Jul 17th 2008 12:05PM by Brett Edwards (author feed)
Filed under: Kings, Mavericks, NBA RumorsThe Mavericks are said to be the latest team interested in acquiring Ron Artest, but so far, their offer to trade for the mercurial (I love that word) star is a little light. Dallas is said to be offering up Jerry Stackhouse (decent player, veteran grit, solid scorer) and Brandon Bass (young, inexpensive, and possibly a Jason Maxiell-light) for Artest, but the Kings are holding out for more: like Josh Howard, perhaps.

The ’s Sam Amick doesn’t see the Kings making the deal as is, and he also doesn’t see the Mavericks going so far as to include Howard:
I can’t even come close to seeing Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie doing this deal, not unless Josh Howard is involved. And from what I’m told, that’s not going to happen. As the Mavs see it, the perceived risk of taking Artest is acceptable so long as the price of getting him is Bass and Stackhouse. Lose Howard to get Artest, though, and the gamble is too great. That makes sense, because after all, you never know what you’re going to get from Ron-Ron. But that was also largely the case with Josh Howard last season. J-Ho (really, kid needs a better nickname) was inconsistent all year, brought up his previously admitted marijuana use for absolutely no reason, and threw a birthday party during the playoffs that went specifically against the wishes of his head coach.

If I’m Dallas, I don’t hesitate to trade Howard for Artest. I would not, however, include Brandon Bass in any deal. He just has too much upside being so young at the power forward spot — a position where Dallas has been historically weak. Howard for Artest seems about right to me; a change of scenery might do both of them a lot of good.

Aug 1st 2008 11:06AM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Mavericks, WarriorsFirst: the quote from Don Nelson on his $6.3 million arbitration victory over Mark Cuban in a dispute over missing wages, captured by Tim Kawakami of the and spread by Ball Don’t Lie and TrueHoop. This was just receiving what I’ve already earned and been owed for a long time. He just wanted to make life difficult for me. It’s like a pimple on his behind. But it was a big number for me.$6.3 million’s a whole lotta bagels^, but someone who plays poker in Maui with Willie Nelson, Woody Harrelson and Owen Wilson probably isn’t struggling to keep cream cheese in the fridge. Still, Cuban’s ridiculously wealthy, he owed Nellie this money, and in Marc Stein’s ESPN.com story, Cuban admits as much. “I got exactly what I wanted out of the deal — the true facts of the situation. … It was all worth the hassle to find out what really happened.”In case you’ve forgotten, Cuban withheld the cash and sued Nelson for using his secret knowledge of the Mavericks to beat them in the playoffs when coaching the Warriors. I’m shocked that this line of argument did not work!

Aug 1st 2008 4:32PM by Matt Watson (author feed)
Filed under: Mavericks, Western, NBA Police BlotterJosh Howard returned to Wake Forest this past week to conduct a youth summer basketball league in Winston-Salem. It sounds like a popular event, and he’s seems to really enjoy putting it on. From the :
I mean, it would’ve been easy for Josh to simply put up some money and simply let the league go on without him. But that didn’t happen. Josh was at games almost every night. He wasn’t just in the gym. J-Ho was talking to the crowd, breaking bread with old friends, giving kids advice and simply sharing his time with the community. […] And, he doesn’t do things for media attention or pats on the backs. He does things for the love of his community.
Good move for Howard. This is just the kind of positive publicity he could use after the pounding his reputation took last April. This should help change the minds of all those casual fans who only know his name because he’s an admitted pot smoker who likes to party. Now if he could only keep his nose clean long enough for people to — whoops!
Dallas Mavericks guard Josh Howard was arrested and charged Thursday after a Winston-Salem police officer said he spotted him drag racing at 94 mph with another vehicle on Silas Creek Parkway near Highway 421. The 28-year-old has been charged with drag racing, exceeding the posted speed limit, and reckless driving to endanger.
Ouch. That’s a horrible decision combined with even worse luck (the car he was allegedly racing apparently wasn’t stopped). Howard has to appear in court on Sept. 23, which means this story will re-surface in the news just in time for the week before training camps open. Time to start fixing that rep all over again.

Aug 4th 2008 4:10PM by Matt Watson (author feed)
Filed under: Lakers, Mavericks, Euroleague, NBA RumorsForget LeBron James to Greece, today’s hot rumor is Kobe Bryant to Russia!
Asked if, like many of his fellow NBA stars, he would consider moving to Europe to play, Bryant answered very straight-forwardly. “Of course. By the way, are you the owner of a Russian team? It can be arranged for $40 million per year.”
Okay, straight forward or not, Bryant was almost certainly having some fun with , the Russian pub that reported his quote today. But the question remains, when will the first bona fide All-Star follow in the footsteps of Josh Childress, Nenad Krstic, Carlos Delfino and all the other rotation guys who jumped overseas this summer.

Jason Kidd alluded to the possibility of finishing his career in Europe three or four years down the line, but Bostjan Nachbar, who turned down the Nets in favor of a three-year deal with Dynamo Moscow, thinks his former teammate might join him even sooner.
“Taxes are lower in Europe and wages depend on the euro, which is much more stable than the dollar. If dollar rates don’t stop falling many famous players will move from the US to Europe. And I do not think Jason Kidd was joking when he said that next year he could join a European club.”
Think about it: Kidd is entering the final year of a contract that will pay him just over $21 million this season, and there’s absolutely no chance that he’ll ever sign a contract that pays him that much in the NBA ever again. But might there be a Russian billionaire out there willing to splurge simply for the sake of making a name for his team? It certain seems possible (and, who knows, it just might help in the LBJ sweepstakes a year later).

Aug 6th 2008 2:10PM by Matt Moore (author feed)
Filed under: Cavaliers, Celtics, Hornets, Lakers, Magic, Mavericks, Spurs, Suns, Trail Blazers, Wizards, Eastern, Western, NBA Media Watch

In a move that is both awesome for NBA fans and terrible for NBA fans with families, the NBA has scheduled a quintuple header for Christmas Day. That’s right, five games. Oh, so they probably overlap, right? Nope. There’s basketball from 12PM EST till approximately 1AM EST. It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

Starting you off on the long road to divorce and estrangement from your family is New Orleans at Orlando at noon. So after opening presents, enjoying your Christmas morning coffee, and inevitably calling your sister to ask why she hated you enough to buy your kid that obnoxious talking Monk doll or plotting to return the sweater that your grandmother got you for an iPod charger, you can sit back, relax, and watch Tyson Chandler and Dwight Howard beat the crap out of each other.

Then the blood rivalry resumes with San Antonio traveling to Phoenix at 2:30PM EST for what should be a warm and happy holiday greeting between the two teams as Amare Stoudemire tries to go on the team that’s bounced him from the playoffs two years in a row, while Bruce Bowen attempts to give Steve Nash the gift he’s never wanted, two severed Achilles’ and a partridge in a pear tree.Continue Reading

Aug 10th 2008 6:45PM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Clippers, Mavericks, FIBA, USA Basketball

The addition of Chris Kaman to the German men’s national basketball team seemed like a grasp at mere respectability earlier this summer. The Germans didn’t even grab an Olympic berth until July, going 4-1 in the FIBA qualifying tournament, smoking good teams like Brazil and Puerto Rico by double digits. Dirk Nowitzki seemed reborn under his frontcourt partnership with The Caveman, and the pair dominated today’s game against Angola.

Is Germany better than happy-to-be-here? On Tuesday, Greece might give us our answer. I do say — the Greeks looked flighty and highly unspectacular against Spain today; if the Germans stomp Greece, it’s no guarantee of potential greatness. Still, Greece provides a better challenge than the reigning African champs. With good size in opposition, Kaman’s mettle will be tested.

Of course, size is where Germany can potentially challenge Team USA a week from Monday in the pool closer, and possibly in the elimination round. Famously, the Americans carry only one center — Dwight Howard — and two power forwards — Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer. There’s the potential (especially if Howard continues to fail at the stripe) LeBron James could be left guarding Dirk while Bosh tries to limit Kaman. The Germans would dominate the glass in such a situation. Team USA’s backcourt will maim the poor German guards, but a disparity up front could leave the Americans with a smaller margin for error on the perimeter.

It’s funny: Kaman would be no better than the 12th man on the U.S. roster. But with Germany, he might make a competitor strong enough to beat the Americans. Fit, team puzzle-making … that stuff actually matters! At some point, USA Basketball might learn that. (Of course, the Deutschland hasn’t succeeded in team-building — it just pulled the best minimally German NBA player it could. But still.)

Aug 14th 2008 3:40AM by Matt Watson (author feed)
Filed under: Mavericks, FIBA, NBA Gossip, USA BasketballJose Calderon tried to explain Team Spain’s controversial slant-eyed pose as a “somewhat loving” gesture of respect. It’s a laughably weak explanation, but so far, it’s worked … at least when you consider that the NBA has yet to issue any kind of reprimand or suggestion of possible future punishment.

Can you imagine David Stern quietly accepting that lame excuse had Carmelo Anthony or Kobe Bryant pulled a stunt like that? And yet, despite the fact that four NBA players (veterans Calderon and Pau Gasol, as well as soon-to-be rookies Marc Gasol and Rudy Fernandez) took part in the offending pose, Stern has been suspiciously quiet — and Jason Kidd can smell the hypocrisy in Secaucus all the way from Beijing. From Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:
“We would’ve been already thrown out of the Olympics,” he told Yahoo! Sports. “At least, we wouldn’t have been able to come back to the U.S. …There would be suspensions.” And for his European peers, well, Kidd suggested, “They won’t do anything to them. It’s a double standard.”
The photo shoot may have taken place in Spain for an advertisement that ran in a Spanish newspaper featuring players wearing Spanish uniforms, but as Wojo correctly explains, NBA players “are always on the clock.”

I’m not sure the NBA can justify handing out actual suspensions (after a Eurobasket game last summer, Darko Milicic ranted to reporters about wanting to rape the referees’ mothers and daughters and escaped with a mere verbal reprimand from the Grizzlies), but at the very least, the NBA needs to make kind of official statement.
Previously on FanHouse:
Spaniards Meant the Slant-Eyed Photo to Be ‘Loving’
Spanish Team Should Be Prepared to Get Called Into Principal’s Office

Aug 21st 2008 5:57PM by Matt Watson (author feed)
Filed under: Mavericks, WesternIn February, Devean George blocked the Mavericks’ first attempt to acquire Jason Kidd. He knew the decision would be unpopular — fans in Dallas booed him during his first appearance after the trade fell through — but he was content “being the bad guy” while exercising his contractual rights as a soon-to-be restricted free agent who’d be losing his Bird rights.

Considering the whole debacle (and that the re-worked trade for Kidd not involving George cost Mark Cuban an extra $11 million), it seemed a foregone conclusion that George would be given the boot this summer. Instead, it’s the exact opposite. From Brandon George of the :
George and the Mavericks reached an agreement Wednesday on a new, two-year contract worth about $4 million, according to George’s agent, Mark Bartelstein. Bartelstein said the deal includes an option for George to return to free agency after next season.

“He’s excited about returning to the Mavericks,” Bartelstein said. “He’s excited about playing for [new coach] Rick Carlisle. Rick made a great impression on him and came to visit him a couple of times.”
I admit, I’m more than a little surprised that the Mavs wanted George back, and not only because of any lingering feelings of resentment about the botched trade. The fact is, George is woefully unproductive. He averaged just 3.7 points and 2.6 boards in 15.5 minutes per game. Looking at his stats independent of playing time, he posted a paltry 7.06 PER, far below the league average PER of 15.0 and ranking 312th in the entire league. And yet, for some reason, the Mavs not only kept him but also gave him the option to decide how long he wants to stay. Brilliant.

Aug 26th 2008 11:00AM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: MavericksFew players have seen their stocks fall as precipitously as Josh Howard over the past year. (His teammate, Jason Kidd, is the top contender in this category.) Part of Howard’s slide came from on-court production: Josh went into a massive funk over the second half of 2007-08, a funk which extended into the postseason and helped derail Dallas’s title hopes quite early.

Perhaps a larger character in Howard’s perceived slide has been his off-court junk: public admissions he smokes weed in the offseason, holding a birthday bash during the playoffs and inviting teammates even though Avery Johnson put the preemptive strike on it, being completely unrepentant when cited for drag-racing in your hometown. We who have defended Howard have received precious little support from Howard himself over the past year. But has he faltered completely?Continue Reading

Aug 26th 2008 7:40PM by Matt Watson (author feed)
Filed under: Mavericks, Western, NBA GossipJason Kidd may have already given away his gold medal, but that doesn’t mean he’s coming home from Beijing empty-handed.

After taking care of business on the basketball court, he held a press conference announcing that he signed with Peak, a Chinese company, to endorse their shoes. Kidd previously endorsed Nike, and before anyone suggests his new kicks are inferior, realize that they’re probably made in the exact same sweatshop.

Kidd joins a handful players in the NBA endorsing foreign kicks, most notably including several Rockets cashing in on Houston’s Yao-inspired popularity in China. Even without knowing how much Kidd’s new deal is worth, this looks like a savvy business move.

Kidd still has a ton of name value (especially on the international level after winning two gold medals), but his popularity and marketability among young Americans has waned as the next generation of stud point guards like Chris Paul and Deron Williams (and soon, Derrick Rose) have taken over. But if Damon Jones taught us anything, it’s that fans in China are quite as concerned about things as minor as “talent” or “production” or even “playing time.”