The Mavericks game is in the books, another L for the Wizards. There will be game blogs, recaps, etc. posted soon…..but until then, the guys at Dallas Dedicated, an all encompassing Dallas sports blog, agreed to be part of a Q&A session. Their answers about the Mavericks are below, I’ll update this post with a link once my answers about the Wizards are posted over there.

1) How’s the Rick Carlisle era going? Do you miss Avery Johnson? Do you think the Lil’ General would be a good fit for the Wizards?

The beginning of the season was more of an adjustment period; once the team got used to his system, the better performances came (13-4 in the last 17, including tonight). To be honest, Avery isn’t too missed. It didn’t make too much sense to us, though, that both Johnson and Devin Harris were gotten rid of. They couldn’t coexist with each other, but instead of getting rid of one and keeping the other, both were replaced. Avery would be a help to Washington, especially on the defensive side of the ball. He has an ability to relate to the players given his young age, yet still be able to coach and improve them.

2) Josh Howard, trade him or keep him?

We say keep, and we say that for two reasons. First, and more optimistically, we think Howard can still perform at an All-Star level–he needs to stay healthy. In last season’s playoffs he played poorly, which began the calls for him to be traded, but people forget that it was only an isolated time of bad play. Secondly, with all his off the court issues of late, his trade value has decreased below his value. If the Mavs wanted to trade him, they wouldn’t receive the compensation that a trading a player of his caliber deserves.

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Perhaps Josh Howard is not being pointed in the right direction, while Dirk Nowitzki
is off to make more videos of him preventing drug use with a magic wink.

I was kinda willing to give Josh Howard a pass for his weed smoking radio proclamation. Sure, for his own sake, he should have kept his mouth shut. And of course, throwing NBA colleagues under the bus was stupid. But at least he told the truth…….or lied less.

Back home in North Carolina and running a basketball camp, one would hope that Josh Howard avoid being the anti-role model for the kids. Nope, he decided to street race his black Lexus against a silver Volkswagen, and get caught by the police. ESPN is reporting that Howard was going 94 in a 55. Speeding and reckless driving was the case that they gave him.

The first thing that came to mind was the eight counts of vehicular manslaughter recently charged to two Maryland men. Back in February, eight bystanders were killed as a result of an illegal street race on Indian Head Highway just outside of Washington, DC.

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When I was younger, my dad would say, “I wouldn’t root for so-and-so if they were playing against the Chinese communists.” ‘So-and-so’ being a hated sports team.

Over the years, I’ve filled-in the blank with the likes of the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, New York Knicks, New England Patriots, Los Angeles Lakers, Duke Blue Devils, Notre Dame Irish, Ole Miss Rebels, and of course, the Dallas Cowboys.

Well, in this modern day, China and their communists have become a tad more amicable to the American sports fan……human rights issues such as Tibet and the opinion of Ira Newble notwithstanding. And since Beijing is hosting the 2008 Summer Olympic games, my dad’s sarcastic statement no longer carries the same weight. China just isn’t the enemy it used to be.

So where do we turn? Towards the Axis of Evil, naturally. Originally made up of Iran, Iraq and North Korea…..I’m pretty sure it’s safe to drop Iraq from the list (as Saddam, Uday and Qusay are no more — talk about evil, Uday owned THREE copies of Air Bud), and North Korea has claims of denuclearization. So, that leaves us to wash the Iranians with a bucket of haterade.

In his latest move of defiance, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is sending the Iranian National Basketball team (which miraculously qualified for the ’08 ‘Lympics by winning the FIBA Asia games last year) to the U.S. of A. to infiltrate the Rocky Mountain Revue and fight a couple jihads against the summer league teams of the Dallas Mavericks and the Utah Jazz.

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