Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
As the 2013 NBA Free Agency period approaches, the Dallas Mavericks appear to have a plan in place to bolster their roster. In an effort to try and sign Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard and Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul, their own superstar is set to change up his offseason plans a bit.
Dirk Nowitzki normally takes the majority of the summer and spends it with his family back in Germany. Then, a couple of weeks out of the offseason he will spend back in Dallas.
This year will be different.
Nowitzki says he plans on switching it up – spending the majority of the time in Dallas rather than Germany. He has been very vocal over the past couple of weeks in terms of wanting to see his team reach the finals again and get himself another ring. The first thing he did to accomplish this tall task was to take a pay cut – very admirable if you ask me.
While Nowitzki has likely never sold a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves, he said today via the Miami Herald that he’s ready to do whatever it takes to sell his team to the big name free agents:
“I’ll be here if they need me, if they want me to go to the draft, which I’ve been saying. I think Cubes (owner Mark Cuban) and Donnie (Nelson) know that if they need me to fly anywhere on a short trip I’m more than happy to go to throw out a sales pitch.”
The polished forward also acknowledged that while he doesn’t know Paul or Howard very well, he would love a chance to show them why Dallas has been his home for so long.
“You never know what can happen – what’s in Dwight’s or Chris’s head. I have no idea; I don’t know either one of them really well, but we at least would love to get a meeting face-to-face. I’m sure Donnie and Cubes are going to make that happen, hopefully, on July 1.”
“If we do get a meeting, yeah, I’d love to go and sit in and share my experiences over the last 15 years in this city with Cuban and Donnie running the show, and obviously what I feel like is one of the best coaches in the league (Rick Carlisle).”
With a respected veteran like Nowitzki reaching out, you never know what could happen with the likes of Howard and Paul. Maybe, just maybe, Nowitzki can channel his inner Tommy Boy and close the massive sale ahead with zero prior experience. I just hope for Nowitzki’s sake that if he indeed gets a meeting, he doesn’t wear a clip-on.
Ryan Heckman is a Senior NBA writer for www.RantSports.com also contributing to the NFL. Follow him on Twitter, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.
