Friday Donuts: Are Mavs Big, Small, Or Just Right?

Mike Fisher -- DB.com

Charles Barkley talks Mavs! (And we don't listen) ... Dirk's hot-selling Euro jersey ... Round 2 of The Most Important Mavs Employee You've Never Heard Of ... Are the Mavs too big, too little, or just right? ... it's Friday Morning Donuts! 

   DONUT 1: The most popular-selling NBA jerseys in Europe. Let’s see who’s No. 1, who’s No. 2 … and where Dirk ranks!

   DONUT 2: Speaking of merchandise: Remember Michael Vick, conVickt? He’s now, Michael Vick, holder of a new Nike shoe contract. (Or maybe not. Nike is now saying he has no such deal.) Either way, I trust my Atlanta-lovin’ friend langwhitaker:

    Nobody bought Mike Vick's Nike's 5 years ago, why would they now?

   DONUT 3: Part 2 of The Most Important Mavs Employee You Never Heard Of.

   DONUT 4: The DB.com Store’s Dirk Nowitzki September Special is over and the winner is …

    Justin in Georgetown!

    Thanks to everyone who is ordering one of our original-design T-shirts …  click into the DB.com Store to make your choice! … the DallasBasketball.com shirt, the “Fish for Lunch’’ classic, “The DUST Chip’’ shirt and the most popular, “The UberMan.’’

   DONUT 5: Tonight is “Fan Jam’’ at the AAC, the full-scale practice that is open to the public and will include a Blue-White scrimmage. Word from DB.com Boards is that a bunch of us might hang out in Section 101. … I’ll be on the lookout for you!

   DONUT 6: Charles Barkley expresses his opinions on the Mavs. And he’s pretty well-schooled on this subject; in fact, I hear he thinks Shawne Merriman might lead the team in rebounding.

   DONUT 7: Remember that you have to make yourself an appointment to try out to be the Mavs PA announcer here. … And a tip: I know some of those auditioning are going to be “professional’’ announcers, radio guys, voice guys. So bring your unique personality to the table, OK?
   DONUT 8: If you are a little cynical about the rave reviews rolling in regarding end-of-bench guys, all that means is that this ain’t your first rodeo. Still, the shooting of Matt Carroll and the work ethic of Kris Humphries, those things are real … and we know it both because I’ve seen some of it in action and because the positive quotes about those guys are not coming just from the coach in a way that could be orchestrated by the organization.

   Example, Jason Terry on Humphries:

   “He has really impressed me,’’ Jet said. “He’s a physical force inside, but he has outside touch. He has a high basketball I.Q., so he’s been a surprise.’’

    Overly glowing? Maybe. But insincere, or orchestrated? Not at all.

   DONUT 9: No, I'm still not "Doing The Jason Terry.'' And guess what else (and I'll be kind here to the musicians)? Jason Terry is also not "doing the Jason Terry.'' And I'll leave it at that.

    DONUT 10: Don’t forget, for the best in hard-core Cowboys coverage, your place – and my place – is Blogging The Boys. My FISH on FOOTBALL stuff is over yonder … Take a visit …

    DONUT 11: Photoshopped, of course. But no less nauseating.

    DONUT 12: Are the Mavs not big enough?  

    DONUT 13: "Here’s the coach’s answer to the related question of “playing SmallBall’’:

   You've got to be able to play different speeds," says Carlisle. "I don't view our situation right now as committing to SmallBall at all. I think you have to have good big guys to win in this league, but you've got to be able to play at different speeds. I was looking at some stats from previous years and there are certain situations where the first round of a playoff series you might average 91 points a game, and then get to the Finals and the average scores are up near 100, or vice versa. It's extremely important to be able to play at those speeds and to meet the challenge of having that kind of adaptability as a team. Sometimes you're going to have to do it playing small, sometimes you're going to have to be bigger. We know we're going to see it all during the course of the season, and during training camp we're going to have to figure out how we're going to approach playing smaller and playing bigger, and playing sort of medium. The ability to do all three of those things is essential."