SB Nation Dallas - The Heart of Texas

Dwyane Wade Says Pacers 'Celebrated Like The Mavericks'

2012-05-16T17:43:11Z

After the Miami Heat's 78-75 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night, Miami star Dwyane Wade had some choice comments about Indiana's celebration, referencing the Mavericks in the process:

Dwyane Wade: "I heard they wanted to be like the Dallas Mavericks. I saw their celebration after the game."
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) May 16, 2012

It's hard to even know what to make of these comments. They're clearly meant to be a knock on Indiana celebrating their first victory in a best-of-seven series, but why rope Dallas into this?

For that matter, it's not as if Wade has much room to stand on when it comes to knocking premature celebration.

But while the Pacers victory in Game 2 was nice, it's hard to compare them to the Mavericks since they don't have anyone comparable to Dirk Nowitzki or Tyson Chandler on their roster.

Either way, it's nice to know that Dallas victory last season still stings Miami's stars.

Rick Carlisle Joins NBA Competition Committee

2012-05-16T16:55:16Z

Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle, fresh off receiving an extension, has joined the NBA's competition committee, which has been drastically restructured:

Previously, the competition committee was comprised of the general managers from each of the league's 30 teams. But last month, the league's Board of Governors voted to change the composition of the committee to include two owners, four general managers, three head coaches and one representative from the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA).

The members of the new Competition Committee are owners Gilbert and Joe Lacob (Golden State); general managers Bryan Colangelo (Toronto Raptors), Mitch Kupchak (L.A. Lakers), Kevin O'Connor (Utah Jazz), and Sam Presti (Oklahoma City); and coaches Rick Carlisle (Dallas Mavericks), Lionel Hollins (Memphis Grizzlies), and Doc Rivers (Boston Celtics). The NBPA will designate one of its members to serve on the committee.

Carlisle is one of the most respected basketball minds in the league, but something tells me he was picked as much for who he wasn't (i.e. Mark Cuban).

Are The Rangers The Best Team Since The '98 Yankees?

2012-05-15T18:16:06Z

That's what SI.com's Tom Verducci wrote in his latest column:

With Hamilton at the peak of his game, the Rangers, too, have the look of a team that may be historic. Texas is destroying American League competition. This could be the best team since the 1998 Yankees. It has no weakness. The Rangers have scored the most runs and allowed the fewest in the league. In the third year of a run-scoring recession around baseball, the Rangers are hammering teams. They have outscored opponents by 2.2 runs per game. The next closest team in the league, Toronto, has a run differential of only 0.6.

Danny Duffy Injury Could Really Impact Kansas City

2012-05-14T23:42:43Z

The Texas Rangers are facing the Kansas City Royals just hours after the young team found out their young pitcher Danny Duffy is likely out for the season with a torn ulnar collateral ligament, which will likely require Tommy John surgery.

The 23-year-old Duffy has a 3.90 ERA, 28 strikeouts and 18 walks in 27 2/3 innings for the Royals. Losing such an arm in the rotation is probably going to hurt the team's efforts in whatever they were going to accomplish this season.

Learning this news on the day you have to face one of the strongest teams in baseball in the Texas Rangers and the hottest hitter in Josh Hamilton can't be good, as it will only reinforce how important it is to have a pitcher with Duffy's talent.

Duffy was a third-round selection for the Royals in the 2007 draft.

Read more about the Royals at Royals Review and for more on the Rangers be sure to check out Lone Star Ball.

Surprise, Surprise: Josh Hamilton Is The AL Player Of The Week

2012-05-14T20:22:22Z

Unless you had a better idea for who should have been named the American League Player of the Week, we're going to go with Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers.

Why, you ask from whatever rock you just climbed over? Well for starters, the dude went crazy and hit four home runs in a single game, which was apart of his nine home run, 18 RBIs and 10 runs scored seven-game stretch.

This award comes fresh off Hamilton winning the AL Player of the Month award in April. This, from the MLB release sort of put it all in perspective:

Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton, who became just the 16th player in Major League history to hit four homers in a game on Tuesday, has been named the American League Player of the Week for the period ending May 13th. This is Josh's second career weekly honor (last on 6/24/2010). The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network . Hamilton turned in one of the greatest weeks of all-time, highlighted by Tuesday's performance, in which he went 5-for-5 at the plate with four home runs, a double, eight RBI and an A.L.-record 18 total bases in a 10-3 Rangers' victory at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The four-homer performance was a first for the Rangers and it was the Majors' first four-home run game since Toronto's Carlos Delgado on September 25, 2003. It marked the 30-year-old's sixth career multi-homer game, and the first time that he homered more than twice in a game. Hamilton's eight RBI also shattered his previous career best of five (three times), which he last accomplished in an April 17th tilt against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Read more about the Rangers at Lone Star Ball.

Lamar Odom Could Still Play On The Olympic Team

2012-05-14T19:37:09Z

Lamar Odom may have had a 9.2 PER for the Dallas Mavericks last season, but that doesn't mean Team USA has given up on him:

According to Coach K., @RealLamarOdom is still in consideration for the @USABasketball Olympic Team. #mediasummit #teamusa
— US Olympic Committee (@USOlympic) May 14, 2012

While it may seem crazy, Odom played extremely well as the starting center on the 2010 World Championship Team, and Coach K turned to him before both Kevin Love and Tyson Chandler.

And with LaMarcus Aldridge, Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh now possibly sidelined with injury, the pool of available big men for the 2012 Olympics is extremely shallow. If Coach K thinks Odom's problems in Dallas were due more to motivation concerns and a poor fit with the Mavericks roster, he might be tempted to roll the dice on a 6'10 point forward with the versatility to defend both interior positions.

College Conference Realignment: Big 12 Should Go On Offensive

2012-05-14T19:15:53Z

With rumors spreading quickly about Florida State's interest in the Big 12, SB Nation's Bill Connelly thinks the conference needs to go on the offensive after barely surviving the last round of realignment:

In other words, if [new Big 12 commissioner Bob] Bowlsby were in the mood to take a home run swing of his own, the move could be both well-received and somewhat successful.

Following Scott's ambitious lead, here's what Bowlsby should do: invite BYU, Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, Miami, and Notre Dame to join the Big 12. Do it soon, and do it publicly.

Connelly doesn't think all six schools would jump at an opportunity to form a super-conference, but he points to a similar move by Pac-12 commissioner Luke Scott with the Big 12 South as generating positive momentum for the conference to be a net-winner in realignment and not a net-loser.

If the last two years have taught us anything, whatever happens may happen really fast.

Will Josh Hamilton Win The Triple Crown?

2012-05-14T14:46:55Z

After Josh Hamilton's historic week, he leads the American League in batting average, home runs and RBI. That's a great accomplishment in May, but can Hamilton maintain those leads through the end of the regular season?

Al Yellon of SB Nation believes there's a reason we haven't seen a Triple Crown since 1967.

The primary reason, I think, that this hasn't been done in so long is the specialization of hitting. Most power hitters sacrifice batting average. Many high-average hitters do so because they hit lots of singles, although power hitters Cabrera and Hamilton have accounted for the last two AL batting-average titles.

The toughest lead for Hamilton to maintain will likely be batting average. While it might be possible to maintain a similar home run and RBI pace that he's on now, his .402 batting average will likely begin to fall. Perennial batting title contender Derek Jeter sits in second place right now at .372.