NBA Jam Set to Return

Nothing screams Freshman year of high school like NBA Jam. Well, maybe the untimely death of Kurt Cobain, but the arcade hit, and subsequent Super Nintendo favorite played a large role in my life in 1994.  I remember sitting in class, passing notes back and forth with my friends trying to get “cheats” for the game, to unlock players like Michael Jordan and Bill Clinton.  After school was out, we would gather at one of the members of our group’s house and play the Super Nintendo version of the game all night long (and all weekend long). On a trip to San Antonio, I remember spending 4 hours and countless quarters in an arcade in our hotel, trying to master the arcade version of the game, only to find out the “cheats” for the Super NES version were different than the “cheats” for the arcade version.  Needless to say, I was overcome with joy to read that the game is being revamped and released in December 2010.

Marc Stein, writing for ESPN.Com’s “Weekend Dime,” provided a breakdown of each team’s roster from 1993-1994 and who he would like see represented in the new version of the game. Reading through the list brought back countless memories and filled my head with the voices of the game announcers–”he’s on fire!”

One point where I disagree with Stein, I would pick Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry, instead of Shawn Marion, for the Mavericks. Either way, the Mavs team in this version of NBA Jam, will be a significant upgrade from the 1994 version, which featured Derek Harper and Mike Iuzzolino.

March Madness: 5 Ways to Improve the College Game

While it may not be a popular opinion, I personally feel the NBA is far more entertaining brand of basketball than the college game. I’m familiar with all the arguments against the professional game–no defense, questionable officiating, overpaid superstars–and I’m not naive enough to argue those elements don’t exist. However, I am firmly attached to the Dallas Mavericks and have no connections to any Division I college basketball program. When the Mavs play, I watch and celebrate when the team fares well and sulk when things go wrong.

Tonight, I watched approximately ten minutes of a college basketball game between Butler and Wright State. It marked the first college basketball game I’ve watched in almost two years. Almost immediately, the warts of the college game became apparent. In observance of March Madness, I thought I would provide a few ideas to improve the college game.

• No Zone Defenses – This is something that drives me crazy about the professional game as well. Zone defenses may be pleasing from a technical standpoint, but they ruin the overall tempo of the game, turning every game into a half court affair. If nothing else, the college game should adopt the NBA policy of a defensive 3-second violation, preventing teams from camping out in the paint.

• Reduce the shot clock – Nothing irritates me more than watching a “four-corners” game develop during the NCAA tournament. Simply put, the shot clock in college basketball is far too long. Twenty-four seconds is more than enough time for a team to advance the ball to the front court and run an offense. The current shot clock actually encourages team to take the air out of the ball.

• Do away with the possession arrow – There is no reason why the college game cannot institute a NBA-like  “jump ball” in situations where the possession arrow is currently used. Simply alternating the possession arrow between teams is unfair.

• No 3-pointers The three point shot encourages jump shooting. Sounds fairly obvious, but for a game that stresses the fundamentals, the college game should embrace the “old school” philosophy of driving the ball to the basket and EARNING three points the real way with a basket and free throw.

• Fewer timeouts It seems like the final 2 minutes of a college game last an eternity because coaches save ALL of their timeouts until that time. Again, the NCAA could learn from the NBA. Limit the amount of timeouts a team can use during the final  2 minutes, maybe one full timeout and one 20 second time out. This would allow a much more organic feel to the game.

Rules for being a fan…

Last night the Dallas Mavericks recorded their 336 straight sell out. A couple of things made this game stand out from the rest. One, Dirk Nowitzki became the 34th player in NBA history, and the first not to have played college or high school ball in the U.S., to top the 20,000 point mark in his career. But what really made this night stand out was the large size of the crowd for the opposing team. The Los Angeles Lakers were in town and their t-shirt fandom was out in full force.

It goes without saying that 99% of the Lakers fans in attendance last night have never been to L.A. They have no real connection to the team, but they like to be associated with winners, so based on the past success of that franchise they buy the team’s merchandise and tickets to the game when the Lakers swim through Dallas. The Chicago Bulls attracted a similar following in the 1990′s and the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Red Wings and, yes, my beloved Dallas Cowboys attract similar followings in their respective sports.

While I am a die hard fan of the Cowboys, I grew up in the Dallas area to a family of Cowboys fans. Simply put, I am a Cowboys fan because they are the home town team and I have never turned my back on them, regardless of how tough times might have been. Similarly, I’ve been a Mavs fan my entire life–yes, even during the 90′s when the team was historically pathetic, and while I still haven’t got to celebrate a NBA title, I have had the opportunity to see the Mavs make it to the Finals, win 67 games in a season, see Dirk win the MVP and enjoy one of the most successful decades in NBA history (9 straight 50 + win seasons & 9 straight playoff appearances). With the Rangers, there hasn’t been much payoff for my loyalty, but even those gray skies seem to be clearing up.

It’s impossible for me to fathom rooting against any of the Dallas area teams. When the Lakers come to the AAC or when the Yankees visit the Ballpark, I see thousands of people who live in the same metropolitan area as me turn their back on their hometown teams and I’m left scratching my head, just as I’m sure fans in other cities wonder where all the Cowboys fans come from on Sunday afternoons. Shouldn’t there be some rules to being a fan? I think so…

1.) Live or Lived in the City – You live in Dallas; you root for Dallas teams. You live in Dallas and move to Boston; you can still root for Dallas teams. However, if you are born and live in Philly you should probably root for the Eagles instead of the Cowboys.

2.) Live in market for the franchise – This rule mainly applies to those people who live in areas without professional sports franchises. I grew up in East Texas. Dallas was the nearest city with a professional sports franchise. However, the local sports affiliates carried games for New Orleans, Houston & San Antonio teams in addition to the Dallas franchises. It’s acceptable for someone in this situation to be a fan of any of those teams.

3.) Family Ties – This is similar to rule #1, but allows for generational gaps. Your grandfather moved to Dallas in the 1940′s from Brooklyn. He was a die hard Dodgers fan, raised your father to be the same and your dad raised you the same way. It’s understandable and acceptable for you to be a Dodgers fan.

It is unacceptable to be a fan of a team simply because you like their star player, you like their team colors, or you like the fact that they have won numerous titles.

A look at the major sports championships…

I’m beginning to take a look at the decreasing relevancy of the NBA in the wide world of sports. One of the things that has killed the NBA over the past few decades is the lack of parity.

I’m 30 years old, in my life time ONLY 9 different teams have won the NBA title. Here is a breakdown of the number of different champions each sport has had in that 30 year span (1979-2009):

Major League Baseball -  21 (Oddly, Major League Baseball is the only one of the 4 major leagues without a salary cap. However, in terms of number of champions, they have had the most parity over this time period.)

NFL – 14 (Yes, their have been several franchises who have won multiple titles during this 30 year stretch, but nothing like the NBA.)

NHL – 12 (Not as bad as the NBA, but Canadians, Rangers, and Oilers won a lot of hardway in the early part of this stretch)

NBA – 9 (What makes the NBA stat. even more uncompetitive is that 25 of the 30 NBA titles won during my life time have gone to 5 teams: Lakers, Celtics, Spurs, Bulls & Pistons. Houston won an additional two.  Miami, Philadelphia and Seattle are the only other teams to win titles in my lifetime.)

I’ll have much more later  on the relevancy of the NBA. For now, chew on these numbers.

Mavs Mental Toughness

As with most Dallas Mavericks fans, the memory of Game 3 of the 2006 NBA Finals remains fresh in my mind. I remember, vividly, the excitement through the first 2 ½ quarters of basketball in that game, glowing in the very real possibility of a four game sweep and the soon to follow championship parade snaking through downtown Dallas.

From the end of the third quarter of that game, through Game 5 of the San Antonio series on Tuesday, the NBA post-season has been a nightmarish time for me and legions of Mavs fans. First, I watched Dwayne Wade pull off his best imitation of Michael Jordan (with a little help from his friends with whistles) and lead the Miami Heat to four straight victories to claim the 2006 NBA title.

In 2007, I watched all 82 games, as the Mavericks compiled a 67-15 record heading into the playoffs as the #1 seed against the #8 seed Golden State Warriors. In what still may be the biggest upset in professional sports post-season history, the Warriors dominated the round 1 series from the start, dispatching of the Mavs in six games.

Last year, the Mavs still managed to win 50 games, but entered the playoffs with a lot of excess baggage. The New Orleans Hornets had no trouble whatsoever in dominating the series, but the off-the-court issues overshadowed and outweighed the on-the-court disappointments.

During the off season, Mark Cuban, Donnie Nelson and the other decision makers in the Mavericks organization decided to stay the course, replacing only the coach and choosing not to make any major moves with the roster. This lack of movement baffled critics, MFFL’s and the media talking heads alike and many felt the Mavs would continue to struggle.

 After a disastrous start to the season, the fears seemed legitimate. Indeed, some felt that the initial assessment of the damage done to the team’s psyche and chemistry was far too conservative. Around the All-Star break, something began to change within this team and despite a few set backs the Mavs began to play like a transformed team, a transformation that has carried into the 2009 NBA Playoffs.

Mavs fans, our little Mavericks are now a mentally tough team.

For years, the knock against Dirk Nowitzki has been that he does not perform under pressure. Whether it was missing key free throws in Game 6 of the 2006 Finals or allowing his emotions to overcome him when dealing with double and triple teams, critics certainly have a lot of evidence to point to in their argument. Throughout the last two months of the season and in the San Antonio series, we began to see a different Dirk.

The blueprint that Don Nelson drew up for beating the Mavs in 2007 was shutting down Dirk.  “Take Dirk out of the game and the Mavericks can’t score” was the philosophy the Warriors used and the Hornets copied.  Sure enough, the Spurs continued to focus their defensive attention on Dirk, but this time, Dirk showed true discipline and decided to handle the situation differently, passing the ball to other teammates, which opened up the offense, getting some of the key role players involved in the scoring.

In the past, many teams tried to exploit the emotional side of Dirk. They recognized that if you stifled him physically, he could become emotionally frustrated, lose focus on the game and commit costly errors (i.e. missed free throws, turn overs, technical fouls, etc.). Again, over the course of the final two months of the regular season and during the San Antonio series, we began to see a new Dirk emerge, a Dirk more in control of his emotions and more focused on the mental aspect of the game.

In the past, the confidence of the Mavericks seemed to hinge on the performance of Dirk. They heard the chatter that without Dirk they were nothing and seemed to believe it. Perhaps no one player epitomized this more than Eric Dampier.  In spite of his size and strength, Dampier has always been a bit of a timid player, unsure of himself, even when Dirk was hot.

This started to change over the last part of the regular season as well and we saw flashes of a changed Dampier in Games 1 & 2 of the San Antonio series, but it was Dampier’s comments after Game 2 regarding Tony Parker and the energy he brought into Game 3, refusing to let the media criticism and scrutiny of the NBA Gestapo get to him.

Dampier did not put up gaudy statistics in the San Antonio series and he made a couple of bone headed mistakes during the series, but the Mavericks don’t need a double-double out of Dampier to be successful. They simply need Dampier to play his role. If you look at Dampier’s performance over the last two months of the regular season and his performance during the San Antonio series, you will see that he is playing with his most confidence and his best basketball since joining the Mavericks, possibly in his NBA career.

In the past, critics railed that the Mavericks lacked “poise,” a vague, intangible element that I place under the “mental toughness” umbrella.  For the sake of this post, “poise” simply refers to the ability to remain steady throughout the course of a game or series, refusing to succumb to the ups and downs that will surely come. 

The 2006 Mavericks squad lacked “poise” and when they blew a 13-point lead in Game 3 of the Finals there was no recovering.  The 2007 Mavericks squad lacked “poise” (and confidence) heading into the Golden State series and they never put up a fight. The 2008 Mavericks squad lack a lot of things, including “poise.”

What’s different in 2009? Jason Kidd!

Yes, Kidd was part of the 2008 that lacked “poise,” but, as discussed earlier, there were other issues at play with the 2008 team (even then, it was his “poise” that led a furious comeback in Game 5 of the New Orleans series). Throughout this season and throughout the San Antonio series, Jason Kidd has been the steady, guiding hand—dare I say the leader—of this team. 

Without a doubt, the biggest mental liability on this team over the past few seasons has been Josh Howard. Where do we begin? In last year’s playoffs, Josh Howard decided to declare over the air waves that he was a proud pot smoker. He followed this up by shooting around 26% during the New Orleans series and decided to throw a birthday party for himself on the same night the Mavericks suffered a huge defeat at home to the Hornets.

Contrast that with the San Antonio series where J-Ho was consistent from start to finish in all games. Whereas the last few seasons, J-Ho appeared to be just stepping on the court to draw a paycheck, during the San Antonio series you could actually see passion and emotion in his face. His previous lack of performance in the second half was due to a lack of focus. The energy with which J-Ho is playing with this season, helps to keep that focus throughout the game. (This focus can be seen off the court as well. Just compare his interview from the past two seasons to his interview this season.)

The Mavericks have grown mentally tough. How this happened is not so much as important as how to keep it.  Denver is one of those teams that only folks from Denver can like , a cast of miscreants and social deviants who will stop at nothing to try and expose the Mavericks as physically and mentally soft—hard fouls, taunting, showboating—all attempts to draw the Mavs offsides.

Which Mavericks’ team will we see in the Denver series—the Mavs teams of ’06, ’07 & ’08 or the Mavs team of the San Antonio series?

Why do Mavs continue to get no respect?

Over the course of the past decade, the Dallas Mavericks have posted some pretty impressive stats: 9 consecutive 50 win seasons, 9 consecutive playoff appearances, 2 trips to the Western Confernce finals, 2 NBA 6-Man of the Year award winners, one Coach of the Year, one MVP and one trip to the NBA Finals. Led by an outspoken owner, perhaps no mascot fits its team better than the Mavericks.

In spite of all of this success, the NBA stills looks upon the Dallas Mavericks as some freak sideshow, not worthy to share the same stage with the Lakers, Celtics, Spurs or even with pretenders like the Nuggets, Cavs, Hornets, and Rockets. Only the Spurs can match the Mavericks consistency over this time period, yet all of the aforementioned teams and even some non-playoff teams (Suns) get more love than my beloved Mavs. Why?

Sure, we’ve had our share of hiccups. Our 67 win season ended with one of the biggest upsets in professional sports history and no one in Dallas will soon forget the two game lead we blew in the 2006 Finals, but that’s no reason to turn your back on a franchise. The Houston Rockets have, since the late 90′s, consistently choked down the stretch and in the post season. However, the NBA talking heads shower the Rockets with praise every chance they get.

The Nuggests, Lakers, Celtics, Cavs and Hornets have all been lottery teams with losing records this decade–the Mavs have not. Yet still no love for the mighty Mavs.

More than any other league, the NBA is a fraternal organization comprised of players inside and outside the circle. Kobe, LeBron, Tim Duncan, etc. compose the inner core and these mix and mingle with the greats from the past. The Mavs roster, over the past decade, has consisted of outcasts from this fraternal organization. Those inside the circle keep with their own kind and praise those who they know best.  The Mavericks roster is filled with maverick individuals. The establishment reject this attitude and attempts to demonize this organization any attempt they get.

Sports Quick Hits- July 30, 2008

• The Rockets now have Ron Artest and many in the Dallas media feel that this reprsents just another nail in the coffin of the Mavericks. On paper, I agree. The addition of Artest makes the Rockets tougher–in more than one way. However, each year we hear the same thing–”if the Rockets stay healthy, they will compete for the Western Conference title.” Personally, I think it is impossible for both McGrady and Yao to make it through an 82 game schedule healthy. Last year, the Rockets proved that they could get hot without Yao, but in the end they missed his presence dearly. Even with the addition of Artest, the Rockets will need both Yao and T-Mac to make it through the season healthy in order to compete with the Lakers, Spurs and, yes, even the damn Hornets. I don’t think it directly hurts the Mavs–the West was already tough.

 

• I’m a huge Cowboys’ fan, but can we please tap the breaks on Danny Amendola. Based on what I saw him do in college, I’m willing to give the little dude a shot, but there is a very large and very vocal group of Cowboy fans who seem to think that just because Amendola is short, from Tech and, yes, WHITE, he will turn into the next Wes Welker. I love rooting for the underdog and I would love to have a Wes Welker-like receiver on my team. However, it disturbs me that every person I have heard make a call for Amendola has been white and most of the time they bring up his race or say something like–”he’s a hard worker.” Let’s drop the race card and pick the 5 or 6 receivers best suited to bringing another Lombardi trophy back to Dallas.

 

• Rangers attendance is down—way down!  I wonder what attendance would be like for the Rangers if this club played in a downtown stadium with a retractable roof?  I know I would go to at least a game every homestand. Who wants to drive to Arlington, sit in traffic on 30, get to the game and sit in 100 degree heat and then have an almost hour drive back to the city? Not me…

 

• I’m sick and tired of hearing the words “super bowl’ come out of the mouth (and pens) of the Dallas media. The players aren’t talking Super Bowl, the coaching staff is not talking Super Bowl, and the owner is not talking Super Bowl, the Dallas media in need of a juicy story creats the “Super Bowl or bust” mentality.