The Mystery Mav Who Would Be King

   OK, let's go:

   1. A former Mavs might become the tallest politician in the world!

   That would be James Donaldson, who is ready to become a 7-2 mayor of Seattle.

   If you guessed "Roy Tarpley,'' I'm taking away your voter's-registration card.

   2. "The real reason'' Josh Howard needs to come back tonight (or soon)? This is from the mind of Tim MacMahon, who says it has nothing to do with on-court performance. ... and who adds that on-court performance doesn't much matter anyway in this final regular-season games because the Mavs aren't moving up no matter what. No, Tim says J-Ho needs to get back out there all because of increasing his trade value.

   Me? I simply cannot muster up the gloom to be that much of a downer at this still-early stage. If the Mavs finish eighth and get crushed in Round 1, there will be ample time -- all summer -- to mope.

   So why pre-mope?

   3. Somebody besides me seeing the core problem with women’s college basketball. Whitt says well what I've said often: It's not that there's a problem with the women's game; it's that there's a problem with what the women's game pretends to be.