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Britball.com Front
Maverick Nash ready to earn his Spurs




Mark Woods

The most exciting place to play in the NBA this season ? It has to be Dallas. 

The Mavericks haven't been in the play-offs since the elder Bush was President and haven't had a winning season in ten years. Neither are they going to win the Championship next spring. But nowhere is there more hope, more optimism and more positive vibes than in JR's old hometown.

The reason? A good young team, one whose 16-5 finish to last season was
the second best in the NBA, enough to suggest that their post season
drought will come to an end in the new campaign which begins on Tuesday
night. 

And a young enthusiastic owner in Mark Cuban, who reaped billions through the sale of his broadcast.com empire and decided to spend some of the small change on purchasing his favourite team.

On court though, passes and plays run strictly through the hands of Steve Nash. And while the Mavericks' point guard may have starred in Canadian colours in the Sydney Olympics,  his heart belongs to White Hart Lane. 

The son of British parents who worked briefly in South Africa (where Nash was born) before emigrating to the land of the Maple Leaf, he returns to our shores each summer, to visit family and to get a close up view of his real sporting love - Tottenham Hotspur.

His father played non-league football in England and although the son chose a different sporting path, Nash concedes that his natural athleticism and passion is genetic.

"My parents never pushed me into anything but my dad loved sports and his enthusiasm was contagious," states Nash. 

"I wanted to be a sportsman because of that. But it was completely sociable that I have chose basketball over football. Being a naive and cocky sportsman, I always think I could have made it in football. I've no idea how good I could have become though.

"I follow Spurs intensely both through my family and through the Internet. They let me train with them for half of a practice last year and the players were all very accepting. It's one of the biggest thrills I've ever had." 

Coming off an impressive tour of duty Down Under, Nash is finally free of the injuries which have held back his progress since he made the leap into the NBA in 1996. As a veteran on a young team, his leadership will figure strongly in the plans of coach Don Nelson as the Mavericks bid to continue where they left off in April.

"We really do feel like we're going to contend and be in the play-offs," he affirms. 

"There's no doubt about that. We're all going in with one goal in mind and we all feel positive about it. We're young and inevitably, as you grow, both cohesively and individually, you're going to improve and I think that's what you saw last season. 

"Where we were deficient was in finishing games and winning games. By
the end of the year we really figured out a way to do that. Most of those results just came from our growth and learning."

One of Cuban's first interventions last season was to bring in Dennis Rodman, a well intentioned but ultimately short-lived experiment which proved a distraction on and off the parquet. 

Even constrained by the NBA's salary cap, Dallas do possess exciting talents - versatile All- Star Michael Finley, former Dream Team-er Christian Laettner, and perhaps the cream of the crop, German forward Dirk Nowitzki.

The Wurzburg-born basketballer came to the NBA directly from the second
division of the Bundesliga, a leap which initially proved hard to bridge. 

However last term, Nowitzki blossomed into a multi-talented player of immense promise, one of the few Europeans able to compete on equal terms with their trans-Atlantic cousins.

"Dirk is just a fantastic talent," enthuses Nash. "He's always had the abilities but he's been able to assimilate and adjust to the league. In the first year it was hard for him to optimise his abilities because he was having a hard time adjusting to a new world. 

"Last year, having done that, his confidence just flourished and he's done so much better. He's just going to get better and better."

The Mavs key asset and cheerleader in charge however remains their owner. Cuban's enthusiasm is infectious. He hands out his phone number to fans in case they have a positive idea worth sharing and will answer emails, not with a standard automated response, but with fully-rationalised retort. 

Single-handedly he has convinced a city whose moribund disinterest in its basketball team was legend that something special is on the horizon with more to come.

Shot of Rodman, who has been firmly banished to the freak-show circuit, the effect on the playing staff has been equally positive. Limo rides, new toys and nights out have served to bond players and owner in unusual harmony. 

There is no lack of business sense but in an age when faceless investors pull
many of sport's strings, an owner who is also a rabid fan ensures that money is not the primary consideration when a successful team is under construction. Nash declares himself in favour of such an approach.

"It has been terrific since Mark came in," he reveals. "He's just so positive and is full of ideas.  He's brought energy to the organisation and the team. The city has really been down on the Mavericks. 

"They haven't made the play-off for ten years and for him to come in and alleviate that in the manner he has is just  fantastic. And that's another reason why we were so successful at the end of the year.

"It's important because it is a big distraction when those above you are in disarray or unsettled. Now that we have a focus and stability behind the club it makes things a lot easier. That's how I see things in Dallas under Mark."

Winning nonetheless is not just a factor of money or enthusiasm. Competing in the Midwest Division of the tougher Western Conference, upward progress will not be achieved overnight. All roads go through the Lakers, Portland and closer to home, a rejuvenated San Antonio Spurs.

With his team set to move into a state-of-the-art new arena next autumn,
complete with Internet access at every seat (Cuban's idea, naturally),
long-term plans have been laid to ensure that the Dallas project does
not turn into a one-season wonder.

An array of coaches have been brought in under Nelson in a set-up which
is more akin to gridiron than basketball, each with a precise responsibility for an aspect of the Mavericks endeavours.

82 games, night after night, will determine whether the glory days really are back in Dallas. For Nash, the ball - and Cuban's plans - rest surely in his hands.

"I'm excited about this season," he concludes. "We have hard workers and
anytime you have guys who work hard and care about each other, you have
a chance." 

George Graham would surely approve of that.


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