'Cryptic' To 'Christie' - Going Down The Rabbit Hole - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

Joey · 08-14-2005, 09:41 AM

By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
The Mavs have put on two faces this summer: "Cryptic'' and "Christie.''
And despite all our hang-wringing and teeth-gnashing and nail-biting, Dallas' offseason history suggests there really isn't a rush to change any of that.
DB.COM BOARDS
FISH ON RADIO
Our friend Randy Galloway writes this week in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, "C'mon, Mark (Cuban). You ain't even trying now. This has been an NBA off-season. ... when a hush has fallen over the Mavericks. Honk, Mark, if you're still breathing.''
Ol' Randy's impatience is undoubtedly shared by some Mavs aware of Cuban's historic willingness to do ANYTHING to get better. There are, however, three areas where perspective is being lost:
AREA 1: The timetable -- The memory recalls Dallas being almost too trigger-happy when it came to the quick-draw on deals. But take another look at the last two summers' timelines: Two years ago, there was a clamor for the Mavs to "do something.'' They waited and waited, and then out of nowhere, three weeks into free agency, they do the Antawn Jamison deal. Last summer, more clamoring. Panic, even, when Steve Nash left. A few weeks passed and Jason Terry arrived. A few more weeks, and Erick Dampier arrived.
This year, the free agent window just came open. Stick your head out. Take a breath.
AREA 2: The roster needs -- The Mavs are on record as wanting to upgrade themselves at backup center. Otherwise, they seem justifiably satisfied with returning the foundation of a sure-fire 50-plus-win team. If there is a major upgrade available (Paul Pierce?), we're in favor. Freaking out because we lost out on Steven Hunter, who used his stellar Suns postseason stats (4.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks. ... whee!) as the springboard for a five-year deal in Philly? We're not in favor.
AREA 3: The available changes -- We're interested in looking into Boston's Pierce; and we believe the Mavs are, too. We understand the one-year, $3-mil commitment to Doug Christie; he's a suitable Fin replacement with defensive leanings that better please Avery Johnson who at 35 might be able to cruise through the regular season and then just up and bite an opponent in the playoffs. If we can find five extra seats on the team bus for the player, his post-Sacto emotional funk, the wife, her purses, and the mother-in-law, God bless us all.
The deal leaves just $2 mil of MLE to spend elsewhere, and while we're disappointed Dikembe Mutombo declined an offer to fit in that slot to instead remain in Houston, we're confident that the club will find an upgraded Alan Henderson-type to fill in. (Brian Grant? DeSagana Diop? Mikki Moore? Ervin Johnson? Calvin Booth? Is DJ Mbenga really to roll? Or will our Finley-to-Indy concept net us Scot Pollard?)
Over the years, Cuban has spoiled us with talk of "doing anything'' to win. Often left out of the equation is the fact that a couple dozen other teams might be willing to "do anything-plus-infinity'' to make a certain deal. Consider the Nuggets, who want to talk seriously to "Mav target'' Brian Grant and "Mav target'' Nick Van Exel and "Mav property'' Michael Finley.
Hey, if we want 'em, other teams probably want 'em, too.
So we want a Paul Pierce thing RIGHT NOW. ... and as a reward for our desire for instant gratification, what we're going to get RIGHT NOW is a re-signing of 37-year-old third-string point guard Darrell Armstrong.
And we want answers RIGHT NOW. ... and what we can give you is a DB.com exclusive, what we believe to be the only quote Mark Cuban has issued all summer regarding roster moves. I asked the Mavs owner about whether steering Finley to the East or to the West made any difference to him, or whether the Mavs were instead simply concerned about making themselves better.
"I always do the best for the Mavs first,'' Tony Cubes responded. "Everything else is optimization where the opportunity presents itself.''
Boy, I scrambled for a few minutes. "Optimization''? My mind wobbled under the weight of all the "algorithms'' and "integers'' and "vectors.'' What the he. ...
And then I scurried back up Alice's rabbit hole. "Cryptic.'' And "Christie.'' And that's all we get for now.

Words of wisdom from Fish...I feel better. How about ya'll?

TheFlyingGooseman · 08-14-2005, 09:53 AM

What is this crap?
Who is the jerk?
What is he writing?

madape · 08-14-2005, 10:00 AM

There is a 0% chance we're getting Paul Pierce. This article is a waste of time.

Murphy3 · 08-14-2005, 10:05 AM

Madape, Fish's articles are consistent.

DevinHarriswillstart · 08-14-2005, 10:43 AM

I disagree about Hunter. I think it's a significant sign that we can't even attract the lesser free agents. That says something big to me.

grndmstr_c · 08-14-2005, 10:52 AM

Quote:

I disagree about Hunter. I think it's a significant sign that we can't even attract the lesser free agents. That says something big to me.

Hunter probably got a bigger offer from Philly than what the Mavs were willing to give him, and probably got promised more playing time that what the Mavs, with two very good PF's who will share the court some and at least one young 5 who's going to get some playing time this year, could promise. And as long as we're reading signs, I don't suppose you noticed the one right next to the Hunter exit that said "1 year, 3 million to Doug Christie"?

Thespiralgoeson · 08-14-2005, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by: madape
There is a 0% chance we're getting Paul Pierce. This article is a waste of time.

Nonsense. I'd say there's probably a 20-30% chance of it happening. Boston appears to be considering offers for him. If they shop him, I'd say we've got as good a chance as anybody to land him. We got several things they need; a possible future star PG, a young athletic bigman, and a couple of juicy expirers. If Boston does shop him, I'd say our only real competition is Denver and the Clippers.

The Miles · 08-14-2005, 01:14 PM

Quote:

I disagree about Hunter. I think it's a significant sign that we can't even attract the lesser free agents. That says something big to me.

The MLE is $5,000,000. The Mavs signed Doug Christie for $3,000,000. That leaves, yup, $2,000,000. Philadelphia gave Hunter $2.7-$2.8 million 1st year which is significantly higher than the $2,000,000 Dallas could offer, significant because Hunter made $745k last year, basically the difference. Now, if you were a young backup C that has been on four teams in 13 months and were in a position to get perhaps the best deal of your career, which would you choose? $16,500,000 over five years from the Sixers or $10,640,000 over five years from the Mavs? A $5,000,000 difference for a scrub like Hunter is significant.

Pirate · 08-14-2005, 01:39 PM

Great article on keeping perspective. The hue-and-cry on these internet forums for the Mavs to hurry and be the first to make splashy moves - and the wailing when they wait and take their time - gets ridiculous.

dude1394 · 08-14-2005, 01:46 PM

Why anyone would accept significantly less money to play for another team when you are a "relatively" underpaid player is illogical. Only financially secure for life players can afford to give up millions.

snoop · 08-14-2005, 03:17 PM

plus we were not giving hunter 5 years. we have young talent that will need those mins in a year or two

rakesh.s · 08-14-2005, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by: DevinHarriswillstart
I disagree about Hunter. I think it's a significant sign that we can't even attract the lesser free agents. That says something big to me.

Why doesn't anyone understand the reason for this?

The mavs are full of max salary guys and minutes are not guaranteed...Hunter probably wouldn't get more than 15 minutes in dallas, whereas he gets to play all the backup PF and C minutes in Philly.

The same applies to the other positions as well. Sometimes addition by subtraction can be a wonderful thing. I just don't get why everyone here wants to attract huge name free agents, only to have them disgruntled because they can't get minutes. Jamison felt the same way.

I guess it works to our disadvantage that guys actually want to have the chance to sniff playing time and not collect checks to rot on the bench(see half the mavs roster).

FilthyFinMavs · 08-14-2005, 03:56 PM

I think a Pierce deal has a 0% chance of happening because we just don't have what it will take to get him. Celtics aren't going to take TAW in the deal like some of you seem to think. Would the Celtics even care about cap flexibility? Let's say they do, what would they use it for? To get an all star shooting guard in the free agent pool? You mean to get a Paul Pierce-esque shooting guard in the free agent pool? They already have that. As far as what the Mavs have to offer the only guys with any trade bait that teams would want are Marquis, Josh, Devin, JET an Dirk. Dirk's and Josh aren't going anywhere so that basically leaves just Marquis and Devin. I just don't see it.

Thespiralgoeson · 08-15-2005, 04:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by: FilthyFinMavs
I think a Pierce deal has a 0% chance of happening because we just don't have what it will take to get him. Celtics aren't going to take TAW in the deal like some of you seem to think. Would the Celtics even care about cap flexibility? Let's say they do, what would they use it for? To get an all star shooting guard in the free agent pool? You mean to get a Paul Pierce-esque shooting guard in the free agent pool? They already have that. As far as what the Mavs have to offer the only guys with any trade bait that teams would want are Marquis, Josh, Devin, JET an Dirk. Dirk's and Josh aren't going anywhere so that basically leaves just Marquis and Devin. I just don't see it.

Devin, Marquis, DJ, two very good players with large expiring contracts in KVH, and Stack, not to mention Terry (if it could land us Pierce, we'd include him.)

Devin or Jet/KVH/Stack/DJ/Quis and we take on one of their bad contracts in Blount or Raef. That is a damn sweet deal for Boston that maybe one or two other teams could or would match.

madape · 08-15-2005, 07:13 AM

Besides not having the goods to get Boston to bite, I just don't think Cuban is willing to take on another max contract. He'll have dumped two of the big three in the last two years for cap reasons. What makes you think he'll take on one now?

It seems the only kind of guy Cubes is willing to pay big time money for is the old broken down immobile stiff center. In other words, we may not have Nash. We may not have Finley. We may not have Paul Pierce. But we have Erick Dampier! And we're going to ride that horse all the way to multiple first round playoff exits until the year 2011, when this bum's contract finally comes off the books.

MrCheerios · 08-15-2005, 02:45 PM

madape, a quick question. are you a mavs fan or not?

LRB · 08-15-2005, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by: MrCheerios
madape, a quick question. are you a mavs fan or not?

I can testify that Madape is a huge, if somewhat emotional, fan. It's not that he doesn't care about the team, it's that he cares about it so much. Being a sycophant to Cuban and saying that all he does is good and great, is not a prerequisite for being a Mavs fan. A true fan gets pissed as hell when he or she believes that management is screwing up the teams best chance to win a championship. A bandwagon fan just keeps cheering until they start loosing and then goes else where. Mad may wear his heart on his sleave sometimes, but he's as true a Mavs fan as there is.