Mavs Luncheon - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

DevinHarriswillstart · 09-28-2005, 02:49 PM

I went to some Mavs promotional lunch thing. Which pretty much mean't pizza and attempts to sell boxes and seats. Anyhoo....

Avery Johnson spoke to us. What a great motovational speaker he is. I'm telling you he really seems sold on Diop. He mentioned the kid's name like 3 times in his speech to try and sell the team to the fans. A gentleman asked about Keith Van Horn and Avery gave what we pretty much already knew. He would spell Dirk and would play some 5. Also he would play Dirk at the three, Van Horn at the 4, and what came to shock to me he said then either Diop or Damp at the 5. Just mentioning this kid before Damp must mean Avery really plans on playing this kid minutes if he shows up to camp ready.

Avery was also really confident in the coaching staff. He felt it needed a big tune up and he accomplished that by getting names that we already know now.

Another person asked if we could bring in a former player like David Robinson to come in and help the bigs. Johnson said Robinson isn't availabe, since he is part owner of the Spurs. However, he said he does have another name he couldn't mention to come in and help the big guys. I was really happy to hear it.

We toured the locker room etc. nothing big. I asked one of the assitant coaches who could bench the most and he said to noone's surprise Damp. Also said DJ was probably the second strongest guy. Said DJ is gonna spell Damp too if he shows up during preseason.

Anyways, it was fun. Nothing to write home about but something fun before the start of training camp.

TomThaMavsFan · 09-28-2005, 03:32 PM

thanks for the post, seems like coach averys hype about getting to use two decent centers this year. Ahhh the preseason starts in A COUPLE OF WEEKS!!! it's about time!

EricaLubarsky · 09-28-2005, 05:34 PM

Thanks for the writeup.

bcrav4 · 09-28-2005, 05:39 PM

I believe in Diop...he's gonna be good!

mavfan2390 · 09-28-2005, 05:50 PM

i honestly honestly believe that if Diop brings his stuff, and will be dominant for us until the all star break, its bye-bye to damp

grndmstr_c · 09-28-2005, 07:23 PM

Thanks very much for the report, DHWS.

Quote:

i honestly honestly believe that if Diop brings his stuff, and will be dominant for us until the all star break, its bye-bye to damp

Wishful thinking much? Let's just worry about Diop being a solid 12 mpg backup for the time being.

Thespiralgoeson · 09-28-2005, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by: grndmstr_c
Thanks very much for the report, DHWS.

Quote:

i honestly honestly believe that if Diop brings his stuff, and will be dominant for us until the all star break, its bye-bye to damp

Wishful thinking much? Let's just worry about Diop being a solid 12 mpg backup for the time being.

No kidding... I suppose we can just assume Harris is going to be the best point guard in the NBA and trade Jet.

chumdawg · 09-28-2005, 09:50 PM

DH, thanks very much for the writeup. I found it more intriguing than many of the media reports I've read the last few weeks.

I hope they're right about Diop. It's true that I'm someone who believes that a change of scenery can work wonders for a player. Obviously the kid had well-esteemed potential at one point. So did a lot of other guys who didn't make it, true. But it's probably also true that there are a number of factors besides physical talent that ultimately determine a player's success or failure. I'll keep a healthy, if tempered, optimism about Diop's chances to do well here.

Probably the most exciting part of your recap, to me, was the mention that KVH would play the five some. There's a chance I've been far too harsh in my criticism of AJ since he took the reins. If he's open to considering a style of play that has proven richly rewarding for this team off and on the past several years, despite his philosophical underpinnings that run to the contrary, then he will have earned my respect. He *has* said that he tries to pick up something from every coach and every team he's been around, so perhaps I should give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that some of Nellie's offensive genius has worn off on him.

So I think that based on this report I will indefinitely suspend my silent "Fire AJ" campaign and stand on his side for a while.

Go Mavs!

dirno2000 · 09-28-2005, 10:08 PM

Quote:

So I think that based on this report I will indefinitely suspend my silent "Fire AJ" campaign and stand on his side for a while.

Probably a good idea...at the rate you were going you were going to burn out by December [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

As far as getting KVH on the court with Dirk, I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that they're +/- was the best on the team last season. Cuban pays big money for Sagrin's statistical analysis and while we've all heard the stories of Nellie tossing it as soon as Cubes leaves the room, AJ – a rookie coach with a contract that doesn’t make it prohibitive to fire him - may be inclined to play closer attention. Just something to keep an eye on.

birdsanctuary · 09-28-2005, 10:40 PM

I'm glad they're lighting a fire under Damp's butt. I've seen DJ and he was the most dominant defensive player in every game I saw at Summer Camp (2). His stats seemed to back this up. If a guy's dominant at Summer Camp he might just break through in the regular season. DJ's going to give the Mavs a 10-15 quality minute backup. If Diop can pan out as another 10-15 minute guy, then Damp should be well rested or he might be the 3rd option. However I seriously doubt this.

I think the Diop talk was to get the luncheoners a bit more excited about this year. We know Doug Christie's upside, but Diop is a mystery, what Mavs fan doesn't want to believe that Diop can provide quality minutes?

ddh33 · 09-28-2005, 10:53 PM

Thanks for the report. That's some encouraging stuff about Diop especially. And your comment about Avery's fire and ability to motivate is something I find invaluable. I like him leading this team, and if the players can learn how to employ the same leadership qualities, this team will be better for it.

ddh33 · 09-28-2005, 10:55 PM

Wow. The triple. Sorry.

ddh33 · 09-28-2005, 10:57 PM

Sorry. And I didn't even think the site registered any of my posts.

Thespiralgoeson · 09-29-2005, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by: birdsanctuary
I'm glad they're lighting a fire under Damp's butt. I've seen DJ and he was the most dominant defensive player in every game I saw at Summer Camp (2). His stats seemed to back this up. If a guy's dominant at Summer Camp he might just break through in the regular season. DJ's going to give the Mavs a 10-15 quality minute backup. If Diop can pan out as another 10-15 minute guy, then Damp should be well rested or he might be the 3rd option. However I seriously doubt this.

Fouls are also stats you know. If DJ can even stay on the floor for more than a couple of minutes, he's yet to prove it.

DevinHarriswillstart · 09-29-2005, 06:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by: chumdawg
DH, thanks very much for the writeup. I found it more intriguing than many of the media reports I've read the last few weeks.

I hope they're right about Diop. It's true that I'm someone who believes that a change of scenery can work wonders for a player. Obviously the kid had well-esteemed potential at one point. So did a lot of other guys who didn't make it, true. But it's probably also true that there are a number of factors besides physical talent that ultimately determine a player's success or failure. I'll keep a healthy, if tempered, optimism about Diop's chances to do well here.

Probably the most exciting part of your recap, to me, was the mention that KVH would play the five some. There's a chance I've been far too harsh in my criticism of AJ since he took the reins. If he's open to considering a style of play that has proven richly rewarding for this team off and on the past several years, despite his philosophical underpinnings that run to the contrary, then he will have earned my respect. He *has* said that he tries to pick up something from every coach and every team he's been around, so perhaps I should give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that some of Nellie's offensive genius has worn off on him.

So I think that based on this report I will indefinitely suspend my silent "Fire AJ" campaign and stand on his side for a while.

Go Mavs!

Actually Chumdawg, Avery wanted to reassure everyone that we are NOT the Spurs of North Texas. So I think that might lighten your negative thoughts about him. He specifically said the success of that 16-2 run is where he wants to be at so I def think Van Horn at the 5 will be played a lot. However, if Diop or Benga do pan out, that only means less minutes for KVH. Avery made it clear he wants Dirk to be an inside and outside player if we're ever to make it to a championship. I felt Avery did a little too much jinxing though proclaiming that we're in the pool of the top 6-7 teams in the league. I always feel that this team does better when we're underdogs and when we think that. But hey, its nice to see some optimism though. After all of the terrible media attention, I think Avery is one of the first people to even utter us being that good in a long while.

Thespiralgoeson · 09-29-2005, 06:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by: DevinHarriswillstart
Actually Chumdawg, Avery wanted to reassure everyone that we are NOT the Spurs of North Texas. So I think that might lighten your negative thoughts about him. He specifically said the success of that 16-2 run is where he wants to be at so I def think Van Horn at the 5 will be played a lot. However, if Diop or Benga do pan out, that only means less minutes for KVH. Avery made it clear he wants Dirk to be an inside and outside player if we're ever to make it to a championship.

That's very encouraging. I feel a little better about AJ already. Quite a bit better actually...

Quote:

I felt Avery did a little too much jinxing though proclaiming that we're in the pool of the top 6-7 teams in the league. I always feel that this team does better when we're underdogs and when we think that. But hey, its nice to see some optimism though. After all of the terrible media attention, I think Avery is one of the first people to even utter us being that good in a long while.

Jinxing? It's one thing to talk about championships, but saying that the Mavs are in the pool of the top 6-7 teams in the league means what exactly? That we can make it to the second round again??? I don't necessarily think that's a bold statement. This team does better when we're underdogs? We're always underdogs! I for one and am sick and g*ddamn tired of being underdogs. Really, it's for the birds. And as much as I respect Nellie, his pessimism is one thing I surely don't miss. I can't tell you how nausiating it was for me to hear him piss and moan about how great the Kings were everytime we played them. It's one thing to say something like that to motivate your team, but he just seemed to think that we were doomed to walk in the Kings' shadow forever. As a fan, it pissed me off. I suppose it's not as bad as Larry Brown talking about New York being his "dream job" while his Pistons are trying to win a championship, but it still pissed me off. I'm pretty glad we haven't had to hear AJ tell us how great the Spurs or the Suns are.