Mavs Prediction: Step-Back for Luka Doncic - & Title Hopes?

An ominous Mavs' forecast, a catastrophic Cowboys' callback, a brighter Rangers' future and a skeptical eyebrow raised at an "American hero", all in this week's DFW sports notebook.

Whether you’re at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt’s End …

*If you believe the Dallas Mavericks are going to build on this season’s run to the NBA Western Conference Finals, you are … alone. Early wagering for the 2022-23 season puts Dallas’ over/under win total at only 47.5 wins. 

Best in the West are the Suns and Clippers at 52.5 and Warriors at 51.5. 

Hard to believe Christian Wood and JaVale McGee aren’t moving the needle, but – insert sarcasm – they definitely are not.

*Before diving into the Dallas Cowboys’ 2022 training camp, have we all properly recovered from how 2021 ended? By the team’s first practice Wednesday in Oxnard, Calif. it will be 192 days since the 14 penalties … the one stinkin’ catch by CeeDee Lamb … the too-little-too-late spike attempt by Dak Prescott … the comedic-turned-criminal, late-to-the-party run by Umpire Ramon George. Some of us still have nightmares – and depressing daydreams – about “Hail Nary.” You?

*As camp beckons, I have an ominous feeling about this season. Because everything lined up for the Cowboys last season before it quickly fell apart, that’s why. The record-setting offense. The avalanche of defensive takeaways. The health. The patsy NFC East opponents. The home-field advantage in the playoffs. A year ago at this time we were already buzzing about HBO’s Hard Knocks and the looming prime-time opener against Tom Brady and the defending champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This year? Um, Amari Cooper is gone and Cedrick Wilson is gone and Michael Gallup will miss a couple of games and we’re just supposed to assume the offense will be better? Randy Gregory is gone and we’re just supposed to assume the pass rush won’t suffer? I dunno, I feel like the NFC East streak of 17 consecutive seasons without a repeat champ is going to stretch to 18 come January.

*Ranking DFW’s “alternate” uniforms: 4. Dallas Stars “Blackout”; 3. Texas Rangers “Powder Blue”; 2. Mavericks “City”; 1. Cowboys “Classic”.

*With the Rangers plunging toward another hapless, sub-.500 season, it’s already time to peer into the future. By the time they again compete for the A.L. West their pitching staff will likely be led by Jack Leiter, Kumar Rocker and Brock Porter. They just signed the Michigan high-schooler – ranked as the 7th-best pitching prospect – for a bargain $4 million.

*My Mom had Shingles. So did both Grandmothers. I definitely do not want Shingles. But, man, the vaccines – it’s a two-dose process – kicked my butt. Debilitatingly sore arm at injection site and zapped of energy and filled with aches for 24 hours. Still, a couple days of pain are a small price to pay for a lifetime of protection.

2nd #Shingles vaccine. Lick of pain for a lifetime of protection. Highly recommend. Just ask ⁦@justinbieber⁩. pic.twitter.com/6MY1M2tCqh

— Richie Whitt (@richiewhitt) July 19, 2022

*Hot.

*Not.

*If I’m Jerry Jones, just for one season I have the Cowboys wear 17 different versions of blue, white, silver and the star. Take a page out of Oregon’s marketing book and watch the souvenir scratch roll in.

*Because he was a behind-the-scenes engineer, Ted Nichols-Payne isn’t a household name to DFW sports fans. But not many folks can bring Eric Nadel, Brad Sham and Chuck Cooperstein under the same roof. That’s what happened at his memorial this week in Dallas. RIP, TNP.

*Rings since 1997: Jennifer Lopez 6, Dallas Cowboys 0.

*Turns out Bo Jackson has more empathy for the Uvalde school shooting victims than the governor of Texas. Bo, who admits “I don’t know a soul there”, donated $170,000 to help the funeral costs of the 21 victims from the May tragedy. Gov. Greg Abbott, meanwhile, was quick to praise the “quick response” and “amazing courage” of law enforcement officials in the wake of the shooting, but last visited the city on June 5 and attended none of the funerals.

*Again, how is there not a company that movies and marketers hire to make sure their sports content doesn’t look like something made by people who have never seen – much less played – the sport they are selling? Shameful, Michelob Ultra. You’re really trying to appeal to golfers by depicting a golfer parking his push-cart directly on the green? This never happens. Even by golfers who slam a six-pack on the back nine.

So many insulting gaffes in this @MichelobULTRA ad every golf fan is tired of:

*Cart girls sell cans, not perfectly poured draughts.

*3 players waiting on green, none with a club out.

*Dude parked his roller-bag ON the green.

*They're on 18, just go into clubhouse for beers? pic.twitter.com/HNyLThITs9

— Richie Whitt (@richiewhitt) July 17, 2022

*Luka Doncic, dishing out assists in Europe to … Shaq?

*If you’re outraged by golfers and Charles Barkley daring to take Saudi Arabian money in the form of the LIV Golf Tour, you prepared to exude similar energy and disdain for other companies that do the same? If so, you’re pissed at Exxon, Texaco, Procter & Gamble and every airplane that has parts built by Fort Worth-based Lockheed Martin. In other words, you’re going to be busy being mad all day, every day. Cherry picking your morality is a dangerous game.

*Leave it to a New York media personality – even though he’s a former Cowboy – to say out loud what a lot of DFW fans think about Prescott: “Overrated.” Not just at his position, mind you, but the most overrated player in the entire league. Ouch.

*Sorry, I don’t get the fuss over Brittney Griner. This week’s ESPYs were awash with “BG” this and “BG” that. First of all, the WNBA star was playing professional basketball in Russia. If you have access to the Internet, you know that country has a horrible history of human rights, a habit of invading countries without provocation and isn’t particularly fond of America or Americans. There are inherent risks that come with going there, much less attempting to make a living there. Secondly, she flew from New York to Moscow with two vape cartridges in her luggage. Seriously? Russian officials claim there was hashish oil in them, a crime that comes with a 10-year prison sentence. In the U.S., possession of hash and hash oil is illegal under federal law. So she was breaking the law, in multiple countries. In receiving the ESPYs Humanitarian League of the Year Award, WNBA star Nneka Ogwumike called Griner “an American hero.” Represent her in court? Sure. Hope for her safe return? Absolutely. But make Griner a martyr or our face of courage? Come on, we gotta have better options.

*Wanna chill out at Dallas’ oldest and only bar where both cussing and bras are prohibited? Stan’s Blue Note on Greenville Ave. turns 70 this week. In bar age, that’s like … immortal.

*What the what, COVID? You’re worse than those holiday pounds that refuse to leave. If President Joe Biden’s diagnosis wasn’t a grim reminder that the virus is still alive and well, media attending this weekend’s XFL press conferences at Texas Live! in Arlington are required to go underdo a COVID-19 test. A “35-minute COVID-19 test upon check-in.” As of Thursday, Texas Health and Human Services reported that 7.3 million Texans still had COVID. Ugh overload.

*This Weekend? Friday let’s sneak in a round of golf before NFL training camps open next week. Saturday let’s hang out with Big Brothers Big Sisters lil’ bro Ja. Sunday let’s do a little run/walk around White Rock Lake, come high water (extremely unlikely) or Hell (in the form of 102 degrees). As always, don’t be a stranger.