Donuts: Carlisle Dresses Mavs In Sunday Best

The Mavs jump from No. 16 to No. 6 ... Jason Terry creates a private voting booth just for you ... Why Roddy Beaubois isn't in the D-League ... Rick Carlisle's Quote of the Weekend regarding Kris Hunkphries ... it's your Sunday Morning Mavs Donuts!

   DONUT 1: My friend Del Harris has long tried to teach me that a great measurement of an NBA team’s defense prowess is points-per-possession. Let’s go to the stats:

    The Mavs were No. 16 last year. They are No. 6 this year.

   And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you often shoot poorly but still start 10-3. Defensive points-per-possession.

  DONUT 2: Mavs Quote of the Weekend: Rick Carlisle on Kris Hunkphries: “He's kind of like a construction worker with Sunday School clothes on."

   DONUT 3: Jason Terry so much wants your All-Star vote that he’s set up his own online Voting Booth for the two of you.

   DONUT 4: And Jet’s not the only Dallas guy who wants a piece of that action.

   The SL Trib: "With this year's game set to be played in Williams' hometown of Dallas, his representatives at McClaren Sports have launched a campaign at deronwilliams.com entitled "I am a fan ... This is my pledge" to encourage fans to vote daily. ... Williams acknowledged the difficulty in garnering votes while playing for a small-market team. He is considering filming a series of Internet videos similar to those that promoted his charity dodgeball tournament this summer and turned into viral sensations.''

    Deron, you were losing me there … until you brought up “dodgeball.’’ “Dodgeball’’ will propel us all to the top!

     DONUT 5: Let this be a lesson to you: If you want FISH on the radio, if you want Mavs on the radio. …You get 103.3 ESPN Radio’s “Mavs Magazine’’! We’ll do it every Saturday through the NBA season, from 10-to-11 a.m., on the Mavs flagship station, 103.3 ESPN Radio! … it’s the official Mavs radio show, full of Mavs guests – players, media, coaches, you name it!

    Oh, and thanks, too, for the response to my work on the Mavs pregame and postgame shows with hosts Ben & Skin. That’s going to continue to be a regular deal, so. … some game nights and every Saturday, we serve you Fish on 103.3 ESPN Radio!

  DONUT 6: A quickie from my guys at 3QCMagic: “Brandon Bass with his first DNP-CD as a Magic player. Have a feeling he'll see a lot more. 4 years, $16 million on his deal.’’

   The Bass vs. Gooden Debate is, as of today, a no-brainer.

   DONUT 7: Are the Knicks stupid? Or funny? Or stupidly funny? Here’s the video of NY’s Nate Robinson shooting at the wrong basket … because he thinks it’s funny. Or because he’s stupid.

    Heck, it’s a Saturday afternoon game between the Knicks and the Nets. Maybe he figured nobody would even see this.

   DONUT 8: The New Jersey Nots lost again, btw. They are now 0-13.

   It gets worse.

   NJ is at Denver on Tuesday (loss). At Portland on Wednesday (loss). Then Sacramento (they won’t be favored). Then the Lakers. Then the Mavs.

  Devin Harris’ New Jersey Nots have a darn good chance to start 0-18, making them the poorest season-starting team in NBA history.

   But wait … I thought Rod Thorn was a mastermind? I thought Devin Harris was a savior? I thought it was going to be an attractive destination for LeBron? What the what?

   DONUT 9: I read SI’s Chris Ballard suggesting that it’d be smart for LeBron James to sign for the NBA minimum next summer and I think it’s such an ingenious idea that I’ve got an accompanying suggestion:

    I think Chris Ballard should work for Sports Illustrated for $7.25 an hour. Minimum wage.

    Wouldn’t that be ingenious!?

   DONUT 10: The pick-and-roll. More picky-and-rollier than ever!

  DONUT 11: Dallas has had its own 60-cents-on-the-dollar issues with a player. But Houston may have a 10-cents-on-the-dollar issue with Tracy McGrady.

    Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:  “After months of growing discord and mistrust between the Houston Rockets and their once-franchise player, Tracy McGrady and coach Rick Adelman engaged in an emotional and sometimes loud closed-door confrontation about the star’s uncertain status on Wednesday night.’’

  At what point is a franchise better off ceasing its patient wait for a declining star to quit declining?

  DONUT 12: His name is Roddy Beaubois and he is a rookie and he barely speaks English and the Mavs really did at one time plan for him to maybe go down to the D-League and get a cup o' coffee and some actual playing time ... because he wasn't going to be good enough just yet to ean any playing time in the bigs, right?

   Wrong. And here's part of the logic, too: Which place is Roddy going to learn more about being an NBA point guard: a) Playing every weekend against the Albuquerque Yuck Monkeys or b) practicing every day at the AAC against Jason Kiss? 

  DONUT 13: The Clippers announcers are suspended for making Iranian-related jokes. Goes to show you, sports media people really ought to leave the socio-political humor to the pros.

   Like me. J