Dirk willing to take pay cut for marquee signing in 2010

TheLSUMaverick · Post #1 » by **TheLSUMaverick** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:20 pm

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 0.html?npc

Dirk told the dallas morning news that he is willing to take a pay cut so they could sign a marquee player in the 2010 season. What a great guy! This made me extremely happy to see somebody who is not all about the money. Dirk claims he has made plenty of money and just wants to win. I am so impressed with the true sportsmanship of Dirk I didn't think there was anyone out there like this anymore. Some could argue that this is just Dirk saying please don't trade me to pick up cap space to sign lebron but personally i think Dirk really just wants to win no matter what!

Post #2 » by **DDansby123** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 12:14 am

Doesn't this also mean he'd take a paycut to play somewhere else if he thought that team had a significantly better shot at a championship than the Mavs? I think it probably does. And that makes the Mavs' situation that much more difficult to maneuver. Do they opt to rebuild for 2010, even though Dirk said he didn't want to throw those years away? Or do they keep trying to win now and impede their ability to sign someone in 2010?

JES12 · Post #3 » by **JES12** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 12:38 am

I knew he would. I have been posting it for a while. If e keep Howard with Terry & Diop, and if Dirk settles for something around 15 mil, we still should be able to get a max FA such as Lebron or Bosh.

But as DDansby123 said, it may go wherever Nash goes (Toronto?) to fight for a championship.

I'm hoping for a trade that proves which way our FO is leaning...rebuild or retool by trading Diop's and possibly Terry's salary or trade Stack & George for players that are compete now.

Rand10 · Post #4 » by **Rand10** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 1:17 am

Let's just hope someone wants to be here or it won't matter.

italy_23 · Post #5 » by **italy_23** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 6:44 am

it doesnt surprise me. that just shows you what a person he is. I guess there is no other superstar willing to do that.
and I doubt that he thinks about leaving the mavs. it's loyality

Garbs_7 · Post #6 » by **Garbs_7** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 11:50 am

Good to see a superstar willing to take less money for success, even if it is still a LOT of money. Good on him, it is a good sign of character and I hope more do the same.

dirtyfilthynasty · Post #7 » by **dirtyfilthynasty** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 1:58 pm

JES12 wrote:I'm hoping for a trade that proves which way our FO is leaning...rebuild or retool by trading Diop's and possibly Terry's salary or trade Stack & George for players that are compete now.

Mavs can't compete now. They aren't close. They need to rebuild and should have started two years ago.

Realmavsman · Post #8 » by **Realmavsman** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 3:57 pm

dirtyfilthynasty wrote:
JES12 wrote:I'm hoping for a trade that proves which way our FO is leaning...rebuild or retool by trading Diop's and possibly Terry's salary or trade Stack & George for players that are compete now.

Mavs can't compete now. They aren't close. They need to rebuild and should have started two years ago.

I agree that they need to rebuild right now and probably should have started last year at this time. However saying that they should have started two years ago is ridiculous. They had just lost in the NBA finals ( A series everyone believes they should have won) and were in the middle of a 67 win season. There was no reason at that time to think this team could not compete for the championship again. However after the loss to the Warriors and the mediocre start to the next season should have been enough to tell them they needed to retool. Obviously they thought that Jason Kidd was that retooling. Unfortunately that made this team worse, not better. Now we are stuck being a boarderline playoff team. We need to blow this up NOW!

Post #9 » by **DDansby123** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 4:45 pm

I think DFN actually argued for trading Dirk three years ago or so. He may have been right (though I argued with him that we should at least give the FO a chance to build a complementary team around him).

Regardless, I think he'd be on the side that says we were damn lucky to even get to the Finals that year and were also damn lucky to win 67 games the following season. There were so many games I can remember that we had absolutely no business winning...but we did.

I'd probably fall in that category as well. If you factor some injuries out of the equation, our ceiling was probably as a second-round team, though we were fortunate to get past a Kings team without their star and a Spurs team that was certainly gimpy. The following two years, you could argue, that trend reversed and we had two of the worst first-round matchups we could imagine.

Bottom line is that barring an incredible run of luck and good fortune (say, a miraculous Pau Gasol type deal), we won't get out of the second round, and I'd be very surprised if we got out of the first.

Post #10 » by **catalyst** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 4:51 pm

Since dirk did not talk any numbers, I seriously doubt he will be so generous when he sees the $$ being tossed around that year.

Chester0 · Post #11 » by **Chester0** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 6:36 pm

He either just made or broke his reputation with this city for the rest of eternity. If he sticks to his word, he becomes a local hero. If he goes somewhere else for a max deal, he just **** himself. Its heartwarming to hear him say this, but honestly I don't know that I believe him. We'll see.

On another note, even if we aren't going to compete until 2010 (which we won't), I am excited about the potential of making big moves. The past two seasons have been really boring. Call me fickle, but one of my favorite parts of being a mavs fan is our active FO. Too bad they have made a lot of mistakes.

sweet daddy · Post #12 » by **sweet daddy** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 6:46 pm

He will have made way over $100 mil by then. There are actually some people who recognize when they have more than enough, and want to make their mark in other ways besides how much more money they can accumulate. Who knows if he's one of them, really, but it isn't impossible to imagine. From what little I've heard about him, he doesn't live an extravagent lifestyle in the off-season, at least considering the amount of money he's already earned.

My biggest fear is that it'll be a year or two too late, and he won't be enough to attract a really big-time free agent to sign with us. Will a 32 year old Dirk be enough of an attraction to get a bonafide superstart to come here? Maybe, because he would surely be the best #2 guy in the league, even then.

JES12 · Post #13 » by **JES12** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 7:03 pm

I don't knwo what people here are expecting. It sounds like some are assuming he will play for like 5 mil or something. I was actually thining he would reduce his ETO ($21 mil) to the neighborhood of $15 mil so that if we can't move Diop and we elect to keep Howard, we could still sign a Max deal. If he was so unselfish as to drop to $10 mil and we waive Howard we could sign 2 max free agents. If he goes down to Diop-like salary, we can keep Howard and sign 2 max free agents.

All that said, if he reduces his money, here is the neigborhood I see
2010-11 $15,000,000
2011-12 $13,000,000
2012-13 $13,500,000
2013-14 $14,000,000

Post #14 » by **DDansby123** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 7:25 pm

I don't know. I really don't like putting all our FA eggs in the 2010 basket when damn near every other team out there is trying to do the same thing. I just have concerns about the Mavs' ability to attract these superstars in here without being a more competitive team than what we are now.

If it were me with the GM hat, I'd say use this year as the year to retool a little. Push for trades that give you more cap flexibility this offseason and in 2010. Start putting together a team that is more complementary....figure out who fits and who doesn't.

Of course, I still think we'd do a better job attracting 2010 FAs if we tore this thing all the way down now and aggressively built it back up this offseason.

sweet daddy · Post #15 » by **sweet daddy** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 7:27 pm

Me, I don't have a clue. All he said was that if he had to play for less money to get a championship, it was a possibility. I imagine he'd have to really believe the players that his forgone salary buys would make that happen. He may be a team guy, but I doubt that he's an idiot.

No conjecture at all on what he'd be willing to do. 2 years is a long time ... there's no telling what his injury or health or personal situation looks like in 2 years. I do believe this, though ... he really wants to be on a championship winning team. I can believe that if he could play with Bron Bron and ... (fill in the blanks) ... he might take considerably less money for the fun of getting to do it. He never got to play with the dream teams ... he was stuck being the heavy lifter for a German team that only once got to play in the Olympics during his career. He's rich beyond his wildest Wurzburg (sp?) childhood dreams, he's gotten all the personal glory he could ever have imagined, now how about being on a great basketball team and winning an NBA championship?

He's got nothing left to achieve financially. But he loves the game, and he's got something left to achieve there.

JES12 · Post #16 » by **JES12** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 7:40 pm

True. I'm still waiting to hear the announcment of a Mav trade that starts down that line. I don't want to see Diop in 2010, so I'm more eagarly awaiting a Diop trade (moreso than Stack).

In 2010, we have this:

$21.5 mil Dirk (negotiable if this report is true)
$13.1 mil Dampier (unguaranteed...safe to say he is gone)
$11.8 mil Howard (Team option; we have to wait and see what happens over the next 1.5 years)
.$9.9 mil Terry (he's more needed on a team with Dirk-James than a Kidd type PG...we have to see what happens in 2009)
.$6.5 mil Diop (IMO, he needs to be raded)
.$3.4 mil Shawne Williams (Qualifying offer...he can be waived if he is still shooting 6% from 3, but once again, we'll see)
.$1.8 mil Barea (Team option...good bargain, but let's be real...if we have to waive him for 2 max free agents, he's a gonner)

So, besides Dirk, the only guaranteeds contracts are Terry and Diop. Howard, Barea and Williams are "wait and see" and Dampier's gone.

2011Champs · Post #17 » by **2011Champs** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 8:10 pm

Its very generous for Dirk to offer to take less money but he was going to get a max deal anyway in 2010? Would any team sign Dirk at age 32 to a 7 year max deal ? I think Dirk will take a base year pay cut in 2010 but will want max years to make up for it. I am glad to have Dirk instead of money hungry Boozer.

dirkforpres · Post #18 » by **dirkforpres** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 10:35 pm

Thats a classy thing to say... I would like to see us keep Dirk and somehow get an Amare or CB4 on the team in 2010

JDamon18Fan · Post #19 » by **JDamon18Fan** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 1:23 am

The Mavs wouldn't have needed to sign a Max player in 2010 when Harris was dealt. So, essentially the Mavs traded Jamison for Kidd... still a laughable trade.

Chester0 · Post #20 » by **Chester0** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 6:06 am

It was a **** trade, and I would take it back in a heartbeat. But what needs to be realized is that Harris is having that sort of production on a team and offense that is tailor made for his strengths. He is a damn good young point guard, but Harris+Dirk+some other not max player would not be enough imo, unless that 3rd player was a scoring center. Harris+Dirk+Howard was pretty much what you are describing there, and I don't think that was going anywhere.

Who knows though. The only REALLY bad thing about that trade was the 2010 unprotected pick.