Is This Dallas' Time?

Back in the days when the Minnesota Timberwolves were good, I couldn't stand the Dallas Mavericks. I remember going to a game with my dad, and buying a program. I thought the program would have a lot of information about the Wolves, but instead, there was a magazine inside complete with a Steve Nash modeling shoot. (Um, what?)

On the court, I couldn't stand them either. After Nash left, Dirk Nowitzki took over the team, and I couldn't stand him. I couldn't look how he looked like Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I couldn't get out of my head how nastily he had evolved from being a clean cut random German who the Milwaukee Bucks traded for Robert "Tractor" Traylor (HAHAHA!!!) to a massive, awesome German machine.

Fast forward to today. After seeing the Wolves struggle, I've found myself watching more of Dirk. He's probably the best shooting seven-footer of all time, and undoubtedly one of the greatest players (not just import players) in NBA history. There's just no problem. He has no rings.

The closest Dirk got was in the 2007 campaign, in which Nowitzki was named the Most Valuable Player. Of course, the Mavericks crashed and burned in the first round as they lost to the 8th seeded Golden State Warriors in six games.

The year before, Dirk looked incredibly timid in his lone NBA Finals appearance against a pretty loaded Miami Heat team with Shaquille O'Neal, Dwayne Wade, Alonzo Mourning, and others.

His situation almost seems similar to Kevin Garnett's. Garnett was a superstar with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but couldn't get his ring. Granted, the Mavericks have much better management than the Wolves do (more on that later), Dirk is a guy you really want to see get his ring, just like KG did with the Celtics.

For starters, Dirk didn't go the KG route and go to a different, loaded team. Remember, Dirk had the option of leaving in the famed 2010 free agent class, but decided to stay at home with the Mavericks. It's not like the Mavs cupboard is bare by any means, but it's not like...the Miami Heat.

Second, unlike a lot of NBA players, you never hear anything bad about Dirk off the court. The NBA is littered with off-court problems from it's superstars and sometimes on the court problems (Kobe and Noah dropping slurs, Howard getting technicals). Although Dirk has gotten his share of technicals in his career, Dirk has never been accused of being a thug or anything. He seems like a guy who goes and does his thing on the court and keeps a low profile.

Third, when you look at the Mavericks, it's not about just Dirk. Jason Kidd has also been a runner up in the NBA finals. Kidd is one of the greatest point guards in NBA history and one of the hardest workers in the game. It would be satisfying to see someone who has been great for so long finally get his ring.

And then there's the owner Marc Cuban. Cuban has been fined and fined again by Commissioner $tern, and some people may get tired of his tactics from time to time. But the reality is, he's a great owner. Does he put some pressure on his players, yes. Yet, if you're an athlete, you probably love the pressure. It might benefit a certain pro baseball team to have an owner like that, but this isn't the place for that.

At heart, Cuban is a fan. What owner do you know would host a WWE event in his building and participate by letting one of the performers slam him through a table? He doesn't sit in a luxury box counting all of his money like the Pohlad's. He's in the crowd ballin' hard screaming at officials. Yes, he could use some professionalism sometimes, but I bet that a lot of us would run our team the same way.

There's others on the team too like Jason Terry and Shawn Marion, but I would just feel good if Dallas won, not only for Dirk, but to flip a giant middle finger to Miami.

Remember, the Heat didn't expect getting to the Finals to be this difficult. I remember at the beginning of the season that a local bar thought the Heat would be so good that if patrons stayed at the establishment for the entire game (checking in 30 min prior to tip-off) and the Heat lost, they would pay their tab. The Heat lost a fair amount of games this year, so that's a lot of free drinks and mozzerella sticks!

I love Dwayne Wade, and if he got a second ring, cool. But wouldn't it just make you grit your teeth if LeBron got his trophy. Wait, I'll put it this way...

Scenario A has the big three dancing on the stage like they did in July promising to win six more championships before they all retire. Then they dance with $tern on stage just cause he's happy the bad guys won. Along with ESPN recording the whole things and analyzing LeBron's post game dump. (It's probably pretty intense)

Scenario B has David Stern walking with the O'Brien trophy onto the stage looking at Dirk and Kidd as they're running around like little kids, and then he turns and sees Mark Cuban smiling and while gritting his teeth, hands Cuban the trophy.

I'll take B, and hopefully Dirk can get his missing ring. And don't worry Heat fans, you have the Big Three for 6 more years. Plenty of time.