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Dallas Mavericks re-sign coach Rick Carlisle

The Dallas Mavericks announced today they have re-signed Head Coach Rick Carlisle.

On May 9, 2008, Carlisle became the ninth head coach in franchise history. In his first four seasons with the Mavericks, Carlisle has led the team to a 198-114 (.635) regular season record, three 50+ win seasons and the franchise’s first-ever World Championship.

“We are excited that Rick will be back with the Mavericks for at least the next four years,” Owner Mark Cuban said. “He is a proven winner, a great teacher and a coach that will help the Mavericks improve as a team and as an organization.”

Carlisle led the Mavericks to the postseason in each of his four seasons in Dallas and has been named Western Conference Coach of the Month on two occasions (April, 2010 and Feb., 2011). He holds a career 53-46 (.535) postseason record, including an impressive 16-5 run to the 2011 World Championship. Carlisle is one of only 11 individuals to win the NBA Finals as both a player and head coach.

Carlisle holds a 479-325 (.596) record as a head coach with Detroit, Indiana and Dallas. Before joining Dallas, Carlisle took both Detroit and Indiana to the Eastern Conference Finals and earned 2001-02 NBA Coach of the Year accolades in just his first year as a head coach.

A native of Ogdensburg, N.Y., Carlisle graduated from the University of Virginia where he was co-captain of the Cavaliers’ 1984 Final Four team.

Don Nelson graduates from Iowa 50 years later

Fifty years ago, Don Nelson left the University of Iowa eight credits and a student-teaching requirement shy of a degree. Nelson took correspondence classes to complete the credits. But it took the most coaching wins in NBA history for the university to decide Nelson didn’t need to be a student teacher to earn a diploma.

On Saturday, the former Hawkeyes’ star player returned to receive his bachelor’s degree in physical education during Iowa’s commencement ceremony at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

”I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long, long time. I wish it would have happened 50 years ago. But it didn’t,” Nelson said, ”and I think that the moral to that story is it’s never too late as long as you keep working and keep having dreams. They can come true.”

Nelson is known for the 1,355 coaching wins he picked up over 31 seasons as an NBA coach, a career he wrapped up with Golden State following the 2010-11 season. It’s easy to forget that it all started over five decades ago in the Midwest.

Nelson, who turns 72 on May 15, starred for Rock Island High in Illinois, just across the river from Iowa, and joined the Hawkeyes in 1959. Sporting a spiky blond flat top and a versatile game that would serve him well in the pros, Nelson finished his Iowa career as a two-time All-American.

— Reported by Luke Meredith of the Associated Press

James Harden wins 2011-12 NBA Sixth Man of Year award

The Oklahoma City Thunder’s James Harden is the winner of the 2011-12 NBA Sixth Man Award as the league’s best player in a reserve role, the NBA announced today. Harden, who led all NBA reserves in scoring (16.8 ppg), came off the bench in 60 of 62 games he appeared in, helping Oklahoma City finish with the NBA’s third-best record (47-19).

Harden received 584 of a possible 595 points, including 115 of a possible 119 first-place votes, from a panel of 119 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Louis Williams, who led the Philadelphia 76ers in scoring (14.9 ppg) despite not starting a single game, finished second with 231 points. Jason Terry of the Dallas Mavericks, who won the award in 2008-09, finished third with 81 points.

In order to be eligible for this award, players had to have come off the bench in more games than they started. Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote.

Harden, the third overall pick of the 2009 NBA Draft, was a model of consistency, scoring in double figures in 58 of 62 contests, while averaging 4.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 31.4 minutes per game. He topped the 20-point mark on 15 occasions, with the Thunder going 14-1 in those games. He shot .491 from the field, .846 from the free throw line, and .390 from three-point range.

Don Nelson to get college degree after nearly 50 years

Just a week after Shaquille O’Neal received his doctorate degree, Don Nelson will receive his Bachelor’s degree in physical education that was nearly 50 years in the making.

The winningest coach in NBA history, the now-retired Nelson, who turns 72 next week, will take part in commencement ceremonies this Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on the campus of the University of Iowa.

“The reason I coached all these years was that I enjoyed so much being around young, talented people,” Nelson told the Des Moines Register. “This will be like coaching my teams, really. I love talented, young kids.”

Nelson, who spent 14 years as a NBA player, followed by 31 seasons as an NBA head coach, needed to require foreign language requirements to finally obtain his long-desired degree, which he put on hiatus when he left Iowa in 1962. He was able to complete those language requirements through correspondence/online classes.

— Reported by the Sports Xchange

Dirk Nowitzki will adjust off-season workouts

Dirk Nowitzki will adjust his off-season program to avoid a repeat of the physical problem that limited him at the start.

The Mavericks held Nowitzki out for four consecutive games in January so that he could strengthen a balky right knee. The condition improved, and Nowitzki will not require surgery. He must focus in the off-season on maintaining the knee’s strength with increased weight work.

“I struggled physically for the first time in my career,” Nowitzki said. “I’m going to really try to keep my legs strong so we don’t have to go through what I did at the beginning, because that was ugly.”

Nowitzki had the lowest regular-season shooting percentage (.457) since his rookie year. He rallied in the postseason and averaged 26.8 points per game.

— Reported by Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News

No Mavs playoff money for Lamar Odom

In public, Dallas Mavericks players have been diplomatic when discussing Lamar Odom’s failure to compete this season. Their truer feelings came out in a locker room vote Sunday, when they decided not to include Odom in their share of playoff money.

A team source confirmed that Odom will miss out on about a $14,000 playoff share.

“If the Lamar thing would have worked out and if he would have played like the year before when he was the best sixth man, I think we would have had a shot,” Dirk Nowitzki said of going deeper in the playoffs. “It would have given us another playmaker, another guy that’s long, that can defend and rebound.

“But for whatever reason the stuff he was going through off the court was just too much. He couldn’t help us the way he wanted, the way we wanted, and we had to move on without him.”

— Reported by ESPN Dallas

Jason Terry future with Mavs uncertain

Jason Terry has been a permanent fixture with the Dallas Mavericks for the past eight seasons.

Whether he makes it to a ninth season is anybody’s guess.

“I think you need to ask him that,” general manager Donnie Nelson said Sunday. “You talk about a guy that’s given his heart and soul to this franchise, and made big plays and big shots.

“We’d love to have Jet back. It’s just at what cost?”

Terry, who made $11.4 million this past season, was the starting point guard when the Mavs made their first appearance in the NBA Finals in 2006.

— Reported by Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Jason Terry, Jason Kidd, Delonte West, Ian Mahinmi, Brian Cardinal and Yi Jianlian become unrestricted free agents on July 1. The Mavs also hold options on Brandan Wright, Vince Carter, Kelenna Azubuike and Lamar Odom.

Thus, Shawn Marion, Brendan Haywood, Rodrigue Beaubois, Dominique Jones and Nowitzki are the only players under contract for next season. The Mavericks might use their amnesty clause on Haywood’s contract, which would give them more salary cap space.

— Reported by Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Jason Kidd not retiring from NBA yet

As would befit a 39-year-old point guard who just finished posting 16 points, a game-best eight assists and seven rebounds in a key playoff game, Jason Kidd isn’t ready to hang up his sneakers.

“I’ll land somewhere early, I would think,” Kidd said regarding his upcoming free agency.

He’s heard everything from going home to Oakland to play with Golden State to backing up Deron Williams — wherever it is that Williams ends up playing. That seems likely to be either in Brooklyn with the Nets or in Dallas with the Mavericks.

Kidd said he essentially will try to help recruit Williams as a free agent this summer. He could envision himself next season as Williams’ backup.

— Reported by Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News

Thunder eliminate defending champ Mavericks in 4-game sweep

Down by 13 points with less than 10 minutes remaining, youthful Oklahoma City could have easily have been content knowing they could go home for a Game 5 still needing to win only one more game.

The Thunder, with their 20-something All-Star duo Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, are instead going home to wait and see who they will play next.

And it was their other emerging star who led the way.

James Harden scored 15 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, including nine in a 12-0 run, and the Thunder rallied for a 103-97 victory Saturday night to complete a first-round series sweep of the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks.

”I got into attack mode. I was determined to make plays,” Harden said.

”He was phenomenal,” said Durant, who scored 24 points. ”His pick and roll game is unreal. It’s fun to watch, fun to be part of. The best part about our team is that we have a lot of guys who can play off each other, and we complement each other well.” …

Durant had 11 rebounds, while Westbrook and Fisher had 12 points each…

”It was an up and down year,” said Nowitzki, the 11-time All-Star who had 34 points. ”We weren’t consistent enough throughout to be an elite team.” …

Jason Kidd, the Mavericks’ 39-year-old point guard, had 16 points and eight assists. Jason Terry had 11 points in what might have also been his last game in Dallas.

— Reported by Stephen Hawkins of the Associated Press

Thunder beat Mavs to take 3-0 lead

Dirk Nowitzki leaned back in the chair at the podium, trying to explain what went wrong for the Dallas Mavericks once they got home for the playoffs.

There was really only one way to put it after they trailed throughout in a 95-79 loss Thursday night that gave the Oklahoma City Thunder a commanding 3-0 series lead.

”We picked a bad time to put a stinker out there,” Nowitzki said.

After losing the first two games on the road by a combined four points, the defending NBA champions were Thunderstruck by Kevin Durant and young Oklahoma City.

Durant finally found his postseason shooting touch, scoring 15 of his 31 points in the first quarter.

After shooting a combined 15 for 44 in the first two games, though he did have the game-winning jumper with 1.5 seconds left in the series opener, the three-time NBA scoring champ made 11 of 15 shots in Game 3. Even when he missed the game’s first shot, Serge Ibaka converted a putback to put Oklahoma City ahead to stay…

Nowitzki had 17 points and Jason Kidd 12 for Dallas, which shot only 34 percent (26 of 76).

Russell Westbrook added 20 points for Oklahoma City while Ibaka had 10 points and 11 rebounds. James Harden and Derek Fisher both had 10 points.

Oklahoma City led 16-7 less than 5 minutes into Game 3 after Durant’s alley-oop pass to Ibaka for a layup. The Thunder pushed further ahead with 16-5 runs in both the second and third quarters, the later spurt clinching the game.

— Reported by the Associated Press