6 Thoughts About the DeAndre Jordan Deal...or No Deal

You may see much of this coming, but this is a necessary coping mechanism that I must indulge. 

Surely, you've already heard this story: DeAndre Jordan verbally agreed to sign a four year contract (worth 80M total) with the Dallas Mavericks on July 1st, 2015:

Later, according to multiple reports, he called Doc Rivers and a few other members of the Clippers organization to express interest in staying in LA. The Clippers contingency (Doc Rivers, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Paul Pierce among others) immediately organized, mobilized and converged onto DeAndre's home in Houston, TX. Once they arrived, they decided that they wouldn't leave until the 26 year old had officially put pen to paper at 12:01 AM on July 9th - the earliest a free agent can officially sign a contract in 2015.

To be honest, the fact that he decided to stay in Los Angeles isn't that surprising or distasteful. However, he did plenty during this week that will cost him his reputation in his home state for the rest of his career. Thus, leading me to post these six thoughts about the resigned #6 for Los Angeles:

1. By verbally committing to Dallas a week earlier, the Mavericks had set aside the necessary funds to accommodate his mega-contract. Obviously, hind-sight is 20-20, but if Dallas had known DeAndre would be staying in LA, it's pretty logical to assume that Tyson Chandler would have a marching contract offer to keep him in Dallas instead of allowing him a free ride to Pheonix. Would that fix everything? No. But, the Mavericks would have some sort of direction and consolation. Instead of staring at a house on fire...which will keep on burning...for a while.

2. This is a huge one for me. After deciding to spurn the Mavericks, Jordan refused to even answer the phone calls that were coming in from Mark Cuban, Chandler Parsons and the like. It is one thing to stab the franchise in the back, but it is completely pathetic when you don't have the balls to face the music and acknowledge the wreckage you created. Again, he wastes the time and energy of a party willing to invest their future and their resources into him.

3. Everyone loves a conspiracy theory. What if this was the play all along. It really has to make you wonder...are the Clippers that stupid. Would they let their star center walk away while their best players are off on vacation or did they take the trips because they knew it was all under control?

4. All of the Dallas haters are rejoicing with comments about how Dirk is done, Cuban is terrible, etc. Do these people have no memory of the Clippers roster, or their owner? Chris Paul had never won anything of significance and the same can be said about Blake Griffin. As for the owner...y'all might remember hearing about the sterling reputation of the Sterling family. You remember Donald, right? The racist owner whose wife now owns the Clippers and continues to profit off of the franchise? Say what you will about your dislike for Cuban's passion, but his passion is rooted in a love for his team and in the success of his organizations, whereas the Sterling's passion is rooted in hate for those who are different.

5. A man's word is his bond. Don't act like he is a kid anymore at 26. Think before you speak, and back up your words with your actions. Respect will be earned as a result. We have been spoiled by professionals like Dirk, in this regard.

6. I am a MFFL and I was dying to see what we could do with another center in his prime. The first year Tyson Chandler played for Dallas was 2011. He may have had stronger stat sheets in New Orleans, but he was the first true defensive center I had seen play with Dirk. 2011, of course, just happens to be the first, and only, NBA Championship the Mavericks have captured. Now, along with MFFL's everywhere, I'll always wonder what could have been.

Again, it isn't terribly surprising to see DeAndre Jordan choose to stay in Los Angeles with the Clippers. But, there are certain qualities and characteristics that true professionals exude in the free agency process. I will forever hate that DeAndre turned a cold shoulder to a new opportunity and a supporting cast that truly believed in his ability to create positive change in an already successful organization. Even further, it disgusts me that Dallas fans will have to watch their team scramble to fill the hole left by this man who didn't have the decency to answer the phone and respectfully decline the Dallas offer.

The Clippers were a team that I considered fun to watch last year. I even found myself cheering for them against the Spurs. My, how those tables have turned!

9000 Boards

Dirk collected rebound number 9000 during a loss to the Brooklyn Nets on 3/20/2013.

No Nowitzki in 2013 All Star Game

The All-Star game is officially not worth watching this year.

To me, at least.

Due to Dirk's preseason knee surgery, and the games he missed while recovering and conditioning, it will be the first All-Star game the NBA has held without him since 2002.

Yeah, he had been voted in 11 straight years. Only Kobe Bryant has a longer streak, which he just extended to 15 in a row.

Now, Dirk Nowitzki is not the only thing worth watching at most All-Star games, so I might catch a little bit of the game or a few of the skill contests. However, I have no vested interest in watching the superstars from every other team play while the superstar from my team will be sitting on his couch at home. Also, I'm not saying he was slighted, it is just an unfortunate year that the big German will not be recognized as an elite force from the Western Conference.

Here's a look at the Eastern Conference and Western Conference rosters:

East (listed by number of votes received)

1. LeBron James
2. Carmello Anthony
3. Dwayne Wade - C
4. Kevin Garnett
5. Rajon Rondo (Injured & replaced by Brook Lopez)

Reserves: Chris Bosh, Tyson Chandler, Luol Deng, Paul George, Jrue Holiday, Kyrie Irving, Joakim Noah

West (listed by number of votes received)

1. Kobe Bryant
2. Kevin Durant
3. Chris Paul - C
4. Dwight Howard
5. Blake Griffin

Reserves: LaMarcus Aldridge, Tim Duncan, James Harden, David Lee, Tony Parker, Zach Randolph & Russell Westbrook

Coach Carlisle Collects 500th Win

Dallas Mavericks Coach Rick Carlisle hit the 500 win milestone against Portland on February, 6 2013. Confetti didn't fly, Carlisle didn't even acknowledge it, and Mavs fans like me consider it, for the most part, business as usual. However, I'm still going to brag on what "business as usual" means to a guy like Rick Carlisle.

Coach Carlisle has been nothing short of a great addition to the Dallas Mavericks organization. His career coaching record stands at 500-353. Perhaps what is most impressive, is the fact that he generated much of his success in his first six years with the Detroit Pistons (2001-03) and the Indiana Pacers (2003-07) before coming to Dallas in 2008, and being granted the opportunity to coach a true superstar player like Dirk Nowitzki.

As far as Carlisle's coaching philosophy is concerned he focuses 100% on defense, which has proved to be effective all throughout his ten year career. Through ten years as a head coach, his teams have only finished outside of the top twelve in overall defensive rankings one time. Additionally, in seven of his ten years, his teams ranked inside the top ten. Even further, three of those years, his teams finished inside the top five in the overall defensive ranking.

You get the picture don't you? It's all about defense. You've heard the phrase a million times, "offense wins games, defense wins championships." As a Mavs fan, and a Carlisle fan, one can only hope that his defensive mindset leads to one, two, three, or ten more championship rings.

Coach Carlisle with the 2011 Championship Core

Having surpassed the 500 win mark, Carlisle becomes only the 28th NBA coach to reach that milestone. At the ripe age of 53, and with three more years left on his current contract with the Mavericks, it is conceivable that Carlisle will continue to navigate his way toward the top of the coaching charts by the end of his career (which will likely extend beyond his current contract). Doing so will surely put his name in the inevitable discussions revolving around who the best NBA coaches and champions are, or have been, in the history of the game.

Just like Dirk, he's not done yet, but already he's done so much. Mavs fans from Dallas, TX to Wurzburg, Germany will continue to show outstanding support for these winners, and for good reason, too.

Dirk Continues to Climb Scoring Ladder

Dirk Nowitzki hit another special milestone during an 18 point outing against the Pheonix Suns tonight. Midway through the third quarter he knocked down a fieldgoal that moved him past Allen Iverson on the NBA All-Time Scoring List. Here's the exact shot, courtesy of NBAHighlightClips.

Dirk's move was simple, we've seen him make it a million times. He catches the ball just under the left elbow, dribbles once toward the basket, pump fakes Luis Scola up into the air, then smoothly fades away as the ball, even more smoothly, fades through the net.

So, after moving from #19 to #18, he starts to make you wonder just how high he will climb. To give you a glance at who is still ahead of him, I took a screenshot of the top 30 NBA All Time Scoring Leaders (from NBA.com) after they updated Dirk's total.

As you can see, he is surrounded by great company, and he certainly isn't done climbing toward the top of this list. In fact, I can almost guarantee that he'll pass up Patrick Ewing by the end of this season for #17. Dirk usually scores around 2,000 points in a full, healthy season. However, since he missed most of the first half of this 2012-2013 season, I wouldn't expect him to tally much more than 1,000 by the time this season comes to a close.

Numbers aren't always important, and this one may not mean much to him now, but as a Dallas fan and a Dirk fan, it sure is fun to watch him align himself with many of the all-time greats.

I'll close with a bold prediction...by the time Dirk Nowitzki calls it quits, he will have surpassed the man with too many nicknames, Shaquille O'Neal, to be in 6th place on the all time NBA scoring list.

I told you it was gonna be bold, but I'll stand by it.