Credit/Props to FranzKafka of LMF for the coverage and pics: <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Okay, I'm finally home. Let me get some dinner and I'll start writing. Overall, I think the afternoon was much better than I expected it to be. So that's a good.Here's a taste to set the scene ... a panorama view ...LEFT ...... to RIGHTLemme eat and I'll get the first post up.I guess we'll take this in order - allow father time to be our guide for the most part.The afternoon did not start well. As I set the parking brake in the middle of I-35E underneath the LBJ overpass, it occurred to me, watching the upside down car in the middle of the freeway before me rock back and forth in the breeze, that maybe this wasn't gonna be my day. Btw, Nascar Franz sez, "Keep the dirty side down, y'all." But, after getting thru the gridlock I arrived just 15 mins late or so to the AAC. I parked in the farthest lot and tried every freakin' door on the N and W sides of the building before finally figuring out how to get inside. Franz ain't the sharpest tool in the shed, kiddies. As I emerged from the elevator underneath the stands an arctic chill she did blow. Mikey Mo don't skate well on slush - so don't ever volunteer to pay the AAC utility bill during hockey season ... 'cause it had to be 55 degrees in the bowels of that place. Canadians ... pshaw.I basically sweet-talked my way past security, past the receptionist in the Mav offices and onto the practice court - without a media credential. Try THAT with a hole-pocked aqua shirt on sometime there, hotshot. As I walked thru the door onto the court, I had ...Josh to the left of me ...... and Dirk to the right. One thing I noticed right away were the sloganned placards up on the walls in the gym. I don't know if these are old or new, but I wrote them down ..."Contain""Take the defensive challenge""42%""Dallas Mavericks Full Throttle Basketball""Effort, Energy, Execution""Communicate your thoughts""Keep your man in front of you""Everybody rebound"... and another that was obscured.The gym 'feels' small. Kinda weird that. It's a story or two below the level of the main arena floor and locker-room. Million dollar talent walking miles of stairs during the season? Don't know how Cubes sleeps at night bearing that risk One slip and Austin Croshere is your 4. Gulp. Btw, speak of the devil ... I took a bathroom break about half way thru the proceedings and as I emerged from the water closet who falls in pace next to me under the stands but a certain ex-Pacer. Anticipating this moment, I even had a question ready for him. [can I dance or can I freakin' dance?] "Mr. Croshere," I sez I sez I sez, "Conseco Fieldhouse is considered to be possibly the best arena in the NBA. What do you think of the AAC? Does it measure up okay." He agreed that Conseco was pretty nice, but noted the facilities around us were pretty much the equal. He considered the Denver arena to be the nicest - which surprised me a bit - who knew? Anyway, I asked him what he thought of the atmosphere in the bowl during his trips in as a visitor. He sorta mulled it over and bobbed his head, thought the place could boil some water when the heat rose. [that's how the NBA guys talk in the fantasies constantly swirling thru my head] Croshere seemed like a good dude. Real relaxed but not cocky. Pleasant. Just two guys chattin' ... strollin' along under the stands. Mav media honcho Sarah Melvin saw me alone with one of her players and almost had a cow. She shooed me back down the stairs to the gym and outta AC's hair. LOL. I have a photo of Austin that I'll download later - it's in front of the white drapery. Dude was so white that between his pale magnificence, the home unie and the backdrop - almost all you could see was a blue 44 suspended magically in the air. You know how you hold a flashlight right up to your eye as long as you can? Like until you can smell your freakin' retinas burning? Well, AC's calves are just as deadly to one's vision. I had to take that photo just to prove my story. You'll see.Anyway, I digress ... so I get there ... I note Josh looks to be in a good mood, constant smiles. Turn around and there's Dirk, like 10 feet from me, full home unie and sneaks, like 10 feet from me, just doin' the media day thing with the photogs, like 10 feet from me. Shootin' a grin my way occasionally as the jokes flow. Just like the 5th best baller on the planet, like 10 feet away just bein' a big kid. I yawned and moved on ... nothing to see there.Around the corner I found Cubes taking his turn in front of the big green backdrop. [see panorama ya mopes] Whenever I meet Cuban it always strikes me how big a guy he is. Dude ain't little. Anyway, I lean in and say I'm Franz from LMF, "Thanks for the invite." He sez sure, no prob, big grin, havin' a ball, in his element. I move on - figuring [correctly] that I'll get some more pow-wow time with him later on. But, before I can walk a few paces away a very interesting thing happens -- Dirk and Cubes catch sight of each other and suddenly it's all, "Hey! Dirk! Long time no see! Welcome back!" "Hey! Mark! Good to see you! Yeah, just got back to town!" Kinda cool witnessing that scene - luckily I had my camera ...My bad on the blur, but I wanted to catch the moment before it faded. Almost ... Zapruder-esque, no?</div>If you guys find any other pics/interviews, post them in here. That's what the thread is for.
More Media Photos. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>About this time I noticed Mike Fisher was in the house. He was twirling a notepad and chatting with Greg Buckner - see http://www.dallasbasketball.com for his write-up of Media Day. Standing next to Fish was a mini-me version of Fish - 13-yr-old Tony Fisher, spittin' image of the old man. I should mention at this point that there were exactly 3 people in the entire AAC at that moment who were not working. Me, Tony Fisher and some awestruck youngster following a photog around. Can't express enough how nice it was for M to throw us this bone - he absolutely did not have to do it but he did and the LMF was repped and not all a God's chillens get repped so everybody note your thanks to M 'cause I'm sure he be peekin' in to make sure I'm not talkin' outta school or noffin'. Werd. Which brings us nimbly to Ben and Skin. I hope you are familiar with their fine work on 1310 The Ticket. They have a Saturday Show from noon to two and do plenty of post-game talk-radio action once the season starts. Also, they have big plans for a Mav-centric TV show on channel 21 - KTXA - come January. They plan a preseason episode and an X-Mas episode to whet your appetite for their 2007 TV debut. So, get your ears on. I knew Ben and Skin when they were just lads making their way. They've gotten pretty good at what they do. At their station they had each player take a turn reading a promo [stay tuned for the upcoming "Fun with Cardboard Dirk" segment of tonight's program] and submitting to a quick interview with Skin [we're here with a man who swam with dolphins during his off-season, Jerry Stackhouse]. Every time I got a bit lost or bored I'd wander back over to their station and observe the antics. The players enjoyed it, too. One player that sorta surprised me was newcomer Anthony Johnson. I sorta had my radar out for this guy the whole time. When he finally showed up he seemed very demure - quiet and hesitant to join the casual vibe. When I saw him headed to Ben and Skin's station I followed on his heels. Lo and behold he turned out to be a GREAT GUY. Very warm and funny - enjoyed Ben and Skin's silly antics and stuff. I left with a good impression of the guy. Johnson is taller than I imagined he would be, too. Stackhouse made the comment that Johnson is a 94-foot guy, no quit.Somewhere around this time Buckner and Cuban sorta bumped into each other, sorta echoing the earlier scene involving Dirk and Cuban. I got a snap of Buck and Cubes slapping backs and trading hugs ... Avery Johnson - photo to come - very quiet, moved with purpose from station to station - let's get it over with body language. He gave me a 'pardon' when I stepped outta his way on the stairs. Looked very fit. Musta spent HOURS with a mic in his face yesterday - gads.Del Harris - photo to come, Captain Morgan style - Del moves around every room like it's his own living room. Casual personified.Robert Hacket - no-nonsense purposeful dude - right temperament for the job of strength coach if you ask me.Mo Ager - WAB suggested a competitive aloofness - no, just a wanna do right attitude - ready to go - ready to please - not ready to rock the boat at all - doubt he gives in to any vet when the ball's tossed, tho.Jose Barea - he was there - good enough for ya? [I have a few photos of the rooks]Greg Buckner - Buck's a casual dude - he, Ben and Skin kept each other doubled over with laughter at that station - they all go way back - sounds ready to rain the 3-ballPat Carroll - he was there - looks like a dude that knows even if he didn't miss one shot he still wouldn't make the team - he's no Adam Harrington [for Ron, if he happens by]Austin Croshere - thinner perhaps than I expected, easy going guy, looked like he knew the score - I believe Buck said AC brings some shooting and versatility to the mix, IIRCErick Dampier - seemed very cheerful and jovial - looked like he enjoyed the Ben and Skin station - looked good, looked fit and ready to go - I heard Donnie [good Donnie story to come later this week, remind me] say that Damp's been seen on site working on his game more than anybody this offseason, IIRC [somebody said that, I think it was Donnie]Donnie Nelson - photo and short funny story to come - always looks exhausted to me - very cordial dudeDeSagana Diop - photo to come - looked fit to me - still lean and mean - had some trouble pronouncing his promos sometimes but cheerfully hung in there until he got them right - near the end of my stay he entered the gym and casually reached up to hang on to the net hanging from a side rim ... so so tallNdudi Ebi - tall and lean, kinda taller than I expected, but kinda not-so-lean as I expected - he disappeared quite early - might have a photo of him and some other rook-typesDevean George - photo to come - I lurked this guy mightily looking for some sign of Laker uppityness, no joy, just seemed easy going and smiley - rather pleasant dude - sported an eye-catching sparkling diamond in each ear - looked fit and trimDevin Harris - seemed to enjoy the event - got a little show-off in him, likes to perform for the peepusJosh Howard - disappeared early, but seemed smiley and jovial when I saw him - seems like a real decent dudeDJ Mbenga - photo to come - never heard him speak - walked by him a coupla times - he's a specimen - I imagine Amare Stoudamire is DJ MBenga with hoop know-how - if I had to relay THE recurring buzz in the gym Monday it was "look out for DJ, 'cause he's coming HARD on Damp's tail-end" - it would be spectacular if his talent ever catches up with his bodyAnthony Johnson - photo to come - can't add much to what I said earlier - definitely taller than I expected is the main thing - told a quick mysterious tale of spinning around in circles at 150 mph during the off-season, hinting that we might have a drag-racing buff on our hands ... needs looking into, thatPops - photo to come - didn't hear him speak - he disappeared pretty quick, too - at this point, conventional Mav wisdom has him making the team, right? With Ebi and maybe Pat Carroll battling for the 15th spot?Dirk - needs work - kinda uncoordinated and slow - HUGE egoJet - photo to come - he was saying all the right things - you've heard his interviews, they all kinda go the same way, he's a team guy - it's funny how somebody so short on TV towers over you when you meet themStack - kinda no-nonsense, but when he loosened up he was pleasant and funny - swam with dolphins down in Mexico over the off-season, also hung out at home in NC lots - rocks envy Stack's bulletproof-looking cranium [don't tell him I said that]Darius Washington - I know he was there because I remember seeing him there - at least he'll get to experience Dynamic Denton while he's in the area ...... which is where I'll be tomorrow noonish. Will sit down for another extended spell tomorrow - hopefully with more photos.</div> Buckner seems to be wearing #1 this year, caught me by surprize. I would have thought he would have taken #21 again.
