My purpose was clear when I approached Tim Hardaway, and I made no secret of that to him. I was here to get him to say bad stuff about Pat Riley. Surely, he would have some good bile after Riles kicked him to the curb this summer, let him go without a peep to the Dallas Mavericks, ended his run in South Beach.

	Hardaway brings his fiery attitude to the young Mavericks.

I am so disappointed to report that he didn't take the bait.

"They're going to be competitive," Hardaway says of his former mates. "Even though they've got some guys on the team that everybody thinks aren't going to do nothing, or guys that are trying to rejuvenate their career. Pat's got new blood there. Those guys are gonna listen to what he says and they're gonna try to fit in and do what they can to win. That's the way it's gonna be. It's gonna be hard. All of those guys have been in different systems and different coaches, so it's gonna be hard for them. But give them 20 games in. They're gonna be all right. You can never count two teams out -- the Heat with Pat Riley, and the Knicks with Jeff Van Gundy. They're always gonna be right there."

Hardaway, of course, won't be. He's now in Dallas, owner of a three-year run as Steve Nash's backup. On a team with Michael Finley and Dirk Nowitzki and Juwan Howard, Hardaway's job is no longer to score, but to keep the offense running with the Mavericks' new bench: Danny Manning and Adrian Griffin and Evan Eschmeyer. That doesn't mean he'll easily forget his five years with the Heat.

"I wanted to stay with Miami and finish my career," Hardaway says. "That's what I wanted. But after the season ended, (Riley) said 'we can't afford you. We can't give you the money that you deserve, or that you want. We're just going to go younger. I've been to the dance with you twice, and you've been hurt twice, and I haven't been able to dance with you.' All of that stuff is understandable."

But did he deserve another chance there?

	“	When I was looking at a team, I was looking strictly at Don Nelson. Somebody that I've been with, somebody who knows the system, knows how they want things to be, how he wants his team to be ran, how he wants the players to be played and all of that stuff. ”
		— Hardaway

"Forget about another chance!," he says. "I just deserved to stay there and finish my career there. That's what I thought. But this is a business. Things happen. You just have to deal with it."

So Hardaway went looking. Though he didn't plan to look long. Ever since Nellie and Chris Webber had their dustup so many years ago at Golden State, and everyone had to take sides, Hardaway's allegiance to the man that created Run-TMC has been clear and unwavering.

"When I was looking at a team, I was looking strictly at Don Nelson," Hardaway says. "Somebody that I've been with, somebody who knows the system, knows how they want things to be, how he wants his team to be ran, how he wants the players to be played and all of that stuff. And plus, Juwan and Mike (both fellow Chicagoans) were there, too."

So Hardaway took his act to the Lone Star State. He insists that he will cause no trouble, that the dustup he and Nash had in practice a few days ago in camp was nothing more than honest competition. But he does believe he can bring some toughness to the Mavericks' still-young core group, which tasted playoff success for the first time last season and then didn't know what to do.

	Eisley

	Nash

"Last year, I think it was kind of a surprise to themselves, how they beat Utah," Hardaway says. "They got to the second round, they felt the presence of San Antonio, what it feels like to be in a big-time ball game, a big-time series. So that's why I'm here, to just help them out. They had a point guard in Howard Eisley that they depended on and ... I don't think he came through for them like he was supposed to, like he did at the beginning of the year. So I'm just here to try to help them out, give them leadership, give them an understanding about winning games, and at the end of games, when you're in these big games, what does it take to win?"

But Nelson knows Hardaway's history, probably better than anybody. He knows that Hardaway's production has tailed off as the season has worn on the last few years. That's why the Mavs also have veteran point Darrick Martin on the squad -- for my money, one of the most underrated reserves in the league -- to give Hardaway's knees additional rest during the regular season. The whole point is for Hardaway to be fresh when the playoffs get going. "As a backup, when we limit his minutes, it could prolong his career for maybe more than just one year," Nelson says. "Maybe two or three years ... 20, 25 minutes (a night). I know he wants to play more than that. Down the stretch, it affords me to play some interesting combinations. Nash is a terrific two. Or Timmy can come off of screens, too. I can play him and Nash together. That gives me an option there if I want to go small ball. We know Finley's a terrific three and Nowitzki can play some four and Juwan can play some five. It's an interesting lineup. We haven't looked at it yet, but we will."

	Bradley

Good Lord, the Mavericks are loaded. Wang Zhi-Zhi isn't even here yet, still playing for China's national team. Shawn Bradley looks like he didn't take the summer off, Finley and Nowitzki take turns lighting you up, Howard cleans up the mess inside. Eschmeyer does just about everything the departed Calvin Booth did defensively, and the 178-year-old Manning still is effective despite his feet being bolted to the floor. But Hardaway thinks they lacked one thing that he's always had in spades.

"The team needed toughness," he says. "They need somebody to talk up to them, to get people out of their face."

Even Cuban can't buy that.

I have a feeling, boys and girls, that we'll be in Big D in late May and early June. Watching Tim Bug flap his yap against Kobe and the Diesel.

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