Mavericks wait is 'almost' over - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

kriD · 10-03-2006, 02:39 AM

Mavericks wait is 'almost' over

By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News

For the last three months, Avery Johnson heard one word way too often.

It became so prevalent – and nagged at the Mavericks' coach so much – that he decided to turn it into a rallying cry for training camp.

"This year, I heard this one word that I hate now: almost," Johnson said Monday. "That's all I heard the whole summer – 'almost, coach.'

"We got to find a way to get that out of our system. That's our theme. How do we go from almost to all?"

From almost to all. Maybe it's not a Hollywood script. But it's a suitable game plan for the Mavericks as they begin training camp today at the University of North Texas.

On Monday, they mugged for the cameras and hyped the new season at media day. The prevailing thought is that they have unfinished business. Dirk Nowitzki and Co. can't help but feel that they lost a great opportunity when Miami crawled out of a 2-0 hole and beat the Mavericks 4-2 in the NBA Finals.

"That's the one thing that's on your mind the most," Nowitzki said. "And you never know in this league if you'll make it back again. We had a heck of a year and you learn to appreciate it more over time. But a good year is not enough. We want a great year and, hopefully, a ring."

The close call in June was the main reason owner Mark Cuban, president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson and Johnson decided not to tinker with the top seven players.

Beyond that, they added key role players: Devean George, Anthony Johnson, Austin Croshere and Greg Buckner.

As camp opens, the process of finding out who fits in as the fifth starter and who earns playing time alongside Jerry Stackhouse and Erick Dampier off the bench begins.

And, as Cuban said, getting rid of lingering feelings from last season is a crucial step in the development of this team.

"It was two weeks before I'd walk out of the house," Cuban said of how tough the summer was. "The best analogy is it's like breaking up with the girl that you dated for four or five years. Everybody that sees you asks you about her. 'How's she doing? Well, we're not together anymore.' That's exactly what it feels like."

It should help that three of their newcomers have NBA Finals experience – George, Anthony Johnson and Croshere.

"I can relate," George said. "We won three, took a year off and went back to the Finals and got beat by Detroit. Almost is hard to deal with and hard to recover [from]. But you have to push through it."

Nelson added that the feeling the Mavericks still have after falling just short last year is most certainly a motivating factor.

"You feel like you got socked in the stomach," he said. "Usually, you go through a tough loss and you don't have time to sit on it. But I have a better appreciation for what they go through in the NFL, where that thing's in your belly for a week. This thing was in our gut for three months. So we are itching to get back on that floor."

kriD · 10-03-2006, 02:50 AM

All-Access Pass

Day 1: Mavs Meet The Media

By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com

Dirk Nowitzki opened this season the same way he closed the last one: By carelessly and violently destroying official team equipment. That and a skillion other assorted notes from Monday's Mavs Media Day:

• First of all, the new ball sux. It's slick, difficult to palm, features a faded-orange color, and is rumored (according to Mavs gossip) to have less "give'' when shot off the glass.

"I can't palm it,'' Jason Terry said, as he demonstrated just that. "It's too soft. It's too slick. It's like an indoor-outdoor ball. Man, I had one of those when I was 6. And I never used it, either.''

The official word from the NBA is that the new sphere "is a microfiber composite with moisture management that provides superior grip and feel throughout the course of a game."

Yeah, but did the NBA forget to ask the actually users of the actual ball what they think?

My media brother Skin gets credit for the ball-related line of the day, suggesting that maybe the NBA should continue the theme by installing chain-link nets.

• Nowitzki was chipper, his still-short hair starting to grow out, his willingness to visit with the media punctuated by him grabbing a microphone that was situated too low and pulling up on it, busting the electronic equipment.

At least it wasn't an exercise bike.

During Nowitzki's state-of-The-UberMan address, he was asked if he's tired from a short offseason (what with the NBA Finals appearance and then Germany's FIBA Worlds run).

"I'm 28, not 20,'' Dirk said as a sort of acknowledgement, "so I can't be up all night. ...''

Dirk froze, and chuckled, apparently with his own private Levitra commercial running through his head.

• You'll be happy to learn that Erick Dampier still doesn't look happy.

I mean that in the happiest way; Damp's gruff demeanor may hide a Mary Poppinsesque heart. But I eavesdropped when some ABC-TV people were asking him on-camera questions, and, well, Damp is Damp.

"Who's your current favorite player in the NBA?'' the ABC wonk asked.

Now, to this same question, other Mavs came up with something. (Convenient reply? JET said, "Dirk Nowitzki.'') But Erick pondered the question for a loooong time -- not trying to be difficult, I don't think, simply pondering -- before he finally replied.

"Um, I don't have current favorite player in the NBA,'' Dampier mumbled.

• Some of have wondered why the Mavs are bothering to travel to Denton for their four-day training camp, which commences Tuesday with two-a-days. What's the point of making the players drive 45 miles away? Will the Denton experience be a spartan one? Will players be coming back and forth to Dallas, or will they hang in Denton between workouts at, like, the mall? Or Grandy's?

The Mavs say that besides the ready availability of five courts (which should come in handy with 18 players, us bunch of media dorks, and the usual host of five dozen-or-so assistant coaches), they want camp to serve as a "bonding experience.''

So maybe the fellas will hang together at the Denton Mall, after all.

• Jason Terry performed for the cameras in the requisite arms-spread-like-an-airplane pose, told interviewers that the NBA legend he most compares his game to is Isiah Thomas (who knew?), swears that he's a terrible dancer (I somehow doubt it) and was more than willing to shill for the network by recording some sound bites.

"You're watching the NBA on NBC!'' JET squealed.

Which was good and all, but. ... the NBA is on ABC.

• FISHELLANEOUS: Almost without missing a beat, the legendary No. 44 once owned by the legendary Shawn Bradley now fits the legend-to-be Austin Croshere, who at 6-10 can't quite fill out the length but has the pigment part down pat. ... I remember Pops Mensah-Bonsu looking rather slight on TV. In person, he appears to be every bit his listed 6-9, 240. ... Free-agent rookie Juan Jose Berea might be stretching things to call himself 6-0. ... In terms of players' moods, there is no detectable hangover from having lost the NBA Finals. I say that, but at the same time, what was I expecting? A dozen Mavs 911 "depression'' phone-ins in by Kim Etheredge? ... It's early, and this is mostly likely a scary first experience for a kid, but at this point, it would be fair to say that top rookie Maurice Ager plans to let his playing do his talking. "Cooperative but reticent'' is how I would characterize Mo. ... Mark Cuban met the press featuring a nice haircut. ... The battle for Most Jovial Mav? After Day 1, DeSagana Diop and Jason Terry will get competition from new player development staffer Popeye Jones.

• Mavs President of Utopia Donnie Nelson and most other management folks left this day's stage for the players. Donnie stayed low-profile, but when he did greet media types with whom he is friendly, the exchange frequently followed the same path: A smile, a hug, and then a saluation that seemed quite fitting for the first day of a marathon NBA season.

"Here we go again!'' Donnie said, time after time.

nikeball · 10-03-2006, 03:36 AM

great read!!

HexNBA · 10-03-2006, 05:40 AM

What-ifs still haunt Mavericks
By ART GARCIA
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

DALLAS - Almost.

The word haunts Mavericks coach Avery Johnson. Jason Terry sighs at its mere mention. No one remembers who finished second, reminded Dirk Nowitzki. Devean George wasn't even on the team last season, but he's all too familiar with the word.

It's synonymous with the Mavs of 2005-06. It's what the NBA championship runners-up are determined to change.

"How do we go from almost to all?" is Johnson's quest as training camp opens today at the University of North Texas.

The Mavs will hold two-a-day workouts the next three days, leading to a team scrimmage Friday on the Denton campus. It's the first camp away from American Airlines Center since the AAC opened in 2001.

The theme for 2006-07 is taking that final step. The Mavs won't take it, Johnson said, by skipping steps along the way.

"You don't go from Oct. 2 or 3 and think about the Finals," Johnson said Monday during media day at the AAC. "There are a lot of things that have to go right for you."

Even if they tried, the Mavs couldn't forget all that went wrong in the final four games against Miami. On vacation in the Bahamas, an overzealous Heat fan kidded Terry by calling him "D-Wade" at every turn.

Defending the Western Conference title against San Antonio and a host of improved contenders, and holding the trophy that Dwyane Wade already has is the Mavs' only objective.

"The goal is no secret: to win a championship," Terry said. "You've got to play who's on your schedule, and we're playing everybody, so it doesn't matter who's gunning for whom. Our mind-set doesn't change."

George, one of four playoff-tested veterans added to an untouched nucleus, said "almost" was hard to deal with after the Los Angeles Lakers fell to Detroit in the 2004 Finals. It didn't matter the Lakers had won three titles earlier in the decade.

Getting another shot isn't guaranteed.

"That's really the one thing that's on our mind the most," Nowitzki said. "We lost a great opportunity to win. You never know in this league if you'll ever make it again."

No-go Europe

Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns face Philadelphia in an exhibition game in Germany next week. Something about that just doesn't make sense to that country's most successful basketball export.

"For me it's not understandable to have a game in Germany and we're not there," said Dirk Nowitzki.

The Mavs won't be headed overseas anytime soon, owner Mark Cuban reiterated Monday. He said it just doesn't make financial or competitive sense.

Nowitzki hasn't given up hope of a homecoming.

"I would love to be there and represent the Mavericks in my home country," he said. "...We go to beautiful Pittsburgh this year."

The Mavs play Cleveland in Pittsburgh this preseason. Cuban is from the Pittsburgh area.

mary · 10-03-2006, 07:19 AM

Quote:

"I'm 28, not 20,'' Dirk said as a sort of acknowledgement, "so I can't be up all night. ...''

Dirk froze, and chuckled, apparently with his own private Levitra commercial running through his head.

Ha!

mqywaaah · 10-03-2006, 08:54 AM

Good Stuff!

Underdog · 10-03-2006, 09:54 AM

fluid.forty.one · 10-03-2006, 12:16 PM

YES THE FREQUENT ARTICLES ARE BACK!!! preseason must be starting soon

vinylstar · 10-03-2006, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kriD

I mean that in the happiest way; Damp's gruff demeanor may hide a Mary Poppinsesque heart. But I eavesdropped when some ABC-TV people were asking him on-camera questions, and, well, Damp is Damp.

"Who's your current favorite player in the NBA?'' the ABC wonk asked.

Now, to this same question, other Mavs came up with something. (Convenient reply? JET said, "Dirk Nowitzki.'') But Erick pondered the question for a loooong time -- not trying to be difficult, I don't think, simply pondering -- before he finally replied.

"Um, I don't have current favorite player in the NBA,'' Dampier mumbled.

I'm not sure if its the boredom at work getting to me, but I laughed uncontrollably when I read that.

MK

Underdog · 10-03-2006, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fluid.forty.one

YES THE FREQUENT ARTICLES ARE BACK!!! preseason must be starting soon

Hehe - I've been averaging 8-10 posts per day, but since there hasn't been much to talk about, they've mostly consisted of "LOL", "

", and "everyone but the Mavs sucks!"

Maybe I can come across as having an intelligent opinion if there's actually something tangible to have an opinion about!

craggmac · 10-03-2006, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Even if they tried, the Mavs couldn't forget all that went wrong in the final four games against Miami. On vacation in the Bahamas, an overzealous Heat fan kidded Terry by calling him "D-Wade" at every turn.

I would so punch somebody in the face.