Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End:
*Any day now expect 103.3 FM ESPN to announce it has signed Michael Irvin and co-host Kevin Kiley to a new contract keeping them in the 11 a.m.-2 p.m. slot. Considering the show's uninspired ratings and the current radio landscape (re: financially barren), I can guarantee Irvin took a significant pay cut on this deal.
*It's Texas. It's summer. Deal with it. The heat, I mean. To halt the bitch
The Mavs are Pole dancing. Got your $1s ready? We can no longer confuse the Dallas Mavericks' silence with inactivity.
Let's hope we never confuse Marcin Gortat with the franchise's legacy of Great White Nopes.
The Mavericks last night agreed to re-sign 36-year-old point guard Jason Kidd to a three-year, $25 million contract and inched closer to landing a new starting center as the Orlando Magic seem unwilling to match their offer for the 6-foot-11 Gortat.
After a week on t
I's aren't dotted. T's aren't crossed. Some negotiations aren't finished. Others haven't even started.
But let's assume smooth sailing and peer into the crystal basketball. With the Dallas Mavericks eyeing Shawn Marion, this could be their opening-night roster:
Point Guard: Jason Kidd/ J.J. Barea
Shooting Guard: Josh Howard/ Jason Terry/Antoine Wright
Small Forward: Shawn Marion/ James Singleton
Power Forward: Dirk Nowitzki/ Brandon Bass
Center: Marcin Gortat/ Erick Dampier/ Ryan Hollins
Wh
Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End:
*Once upon a time Walter Cronkite was the "most trusted man in America." His death got me wondering who wears that crown today? The answer hurts: Oprah.
*Sure smells like the Dallas Mavericks - who lost Marcin Gortat at the altar - are going to start the 2009-10 season with Erick Dampier jumping center. Can we possibly take them seriously?
*On consecutive nights at Rangers Ballpark, the Red Sox ba
And the consolation prize is ... Drew Gooden.
To which I say, not bad. Not bad at all. He's no Marcin Gortat or Carlos Boozer or Emeka Okafor, but the 6-foot-10, 250-pound 27-year old journeyman can be a nice fit on a nice team.
Gooden seemingly has the size and skills and athleticism to be difference-making big man in the paint. But there's a reason - after agreeing to a one-year contract worth $4.5 million - that he's now with his seventh team in eight NBA seasons.
The bad news: He's m
The missing link? Or merely the last move?Well, after yesterday's signing of 3-point shooting specialist Tim Thomas I think the Dallas Mavericks are finished with their significant off-season moves.
Of course, at points during the summer I also thought Marcin Gortat was coming, Brandon Bass was staying and Mark Cuban was losing to the SEC. And, come to think of it - uh-oh - the acquisition of Drew Gooden hasn't made it past Twitter confirmation has it?
Assuming Gooden's comin
Dirk looks excited about the season. You?Last time we saw our Dallas Mavericks it wasn't pretty was ugly.
Jason Terry was flopping (only 15 points per game), the defense was floundering (surrendering 115 per game) and owner Mark Cuban was flapping (his gums at Kenyon Martin's mom) in a 5-game playoff loss to the athletically superior Denver Nuggets back in mid-May.
Tonight we can officially bury last year beneath this year as the Mavs open the 2010 season against the Washington Wi
10. There was some good news out of the Dallas Mavericks' hideous 102-91 loss to the Washington Wizards last night at American Airlines Center. Bruce Hornsby - a long-time buddy of head coach Rick Carlisle - played a stirring National Anthem on the piano. (But, dude, he has the limpest/wimpiest of handshakes.)
9. The other positive was that Dirk Nowitzki is still terriffic. And he got a pre-game haircut. Not his traditional sheared buzz cut, but he no longer looks like a GEICO cavem
