Mavericks' now-richer superstar has been busy on, off court since Finals
10:15 PM CDT on Saturday, October 7, 2006
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
Dirk Nowitzki's summer was pretty routine, as long as your idea of routine is telling the man who signs your paycheck to sit down and shut up, then extracting $60 million out of his bank account.
Not that Mark Cuban won't be getting his money's worth. Nowitzki figures to be one of the NBA's best players for the duration of his contract, which goes through 2010-11.
Nowitzki and his teammates begin preseason play Tuesday night in Oklahoma City against the New Orleans Hornets – the start of what Nowitzki and Co. hope is a long run in 2006-07.
If this season is as entertaining and unpredictable as the last year has been for the Mavericks superstar, that would be saying something. The off-season alone has been wild. Not long after the Miami Heat's 4-2 win in the NBA Finals, Nowitzki called out Cuban, saying that the owner has to "learn how to control himself as well as the players do ... He's got to improve in that area and not yell at the officials the whole game. I don't think that helps us."
Nowitzki is the one person in the organization who felt comfortable saying such things about Cuban's over-exuberance during the Finals. Three months later, Nowitzki signed a three-year contract extension worth roughly $60 million. He and Cuban have never been on better terms, both say.
"Mark and I never had any problems," Nowitzki says. "He knows where I stand. We talk all the time about stuff. There's never been a problem. The stuff I said needed to be said, I think. We'll go from there and see how [this] season goes."
Nowitzki was quick to add that the Mavericks didn't lose the Finals because of Cuban's antics. "[To say he was a] distraction is a bit much," he says.
Things won't be much different this season. Cuban will still be in his baseline seats, hovering near the Mavericks huddle. He's the most hands-on owner in sports, and his omnipresence isn't going to change.
Still, it was newsworthy that Nowitzki, who has established himself as an annual MVP contender, would talk openly about his owner the way he did. The 7-footer was no different than anybody else. He saw the way Cuban was working referees, the media and anybody else who would listen to try to spin things the Mavericks' way. That's what he does.
But Nowitzki also knows it wasn't Cuban who fouled Dwyane Wade on the critical play in Game 5. It was Nowitzki. It wasn't Cuban who called for the timeout in the same game before Wade's second free throw instead of after it. It was Josh Howard.
The bottom line is, the Mavericks weren't ready to win the championship last season. This season, they believe, could be different.
Nowitzki has returned from a summer in which he played for Germany in the World Championships and has assured the Mavericks that he still feels fresh and ready to roll. It's time to let go.
"Last season's over now, and you have to start over again," Nowitzki says. "We have a bunch of new players, and it's going to be a fun year. I think we have a great team, a very deep team. Hopefully we'll have a lot of wins and not a lot of injuries and we'll have a great chance to be there again."
And as for his stamina after another summer of basketball?
"I took some time off after the worlds," he says. "I didn't feel that great at the worlds. I feel great now. Over the last couple years, we lost earlier and that gave me a little more time over the summer. This summer was pretty short."
But Nowitzki has committed to playing for Germany through the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. His busy routine will not change anytime soon. At 28, he doesn't worry about the mileage piling up on his legs, even though he's entering his ninth NBA season and he's already played more than 25,000 minutes in the regular season and playoffs.
"As long as I still have fun doing it, it's all right," he says. "My body's holding up so far. I never really had a major injury. A big dream of mine is the Olympics. I've never been, and it's a big dream that I want to fulfill. Hopefully [I'll] be a part of the Beijing Games. After that, I'll probably take a rest from the international game. Especially if we keep going back to the Finals, it's a pretty short summer."
That's a problem Nowitzki and Cuban would be glad to deal with every off-season.
Translation: He is pissed and going to prove the world why hes a true superstar and why he is leading us to a le this year!!!!
Just answer the question: Why are you referring to yourself in the 3rd person?
Nobody seems to doubt that he's a star -- least of all NBA officials, who are ultimately the only ones who matter.Translation: He is pissed and going to prove the world why hes a true superstar and why he is leading us to a le this year!!!!
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