This is the time of year when we give out our midseason awards. But before we get to the drudgery of Sixth Man Award and Most Valuable Player, let’s start the festivities with a special award for individual achievement that goes to Rashad Vaughn. Vaughn is a shooting guard for the Milwaukee Bucks and the second-youngest player in the NBA. He is one of the dozens of rookies who have made virtually no impact in their first season. He is averaging 2.5 points
One of the biggest knocks against the NBA is that when the season starts, there are only five or six teams that can truly win the championship, making the regular season and the early playoff rounds interminably tedious. Not this season. As we reach the midway point – 18 teams have played at least 41 games, another nine have played 40 – there are no less than a dozen teams with legitimate title aspirations, including a handful that haven’t been in the
About an hour after I had rolled into the Audi Garage next to the American Airlines Center in Dallas, and about four hours after I left San Antonio, where I had watched the Mavericks lose Game 7 of the first round of the 2014 playoffs to the eventual NBA champion Spurs, members of the Mavs spoke to the media. On the floor of their practice court, Dirk Nowitzki spoke about the disappointment of that game after taking the Spurs to the
As the whole world seemingly sits in suspense, awaiting The Decision II from LeBron James, a few shrewd teams have been hard at work, trying to improve their rosters. One such team, once thought to be in the hunt for one of the marquee free agents, is the Dallas Mavericks. Another team, the Houston Rockets, still awaits a decision from LeBron, as what he chooses will greatly impact the decision that Miami Heat teammate Chris Bosh makes—whether to stay in South
The myth died for good only two years ago, but it seems more distant than that because it was so silly. It’s unlikely that it will return, but then again, people are still looking for Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster, mermaids and flying saucers. So who knows? Maybe at some point, some basketball idiot will call Dirk Nowitzki “soft” again. That person would indeed have to be an idiot. But then, that was always true. Those who preached such nonsense
(This is another in a series of 30 guest columns that will run in October, when optimism reigns supreme across the NBA. The theme will be “Five Reasons to Feel Positive About … ” We encourage you to follow the authors on Twitter and visit their sites. – CS) The early portion of the free agency period gave off the appearance that the sky was literally falling on the Dallas Mavericks. The chase to try to land Deron Williams fell short as
DALLAS – The grand experiment begins today with the first day of training camp. Call Mark Cuban, Donnie Nelson and Rick Carlisle crazy, but they believe they have found an alternative recipe for championship success. 1. Take a superstar who may be starting to decline but still is near the top of his game. 2. Add a one-time prolific offensive player who has discovered the joy of defense. 3. Toss in a point guard from Indiana, a shooting guard from Memphis, a center from
If you live in an area other than Dallas, Texas, you probably are not aware that if the Mavericks had brought back their team of a year ago, they would have won their second consecutive NBA title. Yes, that is correct. Add Tyson Chandler, J.J. Barea and DeShawn Stevenson to the Mavericks roster, and instead of being swept by Oklahoma City in the first round, the Mavericks would have won in six games at the most, maybe five like last year and,