I got hit up with tons of emails today about future Mav moves and potential trades and somesuch. Since I'm a nerd, I ended up answering just about all of 'em and having a depressingly unproductive day.
So I'm gonna start posting some of this stuff. That'll surely change my fortunes.
If you got some trade ideas you want us to post, send it to:
Just know that we'll also respond to your brilliant stroke so don't get all bent out of shape if we dis your unrealistic idea of trading Damp for Amare or some garbage like that. If you don't want us to use your name then make one up.
Just know that we still love you despite your bad ideas.
"This is something that needed to happen," Johnson said. "There's no animosity or bitterness. We all still really care about each other, but it was time to go in a different direction. ... We didn't win the championship, but if you look at the whole body of work that we put together over the last three-and-a-half years ... we'll put it up against anybody."
He'll jump on with Norm tomorrow so make sure and tune in at 10 AM.
DALLAS-- The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have relieved Avery Johnson of his coaching duties. Johnson became the eighth coach in Mavericks history on March 19, 2005. He collected a record of 194-70 (.735) during his tenure with a postseason record of 23-24 (.489).
"I would like to thank Avery for his valuable contributions to the Mavericks organization," President of Basketball Operations/General Manager Donnie Nelson said. "Over the past four years, he has been an integral part of our team's success. We wish AJ nothing but the very best in his future endeavors."
In his first full season as head coach (2005-06), Johnson guided the Mavericks to 60 wins and their first appearance in the NBA Finals. He became the fastest coach to reach 50 wins (62 games), coached the Western Conference All-Star team and was named the NBA's Coach of the Year.
In 2006-07, Johnson led Dallas to a franchise-record 67 wins (67-15 overall) and the NBA's best record. The mark was also the sixth best in league history. Following a 10-0 month of February, Johnson garnered Western Conference Coach of the Month honors, an award he won three times in his career.
This past season, Johnson became the fastest coach in NBA history to reach 150 wins with a victory over Memphis on November 17, 2007. He accomplished that feat in just 191 games.
"It is never easy to relieve a coach of his duties, especially one of Avery's caliber," Owner Mark Cuban said. "He is a talented coach and I want to thank him for his efforts over the last four years and what he has done for this franchise. We wish him well in the future."
I'm a big fan of the 33 1/3 series, those little books in which authors dissect one album for about 125 pages. Hip-hop isn't particularly well represented (Yo Sal, why you got no brothers on the wall), but I picked up a nice one over the weekend: Shawn Taylor's very personal appreciation of Tribe's People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. He puts the album in the context of where hip-hop was in 1990, and he also conveys the sonic escape of music when your mom's new boyfriend is going Ike Turner on her.
The whole basketball media world has fired Avery Johnson as coach of the Mavs. At this point you assume once the season is done that Mark Cuban will do the same.
So who's the first name that pops into your head when you think of their next coach?
No doubt you've seen the commercial for Dockers - San Francisco, which uses Marlena Shaw's "California Soul" to great effect.
My ears perk up whenever I hear songs in commercials that have been the sample sources for classic hip-hop cuts - in this case Gang Starr's "Check The Technique."
Generally the ad agencies that come up with this stuff are filled with younger folks on the creative side. So I'd assume that whoever arrived at the idea of using this song got to it because when they finally heard it they recognized it from Gang Starr, not because they had deep soul crates.
The only reason my soul crates do have any depth at all is because of the Primo's and 45 King's of the world.
It's not like many people grow up on the sounds of Cadet (though you could do a lot worse then to blessed with the music of Charles Stepney infiltrating your living room as a kid).
Anyway - nice ad even though them drawers are kinda flavorless.
It was the most fun I've had watching the playoffs this year (unavoidable circumstances prevented me from catching Game 1 in the Suns/Spurs series).
Once my teams go down (I guess I quit on the Mavs since everyone else did and the Knicks, well, kill me), I generally turn my rooting interests to my favorite players. And of the guys left in the playoffs (we'll miss you C Bosh) Joe Johnson is easily one of my top 3.
Today we take it a step further by giving you a chance to win the new CD and a cool T-shirt by being the first to answer this super-simple trivia question.
Name the former Roots keyboard player who went on to produce joints for platinum artists like Fiddy, Fat Joe and Christina Aguilera.
UPDATE - Slow your roll kids. Congrats to John who was the first to hit us with the correct answer of Scott Storch. This album is a banger so that should be a happy dude.
Nothing but love to our friends at Universal for choosing the Boogie Spot as a place to get the word out on great new music.
I don't think the Mavericks lost Sunday night because the team quit, or didn't play hard or whatever other mental-oriented intangible you'd like to throw out there.
The Mavericks lost because they're a below average half-court offensive team that didn't get to the line (12-16) and didn't get out in transition (4 fast break points).
The Hornets deserve credit for being good defensively.
But as we've seen time and time again, it's easy to take away what the Mavericks want to do in the half-court.
And having said that, it's hard to believe that there's anyone left who still believes in this team.
Mavs won convincingly tonight. I thought they would and still feel like they'll win the series.
Josh, Dirk, Kidd and JET all played over 40 minutes. JET got the start at 2 and met his season average against the Hornets by dropping 22 on 'em.
In other words, Avery came to his senses and didn't give minutes to unproductive guys and spare parts who have no business playing in the playoffs - decisions that killed the Mavs in the first two games.
They also refrained from agressively double-teaming CPIII. In other words the Hornets had to actually play 5 on 5 tonight and guys didn't get comfortable by exploiting an array of uncontested shots. West, Peja and Paul combined for 28% tonight.
Last night's Big Thing was good times. The performances were cool, Gordo made some funny, and me and wifey actually got a night away from the midgets. And the Jive Turkeys had that place rowdy at the jump.
I hosted the freestyle exhibition/battle between Playdough and Krack and it seemed to go over pretty well. Both of those dudes have elitle-level skills and they adjusted to the left-of-center format of the battle and did their thing.
Krack's supporters were the loudest, but it's not like his victory was a landslide. Congrats to both.
Stop worrying about this picture (above) and shut the F up. It's time for some Friday Scatterblogging.
Dateline, Dallas.
Pacmangate: Expectationgate-- Expect me to add "gate" to the end of every key word during any type of controversy. Expect strip club loving Pacman Jonesto officially become a Dallas Cowboy today. Expect him to wear #21 in honor of Deion and Pilar. Expect him to earn your undying love on one of his very first incredible punt returns. Expect him to play lockdown, shutdown, smackdown defense on stud WRs and allow the Cowboys to roll out one of the greatest cornerback trios in NFL history (with T-New and Henry). Expect the luxury of having three top line CBs to minimize the damage that Roy Williams can inflict by sucking terribly in pass coverage. Expect Pacman to see some time on offense, much like Deion on Pilar used to. Expect him to play a huge role in bringing home a Super Bowl for Jerry's boys THIS SEASON! But then expect him to self-destruct shortly thereafter.
No doubt the old Exodus heads of the early 90s will remember Ty Macklin from Shabazz 3. Or maybe you know him as one of the producers on the groundbreaking Baduizm.
He's an elite-level producer, engineer, rapper and all-around great human. I hold the guy in high regard.
It's a collab with the lovely Sy Smith called "Fly Away With Me." This is a remix version with a new rap verse from Kay of the Foundation. You may recognize Sy if you watch Idol - she's one of the back-up singers.
This is another example of that cosmic soul that Ty drops so effortlessly. Hope you dig it - it was a nice surprise to come across it again.
You can spend hours on Rappers I Know checkin' nothin but heaters.
Hillary has about as good of a chance at winning this election as the Texas Rangers do of winning 60 games this year. That said, Hillary picked up a huge endorsement when La Pequena Hillary Clinton decided to address the world and show his/her support for the actual Hillary.
See this earth-shattering address below. Thank goodness they remembered to mount the singing trout behind the desk, all official-like.
This time it's the Ghostly Swim compilation - 19 tracks from different artists with a mix of instrumental, down-tempo and "avant pop" style beats. You can listen to the whole mix online to get an idea of their ghostly vibe or download the entire album. Definitely feeling Track 9 by FLYamSAM called 'The Offbeat' - it's saucy.
The Mavs got completely thrashed last night. I'm kind of done thinking about it. We didn't do the normal two hours that we do on a standard playoff post game show because what's the point in breaking down a few decisions when NOTHING works?
The main issue was the aggressive double-teaming of CP3 the Mavs employed in the first quarter.
The result of that tactic: build the confidence of every Hornet not named Paul as they got nothing but wide-open looks from their sweet spots for the whole quarter. 39 points on 70% shooting.
Must be nice.
All anyone wanted to do on the PG Show was talk about firing Avery or blowing the team up, which is stuff that won't happen until at least two more home games are played.
Who knows what those efforts will be like, but I feel like the Mavs will win both. I know that sounds stupid, but I am the same idiot who liked the match-ups in this series.
Of course, the match-up at the fore is Paul v. Kidd.
"I have had a great experience here at The University of Texas," Augustin said. "All I can say is 'thank you' to my teammates, coaching staff and fans that have supported us during my two years at Texas. I have matured a lot as a person, both on and off the court. I have dreamed of playing in the NBA since I was a little boy, and I am ready to start living this dream."
DJ has not hired an agent yet so maybe he's just testing the waters, which is very unlikely. He will surely be one of the first PG's selected in the draft after two impressive seasons. Texas junior AJ Abrams will also gauge his draft status by putting his name into the draft with no agent.
Why is Dirk so unlike every German who we've ever seen go crazy on video? This list includes pseudo-German American David Hasselhoff, the fictitious Lebowskian technopop group, Autobahn, and the crazy kid featured below.
Does anyone really think that somebody would mockingly caress this little guy's cheek? Step it up, Dirk. And release your inner German.
Lots of good points here, though I'm still in the camp that says you don't let anyone treat you like that in a battle - which is what playoff basketball is.
Dirk didn't have to get ejected.
He just simply needed to stop David West from treating him like that. Dirk had already lit him up, but the disrepsect was still there.
Why?
Because other NBA players believe you can treat the Mavericks like that and they won't do anything about it
This has been discussed ad nauseum since Bradley was here and it won't stop until the Mavericks stand up and stop it.
How hard is that to understand? Stand up for yourself. It's not the debate olympics.
Whatever side you fall on this, proppers for a good angle.
Bobbito Garcia is one of my favorite humans on the planet. He's literally at the forefront of so many of the things I hold near and dear in this world.
He's also been mad cool to me and Benny. He's jumped on the air with us and always shown love on the rare occassions we get to see him in person.
This is the strangest 'lets get hype!' pregame routine that I can remember.. especially from a set of coaches and not the players. Does this get you hyped? Apparently it didn't get the Nuggets fired up either as they got drubbed 128-114 by the Lakers. The Kwame Brown for Pau Gasol swap is The Great Train Robbery of NBA trades.
I would have gotten to this sooner, but just like the Mavs I got nothin' but excuses.
You try and be even keeled about playoff losses (especially Game 1 losses), but this team and its fans are so haunted by the ghosts of playoffs past that the little things become enormously magnified.
It's obvious to say that the key to playing the Hornets is containing CPIII, but all those little third quarter runners in the lane were devastating. He has to beat you from further out.
We also talked about the Mavericks being able to get secondary break opportunities against the Hornets. In the first half they did and they ran up a 12 point lead off of easy shots.
In the second half the combination of the Mavs pulling back the reins and the Hornets making more of their shots (thus fewer opps) led to half-court grind and failed 18-foot jumpers. They have to keep pushing and probing.
This show is a must Tivo! Maybe I'm biased, but I loved the first episode. Maybe it's because I'm a die hard Cowboys homer and #21 helped get us a ring. Maybe it's because I know Deion personally (watch your feet). Maybe it's because he's boys with Ben & Skin VIP team member KB the Cowboy Homer (who will make an appearance on a future episode). Or maybe this show is just good, period.
Here's a description from the show's website:
Deion & Pilar: Prime Time Love follows the home life of NFL superstar Deion Sanders and his wife, Pilar and five kids in small town Texas. The eight episode series follows the home life of sports superstar Deion Sanders - the only athlete to ever play in both a Super Bowl® and a World Series - and his wife, Pilar. A former model and glamorous big city girl, Pilar lives with Deion and their five children in the small town of Prosper, TX - population 2,000. A homemaker and devoted mother, Pilar wants to show her husband and the world that she brings more to the table than just dinner.
One of the things this reality show has going for it is that it's family programming. It's the story of a family that also makes for excellent family viewing. My wife and I have a hard time finding TV shows and movies that we can both enjoy equally. Generally, I like sci-fi, sports and comedy and she likes anything with Drew Barrymore and a cheesy romantic storyline. A show like this makes for a fair compromise.
Scroll down for Mav thoughts. Fine, don't. Mavs in 5 Phoenix in 6. The doubters feel silly. Lakers in 5 sans Bynum Utah in 6 - too much posse.
Boston in 4. I still like the Hawks future though. Detroit in 5. Tell me about surging Philly again. Toronto in 6. Bad pick - I just so loves me some Bosh. Cleveland in 7. They should cut DeShawn Stevenson on priniple.
I rescind the Tornoto pick. Orlando in 6.
Scatterblogging while wondering what ever happened to Jackie Treehorn?
Dateline, Dallas.
Mavs limp into the post season on extremely long crutches -- According to my inside source (who heard Mark Followill on with the Hardline) Mavs HC Avery Johnson estimates that Big German Dirk is only 85% recovered from his high ankle sprain. On top of that, Fake Laser Cannonmouth (pictured on the right with the greatest expression of all time on his face as he enjoys the great Dan McDowell) also told the P1 army that J-Ho is probably operating at less than 100% from his knee collision with Shaq, which happened back on April 6th. While I love the idea of landing New Orleans instead of the Lakers or Spurs in the first round, I do worry significantly about this team being less than 100%. But Dirk at 85% and Josh at 90% should still be too much for the Hornets. Give me the Mavs in 6. Win, Loss, Win, Win, Loss, Win. Put it in Jimmy Johnson font.
The Mavs and Hornets get the party started tomorrow at 6PM.
Over at ESPN, only Hollinger and Ford (the 2 ESPN dudes way against the Kidd trade, btw) are picking the Hornets.
If it seems strange that so many would favor a #7 seed in this scenario, consider that most who believe this way are pointing to the experience factor.
More importantly, in my estimation at least, is that their two best players - David West and Chris Paul - have a combined 111 minutes of playoff experience and that was four years ago during West's rookie season.
But experience is not the number one reason I like the Mavs in this series - though I feel that is an important advantage that shouldn't be downplayed. But I love the match-ups in this series for the Mavs.
This link contains a collection of words culled together from thoughts and such to form a recently published column appearing in print and on the web which was and shall continue to be known as Ben and Skin's Hot Potato Salad.
Dave & Buster's is the official home for all road Playoff watch parties. All parties begin one-hour prior to tipoff. Fans will have the opportunity to interact with the Mavs ManiAACs and Street Team and will also have a chance to win Mavs merchandise and autographed gear.
This would be the D&B at Walnut Hill & 75.
Benny and I have the Post Game immediately following the final buzzer on The Ticket and we'll do some heavy duty previewing of the series from noon-2 tomorrow during our show from Bill Utter in Denton.
The Roots are set to release their latest CD release Rising Down on Tuesday, April 29. They are surely finding ways to stay in the news with gigs on Comedy Central and a small bit of controversy surrounding the "Birthday Girl" song. (the video has that weird How to Catch a Predator vibe to it)
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