Mavericks a model franchise

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Gasp! Mavs becoming NBA's model franchise
Feb. 13, 2002
By Mike Kahn
SportsLine.com Executive Editor

"In a couple of years, that's where we want to be. A team that has the talent and the versatility they have."

A couple of years back, such a statement would have been unfathomable when another general manager was talking about the Dallas Mavericks. But as Seattle SuperSonics general manager Rick Sund contemplated his young team during a tough six-point loss to the Mavs, he knew exactly what he was talking about.

One look at the Mavs these days, and it's understandable why other GMs salivate over the prospects. There is point guard Steve Nash, just becoming an All-Star at 28; two-time All-Star swingman Michael Finley, not quite 29; and Dirk Nowitzki, the 7-foot do-it-all frontcourt player who at 24 is coming off his first All-Star Game and there are whispers of him being a bigger version of Larry Bird. The rest of the team is comprised of players who can excel at multiple positions on the floor.

Does any of this make sense when you're talking about the Mavericks? Before Broadcast.com billionaire Mark Cuban bought the team in January of 2000, they spent more than a decade as the NBA's tired and poor, wretched refuse yearning to be freed from their oppressive state. Don Nelson was set to retire as coach, with inclinations toward staying on as general manager as his son Donnie took over as coach.

"A lot of success is just mindset," Cuban said.

More of it has been the development of young talent by a coaching staff that is as deep as the roster and rules changes that benefited their style of play. Nelson brought in veterans Danny Manning and Tim Hardaway, the aging former All-NBA point guard whom Nelson drafted at Golden State, center Evan Eschmeyer and defensive swingman Adrian Griffin.

They just missed the playoffs after Cuban bought the team in 2000. He changed the mindset with lavish upgrades to the locker room, luggage, travel style and general signs of love for his players. They were 31-19 after a 9-23 start that season, then rolled through last season at 53-29 and upset Utah in the first round of the playoffs. The win in Seattle on Tuesday night was their franchise-record eighth in a row on the road, but the streak was snapped Wednesday night in Portland. Still, they boast an NBA-best 18-8 mark on their opponent's floor. At 36-15, they are 120-63 since Cuban bought the team, an impressive .656 winning percentage.

"It's awesome what's going on here," said Nowitzki, who shares the Nelsons' initials and could pass for Don Nelson III. "Playing every night in the Mavericks' offense has allowed me to develop my ballhandling and shooting skills. It would be stupid for me to take big centers into the post and our style allows me to take the ball off the rim and create offense all over the floor. All of us can. We love playing this way and it shows by the way we win and we're never really out of any game."

Nelson's generally unorthodox run-and-gun style with five players essentially just playing motion basketball suits the talent. Although Finley and Nash have exploded on the scene too, it is Nowitzki who is drawing all of the attention.

It's pretty tough to miss a 7-footer taking the ball off the glass on the fly, then pulling up for a 3-pointer. Hardaway calls him the most amazing player he's seen that size, and his leaps of improvement have caught even Nelson off guard.

"He's improved as fast as anybody I've ever been around," Nelson said. "If he couldn't run, I'd walk it up because he's got skills. I like his skills. I know he enjoys playing that way. The fact that I like to play that way and he fits in makes it easy for us."

Nonetheless, the past year for Nelson has been a combination of nightmares and blessings. He had prostate cancer surgery last January and last month his wife Joy had breast cancer surgery. Both were detected early enough that the prognosis is excellent for the Nelsons, and Nowitzki showed his adoration for the couple during last month's scare by shaving his head and the Mavericks auctioned off his blond locks in 45 baggies with the proceeds going to breast cancer research.

"This is the same style of basketball and family atmosphere we had on the Warriors," Hardaway said. "It's a fun way to play basketball and we play hard and with passion. As long as you show Nellie that, he's fine with you."

Often times, it's tough to tell with Nelson, who can be irascible and charming from one second to the next. Nash, a native of South Africa who was raised in Victoria, British Columbia, learned the hard way. Acquired from Phoenix after the 1997-98 season for the draft rights to Pat Garrity, plus another No. 1 pick in 1999, and former NBA players Bubba Wells and Martin Muursepp, Nash wasn't an overnight success.

It took a while for the former Santa Clara star to get in sync after two years of erratic playing time behind Jason Kidd with the Suns, and his aggressive, sometimes reckless style took some getting used to for everybody. A rash of minor injuries also slowed his progress initially.

"It took time," Nash said. "I don't think Nellie trusted me at first, but once I proved to him that I can do what I wanted to do and what he wanted me to do, he just let me be me with the ball. It has allowed me to be an All-Star and lead us to the playoffs and now we have to take the next step."

That would be actually competing for the Western Conference title against the defending champion Lakers, who have beaten the Mavs 40 of the past 43 games dating back to the 1990-91 season.

"We're fine ... just a Shaquille O'Neal away from winning the title," Nelson said sarcastically.

In reality, this is the most different style of team in the NBA, if only because the players are so multicultural. At one point during their win over the Sonics, they had players from five different countries on the floor at the same time ... including Chicagoan Finley, Nowitzki (Germany), Nash (Canada), Wang ZhiZhi (China) and Eduardo Najera (Mexico).

The concern really is having the power game to win in the playoffs. There are those who believe the zone defenses now allowed benefit the Mavs more than anybody because it allows them to hide their lack of a big man, or as Nelson says about his 7-6 stringbean center, "You ask Shawn Bradley to be physical."

But Nelson has made a career of lacking a center. The former Boston Celtics forward is in his 24th season as a head coach and is 1,015-795 after Tuesday's win puts him third all-time behind Lenny Wilkens and Pat Riley for NBA coaching victories. But nobody has coached that long in the NBA and failed to coach in the NBA Finals with the exception of Nelson.

The general perception is he hasn't reached the Finals because he has eschewed centers most of his career, and some believe it is only because of his preference to play open-court basketball and cultivate that wacky "Nellieball" image.

Regardless of the past, this team is clearly special and confident, with Cuban presiding over this team at home and on the road in his dot.com uniform of jeans, basketball shoes and Mavericks garb du jour as a top. His own style of righteous indignation toward the NBA's corporate image of good old boys rankles everybody else and feeds his club and fans in an almost rock star image.

Clearly, he could not have picked a team with a better nickname to suit him than the Mavericks, nor could they have discovered an owner so perfectly accessorized for them.

"This is all about doing whatever we can to succeed," Cuban said. "Whatever it takes ... that's what we'll do to win. It doesn't matter what anybody else thinks."

Said, of course, in vintage Maverick vernacular.