HANG TIME SOUTHWEST –Donnie Nelson offered Allen Iverson a potential lifeline back to the NBA. The Answer has answered: No thanks.
As first reported Monday by ESPN.com’s Marc Stein, Nelson, co-owner of the D-League Texas Legends and president of basketball operations for the Legends’ NBA affiliate Dallas Mavericks, offered Iverson a chance to get back in the game.
Iverson, 37, has been seeking a path back to the NBA, but through his Twitter account on Tuesday, he made it known that he doesn’t want that path to go through the NBA Development League as some other veteran players have done successfully.
I thank Donnie and Dallas for the consideration and while I think the D-League is a great opportunity, it is not the route for me.— Allen Iverson (@alleniverson) January 29, 2013
Iverson doesn’t say which route he would prefer to get back in the NBA. He’s had opportunities to make good money in China but has passed. A direct route seems preferred, but it’s one that has not materialized.
He last played in the league in 2009-10 for the Memphis Grizzlies and Philadelphia 76ers. After making his intentions clear not to join the Legends — they play in Frisco, located about 30 minutes north of Dallas — Iverson offered a series of tweets:
I realize my actions contributed to my early departure from the NBA, should God provide me another opportunity I will give it my all— Allen Iverson (@alleniverson) January 29, 2013
My dream has always been to complete my legacy in the NBA— Allen Iverson (@alleniverson) January 29, 2013
To my fans, I love yall! Not a day goes by that I am not asked when am I coming back, we all must accept my return is not up to just me.— Allen Iverson (@alleniverson) January 29, 2013
The Legends just helped veteran guard Mike James get back to the NBA. After signing a pair of 10-day contracts with the Mavericks, the club opted to sign him for the remainder of the season. The D-League team is also on the verge of suiting up Delonte West as he hopes to play his way back into the league after being released by Dallas for poor behavior prior to the season.
Iverson sits at No. 19 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, having just been passed at No. 18 by Mavs forward Dirk Nowitzki. A.I. has 24,368 points over 14 seasons. He spent his first 10-plus seasons with Philadelphia before being traded to Denver during the 2006-07 season.
He averaged 26.4 points for the Nuggets in 2007-08 and was moved to Detroit the following season.
If Iverson truly hopes to add to his career point total, he’s going to have to swallow his pride and take whichever circuitous rout is offered, even it means being a marketing tool for a D-League operation.
HANG TIME WEST – There is a point in “The Other Dream Team,” the excellent documentary chronicling the importance of basketball in Lithuania and the meaning of the 1992 Olympics in particular for the newly independent nation, that focuses on Sarunas Marciulionis breaking from the grip of the Soviet Union to join the NBA in 1989.
Donnie Nelson, a Marciulionis confidant who is now general manager of the Mavericks, recalls Marciulionis talking about putting himself in danger by associating so closely with a Westerner, an American at that, and therefore obviously connected to money. And Nelson was there the night before the choice between signing with the Hawks, whose then-owner, Ted Turner, had a cozy relationship with the Soviets, and the Warriors, whose relationship with no one in the Soviet or Lithuanian systems would have made picking Golden State a rebel move.
Marciulionis consulted with Gary Kasparov and lawyers for the chess champion that night before, getting input from Kasparov. As Nelson recalled in the film: “Sarunas knew the odds. He was doing something that could cost him his career. Gary said right there to his face. He said, ‘Sarunas, tomorrow you’re going to be one of the richest men in our country, free to pursue your professional dream. Or you’re going to be in Siberia.’ ”
Welcome to Line 1 on the Marciulionis Hall of Fame bid.
Simply: Has any player ever risked more to play in the NBA? Marciulionis chose the Warriors knowing the Soviets could void the contract – or, gulp, worse – and that years before they had threatened retribution against Sarunas and his family for something as minor as not wanting to read a prepared party-line speech to a group of youngsters. (more…)
HANG TIME, Texas — It’s an old axiom in sports that the best coaches and managers rarely come from the ranks of the stars.
If that’s the case, keep your eye on new coach Eduardo Najera.
When you construct a 12-year NBA career without ever averaging as much as seven points a game in a single season, you must be learning and doing a lot of other things right.
For Najera, those things were rebounding, banging and never letting a loose ball get away without at least a very honest effort.
Now the first Mexican-born player drafted into the league has retired and will become the first Mexican-born coach under the NBA umbrella when he leads the Texas Legends of the Development League. He’ll also become a minority owner of the team and also hold a front office position with the Mavericks in the NBA.
“This is a dream come true,” Najera said. “I have long wondered what would be in store for me when I hung up the basketball playing shoes, and this is the perfect opportunity for my post-playing career. The chance to develop as a coach, while also assisting Mark [Cuban] and Donnie [Nelson] with the Mavs, is an ideal situation.”
Drafted in the second round by Houston in 2000, Najera played the first four seasons of his NBA career in Dallas at time when the team was trying to bury a decade of failure. The Mavs made their first playoff appearance since 1990 during Najera’s rookie year as he carved out a reputation as a power forward who would go down into the low post and do the dirty work.
“I have the utmost respect for Eddie,” said Nelson, who is a co-owner of the Legends and president of basketball operations for the Mavericks. “The work ethic he exhibited as a player, and his knowledge of the NBA game will serve him well in his role as head coach of the Legends. Whether coaching a rookie, or an NBA veteran, coach Najera will have valuable insight for all of our players. I am equally excited to begin working with Eddie in a front office capacity with the Mavericks as he learns the management side of the game. I am proud to be able to call Eddie an ownership partner with the Legends.”
If the best coaches are not simply born out of the headlines but forged in the trenches, Najera may have the experience and the scars worth watching.
HANG TIME, Texas – They were not able to reel in their No. 1 free agent target Deron Williams and they watched future Hall of Famer Jason Kidd escape to New York.
But the Mavericks, with spaces to fill on their roster, are still hoping to fill one of them with guard Delonte West.
Despite a finger injury that forced him to miss one-third of the 66-game post-lockout schedule and that bizarre delivering of a “wet willie” to Utah’s Gordon Hayward back in April, West was a far more solid addition to the Dallas lineup last season than, say, Lamar Odom and could help while Darren Collison and rookie Jared Cunningham learn the offense.
“We’ve got 15 spots and 13 players are under contract,’’ general manager Donnie Nelson told fishbowlradionetwork.com on Monday. “We’ve got a little work to do yet, hopefully Delonte will slide into one of those spots.
“If that’s the case that’ll be great.’’
And if that’s not the case?
“There’s also an argument for keeping that last roster spot open, because sometimes you get lucky towards the end of the summer,’’ Nelson said. “That’s probably how we’ll play it up, unless something really good presents itself.
“We’re still in negotiations with his agent and we’re hopeful that we can work something out,’’ Nelson said. “Obviously he’s got options and he’s got to sort through those.
“Some of those are timing issues there. We’ve just got to continue to negotiate and talk and see if there’s a fit there.’’ (more…)
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Opening and closing arguments all in one day.
Can you think of a better way for the Brooklyn Nets and Dallas Mavericks to make their free-agent sales pitches to Deron Williams today?
Even though free agency kicked off at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, this is the day Williams designated for both teams competing for his services to make their presentations.
It’s no secret Williams has been No. 1 on the summer to-do list for both franchises. The Nets have the luxury of having had his ear for the past season and a half. And Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has no doubt made clear to Williams that they are willing to do whatever it takes (Dwight Howard) to build in Brooklyn the sort of team Williams can help guide to the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference.
The Mavericks, led by owner Mark Cuban, offer a chance for Williams — a former Texas prep star — to return home to a championship organization and slide into position on a roster featuring another superstar, Dirk Nowitzki, already set to give chase for the top spot in the Western Conference.
The Nets can offer a contract worth nearly $100 million, while the Mavericks are offering a four-year deal in the neighborhood of $75 million, so there is a distinct, bottom-line difference in what’s on the table for Williams.
This is the sort of high-powered tug of war that free agency presents every July, but rarely have we had such an intriguing cast of characters involved in one story line.
Dwight Howard, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, Joe Johnson are just a few of the other All-Stars and future Hall of Famers (in the case of Kidd and Nash), whose fates are directly tied to whatever decision Williams makes after hearing the oral arguments from both sides.
And still, nothing gets done before Williams finishes up with the Nets and Mavericks, whose offseason and foreseeable futures hinge on their success or failure in pursuing the man.
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – We waited all night on that blockbuster deal, only to walk away from another Draft night without any of the rumored mega deals taking place.
(Houston, we have a problem … and it includes that red and white No. 12 Dwight Howard jersey that won’t get worn this season)
That’s fine, we’re just hours away from the start of free agency. And the Draft class of 2012 offered up plenty of mild surprises (Dion Waiters to Cleveland with the fourth overall pick, Jared Sullinger and Perry Jones III lasting until near the end of the first round, etc.), as always.
Ah, the joy of the Draft night drama that was …
BERNARD JAMES, AMERICAN HERO!
It’s not often the 33rd pick in any draft absolutely steals the show from the other 59 guys selected. But Florida State’s Bernard James got the loudest roar from the crowd in Newark last night.
NEW YORK — Monta Ellis deserves credit for being the man to get this all started a few weeks ago. And sooner or later someone’s going to give the wacky days of trade chatter and pure speculation leading up to the NBA Draft a name.
Trade-rumors-a-palooza?
The Great Speculations?
Basketball’s International Moving Parts Festival?
We’ll keep working on that. In the meantime, it’s time to dive in and sort through the all the mess just hours away from the 2011 Draft and see if we can’t make a little sense of all these rumors:
According to an NBA source, new Warriors coach Mark Jackson has made at least two phone calls to Monta Ellis to tell Ellis how much he would love to coach him.
Here’s a full report and breakdown of the latest Ellis info by CBSsports.com’s Ken Berger, who has been all over this situation and everything I’ve heard is totally consistent with this.
It’s an open secret around the league that Ellis and his representatives are starting to believe that this might be the right time to move him to a title contender.
Ellis is in his prime, has put in many years with the Warriors, and two sources indicate that there has been some frank general discussion between GSW management and Ellis’ camp about his future, the team’s future, and whether the two should remain entwined.
Big point: Ellis loves playing at Oracle Arena. He apparently also appreciates what Jackson has been telling him.
But he’s wondering the same thing many execs around the league are wondering: How else could the Warriors get a necessary bigger player if they don’t trade Ellis?
Iguodala Stays Put As Well
Andre Iguodala‘s name has been linked to as much trade bluster as anyone in recent weeks, including Ellis. And yet there seems to be nothing solid in place heading into tonight’s festivities, as Kate Fagan of the Philadelphia Inquirer explains:
In recent weeks, the Sixers have discussed trades involving swingman Andre Iguodala with both the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers, along with various other teams, but have yet to find a deal they deem worthy of execution.
Two factors seem to be slowing the Sixers’ willingness to deal Iguodala: the impending change in ownership and the impending lockout.
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – It takes a village, they say.
Well, sometimes what it takes is experience and a junkyard collection of useful parts.
Every championship team needs one or more superstars to be the foundation and Dirk Nowitzki has proven to be that throughout his 13-year NBA career.
But the reason that Dirk has been able to battle his way to a 2-2 tie in The Finals and get to the threshold of his first title is because he finally has an assembled supporting cast that has come together to maybe be greater than the sum of the individual parts.
It takes talent to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy, but quite often it also takes years and plenty of battle scars.
In an excellent Q and A with Mike Heikaof the Dallas Morning News, Mavs GM and president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson says it’s drive – not age – that matters and he’s quite happy with his team of so-called cast-offs:
Were you concerned when you were putting this team together that you have so many 30-somethings?
“I’ll tell you what, what people call 30-somethings or old, we call experienced. Just give me guys that have heart. I don’t care how tall they are, they could be 4-foot-1 like JJ, they could be 40-year-old like our point guard…give me a guy with heart, and you’ll win most games.”
What about (DeShawn) Stevenson’s performance so far?
“I joke about this a lot, but you look at our team and we’re like the movie, Castoffs. Our superstar is a “superstar…but.” Then you go right down the list. JJ (Barea) is too small, Jason Kidd is too old. Jason Terry in the Stevie Nash booby prize. Tyson Chandler and (Peja) Stojakovic are damaged goods, y’know. All of our guys are like this. D-Steve was a throw-in on the Caron Butler deal. They saw a long-term contract that they wanted to get that off of their books, and we saw a guy that was 6-5 and tough as nails and just needed to get dusted off a little bit. And I really think that’s the story. We don’t have a superman who is going to have from the free throw line and slam over people. We’ve got to do it the good old fashioned way with team defense. As they say, the sum of the parts, that’s what we’re all about.”
There was a time when the Mavs had their Big Three lineup of Nowitzki, Nash and Michael Finley and couldn’t ever make the long climb up. Now here they are with a glimpse of the mountaintop.
Sometimes what it takes is the hunger of empty bellies.
DALLAS –Kendrick Perkins is coming home, so to speak, for the Western Conference finals.
A Beaumont, Texas, native, his first dip in this Red River NBA Rivalry should be an interesting one for another reason, considering he’ll be facing the man that almost had his job as the Oklahoma City Thunder’s starting center.
Before Tyson Chandler showed up here and helped turn the Dallas Mavericks into a defensive-minded force, he was on his way to the Thunder. Chandler was on his way to the Thunder, at the time he was traded from the New Orleans Hornets for Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox, in a deal in February 2009 that was later rescinded when Chandler failed his physical (injured toe) with the Thunder’s medical staff.
Instead of manning the middle the for the upstart Thunder, Chandler is doing so for the Mavericks and is facing a player just as anxious to mix it up in the post as he is. That’s why we fully expect the play of these two big men to swing the momentum from night to night in this series.
“There’s no doubt about it,” a scout friend told me via text this morning when I raised the same point to him. “Whoever controls the middle of the lane controls this series. Even with all the explosive offensive talent that will be on display in that series, it’s going to come down to who can guard the rim the best.”
LOS ANGELES –Dirk Nowitzki is in what should be the ‘twilight” of his NBA career, if you based it purely on years of service.
But the Dallas Mavericks’ superstar is undergoing a career rejuvenation, of sorts, some 13 years into his NBA career. And now that Nowitzki and his Mavericks have vanquished the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, sweeping them in the Western Conference semifinals Sunday in Dallas, the debate about where Nowitzki stands all-time can be revisited.
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, clearly a bit biased considering his relationship with Nowitzki, makes the argument that Dirk belongs on the Top 10 (of all-time) list. More from ESPNDallas.com:
“In my opinion, he’s a top 10 player in NBA history because of the uniqueness of his game and how he’s carried this franchise on his back for over a decade,” Carlisle told “ESPN First Take” on Monday. “He’s just right. He’s leading the team. His shot-making is great. He’s passing the ball great. He’s one of the guys that’s directing traffic for us defensively.”
