Dirk & Mavs Jersey Honors: Mark Cuban Too Strict? Or Just Right?
Dirk Nowitzki is the easy one.
As the Dallas Mavericks prepare to immortalize Nowitzki’s No. 41 tonight, one has to wonder how many other former Mavs could potentially see their jerseys hanging from the American Airline Center’s rafters one day.
To us, there are many worthy candidates, from Jason Kidd, who is currently back with the Mavs as head coach, to Michael Finley, who is now the team’s vice president of basketball operations, to other 2011 championship contributors like Jason Terry, Shawn Marion and maybe even Tyson Chandler, who is arguably the best center in franchise history despite only playing two season in Dallas.
Then you have some of the older Dallas names to consider - ones who preceded Mark Cuban’s time as owner of the Mavs, like Mark Aguirre for example.
But we'll argue that Cuban’s criteria for being eligible to have your jersey retired is nearly impossible, and therefore lacks logic.
"The way I've kind of looked at it, and it's no disrespect to Mark (Aguirre), is guys who wanted to leave are going to have a harder time than guys who made the effort to stay,” said Cuban on 96.7 The Ticket when asked about Aguirre potentially having his No. 24 retired.
“That's just it in a nutshell."
Aguirre was a superstar for seven seasons with Dallas, and he’s widely known as the guy who put the Mavs on the NBA map. He averaged 25 points, six rebounds and four assists per game during his Mavs tenure, while shooting nearly 50 percent from the field during that time. He was also a three-time All-Star.
But he left unhappily.
How personal should this get? Can it get petty? Should emotional feelings from the past trump production and longevity? Does leaving on less-than-ideal terms mean no reunion in the rafters?
By that logic, will Kidd or Terry ever have their iconic numbers raised? Kidd backed out of a handshake deal with Dallas to instead join the New York Knicks in 2012. Is he out forever? Jet left Dallas for Boston after eight successful seasons as Nowitzki’s right hand man. It doesn’t seem right that No. 31 might not be hanging in the rafters next to No. 41 because of that.
And what of Rick Carlisle? Long-term. World title. Now gone.
No recognition? Ever?
Aguirre admits his role in his Dallas breakup.
“I think that it could have been better,” admitted Aguirre of how his Dallas stint ended in an interview on The Open Run podcast. "It was great to win championships in Detroit. … But the bulk of me and my life as an NBA player was here (in Dallas). It was here. … I wish it had went better. But I have no control over that. There’s no way I wanted to leave Dallas.”
One way to "fix'' the situations of guys who leave is to "bring them back.''
If the Dirk-esque criteria is, essentially, "Mavs for Life''? Who besides Dirk (and maybe Cuban himself) will ever live up to that?
The Mavs will celebrate Nowitzki tonight in what is Cuban's easiest no-brainer decision of all-time. Although other former Mavs players don’t warrant the same kind of urgency, we say a lot of them do deserve respect, and even fence-mending, that would heal wounds and invoke memories.
Great memories of great contributors. Which is really what this is all supposed to be about.
