Many hours spent in the office + little motivation + lull on the romantic front = 14.02 PPD I'm taking a month off to go to Tibet in September. I'm counting on you to pass me up again come then.
The Mavs are now trying to get Golden State involved in a menage a trois with L.A. to get the trade done.
when are gonna go to tibet?? what are you going to do there? I'm going to kyrgizie (nut sure if that is the english name,it the country north of afganistan) in august.
The Marbury trade maybe more about rid of Penny's max contract. If you don't have a top 5 player, two max players are not enough.
They do, certainly in the short run. In the long run their cap problems are going to break them apart. Dont be surprised if Marion and Joe Johnson get moved in the next few years.
The deal is something like 5 1/2 (sixth year partially guaranteed) with a team option on the rest of the sixth year. I'm not afraid of competing with Phoenix next year, but I'm not looking forward to doing so either. However, I agree that the longterm outlook for Phoenix is negative, while for us it's positive.
Agreed. In the short run (next 2 years) I think it definitely helps them out and even makes them a playoff contender again. After that it just creates cap problems with Nash losing some of his speed and quickness, he will not be worth his contract.
Dallas may be hurt in the short-run with this deal, but as always, they're a big man away from having a young competitive team: Center Dirk Josh Howard M. Daniels Devin Harris Add an athletic defensive-minded center like Camby or Cato, plus a solid bench (which with Cuban won't be a problem) and they're good. The young guys on that team are all allegedly pretty good defenders.
I like Howard and Daniels. They are good young prospects that have showed me something. But they are still young and still not battle tested. You can surround Dirk with guys like that but when you look at it, you have to wonder if the LACK of playoff experience could hurt them. More than anything that's what they lose when they lost Nash. Word is that Dallas used their FULL MLE on Daniels. That means they can't sign a "big" with any of their MLE money. They are going to have to make some trades.
Dallas, with Cuban's willingness to take on high salaries, will never have a problem with depth. I would think they'd be able to get a solid (but likely overpaid) center by dangling Walker's expiring deal.
Kyrgyziztan! Yeah, I was actually thinking about going there & Xinjiang & Uzbekistan too, but I opted for a Tibet tour instead. I'm going in September, and am going from there to Nepal with a few days in Thailand on the way back. Make sure you post a thread w/pictures in the hangout forum about Kyrgyzistan when you get back, I'm very interested to see them.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nba&id=1833568 Umm...I think they forgot to put again at the end of that title/ Losing Nash ends Dallas' Big Three era DALLAS -- Steve Nash wanted to remain with the Dallas Mavericks so much that he promised the team the chance to counter any offer he received. So when the Phoenix Suns quickly dangled a five-year contract, with a potential sixth season, worth at least $65 million, Mavs owner Mark Cuban was faced with a tough choice. If he matched it, he'd be risking that Nash would stay healthy and effective through at least his 35th birthday. That's questionable considering his all-out playing style. So Cuban pondered the chance of owing $12-15 million to a backup point guard. If he didn't match it, Cuban knew the Mavs would face the immediate problem of being without their heart and soul, the on-court leader who powered their rise to among the NBA's elite and a key component to their locker-room harmony. Cuban didn't like the long-term view. While the short-term picture wasn't much better, he was able to rationalize it. Dallas still has top draft pick Devin Harris and promising second-year guard Marquis Daniels. A backcourt that raw isn't the ideal way to chase a championship, but the Spurs won a title two years ago with Tony Parker, who was younger and less experienced than Harris. Plus, he'd be saving a lot of money. So Cuban stuck with his stance of building for the future over what's probably best for the short term. Nash's departure -- which can't be official until July 14 because of NBA rules -- means the end of Dallas' Big Three, the combination of Nash, Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley that carried the Mavs to the Western Conference finals two seasons ago. Now Cuban, coach Don Nelson and president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson must hope the Remaining Two can mesh with the young ballhandlers to keep Dallas competitive in the tough Western Conference. "You're never fully prepared at the prospect of losing an All-Star player, but at the same time it's not like we're totally caught with our pants around our ankles," Donnie Nelson said Friday. "Marquis is a tall point guard who has playoff experience and, internally, we're certainly very excited about Devin Harris and the kind of player he can be. The only caveat is that they're both young." The tandem will begin working together as soon as this weekend. Daniels, a restricted free agent, agreed late Thursday to a six-year deal worth roughly $38 million and will be joining Dallas' summer league squad, probably in time for games against China's national team on Saturday night and Sunday. Harris, who already is on that squad, signed his contract Friday. "There's no way around the fact there's a big hole here now," Nelson said. "The $10,000 question is, `Do some of your young guys have what it takes to fill it?' The only way to find out is by getting on the court and playing." The Mavericks certainly aren't done dealing, and their ultimate goal remains landing Shaquille O'Neal. It remains to be seen whether losing Nash hurts their chances, but it can't help. Besides losing a bargaining chip, Dallas may be less likely to part with Harris. O'Neal also could consider Dallas a less-attractive team without Nash running the offense, especially once the other players needed to acquire O'Neal are also removed from the equation. Even visions of O'Neal in Mavs colors probably wouldn't have cheered up Nelson on Friday. He and Nash have been friends since before 1996, when Nelson was a Phoenix assistant who pushed hard for the team to draft Nash. Two years later, Nelson was in Dallas and he was instrumental in getting the Mavericks to trade for him. "I feel like I've been socked in the stomach," Nelson said, his tone verifying the sentiment. "We've been together through a lot of low times, some soul-searching times, and through some fabulously great times. ... Stevie is deserving of everything he gets. I couldn't be happier for him."
One of my lunch buddies just got back from Nepal about two weeks ago. He l-o-v-e-d it. We are going over this coming Thursday for dessert and slides. He takes a grand trip every year; I'm waiting for the official report, but I think Nepal is his all-time favorite destination. He got charged by a rhino and had to run into the jungle and swing around a tree to ditch the beast. According to his traveling companion, he only had the beast by about 10 feet.
