From Mark Aguirre To Luka Doncic, Mavs Are Back, Baby

My first favorite Dallas Mavericks teams go way back in NBA history and featured the likes of Mark Aguirre, Roy Tarpley, Rolando Blackman, Derek Harper, Detlef Schrempf, Jay Vincent, Brad Davis and James Donaldson.

Am I forgetting anyone?

Dick Motta was the coach, I remember that much. I also grew up an Indiana Hoosiers fan and the Mavs always held a special place in my heart for drafting Steve Alford in 1987 (though he rarely got off the bench, and for some reason, they drafted another shooting guard, Jim Farmer, too).

Anyway, the Mavs are back in the Western Conference finals, for the second time in three years — and are the only team to reach the West finals multiple times in those three years, though the defending champion Denver Nuggets can match later on Sunday.

Now, the stars go by the names of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, and after missing the playoffs last season, I had a feeling those two would come together and turn it around. It didn’t hurt that the Mavs made some crafty trades at the deadline, landing big men P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford. So they beat the No. 1 seeded Oklahoma City Thunder and are moving on.

I think the sky is the limit for today’s Mavs. 

Other than that, there really is no point to this post — other than before the Dirk Nowitzki era, I thought the sky was the limit of another set of Mavs, which I introduced at the beginning. 

Problem was, Magic Johnson and the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s kept getting in their way. Tarpley was also banned from the NBA for substance abuse, and before that, I’m telling you, he was one of the most underrated power forwards in NBA history. 

Oh, and interestingly, the Mavs eventually traded Aguirre to the Bad Boys Detroit Pistons of Isiah Thomas fame — enabling those Pistons to finally get past the Boston Celtics and Lakers for two championships. So a former Mav did indeed play a role.

Aguirre was traded to the Pistons for Adrian Dantley, who at first refused to report to Dallas. He eventually did, but for two forgettable seasons, and the Mavs weren’t the same until Mark Cuban bought them and Nowitzki came along. 

Now they’re back, baby. It will be interesting to see what comes next. Maybe I’ll be writing about this group in 39 years, too.