MAVERICKS TRAINING CAMPBy Dwain PriceStar-Telegram Staff Writer26 Days to the Mavericks' season opener vs. the San Antonio Spurs, 7 p.m. Nov. 2, American Airlines Center, TNTDENTON -- The news from Indiana on Friday hit home with Mavericks players Austin Croshere and Anthony Johnson.Four members of the Indiana Pacers -- Stephen Jackson, Jamaal Tinsley, Jimmie Hunter and former Mavs guard Marquis Daniels -- were involved in an altercation early Friday morning outside an Indianapolis strip club that included gunfire. The incident brought back memories of one of the ugliest brawls in sports history when the Pacers and Detroit Pistons tangled on Nov. 19, 2004 at The Palace of Auburn Hills in a fight that spilled into the stands.In Friday's incident, Jackson reportedly was hit by a car and hit in the mouth, and shot his gun in the air in self-defense. Jackson also was suspended for 30 games after he fought with a fan in the '04 incident."Obviously I don't know all the details, but even though they're former teammates now you hate to see them in that situation, and I hope everything works out," said Croshere, who spent the previous nine seasons with the Pacers. "Hopefully those guys will get a fair shake with it, and people can judge them just on this single incident instead of bringing the brawl into it as well."Johnson, who served a five-game suspension for his involvement in the '04 altercation, couldn't believe the Pacers were associated with another dark moment."It's definitely unfortunate for those guys to be involved in a confrontation," Johnson said. "Nothing positive is ever going to come out of that."For guns to be involved, it's definitely a negative situation. Fortunately, none of those guys weren't hopefully seriously injured."Diop starsMavs center DeSagana Diop scored 16 points and grabbed three rebounds as the White team edged the Blue 48-45 in an intrasquad scrimmage Friday night at The Super Pit.Diop hit 8 of 10 shots, which included a pair of 15-footers. His performance, along with 16 points from Devin Harris, was the highlight as the Mavs closed the University of North Texas portion of their camp."I'm just going to do what I do defensively, and offensively I'm going to let the game come to me," Diop said. "I've been working on my jump shot and working on being quicker when I get the ball."Considering the Mavs are just four days into training camp, assistant coach Joe Prunty dubbed the scrimmage a success."I definitely saw some good things," Prunty said. "But obviously I saw a lot of things that we've got to work on to get better."Pops and Croshere restRookie free-agent power forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu did not make it to the UNT coliseum Friday night. The 6-foot-9, 240-pounder remained at the team's Denton County hotel suffering with a respiratory infection.Forward Austin Croshere, who is experiencing back spasms, also did not play.-- Dwain Price20-second timeout GUARD PAT CARROLLWhat were your impressions of Dallas as a franchise before you got here?I always looked at them as one of the best organizations. You hear a lot about them with Mark Cuban in the media and how well they take care of their players. And being down here, it's definitely true.As a native of Pennsylvania, what were your impressions of the D-FW area?I really didn't know anything about it. The only thing I knew about it was the Mavericks and the Cowboys.What do you think of Mark Cuban?He's a guy who loves his Mavericks. He's the most passionate owner in the NBA.What are your impressions of Avery Johnson?He brings intensity. When you see him on the sidelines, he's always very intense no matter the situation.What can you contribute to the team?Just coming off the bench and being a 3-point shooter. I think that's what they brought me down here for, just to bring energy and make 3-pointers.-- Nakia Hogan
MAVERICKS TRAINING CAMPStar-Telegram20 Days until the Mavericks' season opener vs. the San Antonio Spurs,7 p.m. Nov. 2, American Airlines Center, TNTTimeout, pleaseDALLAS -- In the waning seconds of the Mavericks' 84-81 loss to the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets on Tuesday, coach Avery Johnson frantically tried to get the attention of referee Phil Robinson and call a timeout.The timeout was never granted, although a new NBA rule states that Johnson and other head coaches are now allowed to call timeouts."He said he didn't see me call it," Johnson said of Robinson. "I thought I was very demonstrative in calling it."In addition to permitting head coaches to call timeouts, the referees are also under strict orders from their superiors to call the game by the book, which was the case when the Mavs lost Thursday to the Sacramento Kings, 111-90, at American Airlines Center. In the first period alone, five traveling violations were whistled.Johnson said he believes it will take some time to get the new rules implemented properly, particularly where head coaches can call timeouts."Rather than not seeing me, maybe it was just something that everybody's got to get used to," Johnson said. "I'm glad it happened in the preseason. I would hope that by the time we get to the regular season that we can get it right, because that's a critical possession."In Thursday's game, Josh Howard and rookie Maurice Ager each scored 14 points, but the Mavs shot only 39.7 percent from the field.Four players still sidelinedFor the second straight preseason game, Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry, Jerry Stackhouse and Devin Harris did not dress for precautionary reasons.Avery Johnson lists all four players as day-to-day but added that Harris might take longer to return to the court while he nurses his strained left hamstring.Stackhouse missed the first 26 games last season with a sore right knee, but Johnson said he's not in danger of doing that again."Compared to last year during this time, he was hypothetically a 3 out of 10," Johnson said. "He's somewhere around a 7 [right now]. We just want to make sure he gets back to that 8 or 9, because we think he's out of danger when he gets to that level."Swingman Greg Buckner sprained his left knee less than two minutes into Thursday's game and never returned. Buckner is slated to have an MRI today.-- Dwain Price20-SECOND TIMEOUT DEVIN HARRISWhat was your first memory of the NBA? Starting my first NBA game in my first NBA game.What is your best NBA memory? Going to the Western Conference Finals.What's your most embarrassing moment in the NBA? The last game of my rookie season, I ran out on the court by myself while everybody watched and laughed at me. They made me do that. Memphis. On the road.What do you want to be known for after you retire? Winning.What are some of your personal and team goals you have yet to accomplish? Just be more consistent and winning a championship.-- Mercedes Mayer
Dude it's not a lot of reading. If you aren't going to read it than don't comment bullsh** about not reading it.
The bullsh** comment was "I'm not reading all that." Really if you aren't interested in this thread than don't comment.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Damn dude, sorry to "offend" you. Just wanted to know how Dwash was doing.</div> He's doing decent but I don't know if it's enough to warrant a spot on the roster. He and Barea seem to be in the same boat. As for the other comments in this topic, no offense mavsfan but all you did was post an article. That's basically all you really do most of the time when you start a thread. How about putting some input instead of just copying and pasting. It's basically spam.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Rok @ Oct 14 2006, 12:44 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>As for the other comments in this topic, no offense mavsfan but all you did was post an article. That's basically all you really do most of the time when you start a thread. How about putting some input instead of just copying and pasting. It's basically spam.</div>Well I guess every site out there is spamming than. I post articles I think are worth bringing up since it is training camp time. I'm not a better writer than a person making the articles so I let him do the talking.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Well I guess every site out there is spamming than. I post articles I think are worth bringing up since it is training camp time. I'm not a better writer than a person making the articles so I let him do the talking.</div> Your missing the point mavsfan, if your going to post an article at least write a blurb about what you think. I mean why post it if your mentality is the person who wrote the articles says it all. That would mean none of us should be responding, making the topic obsolete. Que no?
I might respond to it later after someone says something. I don't think it is necessary to respond in the same post from the article I just posted. I guess it works either way but I'm not going to say it is spam just because the person didn't put any comments on the article he quoted.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>I don't think it is necessary to respond in the same post from the article I just posted.</div> What's the point of posting the article and responding to it a couple posts later? <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>I guess it works either way but I'm not going to say it is spam just because the person didn't put any comments on the article he quoted.</div> Well you see it that way and I see it my way. It's a simple copy and paste job.
