Why the Mavericks Will Be Players in 2010 Free Agent Class
DirkAfter an ugly start to this season, Dirk and his Mavs have bounced back to being contenders in the West. But for them to contend for a championship down the road, it’s safe to say that Nowitzki realizes Dallas needs another marquee player to bolster their roster. He’s even willing to take a pay cut to help make that happen.
“I’m very fortunate that I’ve made a lot of money in this league, even though I’ve never really played for money. I love the sport. I love this organization. Obviously, I want to win. I won the MVP, and individually, there’s nothing really left but winning a championship.
“If that means I have to play for less money, it’s all possible. It’s all open.”
That obviously prompted Mark Cuban to go off on a monologue about how much he loves Dirk. That’s not to say it wasn’t well-deserved. It’s pretty remarkable to hear about a guy who is willing to take less to achieve his goals.
If you were in Dirk’s place, would you take a pay cut to get a better shot at a title?
Source: Dallas News
December 23rd, 2008 at 8:42 am
knoc says:
yup
December 23rd, 2008 at 8:47 am
weng santos says:
YES.
Why not?
If you can’t live on $10 million, you can’t live on 20.
Winning solves everything, IS everything.
December 23rd, 2008 at 8:49 am
Flip says:
Yep, me too. He has done everything, but his reputation is still suffering from that Finals loss. Winning the chip would truly show that he deserves to be included in the HOF.
December 23rd, 2008 at 8:54 am
TJ says:
Yes, i would and i am glad another NBA player is saying something like this because alot of them really do just play for the money and could care less about winning a championship.
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:07 am
control says:
I hope he doesn’t pull a Gilbert, talk about taking less money then end up taking like 4 million less off a 100+ million contract over 5 years.
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:20 am
webbie352 says:
make sense european players are a different breed.
goes bogut saying that shit about how he would never
raise a kid in america because its such a self centered
nation.
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:41 am
YOUNGFED..."There goes the neighborhood like Fred Sanford next to Ned Flanders" says:
Dirk ain’t done sh*t, they only gave him the MVP cause he was white. They know Kobe should’ve got it. Dirk and never gonna win.
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:42 am
Sccob says:
Yep…
I agree with what webbie352 says.
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:52 am
rodnets says:
“Ive never played for money…” yeah right.
everyone in the dallas roster should have his salary cut a bit, to see if they can land something with blood in his veins and shitless pants.
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:55 am
patrick says:
you have a lot more fun winning. I don’t know if dudes are trying to buy islands or private jets or set up a foundation for the family tree of their great-great-grandchildren, but if they aren’t you can probably still live pretty well on the 8-10 mil a year it would take to put another max type guy on the team. Why do you want to have 100M in the bank when you die?
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:57 am
patrick says:
I am all for get money, but if you can significantly increase your quality of life by taking a little less money that you aren’t gonna spend….seems like a no brainer.
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:58 am
YOUNGFED..."There goes the neighborhood like Fred Sanford next to Ned Flanders" says:
^^^^Ummmm……I don’t know maybe for your kids????
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:04 am
Mister Sun says:
youngfed is soo funny even when he wants to be serious.
dirk got the mvp because he is white? omg
kobe had a great season, but his team wasn’t good, he said it himself, its also a team award.
even nash was ahead of kobe…wait he is white too…
you are priceless
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:09 am
YOUNGFED..."There goes the neighborhood like Fred Sanford next to Ned Flanders" says:
MVP isn’t a team award thats why it’s called Most Valuable Player dude. And YES Steve Nash won it because He’s white also (BOTH TIMES)
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:11 am
PALakerFan says:
Here we go again with the white black stuff. Wellner? Where are you? Youngfed wants to throw down.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:11 am
money says:
you guys don’t know til you’re there. i’m sure 99% of people would not take a significant pay cut. 20 to 10 mill? F that. maybe pull something like gil. imagine you in their shoes and don’t give this shit about whats the difference between 1 and 2 mill. the difference is a million. at your real life job, would you take a pay cut so the company would do better? it’s about winning but gotta take care of yourself first and make the most while you can.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:30 am
PALakerFan says:
It’s a smart move by Dirk. He stands to gain more if he takes a pay cut, wins a title, becomes a HOFer than if he continues on as he has been. What’s he gonna make when his career’s all said and done anyway? $150 million? That’s barely enough to feed his kids.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:33 am
control says:
YOUNGFED
Just because you see everything in the world as black or white, doesn’t mean everyone else does.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:42 am
Mister Sun says:
so youngfed, if durant averaged 40ppg, 7rpg and 5apg and the thunder win 8 games, he is the mvp?
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:43 am
the black paradise says:
YOUNGFED!
U MOTHERF**** ! you’re a goddamn fcking white racist! f U!
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:47 am
dmitry of jersey says:
YOUNGFED…. ignorant.
Dirk was the best player on the best regular season team that year. those two factors combined = MVP nine times out of ten.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:08 am
K Dizzle says:
This ain’t new. Tim Duncan been givin the Spurs the hometown discount and look how that been workin out
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:26 am
Bron42 aka Thugnificant says:
Actually for the most part youngfed is right…cuz the year nash won it first…shoulda went to shaq. NEver at any point in either of their careers didn u look at nash or dirk and go “wow, that guy right there is the best player in the nba” Black or white, i all depend on what the MVP standards are….best guy in the nba? star player on the team with the best record? Guy who would cripple his team if he got hurt? etc….Cuz if u rememver, while dirk was the “best player ont he mavs” that year, their win % was higher when josh howard had better stats than dirk.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:27 am
Bron42 aka Thugnificant says:
and it has nothing to do with bein a racist…thats like sayin candace parker should of never won that dunk contest would make me sexist. great white hype syndrome does exist too ya kno…ask brent barry lol
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:28 am
Bron42 aka Thugnificant says:
wow my spelling sucked in that first one..my bad
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:39 am
control says:
Bron
Saying that a guy won an award because of his skin colour, when the last white guy to win the award (before Steve Nash) was some “Dave Cowins” guy back in 1972 is just retarded. After over 30 years or so, the chances of a white guy winning had to come up sometime.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:42 am
Bron42 aka Thugnificant says:
nashs second mvp year, the heat, mavs, spurs and pistons all had better records than the suns. Not to mention kobe, wade and duncan had better stats. Even last year with kobe the pistons and celts had better records than the lakers and the lakers only had one more win than the hornets and spurs..so are w still basing it on best record?
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:44 am
Bron42 aka Thugnificant says:
ya the chances come up BUT if were basing it on STATS or WINS and people have better stats and wins how does he still get it.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:45 am
control says:
MVP is a huge popularity/pissing contest. It’s a proven fact that it ain’t based on any real stats or anything but how much of an impression one person makes on the rest of the league.
I doubt people were looking at Steve Nash and saying “damn, that is one white motherfucker, he deserves to be MVP”…he might not have been the best guy to get the award, but he sure as hell didn’t get it because he was white.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:46 am
Bron42 aka Thugnificant says:
i’m not sayin dirk or nash weren’t allstars those years or even top 10 players in the league but they werent the best or the most valuable.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:49 am
dagwaller says:
WOW. FED, normally I am with you, but this was a normal article til you came in here hating on Dirk. Jeez, what a troll. The question was about taking less money, and you come in with,
“Dirk ain’t done sh*t, they only gave him the MVP cause he was white. They know Kobe should’ve got it. Dirk and never gonna win.”
Terrible. C’mon, dude, even if you don’t like Dirk, how are you going to come into a post about how he’s willing to give up money to help his team win, just with some racist BS, then blow Kobe? GTFOH.
And Bron, you and I have been over this so many times, so between the two of us, it’s just differing opinions, but you seriously are so blind about it. You act like it’s common knowledge that it “should” have gone to Shaq and Kobe (laughs at both), when the majority of sportswriters across America obviously disagreed.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:50 am
control says:
That maybe the case, but are you saying that they were MVP BECAUSE they are white?
You maybe absolutely correct as far as them not being most valuable or best player…but you are talking silly if you think they did win cause of being white.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:50 am
Bron42 aka Thugnificant says:
its not the only reason he won, but to say it didn’t play a part when every other reason suggests someone else should of won it is naive
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:52 am
Bron42 aka Thugnificant says:
like i said about candace parker…sure she won because she actually made a dunk, but was it the best dunk? or was it just the “wow, this 6′5 chick jus dunked it” factor. SAme thing wth nat robinson, is he amazing cuz hes an amazing basketball player kobe level or because hes good at 5′9? nash got it because he was good AND he was white and that good.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:54 am
Bron42 aka Thugnificant says:
dag, considering the majority of sports writers who get to vote are white too….and like i said, if were basing it on stats, people had better stats….if were basing t on wins, teams had better records…so what did nash do his second year that overlooked both of those?
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:56 am
Bron42 aka Thugnificant says:
and don’t tell me i’m blind when i’ve been in situations like this, so its not just an assumption. if race had nothng to do with stuff like this, there wouldn’t be shit like the rooney rule in the nfl. me, fed, and charles barkley aint the only people in the world who think this stuff ya kno lol
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Celts Fan says:
Nash’s first MVP shoulda been Shaq’s – no question.
That second one was earned though. With Amare out, they were still running ish in the West and he was making scrubs into stars while Kobe was being a HUUUUUUUUUUGE d-bag. It’s a team game and Kobe was gunning for his and putting down the rest of the team while Nash was making everyone else better and putting up good stats too. It’s not always best player on the best team (though in Dirk’s year, it was and deservedly so.) Kobe deserved it last year cuz he learned to share and still got his. If Kobe’s team had won 65 when he was going out, scoring 40 for months on end, then he’d've taken it unanimously. since they barely got in the Playoffs and Nash’s team was running the West without Amare, he earned it.
(stepping off the soap box…)
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Bron42 aka Thugnificant says:
Good point celts, but that hd nothing to do with marion having 21.8 ppg, 11.8 rbs, 2 stls and 1 blk a game and a higher fg%? nash had 18.8 ppg, 10.5 assists, 0.8 stls, 0.2 blks? and don’t gimme that system crap when nash is lookin like a hawaii QB out of the hawaii system right now just by switching coaches.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:14 pm
dagwaller says:
I’m not trying to offend you by saying that you’re blind, Bron. I’m just saying that you can be objective here. As was pointed out earlier, the saaaaaame white sportswriters have been voting for black players for YEARS. I’m sorry that you’ve been on the wrong end of some bad situations, but this isn’t one of them.
20 years from now, everyone except for you will look back and be like, “Wow, Dirk and Nash had a couple of good years. Shaq might have averaged a rebound more than Nash had assists, and Kobe might have averaged one more point than Dirk, but I guess, during that season, Dirk and Nash must’ve done something special (different) to get that MVP.”
And they’d be right, because anyone with a brain that will be looking at that will remember that Kobe was just gunning a lot, and his team happened to win (and there have been plenty of gunners that won that didn’t get MVP), and Shaq was suffering from the Tim Duncan effect – yea, maybe they’re more dominant, but are they really more valuable to their team? Without Nash or Dirk, those squads are lottery teams the way a Kobe-less Lakers team or a Shaq-less Heat team (well, maybe not – they’re in the East after all) would be.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:17 pm
dagwaller says:
And btw, no, you’re wrong about the Hawaii QB thing. That would be your boy Marion, since Nash is still doing fine.
Nash: 15.5, 8.5 assists.
Marion: 12.3, 8.8 boards. Bit of a drop off, wouldn’t you say? Oh, he doesn’t have a good PG in Miami to feed him the ball? To get all those easy looks? He can’t create all by himself? Hm…
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Bron42 aka Thugnificant says:
ya, your probably right..until they looked up the stats and saw people had better stats lol Those years the suns without nash and the mavs without dirk still would of made the playoffs…8th seed but still made it..but its all the same, no real point in arguing. My whole point was not to really take anything away from nash or dirk (even though i think their overrated but talented none the less) but to say them being white didnt play ANY part it in is ver objective.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Bron42 aka Thugnificant says:
nash is no where near the player he has been just by switching the coach. marion switched to a completely weaker team from top to bottom. big differen. Thats like buying new tires or buying a whole new car. a complete overhual is way different. and no one in their right mind ever thought marion would erupt into joe johnson lol
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:27 pm
control says:
Bron
Marion going to the Heat should have made it EASIER to pad his numbers. Nash had to deal with playing with Shaq, who is a pretty dominate guy, in addition to now getting Jason Richardson. The Suns starting line up is like 5 former/current AllStars with two of them winning MVPs before, it’s not like Nash can go out and control the ball. Marion was rolling with a bunch of DLeaguers, there’s no reason he shouldn’t have been putting up 50ppg if he were able.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Bron42 aka Thugnificant says:
p.s: marion wouldn’t be a qb, he’d be more ike a wr if were comparing lol
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Bron42 aka Thugnificant says:
wat are you talkin about? pretty much ALL nash is good at is passing and jacking quick 3. so him having 5 allstars (like he has most of his career) just makes his job easier. Marion on the other hand has never been a guy to dominante the ball or jack shots so him goin to a bad team wouldn’t change much. specally now that hes like one of the biggest guys on a team of short people. Nash is a pg, all he is there for is to control the ball..thats his job…but with a new coach who doesn’t want him just freestylin, and hes come back down to earth for the most part and its showing his flaws even more…no one ever said marion would carry a team by himself but for a while nash was regarded as a top all time pg cuz of 2-3 seasons of 10 assists a game
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Bron42 aka Thugnificant says:
I have to go train some people so I’ll probably be back later, There will be about 40 new posts by then so I doubt ill try to catch up. fun debate guys.
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:02 pm
PALakerFan says:
Wasn’t there a white guy named Larry something that won some MVP’s in the 80’s?
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:02 pm
YOUNGFED..."I'm at the call of duty but my metal gears solid" says:
Damn Bron I must say you definetly shuttin’ catz up today way to hold your ground. Very, Very good points all around I wouldn’t even know where start with which was the best rebuttle. “SHUT’EM DOWN” LOL
@Post #20
Obviously you don’t come here alot if you believe that. I’m far from racist just better than you.
@Control
Everything isn’t just black and white, there’s always Brown. Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!
@Dag #31
You know I like to start Sh^t, I’ma always be straight forward. But what I saying I truly believe and I’m definetly not alone. Others are just scared to say it. That why I’m giving Bron “Big-Ups” for standing behind what he believes.
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:03 pm
YOUNGFED..."I'm at the call of duty but my metal gears solid" says:
@47
How are you gonna compare Larry Bird to Dirk/Nash WTF does that have to do with anything. If dirk did win it he deserved it.
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:16 pm
control says:
PALakerFan
You are right, missed that one. I guess he just had so much style to his game that I thought he was black…(that’s a joke, relax).
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:18 pm
YOUNGFED..."I'm at the call of duty but my metal gears solid" says:
How are you gonna compare Larry Bird to Dirk/Nash WTF does that have to do with anything. If BIRD did win it he deserved it.
Had to correct that one.
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:23 pm
control says:
YOUNGFED
Pal was correcting me on my statement that Nash was first guy to win MVP since some “Dave Cowins” guy back in 1972. Larry Bird did bust off a run of MVPs in the 80s, I neglected to mention that.
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:48 pm
PALakerFan says:
We white guys can shoot and pass. That’s about it. When we get a couple that can do both, we’re excited and we pump them up. Having said that, Nash should never have won 2 in a row. That’s plain silly. And Dirk was deserving even over my man Kobe. All in all the brothers got blessed with athleticism we only dream about. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t care if a guy was spotted like a dalmation if he could knock down shots for my Lakers. The color of the jersey always outweighs the color of the skin.
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
dmitry of jersey says:
why isn’t no one mentioning the fact that Nash legitimately changed the NBA. him running the D’antoni suns marked a turning point where teams started showcasing their athletic talent and scoring 100+ points per game. in other words, Nash’s role on the suns made the nba as a whole more entertaining because he solidified a trend toward more offense. THAT, in addition to the fact that he was playing nice on a really good team, was why he won. Did shaq deserve it more? in some ways he did… but with shaq it was the same old same old (i.e. tim duncan effect) while with nash it was new and the NBA wanted to highlight that.
December 23rd, 2008 at 2:02 pm
PALakerFan says:
Plus, Shaq was paying the Lazy Bitch penalty. You know – where the great athlete gets lazy and then when he leaves he decides to try again, and then also stabs all his ex-teammates in the back. Sports writers can only dream of having NBA talent and penalize a guy for wasting it.
Notice Shaq almost instantly became a Lazy Bitch again to get out of Miami and is trying again in PHX. Another year or two and the Bitch will be back.
December 23rd, 2008 at 2:14 pm
dagwaller says:
Ha, Bron, good point about the WR/QB comparison.
But still, Marion should have seen his stats go UP, since he doesn’t have to contend with so many others for shots. And also, considering the fact that he doesn’t have a dominant center anymore, you’d think that he’d get more rebounds (more to go around because of the worse shooting, better defense, and because the big body next to him wouldn’t be doing as much). And Nash has seen his assists drop by…2? And his points by…1.5? Yea, huge drop off. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Shawn.
Again, I fail to see how 3 MVPs in the last 20 years being white has anything to do with racism, unless it’s against white people. You know those white basketball journalists – they must HATE black guys! Otherwise, they wouldn’t be covering a sport that is predominantly black, and voting for black players year in and year out for every award imaginable.
Logic takes a huge hit today in the comments section of Dime.
Anyway, as you might imagine, I’m pumped that Dirk is willing to take a pay cut to bring in better players. I officially jumped off of the Gilbert Arenas bandwagon (if there was one) when he “signed for less money” – what a laugh.
December 23rd, 2008 at 2:16 pm
vinny says:
I wish everyone felt that way PALakerfan. let me give you an example-imo- of a white guy who has double standards-Dick Vitale-he has always judged black and white players differently. while he will make an obvious choice when he has to-but given the opportunity he judges black and white differently- perfect example
Lawerence funderburke stepping on someone and christian lattner doing the same thing- his reaction to the same bascic play was to hammer funderburke and gloss over lattner. Man this is going way back but he pumped up Stuart Gray over patrick ewing coming out of high school!
I went to ucla and played with stuart gray-pickup games- and wtf!! gray and ewing-you see how that worked out!
I remember draft night when philly took iggy over luke jackson he went banana’s-how could philly do that. Last year making it seem like there was no way mike beasley could be player of the year over physcho t. see my point(hopefully)
yea dirk was the best that year-oh and then they lost in the first round and he was being posted up by anyone who felt like it on the warriors. yea i know its mvp for the regular season.
I’m sure if you had stats- a majority of sportswriters are white and bring some bias to the table when they vote. but while they are guys like palakerfan there are a lot of vitales out there also.
December 23rd, 2008 at 2:20 pm
vinny says:
dmitry of jersey-you think no one has ever played that way before- denver nuggets-fat lever pt guard-had great stats- but everyone downplayed his stats because of the style they played! Nash played in a system that padded his stats(see chris duhon) and he got all the credit- shit seven seconds to shoot was fucking invented by a black coach in the 50’s- but you would think the suns invented that shit!!
December 23rd, 2008 at 2:23 pm
dagwaller says:
Oh yea, and let’s see how the teams would be without Dirk/Nash in their MVP years. As we already know, with largely the same roster, the Suns (since some have forgotten) were out of the playoffs the year before Nash got there. So no, they wouldn’t have been in the playoffs, much less the perennial contender that they are now. As opposed to Shaq, who took a team already in the playoffs to the title. Psh.
And the Mavericks best player after Dirk when they went to the title series was…Josh Howard? Who wasn’t even an All-Star back then? He averaged 15 points a game. Yup. Second best player on the team. Unless you want to say Dampier (laugh) or JET (3.8 assists per game as the PG).
If anything, you’d think that the 100 percent AMERICAN sports writers would vote AGAINST the two non Americans. But no one wants to believe that. Don’t you think that, while many Americans, black, white, Cuban or asian, have been discriminated against because of their race, it MIGHT be possible that people from other countries might be discriminated against?
Some people are close minded even when they try to prove that they’re open minded.
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Celts Fan says:
@PaLakerfan (post 53) EXACTLY MAN…
@Bron – that Hawaii system thing is on-point, but the problem is the other guy you’re trying to compare him to was basically in the same boat (only his system was the “Give it to Will” offense) and again, if Kobe’s team had won 65 instead of barely sliding into the Playoffs (or if Nash wasn’t running shit with a bunch of average guys – other than Matrix of course – and without Amare,) I’d agree w/ you.
and yes, Marion is still good and the “he’d be a WR, not the QB” in that analogy point is also pretty on-point. that guy belongs in an up-tempo system. guys like him and Josh Smith should be on teams that run or they’re not being used right.
@PALakerFan (post 55) = you’re right man, never thought about it like that. Dude’s still a top 10 player ever (I’d put him right around
but he could’ve been top 5 easily had he actually decided to try running once in a while in the off-season and maybe not eating all that candy off the ground after he made it rain in Kazaam.
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Celts Fan says:
*right around 8 (don’t know where the hell the smiley face came from…)
December 24th, 2008 at 12:54 am
"Cool"-Ton says:
im glad that dirk isnt being selfish … to be honest, i dont think he should have won the mvp the year that he did though. but he definitely had a solid year on a good team … its just a big popularity contest. i mean sometimes there are absolutel clear cut winners for mvp … but rarely … its open for arguement.
i hate to see that people are so obsessed with the color of someones skin though.
January 18th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Trinity says:
Youngfed, the race card is so 2008… quit acting like a little boy and grow the f–k up son! Dont you have better things to do with your time than start retarded net battles with your high school or possibly elementary level intellect?