Toldja
a couple things earlier today:
That the Mavericks would try to make enough trades down the draft to save money for a full-court Dwight Howard flirtation in free agency.
Check.
And that, if they made a first-round pick, one of their targets would be University of Miami point guard Shane Larkin.
Double-check.
The Mavs traded down twice in the first round (from 13 to 16 through Boston and to 18 via Atlanta), saving approximately $1.1 million and, in my opinion, landing their starting point guard of the future in Larkin.
(continued from page 1)
It was a strange first official NBA interview for Larkin, who wore a baby-blue bow tie, an Atlanta Hawks' cap and some understandable confusion after the flurry of first-round Mavs' trades.
"I can't wait to get to," Larkin said tepidly, "whatever team I'm going to."
The son of Hall-of-Fame shortstop Barry Larkin, Shane is a smallish at only 5-foot-10, but a master of the pick-and-roll and a cold-blooded shooter who loves the ball in his hands at crunch time. I watched a lot of Miami games this year and believed enough to pick them to go to the Final Four. Despite their Sweet 16 loss, Larkin is a guy whose skill-set and mindset will translate smoothly to the NBA game.
The Mavs also admitted a mistake by dumping last summer's awful No. 1 pick Jared Cunningham, so to me Thursday night has been a Win-Win-Win.
Larkin averaged 14.5 ppg, shot 48% and 40% on threes, 4.5 assists a game.
ReplyDeleteI'm just glad they got a kid who will get minutes, that can play.
and..Dirk nailed it before the draft...From an ESPN article:
"Last year we were able to trade down and get better value, so I can't guarantee that we'll keep the 13th pick, but I do like Shane Larkin," the former NBA MVP says. "He's a gritty point guard, and he looked like a great leader when I watched him lead Miami to the Sweet 16."
Booya Dirk!
Damn, this blog is losing its zing quicker than I thought. Give it up old man!
ReplyDeleteBut you'll be here EVERY DAY to remind us how bad it is.
DeleteRichie,
ReplyDeleteAny way you will address the questions some of us (mainly me) had about the worth of the "Home of" tag to radio station in general ve the "Home of" tag in this market? I posted few long winded questions about this on Wednesdays first blog but it got lost in White Trucks and RAGE deconstruction. Take a look if you have a mind and give me your take. I have always been curious.
@ Moron....I heard the guys on the ticket talk about this after they lost the Cowboys to the fan. They said that other than shows each week with Jerry and Jason Garrett, there wasn't much difference from a ratings standpoint. Of course, it cost Georgie his job as the stadium PA guy, but it made little difference as far as listeners tuning in during the week. RW's take may be a bit different, but I'm just going by what the ticket folks said. The numbers bear that out. The Stars are on 1310 and the other teams are on different signals but it doesn't make a dent in the Ticket's dominance during the week.
ReplyDeleteI remember this from when the Cowboys bailed a few years ago. That's why I asked Richie the question. "Does it hurt?" No wait, that was Norm with Ortegal.
DeleteSeriously, I really wanted wanted to know if it really is worth it. Richie seems too busy/hasn't seen/not interested in this topic but I would be fascinated to hear from his radio perspective about the worth of the "Radio Home" and how the team/station works together.