Dirk 16/17

[fuller4379]

March 10 and 11 are Dirk Bobblehead nights.

http://www.mavs.com/tickets/promonights/

[2011Champs]

What I DO NOT like is when a team feels like it has to pay for a "past-his-prime" icon to wind down his career. Based off productivity and team needs, and that sort of stuff, there is no way anyone can justify Dirk being the 4th highest paid player is the league this year.

No reason to have a problem with Dirk's salary. It's more of a thank you for taking less than market value in previous contracts and thanks for all you have done for The Dallas Mavericks throughout your career. This contract was never about on the court basketball value. Dirk's contract was made after all possible free agent moves were made so why not give him his going away/retirement present?

[The Sparest]

Finally, my Shawn Bradley action figure will have a friend.

[Dirk]

Finally, my Shawn Bradley action figure will have a friend.

I actually believed that for a second

[Dirk]

What I DO NOT like is when a team feels like it has to pay for a "past-his-prime" icon to wind down his career. Based off productivity and team needs, and that sort of stuff, there is no way anyone can justify Dirk being the 4th highest paid player is the league this year.

That being said, start the farewell tour. Start building the 15ft statue with Dirk's signature fade-away, and place that bad boy on the front lawn. Give Dirk whatever position he wants in the front office. Start planning the jersey retirement... because this franchise should not endure one more year of Dirk Nowitzki being the priority and focus as a player.

Regarding Dirk's salary, take into account that it is not hurting the Mavs this year at all. His cap hold was $12.5 million. He is being paid $25 million because the Mavs were able to go over the cap via bird rights exception. Unless you think that $12.5 million is also a big overpay, you shouldn't look at his salary that way. For instance, Kobe's situation was very different, he was actually hurting the Lakers flexibility to add players. In Dirk's case, that didn't happen this year.

I was upset that they had another $25 million for next year, but that seems to be a 'team option', so essentially the Mavs will be able to have some flexibility if a good player is out there worth bidding for in free agency. The Mavs renounce Dirk and then sign him with cap space - I do feel that this may be a bit complex though, so I wouldn't be surprised if he did make another $25 million next year.

So, if the Mavs had used up $25 million in cap space for Dirk, that would definitely be very wrong (may happen next year), but they didn't do that. His contract for this year is absolutely fine. After the Mavs were done with free agency, they should absolutely go over the cap and pay Dirk - it doesn't hurt the team. It just hurts Cuban's wallet. But he'll gladly pay it because Dirk had taken a discount before and generated tons of millions for the team over the year.

The thing is: if you look at the 2017 free agency, there really aren't very attractive players for the Mavs. You have some elite guys that will never sign with the Mavs. Then you have good players that will want 20 million + and probably you wouldn't want either because you're drafting a PG with your draft pick. I still will hope that they work things out in order to try and get some youngish players via free agency, but I will not be surprised if simply there isn't much out there.

I think we'll have roughly $10 million in cap space if Dirk is at $25 million. You can have $35 without Dirk. So... next year is the year where we can be upset about his salary. Not this year. I will wait to see who is available in free agency and how things play out to see whether it would make sense or not to renounce him and get the extra cap space.

[fuller4379]

Finally, my Shawn Bradley action figure will have a friend.

I actually believed that for a second

https://www.amazon.com/Philadelphia-76ers-Shawn-Bradley-Bendable/dp/B00RPQZ26O

[The Sparest]

Finally, my Shawn Bradley action figure will have a friend.

I actually believed that for a second

Watch on YouTube

[Jinra]

Regarding Dirk's salary,...

Thanks Dirk! I admit, I didn't fully understand his salary impact. I tend to get lost in these complicated salary structures. Thanks for braking that down for me.

To your point, if that is the structure of his salary, then my stance has changed. I certainly don't mind Dirk getting as much as he can, as a matter of fact I am all for it. And I am glad to hear that it is not impacting the team negatively.

[JaysRangers]

Dirk Nowitzki speaks on the challenges of playing Center vs. Power Forward

Watch on YouTube

Visit us at http://thefanaticsview.com/ for daily sports videos & Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & IG

https://www.facebook.com/thefanaticsview
https://twitter.com/thefanaticsview
https://www.instagram.com/thefanaticsview/

Visit us at http://thefanaticsview.com/ & don’t forget to subscribe!

[Jinra]

I think Dirk should be pushing to go to the bench, himself, for the betterment of the team. He is NOT playing for a championship. He is playing for personal gains and stats. This team does not need to once again be pushing itself away from rebuilding just to placate Dirk.

Then again, Dirk at center may result in more losing anyway. #positive

[Dirk]

I think Dirk should be pushing to go to the bench, himself, for the betterment of the team. He is NOT playing for a championship. He is playing for personal gains and stats. This team does not need to once again be pushing itself away from rebuilding just to placate Dirk.

Then again, Dirk at center may result in more losing anyway. #positive

I really doubt he has a problem over starting or coming off the bench. But who knows... your guess is as good as mine. He has come off the bench before when he was getting back from injury 12/13 I think. I don't think he'd have any problem doing it again - he's not fully fit yet as well. This whole thing was precipitated by Bogut being very opinionated and offering himself to come off the bench. I think they should play it out and have a large enough sample to decide what to do.

From all we know he is not the type of guy to 'demand' stuff. He is humble and selfless. But on the other hand you have reports making him out to be someone who also pulls the stings on some moves (like not re-signing Parsons). I don't really buy it that he has held the Mavs hostage. If I pretend Dirk is already retired... I see the Mavs doing the same thing they've been doing this season. It's just very messy because Carslile seems hell bent on trying to win each game. The front office reeks of someone who is just a front, Cuban has his hands all over decisions. You just have no accountability, path or philosophy. One week it sounded like they were getting ready to embrace the high pick, then you get the sense that they're trying to make the playoffs.

The NBA is a miserable league in a lot of ways, you have 80% of the league who are nowhere near winning a title. We're here depressing over ping pong balls and we know that having a high pick doesn't imply that we will fix anything and be good again. You have the Sixers being awful years after years. You have the Wolves still struggling to win despite being hyped up. We know and surely the people inside the Mavs know that it's still a better bet to inject some young talent in the team via a top pick, over fighting for scraps in free agency again. Carlisle, Nelson and Cubn are the ones to blame.

[Jinra]

Agreed + I think Dirk (whether purposely or not) is also a major negative on this franchise now. Regardless of how much we love and adore our big German.

Mark Cuban: the new Jerry Jones. Thinks he is the smartest person in any room. Any room. For all of his greatness, he cannot seem to land his own "Super Star". Remember, he inherited Dirk.

Donnie Nelson: Great at building really good teams. I think he lucked up on Dirk and one great team. But why can't he find more Super Stars talent in the draft. Is he good enough to keep a consistent late round playoff powerhouse intact? Does he have a championship formula?

Rick Carlisle: He is an amazing coach that cannot help win. What more could you ask for? Maybe ease off the gas just a little bit. Embrace that this team will not make the playoffs and add your future star.

The glamour of the 2011 Championship is gone. This brain trust needs to start producing more than mediocre for a change.

[Pg81]

I think Dirk should be pushing to go to the bench, himself, for the betterment of the team. He is NOT playing for a championship. He is playing for personal gains and stats. This team does not need to once again be pushing itself away from rebuilding just to placate Dirk.

Then again, Dirk at center may result in more losing anyway. #positive

The guy gave half his income to Parsons who was very disappointing and he also came from the bench when the coach deemed it neccessary. Dirk was never a center player. He never had the frame or mind set for it to play it properly on both ends.

[Pg81]

I really hate this for Dirk. I think that this comes down to Dirk NOT having fun playing for this Dallas team. This is not the playoff team that he emphasize he wanted in order to keep playing. The Dallas Mavericks have hit a new decade low.I wanted Dirk to go out on a high note as well, but I think it is just reality that every player waits at least one year too late to retire; which is why most announce retirement mid-season or at the end of the season.

What I DO NOT like is when a team feels like it has to pay for a "past-his-prime" icon to wind down his career. Based off productivity and team needs, and that sort of stuff, there is no way anyone can justify Dirk being the 4th highest paid player is the league this year.

That being said, start the farewell tour. Start building the 15ft statue with Dirk's signature fade-away, and place that bad boy on the front lawn. Give Dirk whatever position he wants in the front office. Start planning the jersey retirement... because this franchise should not endure one more year of Dirk Nowitzki being the priority and focus as a player.

I see nothing wrong with it considering that Dirk gave this franchise more than a decade of excellence in a stacked conference and without a real star/superstar as a 2nd/3rd option unlike Tim and KG (Boston) and Tim basically did wind down his last 2-3 years, difference beeing that the Spurs managed to give him the proper support. Dirk meanwhile has to continue to shoulder one mediocre patchwork team after another the last 2-3 years.

[SOUNDCHASER]

I would play Dirk next to Hammons to see if that would make Hammons better and they could take turns switching positions.

Trying to tank is easy if Hammons is playing we lose while he develops and if that works that that one less asset to overpay for next season. Now you can use the draft this year to get our PG of the future and add that to our core pieces of SF/PF Barnes and SG core piece Wes that would set us up at 4 positions counting Dirk. SG SF PF and PG and if Hammons breaks out the starting lineup sets itself.

Then we could see if Hammons develops or not by letting him play. If he sees the game start to slow down for him so he can score and defend without getting fouled out then what a find at where he was drafted, especially if he does start to improve by the end of the season.

Trade our older vets Bogut, Harris and Deron if he wants on a winner like CLE for young talented players and picks and take best available players from then on. We could use an extra 1st round pick to get a future PF/C or SF/SG.

Core older vets: Wes SG/SF, Dirk PF/C, JJB PG/SG, Salah C,
Promising youngsters: Barnes SF/PF, Powell PF/C, Seth PG/SG, JA SG/SF, DFS SF/PF, Brussino SF/SG, Hammons C/PF.

If Hammons is not developed this season we will be in a bit of a pickle next year and may have to severely overpay for some center that then gets overpaid and becomes a bad contract eventually, one that could be tough to get rid of.

The following draft will be filled with a lot of centers like this year is filled with PG's. Hammons can play PF and C since he can shoot so well.

Dirk needs to be a coach tutoring Hammons not trying to win championships still the season is toast. He has seen the better years of his career pass him by and he needs to just come off the bench and help groom the newer players we take on and be the mentor we need to get them up to speed ASAP while adding to his career totals.