I'm in a giving mood in my winning delirious state. Here's my top 10 Mavs of the past decade that don't have rings that I wish could share in this title.

Steve Nash - maybe we can trade for him soon.
Nick Van Exel - leader of the great 03 team.
Jerry Stackhouse - represented the shift from Nellieball to defense/toughness
Gana Diop - the anti-Shawn Bradley
Adrian Griffin - best swingman dirty work player
Eddie Najera - he swam the Rio Grande up to Nor-Man
Darrell Armstrong - unsung leader of the 06 team
Antoine Wright - aggie connection
Brandon Bass - Dirk's best backup
Popeye Jones - poster child for the 90s Mavs, played like half a season with Dirk

Um, I think we're forgetting about all the pre-90's Mavs squads..,

Calvin Booth. I'll never forget his go ahead layup against the Jazz.

I'd go farther back.

Derek Harper, Brad Davis, Rolando Blackman....

Tonight was a lot like watching the Rangers win the pennant. I don't follow them like I used to, but it reminded me of the good times I'd had watching those guys.

Don't forget Walt Williams...

James Donaldson. Uwe Blab . Kiki Vandeweghe...oh wait...booooo.

I know he ended up getting a ring with the Spurs, but it wouldve been nice to see Fin take part. He stuck with the Mavs as a young upcoming player at a time when the Mavs were arguably one of the worst franchises in professional sports. He was the leader of those early 00's teams and Dirk has credited him for getting him through the early years of his career.

Morlon Wiley, Darren Morningstar, Walter Bond, Terry Davis

Raef LaFrentz

Keith Van Horn

Great thread. I hope everyone that was mentioned is at least a little happy tonight.

Can I get a little Roy Tarpley or is his back/knee/toe still injured from lifting a water bottle or sitting down the wrong way?

Isn't Darrell Armstrong an assistant coach for the Mavs?

I wish Shawn Bradley could get a ring. He is the punch line to every Maverick joke, but you couldn't doubt his effort.

Bradley got a horrible and undeserved reputation in DFW. He was always a real good defender. He might get posterized, but he would stick his nose in there and try every time. Plus the Mavericks defense was a joke. Nellie didn't care. Four guys would stand around and play matador. Then Bradley would have to take on the opponent with head of steam and 4 open teammates.

Bradley's okay with this, he has a planet to rule over someday and populate by having fun time with his wives in outer space.

^------ Unneccessary, and not funny.


I always liked Shawn Bradley and thought he gave great effort. He may have been the tallest player on the court, just not the most talented player.

No mention yet of Mark Aguirre?

Jay Vincent, Sam Perkins (like he needs one), Pat Cummings, Dale Ellis, Detlev Schrempf (another Hasselhoff fan), Bill Wennington

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^------ Unneccessary, and not funny.

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Oh lighten up.

Mormon humor.

Wang Zuzu also should get a mention.

Forgot about the towel waving wennington. I couldn't include aguirre after the way his career with the mavs ended.

Eddie Najera!

[This message has been edited by qunique_2004 (edited 6/13/2011 9:57a).]

Don Nelson. Not sure if he ever won one, but he was the one who saw in Dirk the ability that no one else saw. Does anyone else remember how much he got blasted by passing on Paul Pierce? He (and Cuban obviously) were the one that got the ball rolling for the entire franchise after some pretty "lean" years.

Don won one with the Celtics as a player but never as a coach. Also, it was Donnie that found Dirk, not Don.

when we were going through Donnie's undying efforts to build an entire team of foreigners, who was the Australian guy that everyone was fired up about, who failed at levels unseen? Chris Antsey?

oh and this...

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Mormon humor.

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[This message has been edited by Muy (edited 6/13/2011 10:09a).]

Nelson has to feel good about this. Nowitzki is the first euro player to win it as the main starj the player the team is built around. And he was blasted for taking Dirk.

No mention of the missing Js?

If Jimmie Jackson doesn't get hurt, they might have had some really good runs.

Nellie on Chris Antsey: "He'll be the best running big man in the league." Hey, he was instrumental in the Mavs erasing a 10-point deficit against Chicago with less than 2-minutes left in Jordan's Bulls' last visit to Reunion in March of '98.

On the OP's list, I'd only pick Stack and Nash. Even though he gravy-trained a title w/ the Spurs, I'd also say Finley. He and Dirk served as the transition from Mavs epic suckiness to awesome.

Antoine Rigaudeau

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No mention yet of Mark Aguirre?

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My dad always told me that he quit on the team in LA in '88 when Dallas had a shot win the West and go to the finals. In fact, that was a life lesson my dad taught me about quitting.

I know history now shows that Dick Motta probably rode Aguirre harder than MJ rode Kwame Brown, but a lot of people still think Aguirre didn't have the heart to put it on the line in the final period of a game 7.

And for my list, I would have liked to see Steve Nash win one and Finley win one as a Maverick.

For older players, my favorite was always Derek Harper.

What, no Damp?

Finley. F that guy.

I'm sure that Nellie is happy for his son, who put this team together; and for Dirk, of course.

It really does pain me that Nash hasn't won one and probably never will. I wish he could have been part of this.

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What, no Damp?

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Damp managed to be on the losing side in both '06 and '11. Nothing against Damp, but that's pretty funny.