Yet there remains the belief that Aguirre choked in the big games, though Maverick officials disagree with that assessment. Indeed, Rick Sund explains that Aguirre was primarily a first- and third-quarter hero, the kind of player who could give his team a lead and, hence, command of a game. He could score eight or 10 points almost at will during the first 12 minutes of a game--so effortlessly did he move to the basket, so eloquently did he float the ball through the hoop.
That was his role--not to dominate at the end, but at the beginning. You wanted someone to finish an opponent off? Give the ball to Roy Tarpley or Derek Harper or, most often, Rolando Blackman. They cleaned up Aguirre's mess--and what a beautiful, masterful mess it was. But no one talks about that now. All they say is how Mark Aguirre ran out of gas, sulked on the bench as the clock ran out, and sabotaged the perfect machine.
That's what they said about Mark Aguirre--that he didn't care about the Dallas Mavericks. No, they insisted, he cared only about Mark Aguirre.
"When people say to me, 'Mark Aguirre is a bad guy,' I say, 'Have you ever spent time with him?'" says Zaccanelli. "It breaks down really fast that they don't know him...When you really take a look at him, he was an extremely unselfish ballplayer. He was always painted as being a selfish guy, but when you peel the onion back, he's always been a guy with a huge heart who made people better. I was never able to understand why people would question that."
After Aguirre left Detroit on October 7, 1993, he played for the Los Angeles Clippers--a stint that didn't even last 30 games. He was burned out, he explains, and in no mood to play for a team that could barely compete for last place. So he retired in 1994 and came home to Dallas, where he could escape the attention, the scrutiny, the acrimony--the whole mess of it. All he had ever wanted as a kid was to play ball and to win, and when he was on his game, few in the history of the sport played with more determination.
That he is remembered for those other moments--real or imagined, created by Dick Motta or the local media or Aguirre himself--is the unfortunate result of a sporting life misspent and misunderstood.
However history defines him--as hero or villain--Mark Aguirre will always be content in the knowledge that he was one of the best players, if not the best, ever to suit up in Mavericks white-and-green. In a town where Michael Irvin is adored and forgiven, Aguirre should be revered. But it will never bother him if he is not. It didn't then. It won't now.
"When I heard that he was going to be involved again in 1996, I took that as a positive," says Mavericks communications VP Kevin Sullivan. "When you're trying to build tradition in your franchise, a guy like Mark should be part of the family. His legacy should be what a great player he was.
