Day 3
"Another fun day in Mavland. Showed up a little late but it didn't matter - still took a good 30 mins before they let us in - practice must have run a little long. But then Mark Cuban strolled by us [frogging Mike Fisher in the arm] and it occurred to me that maybe they were waiting for the boss to show up.
We finally got in, lots more media there today than yesterday, Tony Fisher reported that MTV was even in the house. Everybody musta heard Cubes was gonna be there.
We were pinned up against the wall in the corner for a loooong time watching FT practice. The groups were generally the same - Josh, Dirk and AJ were right in front of us ..."
"Here's Josh and Dirk gabbin' while shagging balls for AJ at the FT line. [btw, may I propose an LMF convention for this season? "AJ" is no longer Avery Johnson - "Avery" is now Avery Johnson and "AJ" switches to Anthony Johnson? Mull that idea over.]
I noticed Stack was up and at 'em today, shooting FT's instead of covered in ice-bags against the wall like the last coupla days. Stack and Jet were joking around once ... and Stack just turned and crammed a dunk down while he was laughing at one of Jet's wise-cracks. Then Stack grabbed the ball and did one of his quick turnarounds going over his left shoulder in the lane - swish - dude looked like his old agile self. Later he was stroking 3's in rather comfortably.
Avery came over to us eventually for his media scrum - I got a photo of him, but you'll have to wait to see it. Be aware that for every pic you see here there are 3/4 more that you haven't seen yet. Hang in there - something to look forward to.
Avery was a little more Little General-like today, a little sterner than yesterday. They lifted and ran he said, did a little work on the playbook, but NO scrimmaging. The evening session tonight should just be more of the same. Hadn't really thought about how he's gonna divide up the teams for the UNT open scrimmage tomorrow night. Avery likes AJ - picking stuff up quick - hard-nosed dude, coach likes coach likes. Avery didn't go long before he ended the scrum. Then he went and sat down against the wall. AJ [see how easy this is now?] came over and talked to Avery about some stuff that maybe he was fuzzy about from practice.
We started to peel ourselves off the wall and mingle with the players more. "
"Went ahead and snapped Cubes just in case he split while I wasn't looking. Here he is with FWST beat guy Art Garcia.
[just getting started]"
"Basically, I stood near the middle of the gym and just sorta let gravity pull me toward whatever caught my eye ...
Mo Ager had Avery and Cuban doubled-over with laughter over there.
Barea and Washington were trying to sink half-court shots over here.
Dirk put on a rubber resistance ankle-hobble thingie and did side-steps down the court - would that be a groin exercise? hmmm Got a pic - for later. Dirk later laid down [help? grammar police?] and did his leg-lift stretching ..."
"Devin Harris wandered over to stand over him - hurling sass down at Nowitzki - but Devin - he knows where his bread is buttered - he waited to see if Dirk needed a hand getting up before he moved away.
Brad Davis started to throw entry passes to AJ practicing his post moves - hmmm interesting - anyway, Avery snuck over and started guarding him, hilarity ensued..."
"Not a quality photo, but I hope it conveys the playfulness of the moment. I guess Avery couldn't have been in too horrible a mood considering how relaxed and grinny he seemed after his media scrum broke up.
Still kept my eye on Josh Howard lots. No joy on any verbiage, but I did snap a great photo of him ..."
"Josh is checking his electronic doodad. I snapped the pic right as he broke up laughing at some text message he pulled up - from Marquis Daniels maybe? Nice timing. Stack's over on the ice-chest talking to the media. What can I say, typical Josh moment."
"I looked up and saw our buddy John Nagle of USAVoice.org interviewing DJ Mbenga - this I had to get in on. DJ was quite articulate - his English must have improved greatly from what I'd heard about it last season. He even eloquently quoted a proverb of some sort that had me grinning and nodding - very nice guy. John plans an entire article around the interview, but I will say that it was interesting to hear that DJ intends to return to the Congo someday with plans to try to import some of the civilization he's experiencing in the West back to his home twenty. Kid's gotta dream, right? Watch this space for John's coming pre-season articles - he also cornered Popeye Jones for an interview about the Mav bigs, so keep your eye out for that one, too.
Jason Terry started a shooting drill nearby, Coach Prunty shagging and feeding him for a 'round-the-world tour of 16-footers. Misses physically hurt shooters like Jet, you could tell from his body language. Cat can sink 'em, no doubt about that. He later moved out to his sweet spots around the arc for some 3-point shooting. I crept up and stood right behind him - like RIGHT BEHIND him for this photo below ..."
"The ball is above frame outta sight. You could kinda put yourself in his jersey and experience what it must be like to have talent, being up as close as I got. It was dreadfully boring. I think that's Buck in the black shirt, he was scuffling back and forth along the baseline like a human ice-bag around this time.
Dirk has disappeared briefly into a mysterious room on the far side of the gym the last coupla days before heading out to the bus. I asked the UNT lady with the keys to the room what was in there. Nice lady - she said it was just a store-room - Dirk was using it to change clothes - such a shy boy. She said that she told him, "You know this isn't a locker-room, right?" And Dirk playfully shot back, "It's MY locker-room!" Lady was grinning from ear-to-ear telling that story - Dirk's a pip.
With Cuban in the house there were a handful of UNT cops around the gym, covering the perimeter, looking out for any agro. One of the cops yanked Dirk aside for a quick photo with him. After Dirk walked away I leaned into the cop's ear and said, "That was pretty freakin' cool, wasn't it?" That cop was about to burst, he was floating. Couldn't really maintain his professionalism and AHthoooritAHH very well for a while after that. Ha!"
"I got a quick word in with m just before the Mavs headed to the buses, asked him if he's checking in on us here at the LMF forum. He said he had, thought the stuff we're doing covering camp is great. So, be sure to thank m for this opportunity, 'cause he's checking in on us and will note your gratitude. Sez he goes way back on the LMF board, might extend our access a bit to the pre-season sked he's so pleased. Cross yer fingers I don't tick him off and we might get to continue our behind-the-scenes peek a little longer than tomorrow night. Maybe I oughta quit calling her Sarah Melvin after all ... hmmmm ...
BTW, Mav Media Honcho Sarah Melton [scoreboard] is GREAT to work with. Girlfriend has been soooo helpful to my ignorant self. Made me feel right at home.
Today's afternoon media session was much longer than the first 2 days - but all good things must end. I noticed that the last three stragglers to leave for the buses [no doubt orchestrated] were Cubes, Jet and Dirk - in that order. The crowd of UNT students had grown even BIGGER today ..."
"That's Donnie making with the cell phone action - not sure anybody recognizes him there. The crowd's attention is on the doors over my left shoulder - where Dirk and Jet are about to exit. That mob was so wound up they even started a playful chant for ME when I walked out the doors, "Guy with glasses and a hat! Guy with glasses and a hat!" No lie, LOL.
I watched the crowd go nuts for Dirk and took a coupla photos of him in the mix - pics later - but then I spotted Eddie Sefko ducking out toward the media parking lot. I jogged after him until I caught up - wanted to ask him some questions for a later thing I'll write-up about Mav beat reporters. Sefko seems like a pleasant guy, always quick to grin, he's smooth ... like his writing style ... kinda on the Bing Crosby/Fuzzy Zoeller tip ... Sefko has probably sashayed before. You get the idea.
Anyway, I let Sefko escape me and waited for Donnie Nelson to lumber down the hill, no doubt to the same parking lot my rusted wobbly hooptie was resting in. I was able to ask Donnie if he'd ever been to Denton before, of course he had, he sez he sez, back with the Global Games and some other times watching hoops. Before I knew it we were in the parking lot - apparently we parked within feet of each other. Then ... I couldn't believe my luck. There he was, internationally-renowned basketball guru, highly-respected NBA general manager, Donnie freakin' Nelson ... getting help from a UNT cop because he'd locked his keys in his truck. Hilarious. I had to get a photo of this ..."
"Officer Lozano there whipped out a jimmie-bar and had that door open faster than you can say boo! I had to capture the moment. Sefko drove by about this time laughing at us. We were ALL gigglin' away.
And that's how my day with the Mavs ended. Not bad, eh?"