Barea averaged 10.2 points per game during the NBA Finals, helping the Mavs oust the Miami Heat in six games.

During Mavericks team exit interviews on June 14, Barea said: "This city is real special to me, so hopefully Mark (Cuban) and Donnie (Nelson) and myself, and my family will do everything we can to stay here in Dallas."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-mavericks/headlines/20110628-j.j.-barea-prefers-staying-in-dallas-but-mentions-new-york-los-angeles-and-miami.ece

Finally able to shed their “soft’’ label. Finally able to put their
big-boy pants on and pull up a chair and join the NBA’s elite company.

With Sunday night’s electrifying 105-95 victory over the Miami Heat at
AmericanAirlines Arena, the Mavs are the 2011 NBA champions.

In winning the best-of-seven series over the Heat, 4-2, the Mavs were
able to exact revenge on Miami while winning their first NBA title in
team history.
Back in the 2006 Finals, the Heat rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Mavs in six games while clinching the series in Dallas and celebrating on the Mavs’ court.

That’s exactly what the Mavs did Sunday – clinch the series in six games and celebrate on the Heat’s court.

Karma?

“Now that we have done it you can say it was sweet vindication,’’ guard Jason Terry said. “We’ve been on the other end.’’

“We’ve been the team most hated, the team that’s not picked to do anything.’’

The Mavs did a lot Sunday. They kept Miami’s rallies to a minimum.

They overcame foul problems between Dirk Nowitzki and Tyson Chandler. And they overcame their own dark history of having one hiccup after another, one bonehead play after another that would disrupt an otherwise fine season.

When the Mavs land at Love Field sometimes today, they will have the Larry O’Brien trophy tucked safely away with them. It’s the fancy piece of hardware which signifies them as the newest NBA champions.

It’s the trophy Nowitzki was graciously hugging. He also hugged another prestigious trophy – the one naming him as the Most Valuable Player of the NBA Finals.

“Man, this is what I obviously played for the last couple of years,’’ said Nowitzki, who scored 21 points on 9-of-27 shooting. “I think when you come in this league you want to establish yourself.

Read more: http://sportsblogs.star-telegram.com/mavs/2011/06/mavs-are-the-2011-nba-champs-after-beating-the-heat-105-95.html#ixzz1PANvWh1L

Williams made small talk with Brian Cardinal before embracing Jason Terry and chatting with Jason Kidd.

Could the 26-year-old, who attended The Colony High School near Dallas, join the Mavericks in the near future?

Williams becomes a free agent in 2012 and recently dropped his agent to sign with Leon Rose, who works with superstars like LeBron James , Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony.

According to The Salt Lake Tribune , Williams holds a player option worth $17.7 million in 2012-13. After spending six seasons with the Utah Jazz, the two-time All-Star was traded Feb. 23 to the Nets.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-mavericks/headlines/20110610-deron-williams-visits-mavericks-locker-room-after-game-5.ece

"That was actually an easier pass than a lot of the others,” Kidd said.

Yeah, the nerve of him. One turnover on a night when he had 18 assists.

Kidd wasn’t happy about that one miscue, but an 18-to-1 assist/turnover ratio puts Kidd on a record-setting pace, no doubt. He was masterful throughout the night during the Mavericks’ 101-86 win over the Charlotte Bobcats.

More importantly, he played less than 32 minutes, a number that should suit him well in his 17th NBA season.

"If I’m playing 31 minutes and we win, maybe we should have tried that a long time ago,” he said.

Meanwhile, Brendan Haywood said he’s adjusting to the notion of coming off the bench, with Tyson Chandler getting the start, in part because coach Rick Carlisle likes the way Chandler interacts with the first team.

http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/10/kidd-miffed-haywood-adjusting.html

Dampier said he wants to return for a seventh season with the Mavericks.
But with a $13 million contract for next season not guaranteed, he
knows that could be a long shot.

"I’ve enjoyed it here," Dampier said Tuesday. "It’s been a great run,
for the guys and for myself. I could continue playing with these guys
and have a great career here. Come July 1, we’ll all get together and
see what happens and hopefully I’ll be here next year."

Dampier can’t escape questions about his future. On Tuesday, he spoke with children at the Mavs Summer Hoop Camp at Collin College in Plano. The second question posed to him after inviting inquiries from the kids:

"Are you going to be here next year?"

"Hopefully I’ll be back," Dampier said, laughing. "I’m still trying to work that out."

Dampier, 6-11, 265, is recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. Having also suffered a finger injury, he was limited to 55 games last season, his fewest since 2000-01 with Golden State. He averaged 6.0 points and 7.2 rebounds.

Dampier signed a seven-year, $73 million contract with the Mavericks in August 2004. Asked what his best-case scenario would be for next season, he said:

"I haven’t looked at any other teams. I love it here. It’s close to home for me. I see my friends a lot more. It’s only talk. I don’t worry about any of that. Eventually at some point something’s going to happen. That’s how I look at it."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/061610dnspomavsdampier.a70f787a.html

It’s going to happen.

One day.

The fact that it doesn’t have to happen this summer and almost certainly
will not happen this summer should be of no comfort to owner Mark Cuban
and Mavericks fans.

I don’t know anyone of reasonable mind who thinks simply getting rid of Nowitzki or "blowing up" the Mavericks after another frustrating first-round defeat makes sense. I’m inclined to agree, but not to the extent that it simply ends the discussion.

Nowitzki remains a more polarizing figure than he should be. He’s without question the greatest Maverick of all time, one of the 10 best players in the league today and the kind of player who is capable of being the best player on a championship team.

Without question.

But his critics and doubters are not entirely wrong in the things they say about him. They argue against his ability to lead the Mavs to a title and, until it happens, it’s just our word against theirs. It could have happened in 2006 but it didn’t, so it’s strictly a matter for conjecture.

Nowitzki wasn’t the reason the Mavericks’ season ended so suddenly in San Antonio 10 days ago. Then again, before we had the "Where’s Roddy?" controversy develop at the end of Game 6, the biggest question of the game’s first half was "Dirk, What the %$#&*?"

For no reason beyond frustration or lazy play, Nowitzki committed his third and fourth personal fouls – both reaching against George Hill – in the second quarter.

Before Beaubois’ untimely benching, Nowitzki’s soft play with the season on the line had the potential to be the biggest story. Then Nowitzki scored 25 points after halftime and quieted the critics once more.

Coach Rick Carlisle is correct when he says "it’s not going to be pretty" whenever the time comes that Dallas takes the floor without Nowitzki.

That’s true, but two things need to be considered on that front. One is whether or not "pretty" in the form of 50-win seasons that tend to end in the first round is all that’s left for the Nowitzki era.

Most likely, with an occasional plunge into the second round (when Manu Ginobili is hurt), that’s going to be about it. Even with a solid summer of practice from Beaubois and with Caron Butler becoming a consistent offensive force, it’s hard to see the Mavericks holding off strong teams with much younger cores such as Oklahoma City and Portland.

That’s not to mention the still-active Utah Jazz, which somehow own the Knicks’ pick in next month’s draft lottery.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/columnists/tcowlishaw/stories/050910dnspocowlishaw.40e8ba8.html

The Dallas Mavericks got out of town Saturday evening, and the wild
rumor of the day was that their plane to the Bay Area had been equipped
with ejector seats.

The players, a few of them anyway, know they could be jettisoned at any
moment. The Feb. 18 trade deadline is fast approaching, and with four
losses in the last five games and a 9-10 record since Dec. 31, everybody
is on edge.

Ask the players if they think they have what is needed in the locker room for success this season, and silence is the usual response. Or worse.

"I’m not looking for any help anywhere else but in this locker room," Dirk Nowitzki said after the most recent collapse, a 117-108 drop-kicking by Minnesota on Friday.

That was in response to a question about whether the Mavericks are good enough, as constituted, to get where they want to go this season – that is, positioned to challenge the Lakers. That seems laughable right now.

"That’s not for me to decide," Nowitzki said. "I play hard every night. I just work here. But we showed it earlier in the season that we got what it takes. It’s just that right now we’re in a little funk, a little hole."

Which is getting bigger by the game. So the trade rumors are pouring in.

Several league insiders said Saturday that the Mavericks are heavily involved in talks with numerous teams.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/basketball/mavs/stories/020709dnspomavsbriefs.339049b.html

esefko@dallasnews.com

PHOENIX – Mark Cuban has a theory about Josh Howard’s play this season.
It doesn’t have anything to do with whether Howard is starting or
coming off the bench.

It has to do with attitude.

It is Cuban’s opinion that changes that Howard has gone through off the court have had an impact on his play.

"Josh has worked so hard to be a good teammate and fit in that it’s taken a little of the edge off of him," Cuban said Thursday. "We’ve asked him to kind of change who he is a little bit, be – for lack of a better word – invisible. People were talking about him off the court. And he’s done everything perfectly. He’s been the ultimate professional and that sometimes takes an edge off of what happens on the court.

"It’s like if they told me I couldn’t yell at refs at a basketball game. That would be a hard change. Josh has done the equivalent."

Howard’s game has perked up the last few games, and he’s coming to terms with his new role as the sixth man. He was the first player off the bench Thursday at Phoenix and he’s been more effective this season in that role.

As a starter, Howard has averaged 11.1 points and shot 31 percent. Off the bench, he has averaged 12.6 points and shot 42 percent.

The minutes haven’t been that different, either, whether he’s started or come off the bench.

"It’s a job," Howard said. "I just get in there and play as many minutes as I play. As long as I’m out here playing, I’m happy."

Howard has even managed to put inevitable trade speculation out of his mind. His name has come up, mostly in online conjecture, but Cuban said Thursday that "there are a lot of names being bantered about out there that we wouldn’t trade him for."

For now, Howard’s just fitting in and doing the new job that has been assigned to him. And the edge? That will come.

"With the new role and the [ankle] injury, he’s working to get all that back," Cuban said. "So that’s what he’s doing. You have to give him credit for how difficult that is. As he gets more comfortable with his new role, he’ll get that edge back."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/012910dnspomavslede.3f442ee.html