Week in Review
It's only been four days, and yet I'm a third the way through this course on comparative politics. Conceptually I suppose it is pretty dry, and it isn't as if Ive been staring blankly at the wall for four hours each morning. After a week's worth of lectures, I've taken twenty pages of notes (single-spaced). But in truth it's been a pleasant week academically-speaking. All I really have to deal with are daily quizzes, exams on May 15 and May 30, and an eight-paged report profiling the last election cycle of a country of my choosing.
Steve has it so much worse than I do. It's not even funny, but I'll let him rant about that when he gets a chance, even if at this rate that may not be until June. I think he's overdue for a good one, too. He has something like three reports, three exams, and two presentations for this class of his. Now, that's a lot for a sixteen-week semester, let alone a three-week condensed version. I don't see how he does it honestly. But come May 30, I'm buying him a bottle of Jack. Lord knows he'll have earned it.
Updating on a daily basis is so strange. I used to do it quite often, but it's been awhile. All this week I've been working hard to get back on my favorite sleep schedule, where I'm unconscious by 10PM and up by 4AM the following morning. I still don't know why I function better like this, but I do. When fatigue hits me in the afternoons, it's a different sort of fatigue. The impulse to sprawl on the floor and pass out for a few hours is there, but it's more subtle somehow. Intertwined with this impulse is a sense of accomplishment of having been productive for seven or eight hours, when under other circumstances you would have been sleeping half of them away. Maybe that has something to do with it. I really can't explain it all that well, but hopefully you guys can get some semblance of what I'm talking about here.
I haven't made a sports-related blurb in some time now, but permit me just this one. As of this week, the Dallas Mavericks have a new coach. Our former coach, Avery Johnson, led the team to the NBA finals in 2006 and a 67-15 record during the 2006-2007 regular season. After being up two games to none against the Miami Heat in the finals, Dallas dropped the next four in a row. In 2007 and 2008 Dallas was knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by the Golden State Warriors and the New Orleans Hornits respectively. The day after the Mavs-Hornits series, Johnson was fired, and, this past weekend, Rick Carlisle was announced as the ninth head coach of the franchise. In his four-day tenure as head coach, I do think that Carlisle has said all the right things. of course right now this is all talk, but he's vowed to set up a more up-tempo offense while maintaining the emphasis on defense that Johnson helped to establish over the past few seasons. I do wish Cuban and Donny had at the very least entertained the idea of interviewing other candidates, particularly Mike D'Antoni, formerly the head coach of the Phoenix Suns. Oh well. That point is relatively moot now, since Carlisle signed a four-year deal this past Monday. I really don't know enough about the guy to say whether or not he's good for Dallas. Only time will tell, I suppose.
The one proverbial silver lining to this recent dark cloud of Dallas Mavericks playoff catastrophes is the prospect of roster changes. Earlier this morning I saw in an article in the Dallas Morning News that DeSagana Diop, one player involved in the disastrous Kidd trade, might be coming back to Dallas. He had signed with New Jersey as a free agent, but to my knowledge it was only Devin Harris that the Nets were after. I don't even know if Diop ever played more than five minutes a game for that club, but he was always an integral part of the Dallas defensive scheme. Neither Diop nor our starting center Erick Dampier were, or will ever be, all-star caliber players, but the Damp-Diop duo was always good for a combined 10 and 10 a night. The lack of presence in the post really hurt us down the stretch of the regular season. Kidd dished out ten assists a night, but it did us no good when the other team could drive and score easily in the paint. Without Diop here, we're left with Jamaal Magloire as our only true back-up center, and he's in no condition to be effective. The only reason we made it to the playoffs this year in the first place was because of the raw enthusiasm of Brandon Bass, who is able to play the center position against smaller teams. However, at 6'7, he's more effective at the power forward position than he is as a center.
Our current roster consists of Malik Allen, J.J. Barea, Brandon Bass, Erick Dampier, Devean George, Josh Howard, Juwan Howard, Eddie Jones, Jason Kidd, Tyronn Lue, Jamaal Magloire, Dirk Nowitzki, Jerry Stackhouse, Jason Terry, and Antoine Wright. The team has to center around Dirk. he was the league MVP last season, and it was well-deserved. At the point guard position, we have three true point guards: Jason Kidd, Tyronn Lue, and J.J. Barea. Jason Terry is better as a shooting guard, but he can run the point, too. As dumb a trade as it may have been, Jason Kidd at least deserves a full season before he can be labeled a bust here in Dallas. With him starting, I think the Mavericks need to give Tyronn Lue a chance as Kidd's back-up. The Kidd trade went down on February 13. Lue didn't sign on until March 4. I still like Barea more than either of them, simply because he is younger and smaller and quicker; but these guys still deserve a chance to prove their worth to the club.
At the 2 position, Terry is still best as our starting shooting guard, with Stackhouse coming off the bench. Eddie Jones had two or three solid games, but his offense just isn't enough to warrant his being a starter. As for the small forward position, I'd be interested on the one hand to see how a tandem of Antoine Wright and devean George might play out. But right now I'd say the only players worth keeping at the small forward, power forward, and center positions would be Josh Howard, Dirk Nowitzki, and Eric Dampier respectively. Malik Allen, Juwan Howard, and Jamaal Magloire have their strengths, but they are far too inconsistent, particularly Magloire. Unless he shapes up in a big way, Magloire will be the first to go.
Seemingly all that is known about the roster for next year is that Dirk, Kidd, and Terry will be onboard. Presumably Bass, Damp, Josh Howard, Jones, and Stack would still be here, too, as they are the other five players under contract for the 2008-2009 season. After that though, it's all up in the air. Of the seven that aren't under contract, I'd say that only Barea, George, and Lue would be worth keeping, and since the contracts of the previous eight already exceed the salary cap, chances are they'd be receiving a big pay cut if they stayed. Maybe Cuban could take George Karl out for a few drinks and get him to trade Eduardo Nájera to Dallas in exchange for Eddie Jones and a 2009 first-round pick. Hey, an Eddie for an Eddie. What's wrong with that?
Either way you look at it, this will be an eventful off-season for the Dallas Mavericks. I can hardly wait!
Alright, time for some more coffee.
Steve has it so much worse than I do. It's not even funny, but I'll let him rant about that when he gets a chance, even if at this rate that may not be until June. I think he's overdue for a good one, too. He has something like three reports, three exams, and two presentations for this class of his. Now, that's a lot for a sixteen-week semester, let alone a three-week condensed version. I don't see how he does it honestly. But come May 30, I'm buying him a bottle of Jack. Lord knows he'll have earned it.
Updating on a daily basis is so strange. I used to do it quite often, but it's been awhile. All this week I've been working hard to get back on my favorite sleep schedule, where I'm unconscious by 10PM and up by 4AM the following morning. I still don't know why I function better like this, but I do. When fatigue hits me in the afternoons, it's a different sort of fatigue. The impulse to sprawl on the floor and pass out for a few hours is there, but it's more subtle somehow. Intertwined with this impulse is a sense of accomplishment of having been productive for seven or eight hours, when under other circumstances you would have been sleeping half of them away. Maybe that has something to do with it. I really can't explain it all that well, but hopefully you guys can get some semblance of what I'm talking about here.
I haven't made a sports-related blurb in some time now, but permit me just this one. As of this week, the Dallas Mavericks have a new coach. Our former coach, Avery Johnson, led the team to the NBA finals in 2006 and a 67-15 record during the 2006-2007 regular season. After being up two games to none against the Miami Heat in the finals, Dallas dropped the next four in a row. In 2007 and 2008 Dallas was knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by the Golden State Warriors and the New Orleans Hornits respectively. The day after the Mavs-Hornits series, Johnson was fired, and, this past weekend, Rick Carlisle was announced as the ninth head coach of the franchise. In his four-day tenure as head coach, I do think that Carlisle has said all the right things. of course right now this is all talk, but he's vowed to set up a more up-tempo offense while maintaining the emphasis on defense that Johnson helped to establish over the past few seasons. I do wish Cuban and Donny had at the very least entertained the idea of interviewing other candidates, particularly Mike D'Antoni, formerly the head coach of the Phoenix Suns. Oh well. That point is relatively moot now, since Carlisle signed a four-year deal this past Monday. I really don't know enough about the guy to say whether or not he's good for Dallas. Only time will tell, I suppose.
The one proverbial silver lining to this recent dark cloud of Dallas Mavericks playoff catastrophes is the prospect of roster changes. Earlier this morning I saw in an article in the Dallas Morning News that DeSagana Diop, one player involved in the disastrous Kidd trade, might be coming back to Dallas. He had signed with New Jersey as a free agent, but to my knowledge it was only Devin Harris that the Nets were after. I don't even know if Diop ever played more than five minutes a game for that club, but he was always an integral part of the Dallas defensive scheme. Neither Diop nor our starting center Erick Dampier were, or will ever be, all-star caliber players, but the Damp-Diop duo was always good for a combined 10 and 10 a night. The lack of presence in the post really hurt us down the stretch of the regular season. Kidd dished out ten assists a night, but it did us no good when the other team could drive and score easily in the paint. Without Diop here, we're left with Jamaal Magloire as our only true back-up center, and he's in no condition to be effective. The only reason we made it to the playoffs this year in the first place was because of the raw enthusiasm of Brandon Bass, who is able to play the center position against smaller teams. However, at 6'7, he's more effective at the power forward position than he is as a center.
Our current roster consists of Malik Allen, J.J. Barea, Brandon Bass, Erick Dampier, Devean George, Josh Howard, Juwan Howard, Eddie Jones, Jason Kidd, Tyronn Lue, Jamaal Magloire, Dirk Nowitzki, Jerry Stackhouse, Jason Terry, and Antoine Wright. The team has to center around Dirk. he was the league MVP last season, and it was well-deserved. At the point guard position, we have three true point guards: Jason Kidd, Tyronn Lue, and J.J. Barea. Jason Terry is better as a shooting guard, but he can run the point, too. As dumb a trade as it may have been, Jason Kidd at least deserves a full season before he can be labeled a bust here in Dallas. With him starting, I think the Mavericks need to give Tyronn Lue a chance as Kidd's back-up. The Kidd trade went down on February 13. Lue didn't sign on until March 4. I still like Barea more than either of them, simply because he is younger and smaller and quicker; but these guys still deserve a chance to prove their worth to the club.
At the 2 position, Terry is still best as our starting shooting guard, with Stackhouse coming off the bench. Eddie Jones had two or three solid games, but his offense just isn't enough to warrant his being a starter. As for the small forward position, I'd be interested on the one hand to see how a tandem of Antoine Wright and devean George might play out. But right now I'd say the only players worth keeping at the small forward, power forward, and center positions would be Josh Howard, Dirk Nowitzki, and Eric Dampier respectively. Malik Allen, Juwan Howard, and Jamaal Magloire have their strengths, but they are far too inconsistent, particularly Magloire. Unless he shapes up in a big way, Magloire will be the first to go.
Seemingly all that is known about the roster for next year is that Dirk, Kidd, and Terry will be onboard. Presumably Bass, Damp, Josh Howard, Jones, and Stack would still be here, too, as they are the other five players under contract for the 2008-2009 season. After that though, it's all up in the air. Of the seven that aren't under contract, I'd say that only Barea, George, and Lue would be worth keeping, and since the contracts of the previous eight already exceed the salary cap, chances are they'd be receiving a big pay cut if they stayed. Maybe Cuban could take George Karl out for a few drinks and get him to trade Eduardo Nájera to Dallas in exchange for Eddie Jones and a 2009 first-round pick. Hey, an Eddie for an Eddie. What's wrong with that?
Either way you look at it, this will be an eventful off-season for the Dallas Mavericks. I can hardly wait!
Alright, time for some more coffee.