| | Have you ever watched a football game where a running back runs a sweep
right, gets penned in, reverses direction, dodges a bunch of would-be
tacklers, goes all the way across the field, gets strung out, reverses
direction again, avoids another tackler, turns upfield and then gets tackled?
|  | | Adding Howard Eisley hasn't made Hughes a believer in the Mavericks. |
You say to yourself, "Wow, what an impressive run."
Then you hear the announcer go, "He picked up one yard."
That's the Dallas Mavericks.
They did all this crazy stuff this summer, made all these moves, were in
the news every other day, traded and traded and signed and swapped, jiggled
their roster, changed their names, made everybody think they were drastically
improving.
And they gained one yard.
I keep hearing how the Mavericks have gotten better, the Mavs are going to
make the playoffs for the first time since Ted Stepien was no longer their
benefactor, how the Mavs are one of the teams to beat this year.
And I just don't see it.
This is no disrespect to Mark Cuban, who is doing everything he can to
bring credibility to the franchise, including providing every player with a
live-in maid and a part-time window washer because NBA players "deserve
everything they get." Uh-huh.
But as one GM recently said, "They have a bunch of new pieces, but none of
them seem to fit together."
| |  | |
| Eisley |
| |  | |
| Laettner |
Since when did acquiring Christian Laettner suddenly put you over the top?
It may send you over a cliff, but not put you over the top.
And since when did Howard Eisley become Gary Payton or Jason Kidd? I'm
telling you, this team has no starting point guard. Steve Nash has been a big
disappointment thus far in his career, and Eisley, while a decent little
player, is not going to make a good starter.
Dallas performed admirably on draft day, when they picked up Courtney
Alexander, Etan Thomas, Donnell Harvey and Eduardo Najera. But the last time
I checked, rookies needed a serious breaking-in time in the NBA -- unless, of
course, your name happens to be Tim Duncan.
Sure, Michael Finley and Dirk Nowitzki are nice, and both are probably
All-Stars. But with that many rookies, and with that many rookies who are
expected to contribute, plus the fact that they still have no rebounding and
no defense, plus the fact that Shawn Bradley still is their starting center,
plus the fact that Laettner has been unhappy, and has made those around him
unhappy, wherever he has gone, this seems more like a team for the future
more than a team for now.
I'm all for Cuban. He's genuinely excited, his ideas are fresh, he wants
to win and he's willing to break down barriers to do it. But this is not the
year, Marko, I'm sorry to say.
I'll even put my money where my mouth is. I'll bet my $250 to Cuban's
$2,500 (he is a billionaire after all) that the Mavericks do not make the
playoffs this season, for the 11th straight season, the longest postseason
drought going.
And if I'm right, I want my windows washed, too.
Western Wandering
There were rumors floating around that the Greek team that supposedly had
a contract with Phoenix Suns draftee Iakovos Tsakalidis was going to argue in
arbitration that Tsakalidis could not technically be drafted by Phoenix
anyway because he has lied about his age.
Tsakalidis is supposedly 23 years old, instead of 21, which would make him
have to be a free agent rather than eligible for the draft. Fortunately for
the Suns, the league sent around a memo back in June saying Tsakalidis was
draft-eligible.
| |  | |
| Pack |
When Robert Pack is traded from Boston to Denver in a four-player deal in
mid-October, hopefully it will rejuvenate a career that has gone downhill
since suffering nerve damage in his leg in Washington in 1995.
Pack is returning to Denver, where he had his best seasons. He was a major
part of the 1994 team that, as an eighth seed in the playoffs, upset
top-seeded Seattle.
In what could become a nice story in Seattle, point guard Tyson Wheeler,
who played collegiately at Rhode Island, is in camp.
The Sonics were competing in the Boston summer league when they realized
that their point guard was horrible. So bad, in fact, he could not even run
the offense.
The Sonics coaches realized the games would be a waste of time if they did
not get a real point in, so they called on Wheeler, a friend of Vin Baker
from the New England area.
He was invited to the Sonics camp, has performed well and has a distant
shot at making the opening day roster.
Sacramento Kings point guard Jason Williams told the Sacramento Bee he did
not get suspended for the first five games of the season because he tested
positive for marijuana again. He said it was a different reason.
"It wasn't about failing a drug test and getting suspended," Williams
said. "It was me being hard-headed and not doing the things I was supposed to
do after I was tested positive. It wasn't nothing about me keeping on smoking. It was just that I
wouldn't return phone calls."
Smoking'll do that to you.
Frank Hughes covers the NBA for the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune. He is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. | |
ALSO SEE
NBA offseason movement chart
Hughes: Patrick, welcome to Seattle!
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