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I was there last night for the home debut. Snuck down to seven rows behind the bench after halftime:
http://flickr.com/photos/fashionable...832083/detail/
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...303/index.html
A New Sheriff in Big D
In hot pursuit of an NBA le, the Mavericks dealt for a new leader in Jason Kidd. But is he too old to tame the wild West?
Jack McCallum
There's a kind of reverse age discrimination going on in the NBA these days, which should come as no surprise in a league that allows a player who hasn't suited up in two years to be re-signed and thrown into a trade. Suddenly 35 is the new 25. The Phoenix Suns parted with 29-year-old Shawn Marion to land center Shaquille O'Neal, who turns a creaky 36 on March 6. The Cleveland Cavaliers unloaded a pair of twentysomethings(Larry Hughes, 29, and Drew Gooden, 26) to lay claim to center Ben Wallace, 33, forward Joe Smith, 32, and swingman Wally Szczerbiak, who turns 31 on March 5. The San Antonio Spurs hoped to bolster their chances of repeating by acquiring 6' 9" forward Kurt Thomas and point guard Damon Stoudamire, 35 and 34, respectively.
But no franchise has put more on the line in this Anti-Youth Movement than the Dallas Mavericks, who, a half-season after achieving the league's best record, are not only entrusting their offense to a new face but also reshaping their iden y. In a seven-player swap on Feb. 19 they scraped the mold off all-but-retired forward Keith Van Horn, 32, and sent him to New Jersey with their point guard of the future, 25-year-old Devin Harris, and an energetic shot blocker, 26-year-old DeSagana Diop, to land a player who'll turn 35 before the playoffs. That the senior citizen is Jason Kidd -- he of the off-the-charts basketball IQ and 99 career triple doubles -- is hardly irrelevant, of course, but it doesn't diminish the stakes for Dallas. Comedy is Van Horn getting $4.3 million essentially for moving to Jersey for a couple of months, a no-show gig that would have delighted even Paulie Walnuts. No one, however, will be laughing in Big D if the trade doesn't deliver a le.
"We're out there on this one, I'll admit that," says Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, now 30 pounds and one building block lighter than he was last year at this time. The weight came off because of rehab for a hip replacement and the aerobic work he did to prepare for Dancing with the Stars; Harris went away because Dallas felt compelled to keep pace with the other dealmaking Western Conference contenders. A 6' 3" blur who is a tough cover for the quickest guards, Harris is an avid charge-taker and a recognized stalwart in checking Spurs point guard Tony Parker (who, by the way, says he is overjoyed that Harris bid bon voyage to the West, even if his replacement is a slam-dunk Hall of Famer).
Still, the Mavs (37-19 and fifth in the West through Sunday) felt they needed a more vocal leader and a more seasoned playmaker, so they were willing to place the ball -- and their future -- in Kidd's battle-tested hands. After watching forwards Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard battle fiercely to get their points, the team wanted to get them easier scoring opportunities, both in the running game (in which Kidd excels) and in a half-court setting (where most playoff games are won and lost). Moreover, Kidd's size (6' 4", 210 pounds) and intensity make the team stronger and more versatile on defense, and thus better equipped for switching on the perimeter.
"This is the biggest hit [financially] I've taken on a single trade ever," Cuban said last week. "Nothing even within shouting distance." He rubbed his face with a towel after a one-hour aerobics workout at the team's hotel. "But if I wanted to play it safe," he added with a smile, "I wouldn't be in sports."
Integrating Kidd with two months to go in the regular season is a more delicate matter than, say, integrating O'Neal, a third or fourth option for the Suns whose acquisition had more to do with bolstering their defense. But Kidd has made the transition once before. Drafted by Dallas with the second pick in 1994, he was sent to Phoenix in December '96 in a package for Sam Cassell, Michael Finley and A.C. Green. The Suns were 8-19 when Kidd arrived and went 32-23 thereafter, though they never reached contender status before Kidd was dealt to New Jersey in the summer of 2001.
The Mavs weren't exactly in bad straits before the deal, but they were running in place, and few players have more ways to jump-start a team than Kidd. The hoariest of hoops chestnuts -- he doesn't have to score to be effective -- seemingly was coined for him. Consider some of the things he did last Friday night in Dallas's 98-83 win over the Grizzlies in Memphis:
• On a routine first-quarter foray up the court, Kidd noticed that Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley Jr. was lollygagging with his dribble. So Kidd rushed to meet him, bodying up on Conley near midcourt and causing an eight-second violation (which, alas, went uncalled).
• In the second quarter Memphis forward Hakim Warrick seemingly had a clear path to the basket, but Kidd suddenly materialized and knocked him off-balance with a hard shot to the arm; Warrick missed both free throws. (Kidd manages to be physical without being considered dirty.)
• Minutes later Kidd noticed backcourt mate Jason Terry streaking to the basket from the right side. He whiplashed a one-bounce pass that never rose more than a foot above the floor and landed directly in Terry's hands for a layup.
But it's not the spectacular passes that define Kidd. Swingman Jerry Stackhouse, in particular, should benefit from quick post-ups in the transition offense. Run up the wing, establish position and Kidd will float the ball toward you at precisely the right time. "We just haven't had anybody who sees as much as he sees," says Stackhouse. "You might think, Aw, I'm not getting that pass. Well, now you are getting that pass. And you've got to be aware of it."
Baron Davis of the Golden State Warriors once said that his entire approach to the position changed after watching Kidd. "Jason always has his eyes up," said Davis. "A lot of point guards, myself included, start dribbling and look up later. Jason looks first and gets it upcourt with a pass."
Kidd's ability to get teammates an open look on the secondary break is nonpareil. He'll come steaming down the middle, conclude that a fast-break basket is not possible, veer off to one side to lull the defense to sleep and suddenly snap a pass to a weakside trailer. Nowitzki isn't a runner, but he's bound to collect such baskets in bunches the rest of this season, as he did twice on Friday night. With 3:26 remaining in the third quarter, Kidd had collected as many assists (12) as any Mav had in an entire game this season.
"Jason is even better than I expected," says Nowitzki. "A lot of players on this team pass the ball when you're open, but with Jason the ball's already on the way by the time you're open. He reads plays like nobody else."
Still, Kidd knows he has some work to do before he's fully up to speed. During timeouts he and assistant coach Joe Prunty often conference, with Kidd retracing the X's and O's of a second or third option he's still unfamiliar with. Even on the court Kidd defers when the situation demands it. Last Friday he signaled forward Josh Howard to utilize a back pick he set, but Howard, aware that the action was taking place on the weak side where Nowitzki was isolated, waved him off. "We're playing catch-up here," Kidd says, "and there's not much time. I'm asking questions constantly, trying to get in all the guys' heads, listening to all the coaches, trying to learn on the fly."
Hey, it's one big happy family. It usually is during the honeymoon period after a trade. (Szczerbiak would probably detail LeBron James's Hummer if asked, though one day soon Wally World will wake up and realize that he's not getting any of the big shots.) But a crucial aspect of the deal is how much autonomy coach Avery Johnson will give to Kidd. There is little doubt that the Little General -- himself a former point guard, who won a championship with the Spurs in 1999 -- was, to put it mildly, in Harris's ear. "Avery might've been good for Devin in the beginning," says an opposing coach who asked for anonymity, "but the kid had to get away from Dallas to really grow."
Johnson promises some accommodation for Kidd, who is, after all, already in the pantheon of NBA quarterbacks. "I'm going to help him get through this [early] period," says Johnson, "but I don't think I'll be screaming at him every play. The reason we got Jason is because he knows what to do."
But this is a headstrong point guard playing for a headstrong coach. "There are times," says Johnson, "I'm going to need him to manage this particular team different than what he did in New Jersey.
"We think Jason can actually get better," Johnson adds. "More than anything, he can be a little more selfish on the offensive end, find his spots on the floor to score, post up now and then. And we're going to help him get to that point."
At this stage in his career Kidd is probably thinking, I'm pretty happy with the way I play, thank you very much. Scoring has always been third, fourth or fifth on his to-do list, and that was the case through his first three games as a Maverick when he took only 19 shots. Kidd's reluctance to shoot coupled with an uncertain perimeter touch (his 36.6% accuracy from the field might partly explain his reluctance to hoist) have resulted in some peculiar stat lines over the years. His triple double totals are often all right around 10. And on a team with scorers such as Nowitzki, Howard, Terry and Stackhouse, but without the willing rebounding of Diop, Kidd could have a lot of four-point, 11-rebound, 17-assist evenings. (He averaged 7.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 12.3 assists in his first week with Dallas.)
Yet for all his skills, Kidd comes with more than a little baggage. He has a rep for being a clubhouse lawyer: Myriad sources confirm that he chased coach Byron Scott out of New Jersey despite the Nets' making consecutive Finals appearances in 2002 and '03. This season Kidd publicly asked to be traded in late January, never exactly criticizing coach Lawrence Frank but never gathering him to his bosom either. And that's not even touching on his off-court troubles: The Suns unloaded Kidd six months after his arrest on a misdemeanor domestic abuse charge against his wife, Joumana. (Kidd pleaded guilty to spousal abuse, was fined $200 and ordered to take anger management training.) Last summer the two went through a very public and messy divorce, with allegations of spousal abuse from both sides. And in December, Kidd was sued by a 23-year-old woman for allegedly groping and threatening her at a New York City nightclub. (The case is pending.)
For now, though, the Mavs are only concerned with his comportment on the court. It was completely natural to see Kidd, in his first game for Dallas, stride to midcourt for the captains' pregame meeting. Leading is second nature to him, which it is not for Nowitzki, the other co-captain by virtue of his being the tenured superstar. According to Peter Vecsey of the New York Post, Johnson asked management to trade Nowitzki because he was dissatisfied with the reigning MVP's leadership, and the Kidd deal was more about finding a new team leader than a new point guard. Various Mavs have issued denials, none more vociferously than Cuban. "Avery has never, ever come to me and asked me to trade a player," says Cuban. "And there has never been a discussion about trading Dirk."
Still, the Post story stung Nowitzki, who concedes that it isn't easy for an international player to become a team leader, saying, "There are little barriers you have to deal with -- cultural barriers, language barriers." (Asked if teammates have bothered to learn any German, Nowitzki says, "Nothing beyond gesundheit.") "I've been trying to find my own way of leading," he adds. "I don't give speeches. I say things when I feel them. But I try to lead by example. And two years ago that brought us all the way to the Finals, so it can't be too bad."
Not everyone in Mavericks Nation feels that way, as Nowitzki knows. He took a lot of the blame for Dallas's collapse in 2006 (when it led the Miami Heat two games to none and then lost four straight in the Finals) and almost all the blame for last season's first-round loss to the eighth-seeded Warriors, the biggest playoff upset in NBA history. Should the Mavericks not reach the Finals this spring, the backlash from dealing Harris will be enormous and the team's window of opportunity reduced to the size of a mail slot. Would the Mavs consider Kidd's leadership reason enough to give him an extension on top of the $21.4 million that he's due next season in the final year of his contract? (The Nets said no to an extension last fall, leading to Kidd's ballyhooed one-game "strike" on Dec. 5.) And even if he gets a new deal, would Kidd and Nowitzki, 29, be able to keep Dallas ahead of up-and-coming, younger le hopefuls like the Los Angeles Lakers and the New Orleans Hornets?
But those are worries for the future. The one-man cavalry that has arrived at Nowitzki's door for this season's stretch run comes none too soon, for the compe ion has never been more intense. The Mavs hope it will be Kidd's play that gets them to the Finals, but it sure won't be kid's play, not in the Western Conference, where at week's end the top nine teams were bunched within 5 1/2 games. So look to Dallas, and to Phoenix, too, to see if those who are long in the tooth can lead the way, or if the West is indeed no country for old men.
I was there last night for the home debut. Snuck down to seven rows behind the bench after halftime:
http://flickr.com/photos/fashionable...832083/detail/
Nice pic Findog.
Did you get to stay in that seat the rest of the game?
Yeah, the ushers are really on top of checking tickets before and during the first half. What we always end up doing is scoping out seats that are unclaimed. Generally if somebody hasn't made it to their seats by halftime, then they're not coming. At about the 1:30 mark of the 2nd quarter, we head down the escalator. Once halftime arrives, the ushers can't see you sneak in with all of the crosstraffic. Watched the whole second half in $150 seats. Did the same thing twice already this year, when we played Minnesota and Milwaukee.
Kidd wasn't brough to Dallas for "leadership" and "toughness". He was brought here because we are a Dirk tripple teaming away from being knocked out of the playoffs again. Our offense was horrible, based purely on isos. We needed more than that, and that is why Kidd was brought here. Plus, now we can finally play Jet as a 2 without being worried on the defensive end, where Kidd will guard the bigger guy.
I didn't do this game, but ive done the exact same thing several times before. its fun.
Yup. I agree completely. I think Dirk's leadership is just fine. But its hard to lead a team when no one hits their shots, and you are getting double and triple teamed every play because no one else hits their shots, because the offensive system stagnates way too easily.
he was never good enough before and won't be now. There is a reason a supposed great star is moved multiple times, he has great stats but also many deficiences and the top PGS will abuse him in West and would have for years.
please shut the up.
Have you seen Dirk's body language this year? and now that Kidd is here? It's night and day. Dirk's shot selection is different whether or not Kidd is passing him the ball. A lot has changed, and it's not all what Kidd is doing on the court.
The main reason Kidd was brought in definitely wasn't just "leadership". But it absolutely played a part in the decision to get him. Don't tell me that there wasn't any concern over the fact that Dirk was moping his way through the entire season until now.
Dirk is surely energized. All time high really. And he is getting much better shots. But we didn't lose in the playoffs because we lacked leadership and toughness. That psyche talk is for the national media. We lost because we had no idea how to move the ball around once Dirk got swarmed.
Section 117 has been very good to me.
Yup. I have always said that. Back since they lost to Miami, that their issues were not defensive like people said... it was that their offense would become very stagnant at terrible times, leading to lots of bad shots, turnovers, and easy buckets for the opposing teams.
Stretch, i don't know why you, Findog, and Mono don't post on dallas-mavs.com
We have had some really good talks over there, and for about a year everybody kept saying that offense was the problem. It was the same against GS too. The defense was fine anytime we got eleminated.
i have actually said it was the main reason we lost in 05 against the suns, we would become very stagnant in the 4th quarters where Stack and Fin would just jack up shots.
yup yup. agreed.
as for posting elsewhere... me and mono used to post on another mavs/cowboys board, but it got shut down for no reason. so we found this board, and have become addicted since. lots of fun discussions go on here.
I like ST as well. I 'advertise' it on dallas-mavs.com as well. But you learn a lot more about the Mavs there, then you will here.
I'm registered under this name at dallas-mavs.com but all I've ever done is lurk there. I like dallasbasketball's messageboards the best of all the mav boards.
Really???? I think they are the most homerish. That's why I never went there.
Yea. When it comes to keeping up with the Mavs, I listen to The Ticket all day at work, and I'm always checking up for news on the FW Star Telegram. But I will check that board out here soon.
Point guards and guys with the ball in their hands lead teams. Bigs are the backbone but without the point and the guys with the ball in their hands they cannot lead by themselves.
The bad thing is that dirk is such a unique player that folks think he should either:
- Stay on the blocks constantly --ala tim
- Stay on the wings and drive constantly -- ala Lebron.
It's unreasonable in both cases.
If the spurs didn't have manu/tony (manu mainly) imo...we wouldn't be talking about repeats.
Dude is here. This man is a legend on dallas-mavs! How many posts do you have there? 30 00 + I think.
good post. havent seen you here much, but welcome. hope you have a thick skin and a good sense of humor. if so, this is the best board around.
oh, and most all suns fans (well, Jmarkjohns is one of the few that is actually cool and reasonable though) are total ing re s. have fun owning them. thats probably the best part of this board. that, and aggravating the overly-sensitive spursfans (there are a lot of mad cool spurs fans too though).
It seems more active than dallas-mavs.com
The db.com posters seem anything but homerish, in my view they tend to be very pessimistic and cynical, which is about par for the course with our franchise history.
Xylus, JMark and OldDirt are good Suns fans. I might be leaving somebody else out, but that's pretty much it.
Same here though I like the vbulletin skins more. DB.com allows more freedom to speak your mind.
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