Author Archives: Travis Kvaal

Brittney Griner?

Posted on by
Reply

(www.thenorthernlight.org)

Mavs owner Mark Cuban made news recently when he said he would consider drafting Brittney Griner if she was the best player available in the NBA draft. He also suggested the less silly route of inviting her to be a part of the Mavericks summer league team.

Spending a draft pick on Griner would be maddening. She is 6’8″ but only 200 lbs and does not possess the lateral quickness to be a successful NBA player. To put it plainly, she isn’t big enough to handle post players and isn’t quick enough to guard the NBA guards or small forwards. It is just bad asset allocation to draft a player that can’t help you win games. Although, I did see one fan tweet something like “it wouldn’t be anymore a waste of a pick than Dominique Jones.”

However, inviting Griner to the NBA’s summer league is not a bad idea. Forgetting all the marketing advantages that most writers have been centering on, shouldn’t Griner be given the opportunity to test her skills at the highest level she can? Why do we get so angry at Michelle Wie or Annika Sorenstam when they get a PGA exemption? Women should be able to chase their dreams all the way to the top no matter what that means to them. If playing in the WNBA or making more money in Europe’s pro women’s leagues is what appeals to them, great. If they feel like the NBA is a higher level and they want to test themselves as athletes, go for it. There is nothing saying that NBA owners have to give them a shot.

Jason Whitlock made the point in his article on the topic that Griner’s brand would not be helped because she is 6’8″ and black, and wouldn’t be a sympathetic figure in the minds of sports fans. I disagree – I think that she would benefit from the move and that when she went back to the WNBA at least some fans would follow.

There is no doubt that I would follow Griner in the Summer League, and I don’t understand the fear of some people that she would get dunked on. Sure she would get dunked on, and she would get blown by, and she would have a hard time getting to a lot of rebounds, but remember, we are a SportsCenter society. ESPN would show Griner getting beat up a little in her first game, sure, but imagine if she hit double figures in scoring or rebounding in the second, or the Twitter overload when she inevitably blocks a shot.

There have been arguments not understanding why we always have to compare women’s sports to men’s, and that in doing so we are saying that women’s sports are not good enough. I disagree with that also. I love Diana Taurasi and everything she does in the WNBA, and Sue Bird and Swin Cash and Candace Parker and Maya Moore. This wouldn’t be about comparing the WNBA to the NBA – honestly everyone that watches both leagues knows the difference. This would be about allowing Griner to measure herself against the best players – male or female – in her sport. What athlete doesn’t want the chance to do that?

I don’t think that Brittney Griner will make an NBA roster. But I do think she could put on a heck of a show and as she said in her Twitter response to Cuban “hold her own.” I also think that she would improve both her game and her brand. Being an athlete is all about finding your limits and pushing them, and this is the ultimate in that. Griner doesn’t have to play in the NBA to legitimize herself; she should take a run at the league to test herself, and to help remove some of the limits for women in sports.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Mark Stein’s interview with perhaps the greatest women’s player of all-time, who both played in the NBA summer league and two seasons in a men’s minor league: Nancy Lieberman, “If she has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with a once-in-a-lifetime guy (Cuban), she owes to herself to at least consider the suggestion. I would say do it. You can always go back to the WNBA. At worst, it makes her a better player and it highlights the history of the game.”

 

Don’t Look Now

Posted on by
Reply

(www.soccerblog.dallasnews.com)

FC Dallas has started this MLS season on fire and sit atop the Western Conference standings. After winning their home opener the Hoops dropped their first road game against previously lowly Chivas USA making many supporters feel that FC Dallas may continue their 2 year trend of under achieving.

Continue reading →

Tony Romo Signs New Deal : Is This Bad?

Posted on by
Reply

(www.sports.yahoo.com)

Tony Romo agreed to a new extension with the Dallas Cowboys, adding an additional 6 years and $108 million dollars to his current contract. A new deal was necessary, as the Cowboys had handcuffed themselves salary cap wise, and even with the cap space created with Romo’s new deal, they still have to create $3 million more in cap space to even sign their free agents. However, I do not like this deal.

Continue reading →

The Beards Stay: Mavs Lose

Posted on by
Reply

(www.bleacherreport.com)

Omar the barber was not needed tonight as the Dallas Mavericks got blown out by the Indiana Pacers 103-78. We should not have taken this game for granted as the Pacers are possibly the worst match-up in the NBA for the Mavs. They are a tough defending, great rebounding team. Still, the Mavs showed that the recent streak may have been accomplished with smoke and mirrors and found a way to lose by 25 to a team on a road back-to-back.

Continue reading →

Mavs Find Time Machine, Beat Jazz

Posted on by
Reply

(www.sbnation.com)

The Dallas Mavericks found new life in some old legs to pull away from the Utah Jazz to win 113-108. While the younger players on the Mavs found the game to be tough sledding, Elton Brand and Mike James found new life and lead the Mavericks to a much needed victory.

I made the point that a few games ago Mike James was taking shots like it was 2005, well tonight he was making shots like it was 2005. James scored a team high 19 points on just 10 shots and handed out 5 assists. It was by far the most efficient game of James’ Mavericks career.

Dirk added 17 points and 6 rebounds, but his most important stat, he did it in 26 minutes. Nowitzki should benefit from the rest he was able to take tonight.

Elton Brand certainly benefited from the rest Rick Carlisle gave him in the last contest, and was the biggest reason for this win. The game was tied at 69 all midway through the 3rd quarter, when Brand made a couple big stops spurring the Mavs to start a 20 to 2 run and take control. Brand played possibly the most impressive 18 minutes of basketball we have seen this season.

Shawn Marion put a big shift in as well. 15 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals is the type of all around effort that Mavs fans have come to expect. When the defense tightened up for Dallas in the middle of the 3rd, it was Marion and Brand doing the heavy lifting.

Vince Carter, not to be outdone by the other past their prime Mavericks, had a couple of show stopping buckets during the run. With both a hanging tough lay in and a double clutch pausing in air floater, Carter showed he is still at least half-amazing.

My favorite Mavericks off-season target – Al Jefferson- struggled against the Mavs tonight, but his play this season has been out standing. Hopefully this is the game the Jazz use if they have to decide between Jefferson and Paul Millsap.

This was a great win for Dallas. They are running out of rope but they have gotten into a tie for 9th with the victory. Mike James may have put it best when interviewed on the Mavs Fox Sports network post game show, “we have a small heartbeat, but we still have a heartbeat.”

 

Mavs Regroup, Beat Boston in Jet Terry’s Return to Dallas

Posted on by
1

(www.usatoday.com)

Rick Carlisle is one of the best basketball coach in the world. If it weren’t for Greg Popovich didn’t exist I would be making the case he is the greatest coach on the planet. Two days ago, the inmates had taken over the asylum, Mike James, Chris Kaman, and others were forcing up shots in attempt to increase their attractiveness to other teams, not  to increase the Mavs chances to win.

Last night though, maybe not surprisingly in conjunction with the return of Shawn Marion, the Mavericks remembered they are an NBA team and not a group of mercenaries. Marion was the catalysist, grabbing rebounds and taking only 7 shots. Marions unselfish play rubbed off on the rest of the team and the Mavericks looked whole for the first time in a week beating Boston 104-94.

Carlisle also had a pregame talk with the team about shot selection and who the offense should run through. His offense allows for players to make their own plays, and in Carlisle own words, when Jason Kidd and Jason Terry were handling the ball, the ball found Dirk. While the coach refuses to make excuses, he was essentially saying his guard play was at fault for Dirk not getting shots during his recent hot streak.

The team didn’t overreact to Carlisle suggestions though, Dirk didn’t get 25 shots. In fact two Mavericks had more shots that Nowitzki. But the type of shots that Brandan Wright and Vince Carter took were in the offense. Wright scored 23 points by slipping screens and finding the holes in the paint created by Boston’s shifting their defense to Dirk. Vince Carter may have over-shot a bit on route to 17 shots, but that is his role on the team. Dirk took a more reasonable 15 shots, scoring 22 points while being hounded by former defensive player of the year Kevin Garnett.

Dallas dominated this game, leading wire to wire, with each player playing his role for the most part. If this continues, and Carlisle can continue to persuade players to play for the shirt, then Dallas at just 2 1/2 games back of the 8 spot, still have a shot at continuing the 12 year playoff streak.

Jason Terry

Jet got the reception he deserved upon entering the game in his first game back in Dallas. Twenty thousand Mavs fans rose from their seats to applaud him. Terry is clearly not the player he was in 2011, but it didn’t matter to Dallas faithful who knew how much he had meant to the most successful period in their history. Rick Carlisle, who is close to the Terry family, called Jason “Mavericks royalty” and couldn’t have been more correct.

Terry had flaws, and his poorest performances often paralleled the Mavericks failures, but his greatest moments where epic. Jet has a two finals appearances and one championship to show for his stay with the Mavs. Terry stared down the dominate force in the league, LeBron James, and outplayed him allowing Dallas to win it’s only title. Jason’s blend of three point acumen  solid ball handling, smart play making and pure bravado made him the perfect complement to Dirk. It is a combination the Mavs have missed dearly this season.

How many times have we belabored the Mavericks late game failures this season? Jason Terry was a clutch players who alongside Nowtizki, finished close games off for Dallas for the better part of a decade. You can’t write the book on the Mavs without several chapters about Jason Terry, and that is why before long, the number 31 will hang from the rafters at the AAC.

Gunners for Hire

Posted on by
Reply

(www.espn.go.com)

It has finally happened. The Mavericks have devolved into the selfish, playing-to-catch-the-eye-of-their-new-team group of future free agents that we feared they might. Even the mighty Rick Carlisle cannot hold a group together when each individual is faced with missing the playoffs, and the uncertainty of their next NBA check.

Mike James is the worst offender, taking 14 shots in the loss to the Brooklyn Nets. James is taking 8.6 shots per game in just over 20 minutes per game in the last 11 games. If you go back and watch the last three games in particular, all of the times that Dirk has been frozen out, James has been putting up shots like it’s 2005. It isn’t his fault – James wasn’t a true point guard when he was a good basketball player – it’s unfair to ask him to be one now that he is a poor player.

Other Mavs who have begun to play more selfishly: Darren Collison and Chris Kaman. Can you blame them? They are also the two players least likely to be back on the Mavericks roster in 2014.

Dirk Nowitzki is shooting the ball with a 76 percent rate of success the last three games, but the “me-first” approach of other Mavs has allowed him just 31 total shots in those games. The vast majority of those shots have come early in the game when Carlisle still has some control of the offense. As time passes in these games, guys who know they are not coming back are forcing up shots in order to inflate numbers and open their off-season options.

The Mavericks have 14 games left, and if the last three games are any indication, Dallas’ basketball team not only miss the playoffs for the first time in 12 years, they will also have giant ugly beards to show for it.

Marcus Spears: A Retrospective

Posted on by
Reply

(www.baltimoreravens.com)

If it were any other time in Marcus Spears tenure with the Cowboys, this would have been a part of my I’m A Hater series. You see, I have very little tolerance for the defensive lineman that struggles to get to the quarterback. I grew up with the Cowboys defenses of the 90′s that in its 4-3 over scheme had attacking tackles who played the run on the way to the quarterback. However, as Spears joins the Baltimore Ravens, I appreciate his worth to the club.

Spears was a prototypical Bill Parcells defensive end (a glorified defensive tackle) who could play two gaps and keep players off his inside linebackers. This style of player didn’t appeal to me or most Cowboys fans, because as the 20th player picked in the 2005 draft, he was never able to put up statistics deserving of his draft slot. This had less to do with the player Spears was, and more to do with the task he was assigned.

Spears also struggled to measure up to the Cowboys’ other 2005 first round draft pick, future Hall of Famer, DeMarcus Ware.

Sure the Cowboys may have gotten a better player with the 20th pick. Aaron Rodgers was available, and Luis Castillo and Mike Patterson were also available with the pick spent on Spears. Castillo was more productive in his shorter career, but was also suspended for P.E.D.s and had the joy of playing his prime years in Wade Phillips’ more attacking defense. Patterson was simply a better player, a playmaker on the defensive line. Spears was unfairly labeled as a bust though; he had solid production for 7 of his 8 years as a Cowboy.

Spears finishes his career as a Cowboy with 10 sacks, 13 passes defended, 3 forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, 138 solo tackles and 88 assists. The high assist number suggests a player that was around the ball, a player that moved well laterally plugging gaps and cut back lanes, and a player who did his job.

Spears was a part of a team that ranked in the top 10 in yards allowed 4 times.

As we close the book on Marcus Spears time in Dallas, we should do so with fond appreciation. He isn’t going in the Ring of Honor, nor will his name be remembered by Cowboys fans as time passes, but he was a good servant in hard times. He was worthy of wearing the star. A bust he was not.