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There is a Santa Claus! Normally I would be annoyed to get an AP alert on my phone at 4:30 on a Saturday morning, but this alert brought the long awaited news: A player/owner agreement was in place and the NBA season could be salvaged.
Instead of visions of sugar plums, I guess I started seeing visions of basketball games and ring ceremonies on Christmas Day.
Although it is nice to look ahead to Christmas, there are so many issues to be addressed before the first game of the season.
First, the union must get back together and the lawsuits must be ended. Next, the agreement has to be signed by a majority of the players and owners.
Finally, here comes the big one … free agency. How many of those players who helped bring the championship to Dallas will be on this year’s squad? Will the Mavericks be able to keep Tyson Chandler, Caron Butler, JJ Barea, DeShawn Stevenson and Brian Cardinal? Or, will they have to let someone go to meet the rules of the new collective bargaining agreement? If they do have to leave someone off their roster, who will it be?
So many questions are still up in the air before the Dec. 9 training camp begins and even more remain before the Dec. 25 season opener against the Heat.
Hopefully the coming weeks will bring the answers to those questions and the Mavs can work some holiday magic to bring their Championship team back together. Until then, stay tuned.

Well, looks like the NBA players are rolling the dice on the CBA. As I was reading an article on Yahoo News about NBA Commissioner David Stern threat to players of another proposal of only 47 percent revenue sharing if the current proposal wasn’t approved, an AP news alert popped up on my phone.
Apparently the players are willing to take a chance on another offer because they turned down the one that has been on the table.
So, with another rejected deal on the table, what does this mean for us, the fans?
It doesn’t look like we will be getting that 72-game season that Stern promised with the passage of this deal. At this point, it doesn’t look like a season is in the picture at all.
Instead of highlights of alley-oops and dunks, we will be treated to more talk and less action. We will get to see the players attempt to disband the union and file an anti-trust suit against the league.
Courtroom drama instead of on-the-court drama, yep, that is the NBA we get to look forward to these days.

Today I was walking in Downtown Grapevine when I wandered into one of the shops only to find yet another reminder that it is basketball season and there is no basketball.
There amid all the other Christmas ornaments and the college sports items was an ornament I couldn’t leave without. So for $7, I grabbed a Dallas Mavericks 2011 NBA Championship Christmas ornament. Just what every Mavs fans wants for Christmas–well that and actual games.
I thought I might ought to grab it because the way things are, there may not be a 2012 champion. The ornament was just another reminder, just like no trying to find a parking place at the AAC or watching Jet sprout his wings or Dirk do one of his phenominal fall away jumpers.
I have been following the CBA situation, and it just doesn’t sound promising.
Hopefully, we Mavs fans will get our Christmas miracle, and someone will clear the roadblocks that are keeping the two sides apart.
We can all hope and wish for a miracle. Because at this point, I think a miracle is what it is going to take to bring the two sides closer.

The NBA 2011 draft is just two days away.  While the NBA draft does not have the coverage or excitment of their NFL counterparts, it is the last bit of NBA action we will have for some time.  The NBA has already cancelled the summer league, a sign that the impending lockout will become a reality.  Great.  Another sport locked in a greedy grab for millions between millionaires and billionaires.  The result will almost assuredly be higher prices for the average joe hoping to watch some sports while trying to relax from a hard day’s work.  But I digress.  There is basketball to discuss!

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I wonder what Dirk thinks of this

The off-season is here.  The NBA draft is coming up but this is not what most people are talking  about.  The collective bargaining agreement is set to expire at the end of June.  Many teams are reportedly losing millions of dollars.  We are being told that the owners are prepared to take a hard stand, needing to do so in order to keep the league going.  Speculation is that much of the season could be lost with both sides refusing to budge.  Lets hope that is not going to happen.

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Yesterday the city of Dallas celebrated their first NBA championship with a parade for the hometown heroes, the Dallas Mavericks.  Owner Mark Cuban not only paid the bill for this event, he led his team down the streets as the parade made their way down to the AAC arena for one big party.  Leave it to Cuban to be extravagant, generous, and to make a bit of a controversy.

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We are the Champions my friends!!!

It is hard to believe but it has only been two days since the Mavs won the 2011 championship.  The victory parade will take place in Dallas on Thursday.  Dirk Nowitzki won the MVP in convincing fashion, demonstrating what Mavericks have known for years, #41 is a beast!  The Mavs won the title with grit, superior passing, key strategic adjustments, outstanding teamwork, and clutch play.  And yet, as I watched Sportscenter and listened to talk radio (I do not live in Texas), all I heard about was LeBron James and the Miami Heat.

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