Island Boy
 Dirk's Tan, Bench Jockeying, Bobcatting
Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com - Posted: 2004-06-12 00:00:00.000


By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
      Dirk Nowitzki is tanned, rested and ready. Del Harris and Avery Johnson are playing musical chairs. And Antoine Walker is among the four Mavs left dangling in winds of the expansion draft.
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      Some item-by-item Mavs notes:
     

  • Nowitzki checks in with DallasBasketball.com looking like something less than a gym rat. That usually pale skin – in part the result of som much time spent indoors working on his game – right now is bronze enough to suggest that The UberMan has been spending a lot of time on the golf course.
          “No,’’ he tells us, “Hawaii. I just got back from Hawaii. Now I’m ready to get back to work.’’
         
  • Is Atlanta’s approach to hiring a coach a bungled operation? Or is the delay the result of Del Harris’ absence due to his coaching the Chinese National Team?
          Toronto, New Orleans and Atlanta have all spent the spring putting together management teams in backward fashion. In the Hawks’ case, you’d certainly like to have a head coach in place by now. Harris is clearly a finalist for the job, and maybe the reason Atlanta hasn’t closed the deal with him (or anyone else) is because he couldn’t be physically present.
          Del’s back, however. In a couple of weeks, when Harris and the Chinese National Team come to Dallas/Fort Worth for a series of exhibition games, he’ll be on that bench. We should soon have an answer to what NBA bench Harris will be on, too.
         
  • Meanwhile, Avery Johnson is on record as saying he’d be willing to give up his playing career right now to be a head coach in Dallas, San Antonio or his hometown of New Orleans. None of those top jobs are available, of course, so come July 1, Johnson can walk away from Golden State and weigh his options. The Mavs want him as an assistant coach; the Spurs probably do, too. We still think offering AJ a job as a player/assistant coach might do the trick.
         
  • No surprises with the reported names on the Mavs’ expansion list: Walker, Abdul-Wahad, Fortson and Tony Delk. Still – even with the technicalities and machinations that explain why a relatively young three-time NBA All-Star would be on the same list with a trio of end-of-benchers – it does seem kind of embarrassing, huh?
          Also embarrassing: The reports out of Orlando that quoted “sources’’ as “buzzing’’ about Dallas intending to leave Marquis Daniels unprotected. Again – even with all the technicalities and machinations that might escape us – we couldn’t figure out how that would have been of benefit to anyone. We’ll chalk up the erroneous reports about Marquis to (yes) more technicalities and machinations.