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3 unusual facts about Dallas Mavericks


Holger Geschwindner

Holger Geschwindner (born September 12, 1945 in Bad Nauheim, Hesse) is a former basketball player, and is the mentor, coach and friend of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Dallas Mavericks power forward Dirk Nowitzki.

Holger is an official coach of the Dallas Mavericks and runs a basketball academy in Würzburg that he calls "the Institute of Applied Nonsense."

Zone defense

The Dallas Mavericks are an example of an NBA team that regularly uses zone defenses; during the 2011 Playoffs, their zone defense was credited with slowing down offenses, forcing opposing players to recognize which defense they were playing.


1999–2000 Dallas Mavericks season

On January 15, 2000, Mark Cuban purchased a majority stake in the NBA Dallas Mavericks basketball team for $285 million from H. Ross Perot, Jr..

Andris Biedriņš

In his third year, Biedriņš got a lucky break when the Warriors decided to replace coach Mike Montgomery with ex-Dallas Mavericks coach Don Nelson, elected one of the NBA's "Greatest Coaches of All Time." Nelson needed just five games to bench the Warriors' center Adonal Foyle and give Biedriņš the starting spot at center, calling him "the best big man I've got."

Arvid Kramer

The Dallas Mavericks wanted to make sure that their players Uwe Blab, Steve Alford or Bill Wennington, who were left unprotected, would not be selected, so they offered the Miami Heat the rights to Arvid Kramer and their first choice (No. 20) in the college draft (which later would turn out to become Kevin Edwards).

Hu Weidong

Considered to be China's answer to National Basketball Association megastar Michael Jordan, Hu was offered the chance to play in the league in 1998, but he was injured when the Dallas Mavericks offered him a contract, thus failing to become the first Chinese to play in the NBA.

Keith Closs

Basketball website SLAMonline reported in October 2008 that a reader based in China by the name of Jon had e-mailed them, claiming that in a nightclub in Nanjing he encountered a 7-foot man wearing a current, customized #33 Dallas Mavericks jersey with the name "Closs" on the back.

Luis Flores

His draft rights were traded to the Dallas Mavericks along with $300,000 cash in exchange for the draft rights to Vassilis Spanoulis before being traded to the Golden State Warriors on August 24, 2004.

Maurice Cheeks

On April 25, 2003, during a game between the Trail Blazers and the Dallas Mavericks, Cheeks aided 13-year-old Natalie Gilbert in singing the American national anthem.

Texas Legends

The team is owned by Texas D-League Management, LLC, which is principally owned by Donnie Nelson, general manager and President of Basketball operations for the Dallas Mavericks and son of former Golden State Warriors head coach Don Nelson.

Violet Palmer

On October 31, 1997, Palmer made history when she officiated the NBA season opener between the Vancouver Grizzlies and the Dallas Mavericks, in British Columbia, Canada.


see also

Alexis Ajinça

On July 13, 2010, Ajinça was traded to the Dallas Mavericks along with Tyson Chandler for Erick Dampier, Matt Carroll, Eduardo Najera, and cash considerations.

Armand de Brignac

In June 2011 Mark Cuban spent $90,000 on a 15 liter bottle (10 magnum bottles) of Armand de Brignac in celebration of the Dallas Mavericks' NBA Championship.

Derek Harper

He is now a game analyst for the Dallas Mavericks on their locally broadcast games; and since fall 2005, he has been the weekend sports anchor at KTXA, the former CBS operated station serving the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.