SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – For those who get off on me being slapped silly, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban branded my disclosure that Avery Johnson broached trading Dirk Nowitzki a “ridiculous assertion.”
He was a trifle more tender in an e-mail soon after reading the column than he was in his blog that labeled my source “an out-and-out liar.”
My response below, in essence, is identical to the one I sent Cuban.
(Those Mavs fans who dutifully believe his spin that Avery never wanted to trade Dirk following last season’s first-round eviction and are convinced my report was malicious and make-believe should reflect on who has more to lose or gain by the truth being told.)
I told Cuban I respected his public position. Somehow, I didn’t think he’d confess, “Yeah, it’s true, my coach had lost faith in Dirk and felt he was a terrible leader.”
Of course, Cuban was going to deny, deny, deny and belittle, belittle, belittle my source. I fully expected as much. But when you’ve got the goods, you can’t be bullied.
Fact remains, I stressed, “My source is infallible and my info is impeccable,” that is, unless Avery was merely venting to confidants, which I find impossible to accept.
Somebody had to be blamed for the Mavs’ humiliating upset and, for some odd reason, Avery, like every other head coach, pointed a crooked little finger at Dirk, the strength coach and President Bush, but never at himself.
Meanwhile, how about Cuban saying he’d never go after P. J. Brown (unlike the Hornets who are in passionate pursuit) because he has the same agent as Devean George.
How childish! The Mavs need help at center and he says he’s considering Justin Williams, Dale Davis or Jamaal Magloire.
They’re bound to sweat Shaq and Yao and Duncan and Bynum and Chandler and Camby.
How disingenuous for an owner to deride a player for wanting to keep his Bird Rights. He even sold it to local media there was no advantage for George to own Bird Rights, because he’s not good enough for anyone to want to give him any significant number anyway.
Truth is that even if no one wants to give George a big number, he can cash in on a sign-and-trade because of the Bird Rights.
(FYI: You cannot do a sign-and-trade using mid-level exception money.)
So, here we have a player who stands up for his rights and that’s wrong, but when a team wants to move a guy for its purposes, it’s OK, it’s not personal, it’s strictly business.
So much for playing the role of Mr. Good Guy Ballroom Dancer! Will the real Mark Cuban please stand up?
Dallas-Fort Worth media maintains Jason Kidd will look better when he is more comfy and takes more than six shots. Evidently, they don’t have access to a dish or cable or a box score. The same people contend Kidd will make Erick Dampier a real threat now. Good idea, that is, if Jason’s capable of catching it for Erick as well as passing it to him.
Should the Mavs fail to lock up a halfway competent center, it’ll be bad for Dirk if he constantly has to change positions. Then again, maybe Avery plans to revert to “Nellie Ball” and turn the Mavs loose with Dirk at the five and Jason running a full-court offense. They won’t guard, but with Jason Terry, Jerry Stackhouse and Josh Howard, they’d score a ton. Brilliant! Just when the West is getting bigger, the Mavs go back to being small. Cuban dumps Don Nelson and then opts for Nellie Ball.
In the meantime, don’t look now but the Mavs and Warriors could wind up fighting it out for the eighth spot unless Dallas gets better fast.
In retrospect, maybe Avery would’ve been better off holding out Kidd against the Hornets. You know, give him a couple more days to get acclimated before using him against Memphis (Friday’s victim) and Minnesota; most likely, Dallas was going to lose in New Orleans, anyway.
FYI: The Mavs lost there a few weeks ago with Devin Harris, and Chris Paul got 30 that night, too.
This just in: Column contributor Cary Bowen knows one drug Roger Clemens never took for sure: Truth serum.
To me, the most fascinating NBA deadline trade was Von Waver for Taurean Green.
Imagine the conference call reaction of league lawyer Joel Litvin, who knows the game and can follow the breadcrumbs:
“Excuse me? Ah, I think we have a bad connection.”
For weeks there were all sorts of reports claiming the Nuggets were hot to trot for Ron Artest and Mike Miller (either/or) and that Eduardo Najera, Linas Kleiza, J.R. Smith, Nene and Fatty Taylor would vaporize in one deal or another.
Yet when the dust settled Denver’s solitary exchange was with Portland and involved two idling, minimally-compensated point pretenders, one sired by Sidney Green; let’s give it up for Brooklyn in the house!
I mean, what was that all about? Was it worth the paperwork? Why, bother?
Discovering the thought process behind the off the wall switch of Waver for Green interested me far more than the Houston-New Orleans swap affecting Bonzi Wells, Mike James and Bobby Jackson. As if you already didn’t know, I’m weird that way.
As it turns out, following exhaustive research, the Green-Waver transaction saved the Nuggets about 350G, doubled when luxury tax is taken into account. What a shock to learn that money motivated this arrangement.
“No, that’s not true,” according to a Nugget in the know. “It was mostly done because we like Green a bit and think he may have some chance down the road as a secondary contributor.
“At the same time, his non-guarantee language next season gives us a little more flexibility than Wafer’s did.”
Gaining such knowledge helps me sleep better at night.
Who would’ve expected Isiah to outlast Fidel Castro?
Certainly not Fulgencio Batista.