What He'll Do With 20 Minutes, How He Earns The MLE, And A Magic 'A'

By Mike Fisher -- DB.com

  Three looks at Marcin Gortat:

   Look 1 is from the stat-based perspective of what the prospective Magic-turned-Mav will do when he’s given a starting role rather than given Dwight Howard’s crumbs.

   Look 2 is from the “asset management’’ perspective, the dollars and sense and risk of it all.

   Look 3 is from the perspective of the smartest Orlando blog around, Third-Quarter Collapse, which analyzes Gortat’s 2008-09 season with numbers, The Eye Test, you name it. …

   Looks 1 and 2 are Mavs-centric and therefore understandably thumbs-up. But Look 3? Maybe you know you’ve got something when the followers of the team that’s likely losing him fawn over Gortat as “big, fast, hard-working.’’ … “One of the best rebounders in the league, a brilliant defender.’’ … “Athleticism, soft hands, automatic on the pick-and-roll’’ ... The Dallas Mavericks are getting a bargain.’’

    Three looks at Marcin Gortat:

By Mike Fisher -- DB.com

Gortat Success Would Be A Rarity For Mavs And Foreign Objects

By Mike Fisher -- DB.com

   Lost in the excitement of the Mavs success at Pole dancing is the most basic of all basketball questions: Can Marcin Gortat actually play? (The video does not lie! Maybe.)

   If Orlando opts to not match Dallas’ proposal to the 24-year-old center, we’ll have plenty of time over the course of the next few days (or, actually, over the course of the next five years and $29 million) to compare The Polish Hammer to Erick Dampier, to DeSagana Diop, to Ryan Hollins.

   But at this moment – as we pick through the streamers, balloons and ticker tape – we can't help but lump Gortat in with a different group of NBA names: Anstey, Danilovic, Muursepp, Sundov, Wang, Sekularac, Stefansson, Rigaudeau, Mbenga, P-Pod and Seibutis.

     Oh, and the only non-American/non-college Mav acquisition who has ever been able to play a lick – Dirty Dirk Nowitzki, the cleanest of this Dirty Dozen.

Done Right, 'Nuclear Winter' Will Become 'Feel-Good Story Of Summer'

By Mike Fisher and David Lord -- DB.com

   We wondered earlier where the “Nuclear Winter’’ went and melted off to. Well, let’s re-check that landscape. … In addition to the notable trades having been salary-dump-motivated, we are witnessing an odd and rare phenomenon with free agents: Normally, after a little flirting, they run right back to their previous teams and re-up. But this week?

   Teams are throwing the “big fish’’ back into the free-agent pond.

   And the Mavs suddenly have a very unusual and attractive opportunity to use The Stack Chip.

   Ariza and then Artest? Artest and then Ariza? Both of them off the market as they move to each others’ former employer? Fine. Give us the next guy on the list. For the purpose of this angle, you can ink the available FA’s however you like; thanks to The Stack Chip, the Mavs will be bidding -- and should be winning – somebody of that lofty caliber.  

Afternoon Drive: New Center Is Coming; For Fun, Here's A Scenic Route

By Mike Fisher -- DB.com

   We’re all a-blush with Gortat Love (He Must Break You!) and while we plan the Polish Pride parade -- Stein says he's on the way to town to sign with Dallas -- we’re thinkin’ of a three-way. …

    The strategy that allows Dallas to top a Houston bid and to steal him from Orlando is to offer him a long-term MLE (about $5.6 million annually) that is too rich for the blood of other suitors. (Houston is said to be offering him less than the MLE; Orlando will get the chance to match Dallas’ bid, but the lux-tax makes it an $11-mil bite for them. … they’ll be all cotton-mouthed before biting.)

   It’s not a done deal. Gortat has accepted from the Mavs, and now the Magic must decline Gortat.

   But while we wait, there is another way – a cute way – for the Mavs to secure a starting center in Marcin Gortat while keeping their MLE in reserve for another free-agent catch.

   For fun, let’s play with a three-way swap that involves Orlando and Brandon Bass and Toronto and Hedo Turkoglu:

Mavs Close In On Kidd & Gortat - So It Only Seems Quiet

By Mike Fisher -- DB.com

   Today’s headline in the Dallas Morning News: “Mavs making pitch to former SMU, Kimball star Quentin Ross’’

   Why do the Cavs have shopping habits that make them appear to be assembling their own wing in the Basketball Hall of Fame … while the Mavs have shopping habits making it seem as though Donnie Nelson is getting a one-year head start on assembling his Frisco D-League team?

   While it seems the Mavs are closing in on Marcin Gortat, I’ve got three possible explanations for why the Mavs are short of signings and short of exclamation-marked headlines:

New Kidd Bidd, Gortat Love, Ron Goes Nuts - And When's 'Nuclear Winter'?

By Mike Fisher -- DB.com

   Our gang engaged in a late-night brain session this week at the saloon across the street from the AAC, “The Boardroom,’’ with. … Erick Dampier and Antoine Wright!

   Damp was telling people he thinks he’s staying in Dallas for awhile. Maybe. But it’s a funny coincidence to me that the two positional starters the Mavs would like to use free agency to replace just happen to be the two guys who were leaning against the bar … Damp and AW.

    Onto the early-morning rumor mill, where NY makes a Kidd Bidd, Artest is a playa, Gortat has a visitor and a surprise, ‘Quis needs some attention, Birdman is on Dallas’ radar and we await the trickle-down effect to trickle-down to Dallas. …

And Likely Vaults To Top Of Every Contender's Wish List

By Mike Fisher -- DB.com

   Is Ron-Ron tampering with himself? Greasing an exit from a Houston team suddenly with few real rockets? Preparing to take a paycut down to MLE-level to be in the right place? Attempting to score a major payday?

   Playing a childish Amare-style joke?

   And where might the Mavs stand on this?

   Ten important points regarding the maybe-availability of Ron Artest:

    UPDATE 1: Some of Artest's later Tweets are obvious goofs leading to the announcement of a radio show...

    UPDATE 2: In Houston, they're saying even the "goodbye'' is a goof and that Artest "did not write that message.''  (You watch: They'll blame it on a stripper improperly fondling his Blackberry.)

Knicks Don't Offer; Cuban 'Optimistic' As Mavs 'Work On The Details'

By Mike Fisher and David Lord -- DB.com

Polish Media Links The Mavs With 'The Hammer' - And He Gets A Bid

By Mike Fisher -- DB.com

   If you read the report out of Poland (meaning, if you read at least a little Polish), you are left with the impression that the Mavs are enamored with center Marcin Gortat’s potential to “be a star!’’, are prepared to out-charm the Rockets for his services (though they've just offered him a deal), and have maybe even made a bid with a pledge that he’ll be the starting center in Dallas.