Atlantic Notes: Joseph, McHale, D-League
Cory Joseph has exceeded all expectations that the Raptors had for him when they inked him to a four-year, $30MM deal this offseason, Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca writes. “When you do these things, you try to get good players and you try to figure out,” said GM Masai Ujiri of Joseph. “You do your scouting, you do your analytics, and you try to figure out if the team will fit together. But honestly, until they start playing, we [don’t know]. When we looked at it, we tried to look at two-way players who bring us some kind of toughness and that’s what he is. He’s a two-way player that will pick up the ball full court and put pressure on opposing guards. He knows how to fight people and make people better and score a little bit too. So you hope that it translates to the basketball court.”
Coach Dwane Casey is also a fan of Joseph’s, but he also admits the play of the 24-year-old playmaker has exceeded expectation, Lewenberg adds. “He has [been a pleasant surprise],” said Casey. “His energy, his toughness wasn’t a surprise but it’s really been glaring. He’s really filled in. I didn’t know how much we could play the two [point] guards together but he plays bigger than he is. He’s not the typical point guard, he can guard twos, he can get down there and wrestle with some threes. If he gets switched off he gets into the big guys’ knees and boxes them out. So he is better than expected.”
Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge would like to bring former teammate and fired Rockets coach Kevin McHale to the Celtics in some capacity, even if it’s just in a consultant’s role, Ainge told Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. The Mavericks are also interested, league sources said to Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
- The Nets have respect for the coaching of Randy Ayers, whom they recently hired as a scout, though team officials say the organization doesn’t regard him as a coach-in-waiting in case Lionel Hollins is fired, reports Chris Mannix of SI.com.
- The Celtics have assigned Jordan Mickey, Terry Rozier and James Young to the D-League, the team announced (Twitter link).
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Western Notes: Powell, Aldridge, Knight
The strong play of Dwight Powell for the Mavericks has given the franchise some enduring benefit from last season’s trade for Rajon Rondo, Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com writes. Powell has worked extremely hard to develop his game, something that hasn’t gone unnoticed or unappreciated by his teammates, MacMahon adds. “The kid basically sleeps in the gym,” Mavs power forward Dirk Nowitzki told reporters. “He never goes home. It seems like every time I come in, he’s in there working, either lifting or running or shooting. He just wants to get better all the time. Now that he’s got some playing time, he’s still working harder than everybody else.” The 24-year-old is averaging 10.5 points and 8.1 rebounds thus far this season, well above his career numbers of 5.2 PPG and 3.5 RPG.
Here’s more from the West:
- The Suns‘ decision to acquire Brandon Knight from the Bucks last season is finally starting to pay off, with Knight playing some of the best basketball of his young career as he and Eric Bledsoe mesh perfectly together, writes Tom Ziller of SB Nation in his analysis of Phoenix’s backcourt duo.
- The Spurs have recalled Jonathon Simmons from their D-League affiliate in Austin, the team announced via press release. Simmons notched 17 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists in one contest on his assignment.
- LaMarcus Aldridge remains happy with his decision to join the Spurs over the offseason, and he is pleased with his relationship with coach Gregg Popovich thus far, Ananth Pandian of CBSSports.com writes. “He’s very particular as far as basketball, you know, doing things right,” Aldridge said about his new coach. “But as soon as the game is over, he’s on to a different thing, making sure we are good as human beings. I think that’s a really good balance. He doesn’t burn you out. He’s not always basketball, basketball, basketball. He actually gives you the time to be free.”
- It’s the play and “aloofness” of James Harden that’s frustrated Rockets teammates, Jeff Zillgitt and Sam Amick of USA Today write, clarifying Zillgitt’s earlier tweet that Harden’s “style” had created tension.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Offseason In Review: Dallas Mavericks
Hoops Rumors is in the process of looking back at each team’s offseason, from the end of the playoffs in June right up until opening night. Trades, free agent signings, draft picks, contract extensions, option decisions, camp invitees and more will be covered as we examine the moves each franchise made over the last several months.
Signings
- Brandon Ashley: Three years, $2.414MM. Signed via cap space. First year is partially guaranteed for $50K. Waived.
- J.J. Barea: Four years, $16MM. Signed via cap space.
- Samuel Dalembert: One year, $1.499MM. Signed via minimum salary exception. Waived.
- Jeremy Evans: Two years, $2.328MM. Signed via minimum salary exception.
- Jarrid Famous: Three years, $2.414MM. Signed via cap space. First year is partially guaranteed for $10K. Waived.
- John Jenkins: Three years, $3.211MM. Signed via cap space. Second and third years are non-guaranteed.
- Wesley Matthews: Four years, $70.060MM. Signed via cap space. Fourth year is a player option.
- JaVale McGee: Two years, $2.675MM. Signed via minimum salary exception. First year is partially guaranteed for $750K.
- Salah Mejri: Three years, $2.414MM. Signed via cap space. First year is fully guaranteed.
- Maurice Ndour: Three years, $2.414MM. Signed via cap space. First year is fully guaranteed, second year is partially guaranteed for $437K. Waived.
- Charlie Villanueva: One year, $1.499MM. Signed via minimum salary exception.
- Deron Williams: Two years, $11MM. Signed via cap space. Second year is a player option.
- Jamil Wilson: Three years, $2.414MM. Signed via cap space. First year is partially guaranteed for $50K. Waived.
Extensions
- None
Trades
- Acquired Zaza Pachulia from the Bucks in exchange for Dallas’ 2018 second round pick (top-55 protected).
Waiver Claims
- None
Draft Picks
- Justin Anderson (Round 1, 21st overall). Signed via rookie exception to rookie scale contract.
- Satnam Singh (Round 2, 52nd overall). Signed in the D-League.
Camp Invitees
Departing Players
- Al-Farouq Aminu
- Tyson Chandler
- Monta Ellis
- Bernard James
- Richard Jefferson
- Rajon Rondo
- Greg Smith
- Amar’e Stoudemire
Rookie Contract Option Decisions
- None
The offseason was a lesson in the differences between the terms “free agency” and “team control.” DeAndre Jordan famously taught the Mavs and the NBA world about the vagaries of the July Moratorium, too, with his infamous flip-flop that left Dallas with no alternative that was nearly as attractive as Jordan following through on his commitment to the Mavs would have been. Tyson Chandler, surprised by the team’s decision to prioritize Jordan instead of him, had already bolted for the Suns. Only the defensively challenged Enes Kanter, essentially a mirror opposite of Jordan, was left among marquee free agent centers by the time Jordan signed with the Clippers, and as the Thunder proved when they matched the offer sheet that Kanter signed with the Trail Blazers, he wouldn’t have ended up in Dallas, anyway.
The Pacers had already committed to trade Roy Hibbert to the Lakers, and the Kings clung fast to DeMarcus Cousins in spite of all the rumors. So, the Mavs came up with a low-cost alternative, sending virtually nothing to the Bucks for Zaza Pachulia, whom Dallas absorbed into its cap space. It was not a heralded acquisition, to be sure, yet Pachulia has long proven a valuable part of winning teams. He was a mainstay on the Joe Johnson/Josh Smith Hawks, and he started 45 regular season games and all six postseason contests for a resurgent Milwaukee squad last season. He’s only once been a full-time starter, but as his averages of nearly a double-double so far for the Mavs prove, he’s capable of filling that role with the right supporting cast around him.
Of course, it’s debatable whether the Mavs have enough around him to make the playoffs. Dirk Nowitzki had another birthday in June, his 37th, and the month before that, Chandler Parsons had right knee surgery that’s limited his playing time this season. Plus, Wesley Matthews, who inherited both a max contract and the mantle of having been the team’s most prominent offseason addition when Jordan turned tail, hasn’t quite looked himself yet as he returns from a torn Achilles tendon.
Matthews was a gamble on the four-year, $57MM deal to which Dallas originally signed him, and he comes with an even greater risk at the four-year max of about $70MM that he wound up with post-Jordan. The Mavs reached agreement with Matthews before their ill-fated deal with Jordan, and when they did, they promised Matthews they’d give him $57MM, the most they’d have left over if they signed Jordan, and the max if they didn’t, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. They honored that commitment when Jordan backed out and even gave Matthews the chance to get out of his deal, but the Jeff Austin client decided to stick to it, as MacMahon detailed. It all added up to a contract for the former Blazers shooting guard that at least one opposing GM called “insane”, but the Mavs nonetheless have a player who wants to be part of the team and who’s determined to return to form as perhaps the best three-and-D wing in the game.
He replaces Monta Ellis, whom the team appeared to show little interest in retaining. The same was true of backcourt partner Rajon Rondo, as three-fifths of last year’s starting lineup, which the team had appeared eager to keep together in the days shortly after the Rondo trade, departed via free agency. Filling Rondo’s place is Deron Williams, whom the Mavs reportedly emerged as a strong bet to sign even before he worked his buyout with the Nets. His presence on the Mavs roster at not quite $5.379MM this season represents a touch of optimism about the team’s plight this summer, not necessarily because of his ability to outplay that salary, but because the Mavs would be paying him more than $20MM this year if he had picked Dallas when he was the No. 1 free agent target in 2012. The 31-year-old is clearly no longer an elite talent, and he’s averaging his fewest points, assists and minutes per game since he was a rookie, but at a salary akin to the mid-level, his production is commensurate with his pay.
The Dallas bench is devoid of a couple of key figures from last season, including Al-Farouq Aminu, who quickly committed to the Blazers and thus was unavailable when Jordan’s return to L.A. meant the Mavs suddenly had the cap space necessary to keep the combo forward who’d blossomed under coach Rick Carlisle. The specter of the broken Jordan deal also painted the departure of Richard Jefferson, who backed out of his deal to re-sign to instead ink with the Cavs, albeit with owner Mark Cuban’s blessing.
J.J. Barea, like Matthews, received a bump in his pay because of Jordan’s indecision, going from a two-year, $5.7MM arrangement to $16MM over four years. The 31-year-old spark plug still provides a lift off the bench and a link to the franchise’s championship squad, but while $4MM isn’t too much to pay at this point, a strong chance exists that he won’t be nearly as productive by the fourth year. It’s a front-loaded contract, but it still calls for him to make more than $3.71MM in the final season.
The Mavs didn’t invest nearly as much in JaVale McGee, whom they hope will be just as integral as Barea is, if not more so. McGee’s slow-healing leg hasn’t allowed him to play despite the team’s commitment of a $750K partial guarantee, but the Mavs could use a jolt, especially at center. They can go until January without committing more than $1MM to see if the 27-year-old can rekindle the promise he once showed with the Nuggets, and with a team salary just slightly above the cap, it’s a justifiable gamble.
That’s especially so with the team’s strong contributions for minimum-salary players Dwight Powell and John Jenkins so far. The Mavs elected to keep Powell and cut others with fully guaranteed deals despite Powell’s quiet rookie season, and he’s rewarded them with 10.5 points and 8.1 rebounds in just 22.1 minutes per game. Jenkins, a former first-round pick who has struggled to find his footing in the NBA, was a preseason sensation for Dallas after signing in the offseason, and he had a 17-point game against the Clippers in his second regular season game for the Mavs.
It’s a testament to Carlisle’s skill and further reason why the Mavs signed him to a five-year, $35MM extension this month, picking up his 2016/17 team option in the process. He’d made the case for it time and again over the years, and while speculation mounted about Carlisle’s future before the deal, it didn’t seem as though Cuban and the Mavs would ever let one of the game’s best coaches get away.
Carlisle’s fingerprints are all over the team’s surprising 7-4 start. It was a most heartbreaking offseason for the Mavs, but they remain a threat on the market for next summer, and with Carlisle, Matthews, Parsons, whatever Nowitzki can give them and perhaps a budding mainstay in Powell, who’ll be a restricted free agent next summer, they have an attractive supporting cast. It’s just that the superstar addition they’ve longed for still remains out of reach, and out of their hands.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post. The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of it.
Western Notes: Towns, Felton, McDaniels, Bledsoe
Early in the 2015/16 season, we’re seeing rookies shine all across the NBA, as Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press writes. That group of bright youngsters includes Timberwolves rookie Karl-Anthony Towns, who has been a force on both ends of the floor for Minnesota. Averaging 15.7 PPG, 10.3 RPG, and 2.3 BPG, Towns appears to be on his way to stardom.
“I think about the things I’m asking him to do against the people I’m asking him to do it against and I have to always remind myself that he’s 19,” Wolves interim coach Sam Mitchell said, “that he should be a sophomore in college.”
Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- Raymond Felton never was more than a fringe rotation player during his first season in Dallas, but his teammates respect the way that he carried himself during that time, as Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com writes. Felton’s reputation was in tatters after a rough divorce and felony gun charges while in New York. Now, Mavs players like Devin Harris and Deron Williams say that Felton is a model teammate. Felton is set to hit the open market next summer after earning $4.54MM this season.
- The Rockets have recalled K.J. McDaniels from the D-League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Houston announced (on Twitter). McDaniels became the Rockets’ first D-League assignment of the season when the team sent him down last week. McDaniels, 23 in February, has seen just six total minutes across three games for Houston so far this season. In his rookie season, McDaniels averaged 7.9 PPG and 3.2 RPG across 62 games for the Rockets and Sixers.
- Suns guard Eric Bledsoe has taken his dynamic skills to the next level by playing with more purpose and passion than ever before, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic writes. There were conflicting reports as to whether the Suns were talking about trading Bledsoe around draft time, but there has been additional word since then indicating that Phoenix was not looking to move the 25-year-old. Through nine games, Bledsoe ranks tenth in the NBA for points per game (23.2) and fourth for steals per game (2.1).
And-Ones: Batum, Mavs, Celtics
Although he was initially shocked by the June trade that sent him from the Blazers to the Hornets, Nicolas Batum said he has embraced his new role with his new team and doesn’t harbor any ill will toward Portland, Jason Quick of CSNNW.com details. Batum, who was with Portland for seven seasons, scored 33 points Sunday in the Hornets’ win against the Blazers. “Why should I be angry? It wasn’t an anger game,” Batum said. “I respect them so much. They gave me my chance, when I was a rookie, 19 years old. They trade me because they think it’s the right thing to do, and I understand that. So now, I move on.’’
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- Dwight Powell and Raymond Felton were both “throw-ins” who helped the Mavs acquire Rajon Rondo and Tyson Chandler in respective deals, but it’s Powell and Felton who are still with Dallas and playing as if they were the cornerstones of the trades, Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News opines. Felton has started several games this season and Powell is averaging 10.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, Sefko adds.
- The Celtics have moved rookies Terry Rozier and Jordan Mickey along with 2014 first-rounder James Young back and forth from the D-League as a way to get the young players more experience, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe examines. The assignments should not be considered demotions, Washburn writes, because it is the team’s way of tutoring these players. While Boston’s young players are racking up minutes in the D-League, other rookies around the league are just riding the bench, Washburn adds.
- Tara Greco resigned this week from her role as NBPA communications director, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today Sports reports (via Twitter).
Texas Notes: Pachulia, Cuban, Harden, Butler
The Mavericks didn’t get the center they wanted this summer, but Zaza Pachulia wasn’t a bad consolation prize, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. When DeAndre Jordan changed his mind about coming to Dallas, the Mavericks swung a deal with Milwaukee to bring in Pachulia. The 13-year veteran has been an early-season surprise, posting double-doubles in points and rebounds five times in the first nine games. He credits the Mavericks’ experience for their 5-4 start. “You look around the locker room and guys have been in the league 10, 11, 12, 17 [years], so these guys know how to play the right way,” Pachulia said. “It’s like day and night when I came from Milwaukee. It’s become so much easier. Maybe because the mentality that I have is to play team basketball, it’s easier for me to fit in this system.”
There’s more basketball news from the Lone Star State:
- After years of Western dominance, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban sees the balance shifting, MacMahon posts on ESPN.com. “The East looks like the better conference so far,” Cuban said. “That’s a good thing.”
- Rockets star guard James Harden and coach Kevin McHale have different levels of concern about the adjustment to Ty Lawson, according to Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com. Lawson was acquired in a July trade with the Nuggets to give the team an extra playmaker. However, the 4-5 Rockets are off to a disappointing start — losing twice to the Nuggets and once at home to the Nets — and McHale doesn’t like what he has seen. “Both of those guys have to play better,” the coach said. “They have to play better defense, they have to rebound, keep people out of the middle, it’s just not them, it’s a multitude of people.” Harden thinks the adjustment to Lawson is just a matter of time. “I look at when LeBron [James] went to Cleveland with Kyrie [Irving] they didn’t mesh right away,” Harden said. “It takes time. I’m not worried about that.”
- The Spurs are noticing the contribution of Rasual Butler, even though he’s not playing much, writes J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com. The 36-year-old Butler, who signed with the team just before camp started, hasn’t seen more than 15 minutes in a game yet this season or scored more than six points. “He’s a good shooter. He’s aggressive. Always a smart veteran who makes good decisions. He helps us off the bench because of those things,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.
Southwest Notes: Nowitzki, Smith, Lawson
Mavericks power forward Dirk Nowitzki hasn’t made up his mind about when he’ll retire from the game, but he isn’t shutting the door on the possibility that he may play beyond 2016/17, which is the final year on his current deal, Sam Amick of USA Today writes. “I always said that when the body is hurting every day, and when you’ve got to do all this extra stuff to just play, I think that’s when it’s time to go,” said Nowitzki. “But I feel good. I feel good right now and I felt good this summer. I mean, we had a five-games-in-six-days for the [Eurobasket], and I got through that just fine. … I felt good. I don’t need to pop a thousand pills to play or practice. So as long as that’s still good, and it’s still fun to go. I’m going to definitely ride this contract out [this season and next]. I don’t know. We’ll see what happens after that.”
Here’s more from out of the Southwest Division:
- Ish Smith, who was claimed off waivers from the Wizards back in October, has been forced to play major minutes because of injuries to Norris Cole and Tyreke Evans, and he has impressed the Pelicans‘ coaching staff with how quickly he has acclimated to the team’s system, writes John Reid of The Times Picayune. ”It’s really tough, especially just coming in,” coach Alvin Gentry said. ”It would have been different if he had been in training camp and had gone through the whole situation. But you just pick a guy up and then throw him out there, I thought he responded great. I just think it’s a situation and [GM] Dell [Demps] and I talked about it and we just got to keep our head above water. We just got to keep playing hard and competing.”
- Ty Lawson made his return to Denver Friday night, which was his first game back in the city after being dealt to the Rockets during the offseason. While his tenure with the Nuggets didn’t necessarily end well, the point guard had nothing negative to say about his former team, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. “It was pretty great,” said Lawson of his time with the Nuggets. “I had a good couple of years here. This team gave me my first opportunity and chance. So I have nothing bad to say.” When asked if he wished things had turned out differently for him in Denver, Lawson responded, “Things happen for a reason. God has a plan, so I’m going to follow it.”
- Mavericks point guard Raymond Felton has signed with agent Jim Tanner of Tandem Sports and Entertainment, reports Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports (Twitter link). Felton was previously represented by Wasserman Media Group.
Mavs Rumors: Jordan, Nowitzki, Matthews
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban admits he has fun with the back-and-forth between his team and the Clippers over the DeAndre Jordan saga, notes Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. Cuban fired yet another salvo Wednesday after Jordan played his first game in Dallas since pulling out of his commitment to sign with the Mavs this summer and re-signing with the Clippers instead.
“It’s not like DeAndre and I pinkie swore,” Cuban said. “It’s not like we’ve been friends forever. It’s not like he broke some trust we had. You know, he turned out to be who we thought he was.”
Jordan isn’t the only member of the Clippers whom Cuban called out Wednesday, as we detail amid the latest from Dallas:
- Cuban shot a retort at Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers when told before Wednesday’s game that Rivers had said to reporters that too much was being made of the Jordan story, notes Robert Morales of the Long Beach Press-Telegram. “I have no problem slamming Doc Rivers, even though he’s not going to play,” Cuban said. “I like [Clippers owner] Steve Ballmer. Lots of guys on the team, I like. But look, Doc does his radio interviews and brings it up for a reason, right? Again, Doc’s in the coaching business, he’s gotta do his job. God, there is so much I want to say.”
- Rivers argues Jordan was simply exercising his collectively bargained right when he turned his back on the Mavs, notes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. “Teams do it all the time,” Rivers said. “It’s amazing how often teams change their mind on players. They sign free agents, tell them they’re gonna be there for the rest of their lives and they cut them or trade them.”
- Dirk Nowitzki is certain that he’ll play through his current contract but isn’t sure whether he’ll keep playing or retire after that, the 37-year-old tells Sam Amick of USA Today. Nowitzki has a player option worth more than $8.692MM for next season, the last on his pact.
- Wesley Matthews benefited financially when he turned down a four-year offer of about $65MM from the Kings to take what turned out to be an approximately $70MM four-year max offer from the Mavs, and he also dodged the Kings controversy, Amick writes in a separate piece. “I had my own reads [on the Kings], being in the room with the owner and the GM and talking to the coach, the president,” Matthews said to Amick. “I had my own thoughts going into it, my own reads, my own intuition. I think they mean well. I think they mean well. … I didn’t feel confident in meaning well.”
And-Ones: Durant, Green, Aldridge
Sean Deveney of The Sporting News mentions the Lakers, Bulls and Knicks as major-market suitors for Kevin Durant, and the Warriors as a team that could catch his eye, but people around the league have long felt as though Durant will either sign with the Thunder or the Wizards, Deveney writes. It’s a sentiment one Eastern Conference GM who spoke with Deveney confirms. Still, Washington doesn’t plan an extravagant pitch, a source tells Deveney, in keeping with the former MVP’s low-key personality. That said, neither the Warriors nor the Heat should be ruled out as potential Durant destinations, according to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. See more from around the NBA:
- Gerald Green punched a man who was trying to restrain him from going from the lobby of his condo building to his unit, according to a police report that Manny Navarro and Charles Rabin of the Miami Herald obtained. The man, who elected not to press charges, was attempting to keep Green in the lobby so that he would be there when rescue officials arrived, the report states, according to Navarro and Rabin. Green had earlier approached the front desk of the lobby with bloody hands and asked for a call to paramedics, then proceeded to the valet area in front of the building and collapsed, the report continues, as Navarro and Rabin detail. Green, who was handcuffed but not arrested, was hospitalized and later released and is serving a two-game suspension from the Heat. Team president Pat Riley said the team still believes it can count on Green, who issued an apology as part of a team statement, Navarro and Rabin add.
- The Mavericks weren’t the favorites for LaMarcus Aldridge, but they still had a chance to sign him when they abandoned their pursuit to instead nail down the more certain acquisition of Wesley Matthews, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports details in an inside look at Aldridge’s free agency. Aldridge liked Kobe Bryant‘s basketball chat but little else about the Lakers presentation, while Aldridge was reluctant to share the marquee with James Harden despite an intriguing Rockets pitch and found Raptors GM Masai Ujiri appealing but not convincing enough to sway him to Toronto, according to Wojnarowski.
- The Spurs wooed Aldridge with a casual, face-to-face approach from Gregg Popovich and other San Antonio principals, Wojnarowski explains in the same piece. Popovich’s decision to fly in for a second visit, prompted by Aldridge’s second Lakers meeting, helped sealed the deal for the Spurs, thanks in part to a last-minute appeal from Riley that the Heat president intended to use to sell Aldridge on a secondary role in Miami, Wojnarowski writes. Instead, Aldridge took Riley’s message to heart as he embraced the idea of sacrificing some of his impressive offensive numbers in San Antonio’s egalitarian offense, as the Yahoo scribe details.
Mavs/Clippers Notes: DeAndre Jordan’s Dallas Visit
DeAndre Jordan knew when his Clippers teammates paid a visit to him in July that his second thoughts about committing to the Mavericks were about to escalate, writes Dan Woike of the Orange County Register.
“When the Clippers came to my house,” Jordan said, “I was like ‘Oh [expletive]. This is going to be bad.’”
It wound up being good for the Clippers, but it was the Mavericks who absorbed the worst of it, with their offseason plans in shambles following Jordan’s decision to vacate his deal with them. Jordan will play in Dallas tonight, but in a Clippers uniform as the Mavs play host to his L.A. team. See more on the grudge match stemming from one of the offseason’s most engaging stories:
- It’s not that Jordan turned his back on the Mavericks, but instead the way he went about it that Dirk Nowitzki found untoward, note Tim MacMahon and Justin Verrier of ESPNDallas.com. “We’ve all changed our mind before,” Nowitzki said. “I think the franchise and the fans were not happy with the way he went about it — not responding to [owner Mark Cuban] and [Chandler] Parsons anymore and kind of put-the-head-in-the-sand strategy, instead of being upfront and saying, ‘Hey, I changed my mind,’ and just being honest about it. I think that’s what rubbed people the wrong way, but it’s over.
- Mark Cuban saved all the text messages that Jordan sent him during the saga, including one in which he told the Mavs owner that he was on a date when he was actually with Blake Griffin, observes Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times. “Some day I’ll let you read all the texts and we’ll get into it and we’ll talk about it, but now is not the right time,” Cuban said to Bolch (Twitter link).
- Jordan’s flip-flop wasn’t altogether shocking for his Clippers teammates, who are familiar with his impulsiveness and indecisive nature, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com told the Dallas Morning News in an interview. Shelburne believes Jordan didn’t want to be the pre-eminent star in Dallas and instead simply sought better treatment and appreciation from the Clippers.
- Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News suggests Jordan took the easy way out, declining the chance to embrace the mantle of leadership and the work that comes with it.