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Eduardo Najera traded back to Mavericks

Nets will trade Eduardo Najera to Mavericks for Kris Humphries and Shawne Williams

Several media outlets Friday night reported that the New Jersey Nets and Dallas Mavericks are close to agreeing on a trade that will send forward Eduardo Najera back to Dallas, and forward/center Kris Humphiries and forward Shawne Williams to New Jersey.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo and Marc Stein of ESPN are reporting that the deal, if it happens, will likely becoming official Monday.

Wojnarowski also reports something that InsideHoops.com has heard was in consideration for a long time now: The Nets are expected to waive forward Sean Williams.

Najera started his NBA career with the Mavericks in 2000-01, playing in Dallas for four years before bouncing around until he landed with the Nets in 2008. But he was injured last season and very ineffective in the 13 games he’s played this season.

Humphries averages 5.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in 12.6 minutes per game.

Williams is an outcast from Dallas. The team separated itself from the player and has not used him at all this season.

NBA denies Mavericks protest of loss to Rockets

The National Basketball Association announced today that Commissioner David Stern has denied the Dallas Mavericks’ protest of their 116-108 loss to the Houston Rockets on December 18.

In the protest, the Mavericks argued that the referees, following an instant replay review, improperly called a technical foul on Erick Dampier with 1:01 remaining in overtime, which – as his second technical foul – resulted in his ejection from the game.

Commissioner Stern determined that the referees’ decision to assess a technical foul on Dampier was a judgment call, and not a misapplication of the playing rules, which cannot successfully be protested under NBA rules.

Nowitzki, Landry hurt in under-rim collision

The AP reports:

Houston’s Carl Landry was taken to a hospital after breaking teeth in a collision with Dirk Nowitzki during the second quarter of Friday night’s game between the Rockets and Mavericks.

Nowitzki drove into the lane and missed a short jumper with 9:28 left in the second quarter. He was fouled by Landry, who was hit in the mouth on Nowitzki’s follow-through.

The Houston Chronicle reports:

The Mavs’ Dirk Nowitzki and the Rockets’ Carl Landry were lost early in the second quarter when Landry cut off Nowitzki on a drive, catching Nowitzki’s right elbow in the mouth, dislodging or breaking parts of five of Landry’s teeth.

Landry was taken to the emergency room and will see an oral surgeon today to determine the extent of the damage. Nowitzki needed 30 minutes for pieces of Landry’s teeth to be removed from his elbow.

After they left, the Rockets answered the Dallas runs as they could not in the previous two meetings this season, won by the Mavericks by an average of 24.5 points after the Rockets had taken early leads. The Mavericks seemed to lose their poise, drawing six technical fouls, some at the worst possible times.

Nets hire Del Harris as assistant coach

The New Jersey Nets have named Del Harris as an assistant coach, Nets President Rod Thorn announced today. Harris joins Tom Barrise, John Loyer, Roy Rogers and Doug Overton as a member of Interim Head Coach Kiki Vandeweghe’s staff.

Harris, 72, joins the Nets following one season as an assistant with the Chicago Bulls were he helped first-year coach Vinny Del Negro reach the playoffs.

Prior to his time in Chicago, Harris was an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks from 2000-08. During that time, Harris worked closely with Vandeweghe and Nets point guard Devin Harris. Harris brings 50+ years of coaching experience to the Nets including 30+ seasons in the NBA. As a head coach, Harris amassed a career record of 556-457 (.549) in parts of 14 seasons with the Lakers, Bucks and Rockets, reaching the playoffs 11 times. Harris received the NBA’s Coach of the Year award in 1995 after guiding his Lakers to a 48-34 (.585) record, finishing third in the Pacific Division.

Harris also has international coaching experience as he coached Nets forward Yi Jianlian and Team China in the 2004 Olympics, where the team finished eighth out of a field of 12. He also coached seven seasons in Puerto Rico’s National Superior League (1969-75), posting a 176-61 record and winning three national championships (1973-75).

Before entering the NBA ranks, Harris was the head coach of Earlham College from 1965-74 finishing with a 175-70 (.714) record.

The Plainfield, Indiana native attended Milligan College in Tennessee where he played four years of basketball with career averages of 18.0 points and 9.5 rebounds.

Mavericks drop 49 points on Nets in second quarter for 77 first half points

Wednesday night in New Jersey the Nets (0-17) are hosting Jason Kidd and the Dallas Mavericks. For New Jersey this is a must-win game if they want to avoid making some very negative history. With no wins and 17 losses coming into the game, if the Nets fall to 0-18 it will mark the worst start of any team in NBA history.

The Nets hung tough in the first quarter, which ended a tie at 28-28.

But then, all heck broke loose. The Dallas Mavericks went bonkers in the second quarter and outscored the Nets 49 to 22. The halftime score is Mavs 77, Nets 50.

For the game, Dallas is shooting 29-of-36 (80.6%) with 7-of-8 three-pointers and a perfect 12-of-12 free throws. Dirk Nowitzki has 13 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists. Erick Dampier has 12 points. Jason Kidd has 12 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists. Jason Terry is 5-of-5 with 11. Tim Thomas is 4-of-4 with 10.

As a team, the Mavs had 22 first half assists.

For New Jersey, Brook Lopez leads with 12 points. Chris Douglas-Roberts has 10. No Nets player has more than 3 assists or 3 rebounds.

The Nets as a team shot 50% in the first half — a very nice showing. But the Mavs went bonkers and unleashed one of the most unstoppable displays I’ve ever seen.

Erick Dampier had health scare

Eddie Sefko, special to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, reports:

The Mavericks survived a scary situation Sunday evening that had nothing to do with a 95-90 win over the Detroit Pistons.

When Erick Dampier left the pregame warmups because he wasn’t feeling right, nobody was quite sure what was happening. Minutes later, with emergency medical personnel working on Dampier, he was whisked by ambulance from the Palace of Auburn Hills to a Pontiac, Mich., hospital.

By the end of the game, the Mavericks received news that Dampier’s symptoms had subsided. No team personnel divulged what those symptoms were, but an NBA official said that doctors had ruled out any serious health issues, including H1N1 (swine flu).

Dampier apparently was lightheaded when he left the arena, but was feeling much better at the hospital, giving the Mavericks a huge sigh of relief.

Glad to hear that Erick is OK.

Nancy Lieberman to coach Frisco D-League team

Marc Stein of ESPN reports:

The incoming NBA Development League franchise in suburban Dallas, co-owned by Dallas Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson and scheduled to begin play in the 2010-11 season, has made a bold choice for its first head coach: Nancy Lieberman.

Lieberman, an ESPN television analyst, is poised to become the first woman to be a head coach the D-League, which sent 20 players to the NBA last season and is widely regarded as the most scouted league in the world outside of the NBA.

Sources close to the situation told ESPN.com Nelson’s ownership group has secured approval from the NBA to hire Lieberman to coach the yet-to-be-named team based in Frisco, Texas, which will serve as the Mavericks’ D-League affiliate next season. A formal announcement of her hiring is expected this week, possibly as soon as Wednesday.

Popeye Jones accused of drunk driving

Chris Dell of the Dallas Morning News reports:

Former Dallas Mavericks player and current assistant coach Ronald Jerome “Popeye” Jones was arrested Sunday evening in Richardson and accused of drunken driving.

Jones, who played for the Mavericks from 1993 until 1996 and again in 2002-03, was bonded out of jail this morning at about 4 a.m., according to Richardson Police Department public information officer Jonathan Wakefield.

The report went on to say that Jones declined to take the breathalyzer test, which we logically assume is usually only done by someone who has something to hide, unfortunately.

Oct 27: Wizards 102, Mavericks 91

The AP reports: Finally healthy after two seasons virtually lost to knee injuries, Gilbert Arenas had 29 points and nine assists as the Wizards took an early lead over the revamped Dallas Mavericks and never let go on their way to a 102-91 victory Tuesday night… Arenas shot 10 of 21 and made 8-of-9 free throws for more points than he had all of last season… The assists included several nifty passes that set up Brendan Haywood for dunks. He also helped set up reserves Andray Blatche for 20 points and Randy Foye for 19 in his first game with the Wizards. Caron Butler added 16 points, with injured forward Antawn Jamison watching from the bench. He’s likely to miss the first eight to 13 games because of a shoulder injury… But the Mavericks fell into the old habit of trying to ride a big night by Dirk Nowitzki. He scored 34 points, but was only 10 of 25. He was 12 of 13 from the foul line—all in the first half.

Mavericks trade Nathan Jawai to Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced the team has acquired 6-10 forward Nathan Jawai and cash considerations from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for a conditional second-round pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. The pick is protected through the 55th draft position.

“Nathan is a young project who likely will add depth to our roster at his position,” said David Kahn, Timberwolves President of Basketball Operation. “We were contemplating this trade prior to Kevin Love’s hand injury, so this move is not intended to replace Kevin in the short term by any means. That would not be fair to Nathan. Rather, this move provided us an opportunity to work with a young player with size, and later determine if he could be a fit for us.”

Jawai, a native of Sydney, Australia, was selected by the Indiana Pacers with the 41st overall pick of the 2008 NBA Draft, and was subsequently traded to Toronto as part of the deal that sent Jermaine O’Neal to the Raptors. Jawai appeared in six games during his rookie season, playing a total of 19 minutes. He also appeared in 14 games for the Idaho Stampede of the NBA D-League, averaging 11.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game while shooting 52.6 percent from the field.

Prior to entering the NBA Draft, Jawai played one season in the Australian National Basketball League (NBL), where he averaged 17.3 points and 9.4 rebounds per game for the Cairns Taipans. Jawai was the 2007-08 NBL Rookie of the Year, the 2007 NBL All-Star Game MVP and earned All-NBL Second Team honors.