New York Post columnist Filip Bondy leads off the pot-stirring with his latest article on Mark Cuban. In the article Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse are quoted saying in essence they'd rather Cuban wasn't so vocal with the refs. Lets concede Mark Cuban isn't perfect. I'll even give you he's way over the top and a tad bit exhausting at times. Nothing irritates me more than the Mavs fan who says, "He just needs to sit down and shut up over there and stop yelling at the refs. He's costing us calls!" Try and remember a few things before you're even tempted to think like that. For starters the Mavericks are 56-11 (42-4 in their last 46) this season with the best record in the NBA, coming off a season where they made it to the NBA finals. The Mavericks have 7 straight 50 plus win seasons, which translates to 7 straight playoff appearances. In the last 7 years the Mavericks have transformed into a coveted destination for NBA free agents. Under Don Carter and Ross Perot, Jr. you could never say any of those things, but boy they sure were quiet. Here's the way I look at Mark, it's like dating a really hot stripper. She may embarass you out in public a time or two (those of you who have dated a stripper know what I'm talking about), but at the end of the day there isn't a guy alive who isn't envious of you. Think about that for a minute. How many fans are out there of other teams across the league who would trade us owners in a heartbeat if they could? In summary, with Mark Cuban occasional over the top antics without Mark Cuban none of it matters when you're at the bottom of the league looking up.
Washington Post staff writer Michael Lee enters the fray next with his Tuesday column on Dirk's mental toughness late in games. Simply put this is much ado about nothing. Dirk gives a candid admission he gets tense in pressure situations. Okay, so has every other basketball player who has ever lived. I don't get the story here other than a media fabricated one. Nothing against Lee he's just reporting what Dirk relayed during the interview and on the heels of the Phoenix game it sounds juicy. There's just no substance to it. Dirk has yet to really define his clutch status for his career (for pete's sake he's only 28 years old). I also seem to remember him hitting a pretty big shot on December 28th at home versus the Suns. Not to mention in the 3rd quarter of game 5 in the Western Conference Finals when the Mavericks' chances and season were slipping away Dirk made a pretty solid accounting of himself.
After the disappointing loss to Phoenix the Mavs have rattled off 4 in a row so everyone has come down off the ledge. In fact the pendulum has started swinging the other way again. I heard the Musers asking this morning will the Mavs reach a fourth double digit win streak this year? The Dirk lost the MVP stigma still remains from the Phoenix game however. I couldn't disagree more, but I guess that depends on your definition of an MVP since the NBA doesn't do it for us. Alot of people think it's the most valuable player to their respective team. The problem with that is you can wind up giving the MVP to a guy like Andre Iguodala because where would the 76ers be without him? The other problem I see with the MVP is the tendency to factor in previous years into the decision making process. The fact that Steve Nash has won the MVP the past two years should have nothing to do with the MVP of the 2006-07 season. Yet, you'll still hear people say if you gave it to him last year I don't see how you cannot give it to him this year when all of his numbers are up. You also shouldn't reverse discriminate against Nash with the flawed logic he won it the last 2 years lets give it to somebody new this year. The MVP should come down to if you could pick any player to start a franchise with based on this year's performance (not on potential, not on who's younger, not on scoring averages or anything else) who would you go with? Winning should play a factor in the selection because obviously the player who's team won alot of games during that season was doing something right. For my money the player who did the most to lead his team this season and who I'd want to start up a team with (based on this season's performance only) is Dirk Nowitzki. Nowitzki has played through pain, he's given the Mavs scoring when they needed scoring, he's gotten rebounds when they needed rebounds, and the most telling he's averaging fewer field goal attmepts and a career high in assists. Remember back in 99-00 when Dirk was just coming into his own and critics said he'll never be the next Bird he can't pass out of the double team like Bird could. Well he may not be Bird (unfair comparison to begin with), but Dirk is passing out of the double team and just passing well period.
Everyone knows especially Mavericks fans Charles Barkley doesn't like us and he certainly doesn't respect us. Yesterday on ESPN 103.3FM Sir Charles said he doesn't think the Mavericks have enough to get past the Spurs. I really shouldn't dignify that foolishness with a response, but I will say this. Maybe someone should tell Sir Charles this is the 2006-07 Dallas Mavericks not the 2004-05 Mavericks and they'll be playing the 2006-07 San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs not the 2004-05 Spurs. Nuff said.
Charles Barkley shows off his dance moves
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