Marie

Yay!

Mark Cuban will hold a chat on Tuesday, Sept. 15th at 11 a.m. on the DMN blog. Submit your questions!

1. Cuban sounds optimistic, though who knows if that's authentic or not. 2. He mentions that they've talked to Odom's agent. 3. He drops the nickname "Roddy Buckets".

An NBA source has told the Orlando Sentinel that the Orlando Magic will match the five-year, $34-million offer sheet extended by the Dallas Mavericks to Marcin Gortat and thus retain him. The team would not be able to trade him until Dec. 15, at the earliest, if that's what the team wants to do.

"I have a feeling now they (Magic) are going to match it,'' Gortat said Friday between Summer League Games. "That's what I'm hearing, they will match. We'll have to see, but I'm kind of down right now. Either way, I'll end up on a pretty good team.'' ,,, "I want to develop my game and become a better player,'' he said. "I just don't know if I'd be getting the same minutes to play here as in Dallas.''

The Mavericks have announced that they have signed 6-6, 193-pound guard Quinton Ross, a local who played at Dallas' Kimball High School and SMU. He was with the Grizzlies for a season after spending four years with the Clippers.

"We’ve narrowed it down to about two or three teams," said Bass’s agent Tony Dutt. "Orlando has shown a lot of interest, Detroit is another option, and Portland is up there as well. We’re expecting something to get done in the next couple days."

From Deadspin, via CBS Sports. I'm sure you guys know about this already; I just thought it was funny :)

[Ed. note: bumped to front page. This is some weird news. Discuss it here. UPDATE: Turk commits to the Toronto Raptors. - BQR] The Oregonian has learned that free agent forward Hedo Turkoglu has rejected an offer to sign with the Trail Blazers and has ended negotiations with the team. He will leave town tomorrow morning. More to come.

From Eddie Sefko on the Dallas Morning News blog: We're now hearing that the Mavericks have indeed made an offer to Marcin Gortat and the only hangup will be if the Magic decides to match the offer. Barring that, the next center of the Mavericks appears headed this way. This would represent the first domino in the Mavericks' summer makeover and probably would be a good move in helping sway Jason Kidd's return.

From the DMN blog: We're now hearing that the Mavericks have indeed made an offer to Marcin Gortat and the only hangup will be if the Magic decides to match the offer. Barring that, the next center of the Mavericks appears headed this way. This would represent the first domino in the Mavericks' summer makeover and probably would be a good move in helping sway Jason Kidd's return.

According to a report from El Periodico, Ricky Rubio has decided not to come over to the United States to play for the Minnesota Timberwolves and will remain with DKV Joventut for the next two seasons.

The courtship of point guard Jason Kidd will likely extend over a couple of weeks, as he waits to see the moves the Dallas Mavericks make to upgrade their roster, league sources said Wednesday. After Kidd met with Dallas owner Mark Cuban at midnight on Wednesday in New York, he had a late-morning visit with Knicks officials at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks are unlikely to give Kidd more than a one-year deal for the mid-level exception around $5 million, while Dallas would likely pay him around $8 million. Kidd loves New York and the Garden, but also knows the novelty of that could fade fast on a losing team, especially closing on his 37th birthday. Kidd will talk with the Portland Trail Blazers, too.

It appears the Mavericks also already have touched base with Quinton Ross, the former SMU and Kimball High standout. The 6-6 swingman played for Memphis last season and spent four years with the Clippers before that. He's a career 4.6-point scorer.

Fin's not done yet!

The agent for Devean George said this morning that the 6-8 swingman has exercised his player option to remain with the Mavericks for next season. That means George will be under contract for 2009-10 for $1.6 million.

The Portland TrailBlazers acquired the 22nd pick in Thursday's NBA draft from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for the 24th and 56th picks in this year's draft, and worst of their second round picks in 2010, according to a league source. The trade has been agreed to in principle by the two teams. It should be finalized by the league office later today.

First read about this on Blazer's Edge; just some around the league news that may (or may not) interest Mavs fans.

For any fans of Nashy (and Letterman) out there.

Stack's Escalade was stolen and it was later found damaged.