Playoff Talking Points: Game on, Baby!

Filed under: Cavaliers, Celtics, Heat, Lakers, Mavericks, Spurs, Trail Blazers, Playoffs, Thunder

No one with a wife and kids, or the need to eat leafy greens, has time to watch all this basketball. But we do. So, as a service to the public, here are the Playoff Talking Points you need to fake it at the water cooler:

o. Perfect Strangers: Dirk Nowitzki is not an unrestricted free agent this summer. He has a player option for 2010-11, but will almost certainly decline it so he gets a new one in before the new CBA hits. The Mavericks have until July to offer him an extension; if they do not, then Dirk is on the market.

As Ziller has observed, Mark Cuban learned his lesson with Steve Nash. And Nash was a lovable sidekick on those high-scorin' Nellie Mavs; Dirk is the greatest player in franchise history. One friend, a resident of the area, suggested to me yesterday that he might be Dallas's finest athlete ever, regardless of sport. Since he's up against Cowboys like Emmitt Smith and Troy Aikman, that's going to be a hard sell in the Metroplex. That there's no ring around Dirk's finger hurts his case. Regardless, Nowitzki does at least belong in the conversation. Excluding him from it reeks of anxiety.

 

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Full story at http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/04/26/playoff-talking-points-game-on-baby/