"Training camp is going to be interesting," Nowitzki said before it got underway at SMU. "After 10 years, having to learn new plays and new calls, it's going to be fun. I don't think I really looked at the playbook the last couple of years.

"We'll have some movement in the offense and hopefully, some more fun."

It didn't take long for Carlisle to make his point, and it's one the players expected. He promised all summer that the Mavs would run and they did plenty of that with the start of camp.

But he's also not ignoring one facet of the game that Avery Johnson held dear.

"One thing I'm not going to compromise going forward is the emphasis on the defensive end," Carlisle said. "You can't be a good up-tempo team unless you're getting stops."

--Mark Cuban was inundated with e-mails from angry fans following the Josh Howard National Anthem controversy. The Mavs' owner posted a number of inflammatory replies -- which included the email addresses of the senders -- on his blog before taking them down the following day.

Cuban's entry, titled, "Thanks for the advice on Josh" was removed and replaced by a post that said: "I made my point." Cuban maintained that the follow-up to his original post was "the right thing to do," but it left him with an upset stomach.

"I thought it was important to point out the hatred and ignorance of so many who quickly judge people they have never met, based purely on sound-bites and headlines," he explained. "I wanted to point out the irony of them experiencing the onslaught of attention from suddenly and unexpectedly being placed in the media spotlight from a throwaway comment."

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I'll try to win them back. Whatever it takes me to do that, I'll do it." -- Josh Howard, on the fans.