Larry Brown Sports

Got heeem!

The Mavericks arrived in Germany on Thursday for a few days of fun before their exhibition game on Saturday, and some members of the team were more affected by the long day of traveling than others. Germany native Dirk Nowitzki was able to catch coach Rick Carlisle sleeping on the bus with his mouth wide open, and he shared the picture on Twitter.

I’m not sure how this is going to go over with Carlisle, but he should consider himself lucky — it could have been worse.

Photo via Dirk Nowitzki/Twitter

After spending four and a half seasons as teammates with Jason Kidd on the Mavericks and winning an NBA championship together, Dirk Nowitzki was understandably upset that Kidd chose to sign with the Knicks in free agency. He specifically says it was the surprising nature of Kidd’s decision that frustrated him.

“He didn’t call me,” Nowitzki said, per Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News. “I had no reception in Africa where I was. So I only checked my phone once a day. On the day before, he said he was coming, and I think that’s what Mark (Cuban) was a little upset about. He basically said he’s coming back and a day later said he wasn’t coming. It was frustrating. I told him we’d love to have him back and love to have him retire here, but he made a decision he felt was best for his family. I respected that and we move forward. I wish him luck.”

Despite being frustrated and surprised by Kidd’s decision, Dirk is at least handling things in a mature matter. Team owner Mark Cuban on the other hand admitted he was “pissed” at Kidd, and said he wouldn’t want to retire the point guard’s jersey as a result.

We can never get mad at a player for choosing one team over another in free agency, but it’s understandable why Dallas was upset with Kidd. He appeared to lead them on before choosing another team. It seems like karma is already catching up with him anyhow.

To see what not to do after winning an NBA title, take a look at the Dallas Mavericks. After besting the hated Heat in the 2011 Finals, the Mavs gutted their roster enough to have room to some acquire big-name free agents this summer, presumably Deron Williams and Dwight Howard, while still remaining competitive during the previous season.

Fast forward to the present: the Mavs had an underwhelming season exacerbated by that Lamar Odom debacle and capped by a first-round exit in the playoffs; Williams decided to re-up with the Nets after having the Mavs as one of his two finalists; Howard remains on the Magic with no trade to Dallas in sight; and now Dallas lost starting point guard Jason Kidd to the Knicks. Mark Cuban didn’t go all-in on black only to have it land on red. It’s worse than that — it landed on green.

It’s all left Tyson Chandler, who was sacrificed by the Mavs before last season, feeling “sorry” for his former teammate Dirk Nowitzki.

“I am a little bit stunned, but I kind of felt like it was going to be that, honestly,” Chandler said, according to ESPN Dallas. “If they weren’t able to land Deron Williams or Dwight [Howard], I knew there would be trouble down the road. I feel sorry for Dirk; really for Dirk and the coaching staff. You go from winning a championship to kind of it seems like you’re almost in a rebuilding stage. Especially for Dirk at this point in his career, I really feel bad for him.”

Nowtizki really is the biggest loser in Cuban’s gamble. He’s not getting any younger, and he’s the only player left to lead a team in a state of total disarray. How is that fair? Welp, there’s only one thing left for a man in his position to do: ask to be traded to the Lakers.

We all know that illegal recruiting is commonplace in the world of collegiate athletics, but most people prefer not to talk about it. Charles Barkley enjoys talking about everything. At a celebrity softball game over the weekend, Barkley was telling a story in the locker room while his teammates listened attentively and cameras captured the action. Sir Charles spoke about the time he first met Dirk Nowitzki, which was during a Team USA exhibition game against Germany back in 1997. Dirk was only 19 at the time, but he managed to torch Team USA for 42 points and 17 rebounds with Scottie Pippen guarding him the majority of the game.

Needless to say, Barkley was impressed — so impressed that he claims he committed a series of recruiting violations to try to convince Dirk to attend Auburn.

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If Twitter were never invented, Mike Napoli may be out of $100 today. Fortunately it was, which means rivalries and trash talking across professional sports can exist and we have yet another medium by which to gamble. What started out as friendly smack talk on Twitter earlier this week between Napoli and Dirk Nowitzki turned into Dirk owing Napoli $100 after Italy beat Germany in the semifinals of Euro 2012 on Thursday afternoon.

Before the match, Napoli tweeted at Dirk that the Italians were “taking your Germans down today.” Italy went up 2-0 early in the match, and here are some of the tweets that followed between the two — a few of which include a sports psychology consultant (@think2win). Thanks to the Dallas Morning News for pointing out the exchange.

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So much for that heated rivalry between the Mavericks and Spurs. Dallas star Dirk Nowitzki is picking San Antonio to beat the Thunder in the Western Conference finals of the NBA playoffs, and he lauded Gregg Popovich while doing so.

“I think San Antonio’s going to do it, just because they’ve got one more home game,” he said Tuesday on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM’s “Galloway & Company.” “They really came on strong late in the season and they snatched home-court advantage away from OKC. So, I got to think just by that there is a little slight advantage. But honestly, both teams are good enough to win on the opponent’s floor, so I would give a slight advantage to San Antonio, but, man, OKC is looking really good.”

Dirk praised Spurs coach Gregg Popovich for keeping his team among the best in the NBA.

“To me, he’s the best coach in the league, he’s a genius on both ends of the floor,” Nowitzki said. “The adjustment that he goes through — at the beginning they win all their championships with defense, and he saw where the game’s going; the game is going to free-flowing and more movement, you need basically four shooters on the floor at all times, and he’s the man, he made it all happen.”

Nowitzki went on to praise the team’s front office and their ability to find and develop draft prospects that other teams overlook. And unlike other players who claim they stop watching the playoffs once their team is eliminated, Dirk says he’s following things closely. It’s obvious he thinks extremely highly of the Spurs considering his team was swept by OKC.

Dirk Nowitzki was pretty pumped after making a sweet baseline jumper from behind the basket against the Knicks Tuesday. After nailing the shot to put the Mavs up 88-78 with 2:27 left, Dirk celebrated by high-fiving some of the fans sitting courtside. Dirk was seriously stoked and went a bit overboard on his high fiving, to the point where he nearly took a young fan’s arm off. The young boy managed to recover and was so proud to have exchanged contact with the Mavs superstar, he used his camera phone to take a picture of his hand:

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