--Mark Cuban and Jerry Jones, a pair of high-profile owners, are working together to bring the NBA's high-profile All-Star Weekend to the Dallas area, possibly as soon as 2010.
The cornerstone of the unique bid between the Mavericks and Cowboys is the new 100,000-seat retractable-roof stadium being built in Arlington. The Cowboys' new playpen, scheduled to open in 2009, would accommodate all of the Mavs' season-ticket holders (a must for Cuban) and the league's corporate seating needs. Both Cuban and Jones acknowledged they're looking into the joint venture, but insisted the process is in the initial stages. The All-Star would be played at the new stadium, with many of the weekend's other festivities -- All-Star Saturday Night, Fan Jam, etc. -- remaining at American Airlines Center and in downtown Dallas.
"I just wanted to find a place that could hold our season ticket-holders and visitors for an All-Star Game," Cuban said. "But nothing really has gone past that at this point."
The record attendance for an All-Star Game is 44,735 at the Houston Astrodome. Jones said that he's convinced Dallas could shatter that mark. The Mavs last hosted an All-Star Game in 1986.
--Despite the prevailing opinion, Rick Carlisle doesn't believe the Mavs are slipping back into the Western Conference pack. Why? Two future Hall of Famers, Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd, are two pretty good starting blocks.
"This team reminds me a lot of the team that we took over about 11 years ago in Indiana when I went with Larry Bird as an assistant coach," Carlisle said. "It was a 39-win team that a lot of people had written off and thought it had run its course, needed to be blown up, turned over and everything else.
"Larry came in there with a different approach, very positive, gave the guys a lot of confidence, we became re-committed defensively and had what at that time was the best year in the history of the franchise in wins."
Carlisle isn't promising the same turnaround next season, but he also added the commitment of Nowitzki and Kidd should never be underestimated.
"We've got some challenges ahead," Carlisle said. "I know that. But I'd rather be in this position than to be with a lottery team that no one knows about, trying to win a few more games. That doesn't appeal to me.
"I just feel like we're going to find a way to do better than people think we're going to do."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We need him to play big. He needs to get back to Western Conference All-Star-caliber level of play for 82 games, which he did a couple of years ago." -- Rick Carlisle, on Josh Howard.
