Sunday Morning Donuts: It's NOT The Economy

Sunday Morning Donuts … in which we handle this issue of the Mavs dealing with “the economy,’’ recover from a Hall-of-Fame hangover and get you ready for some football …

   DONUT 1: Let’s begin this Sunday with the faulty notion that the Mavs may be forced by “the economy’’ to pare their roster to “13 or 14’’ players.

   From the very top of the roster (Dirk Nowitzki at $19.8 million) down to the very iffy end of the roster (The Buck Shot at $4 million and Qualified-Offered James Singleton at $1.03 million) every single guy in the Mavs’ fold is working with a guaranteed contract.

   All of them.

   All 17 of them.

    A closer look at what’s really going on here, starting with the Mavs’ salaries … in order of the line that forms at the pay window:

   Dirk Nowitzki $19.8 million

   Erick Dampier $12.1 million

   Josh Howard $10.9 million

   Jason Terry $9.07 million

   Jason Kidd $8.1 million

   Shawn Marion $6.63 million

   Matt Carroll $4.7 million

   Drew Gooden $4.5 million

   Greg Buckner $4.08 million

   Kris Humphries $2.9 million

   Shawne Williams $2.4 million

   JJ Barea $1.66 million

   Roddy Beaubois $1.07 million

   Quinton Ross $1.03 million

   James Singleton $1.03 million

   Tim Thomas $825,000

   Nathan Jawai $736,000

   I count 17. Not “13 or 14.’’

   I count 17.

   And all 17 are guaranteed.

   The challenge will be to juggle the assets in a way that gets the roster down to 15. The Mavs won’t throw away assets. Really, you can’t “throw them away’’ … because they are guaranteed.

   And “the economy’’ has nothing to do with this. It’s all about “asset management,’’ not about “belt-tightening.’’

   DONUT 2: A tour of Michael Jordan's career ... via SI covers.

   DONUT 3: The DB.com Store’s Dirk September Special: Order A DB.com T-Shirt And Be Eligible To Win A Nowitzki Jersey! Check out the DB.com and order now!

   DONUT 4: A bittersweet weekend for Karl Malone. Two of his “basketball family members’’ go into the HOF, one of his real family members is on life support.

   DONUT 5: So LaToya Jackson goes on "20/20'' and dramatically reveals to Barbara Walters that her brother, Michael Jackson was .... murrrrrrrderrrred!

   DONUT 6: The less I hear about Shawne Williams – he certainly did disappear under mysterious circumstances last spring, didn’t he? – the more I suppose in some form he could be persona non grata.

    That’s Latin for “Tariq Abdul-Wahad.’’

   DONUT 7: Eddie Sefko’s Q-and-A with Rick Carlisle.

   DONUT 8: My spies tell me that on Friday night, Tony Romo was at a high-school football game, Hebron at Plano. Now why in the world would the Cowboys QB spend his Friday night at a high-sch … oh, yeah.

   DONUT 9: I predicted that by the time Michael Vick scored his first touchdown, the world would cease caring about his crime.

   I was wrong.

   The world ceased caring as soon as ANYBODY scored the first NFL touchdown.

   After the Steelers-Titans game on Thursday in the NFL opener, Pittsburgh receiver Santonio Holmes conducted a postgame interview while wearing a Vick No. 7 jersey. It could’ve been notable in many ways.

    For one thing: A Pittsburgher repping a Philadelphian?

    For another thing: Didn’t Vick commit some heinous, unforgivable crime?

    Heinous, yes. Unforgivable? Obviously not.

   DONUT 10: There’s Allen Iverson wearing his new Memphis Grizzlies uniform. Cool. ‘Cept why does he look like a child trying on Dad’s clothes?

   DONUT 11: My man Ryan at MavCowTickets has his EBay auction up and running: Mavs tickets with the bidding starting at 99 cents! I know a bunch of you have already taken advantage of this – to the point where you’ve really gotten Mavs game tickets for less than a buck – now go take advantage of Ryan again!

   DONUT 12: Bryon Russell with a series of great responses to being “called out’’ by Jordan.

   DONUT 13: The argument against Nellie for the Hall of Fame – whatever the hell that argument might be – just got weaker with Jerry Sloan’s induction.