You know, the words of the great Ric Flair come to mind (he was referring to him being the NWA champion): "Whether you like it or hate it, learn to LOVE it because this is the way it's going to be from now on."
My god. That sums it up. This has been a terrible sports year. The only saving grace for me was my Longhorns' winning the national championship, but that seems so long ago. And, really, the Mavs' winning after I cheered for the SPURS just seems to trump anything that could have happened in other sports. This sucks. Call me when football season starts.
AMEN! I am filled with dread at the thought of all of the photos showing a smirking Mark Cuban holding the Larry O'Brien trophy while being sprayed with champagne that will be plastered everywhere up here. To quote Dr. Smith: "Oh the pain, the pain...".
Ok, let me preface this by saying that I'm a Rockets fan, through and through. I bleed Rocket Red. I want them to bring back the yellow b-bal jerseys. I suffered through the years of Joe Barely Cares and Jim "Iron Hands" Petersen to bask in the years of Dream, Sam-I-Am, the Junkyard Dog, Big Shot Rob, and Mad Max. That said, I just can't bring myself to hate the Mavericks as much as the rest of you. Yes, we got screwed with the Finley call last year, but overall, I thought it was a well-played, and evenly-matched series, and Dallas just got the breaks. For more years than I can count, the Mavericks were the doormats of the league. They aspired for the success of franchises like Golden State and the Clippers. Hell, even Atlanta looked better than the Mavs for quite a while. True Mav fans have been almost as long-suffering as Rockets fans were pre-1994. Then, they get a new owner, and suddenly things turn around for them. Now, about Cuban. I know he's obnoxious, I know he whines about the refs. I also know he's the type of owner we all want. He genuinely CARES whether or not his team succeeds. Not as an investor, but as a fan. He's enthusiastic about his guys. He fights for them when he thinks they're getting shafted (even when they're not). He's willing to spend what it takes, makes the trades, cut the players...whatever it takes to WIN. Cuban is the kind of team owner you hate, unless he's your team owner. I would rather have all the owners in the league be as personally committed to winning as he is than have a league full of lawyers who only care about the bottom line. Do I wish it was us, instead of them, in the finals? Of course. But, as far as hatred goes, I reserve my hatred for the Jazz-holes, the Fakers, the Sonics, etc. Teams that have had a much bigger role in hurting my team over the years. The Mav's success is, after all, a relatively new development. So I can't hate the Mavericks. The Cowboys, on the other hand...
I live in Dallas and I actually think its good that the Mav's might win it all. I understand the I-45 rivelry and all but as far as I'm concerned it stops when we (the Rockets) are not competing against the Mav's. The teams I hate the most are the Celtics and Jazz for obvious reasons. I have sat at Mavs games against my beloved Rockets while my son and his friends high fived over my head while the Mavs beat the Rockets. No matter how hard I try I can not convert my son to the Rockets. I guess it's my fault for raising him in Dallas. I always said that I would never live in Dallas and now I look back on my life and find that I have lived here since 91 and have a son that loves the Mavs. But I digress. I hate loosing to the Mavs but given a choice between the Mavs and Heat it really is no contest to me. No way do I want the Heat to win...even though I will never hear the end of it from my son. Go Rockets!
Very well said. Cuban started out as a fan and had a chance to live out his dream by owning his own franchise and YES he does run it like a fan that is crazy about his team. Cuban will do anything to make his team a success. That is the epitomy of what almost every fan wants from the owner of his favorite team and almost no fan gets. Can anyone here honestly say that we would not want Cuban as an owner of the Rockets over Les?
Now the announcers are pimping Dampier and saying that he's awesome. Never ever in my life did I think that would ever happen and it pisses me off to watch Shaq struggle against Dampier.
Has anybody done the homework on whether Dallas will be able to keep this team together? Stackhouse is pretty old, he might get hurt - what about free agents who are going to want to get paid?
I think the better question will be can we trade Les for Cuban? I am also willing to add CD and JVG in the package. Plus one Morey for free.
Well remember, Dampier's been the 2nd best center in the league in recent years, so with Shaq's decline, he's automatically the best big man in the NBA. Screw that Yao guy!
Hater Alert- I'm excited to see that Shaq is going through the same stuff that Dream went through late in his career: lack of quickness, foul trouble, less effective in big games. While Dream had this done to him by Shaq (at the top of his game), Shaq is having this done to him by Diop and Dampier. Sweeet!! Overall I can't hate on Dallas too much, except for the whole 'buying a championship' thing. Its a shame that Van Horn and Stack are going to get rings, in a better world they would be playing for Portland. If we were two max salaries over the cap then maybe we could have better depth for when our stars go down.
Exactly! Which is why I appreciate the way Josh Howard, Jason Terry and (esp) Dirk have raised their games to another level. Cream rises to the top and the Mavs are the cream this year. They are coached by, maybe, the best young coach in the NBA in Avery Johnson. To rub it in: Mav haters, just think about what COULD have happened if Manu hadn't fouled Dirk and gift-wrapped the and-1 that tied game 7. It's not that I regret it so much, but I just cannot get that one play out of my mind. Manu hits a clutch 3 and gives it right back.
Terry is an restricted Free Agent so with Bird Rights they can match pretty much any offer unless someone gets crazy and offers like 13mil a year. Also, Van Horn comes off the books.
Not to mention the non-kick out pass to big shot rob who was there waiting to add another chapter to his book. Which was worse, the Manu foul? or Rasheed leaving Rob open to nail the three last season? I think Manu's, considering it was a game seven.
But on the plus side, Gary Payton will remain ring-less. That more than makes up for VH and Stack, IMHO.
I'd probably be bummed if I was actually watching Dallas in the Finals. I'm not. As far as I'm concerned, the playoffs ended when the Suns closed out the Clippers.
Dallas fan here. We has 5 free agents after this season. Terry's going to stay (his agent said the "years" are their biggest concern) unless someone gives him a $12-million deal or something worse. If KVH signs for cheap, I could see him staying as well but I have a feeling they're looking at going into a different direction with the Kemp "special guest" invite and all; they're clearly not too happy with him. Griffin would probably get a small raise but that depends if they want him back or decide to get a guy like Jumaine Jones which is less smarter on defense but can shoot the long ball. Armstrong's either going to retire or take the vet min for one more year. We have "Arenas Rights" to DJ Mbenga so we could match up to the MLE without actually using it, but if someone pays more than $3-million for him like crazy Isiah - I could see Cuban letting him go. After next year, Stack and Howard are free agents but we have more cap flexibility by that time with Bradley and TAW's contracts coming off the books (and Finley a year later) so I think we could afford both of them. Stack would be 33/34 by the time so I'm a little concerned how much we're going to pay him.
