant, apparently clearing the way for Nowitzki to focus solely on basketball again.

First, though, he tried to answer the questions he didn’t want to address when the news was so fresh, although he says he still prefers to skip most of the details.

Nowitzki said he felt a “roller coaster” of emotions, including anger and sadness. Still, he was surprised to discover that the episode didn’t consume his thoughts the way he figured it would. Within weeks, he said he could make it through a day without dwelling on the messy breakup.

He said the support of Cuban, the Mavericks and his family helped him through the emotional times, then he was taken aback during the summer by countless letters of support from fans who wrote of similar experiences.

“Just reading that made me feel great. You’re not the only guy that went through a tough time in life,” Nowitzki said. “That was really special.”

Now, the 31-year-old former MVP said his goal is not to let the incident change him.

“I was really not the kind of guy that walked around and trusted everybody anyway. But it still happened,” Nowitzki said. “I’m not going to change who I am. I’ll always have fun with people. Obviously my goal is still to have a family sooner or later, so I’d better start trusting somebody here soon.”

Nowitzki’s mind is back on basketball after his first summer without playing competitively in about a decade. That included about a nine-week stretch of doing basically nothing, which Nowitzki acknowledged wasn’t by accident.

The Mavericks made some big changes while he was gone. The biggest move was maintaining the status quo by re-upping with point guard Jason Kidd for three years. But they also altered the dynamic of their lineup by trading for Shawn Marion to try to solve matchup problems they believe have dogged them in recent years.

Dallas also added Drew Gooden, and there’s talk of him becoming an offensive alternative to Erick Dampier at center.

Still, it all starts with Nowitzki, who averaged 36 points in the three games after Taylor’s arrest but couldn’t stop the Nuggets from rolling to a 4-1 series victory.

“I just think that showed me that I’m mentally tougher than a lot of people think,” Nowitzki said. “I played through that. I played through injuries. I may not be the most physically tough player, but I think mentally I’m right up there.”

Always protective of personal matters, Nowitzki doesn’t want to test his mental toughness that way again. While he most assuredly has the typical goals of shooting better, rebounding better and playing better defense, he offers a unique area where wants to improve.

“Hopefully I can do a better job of keeping my private life out of the media,” Nowitzki said.