Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl
One month into the defense of their title and more than seven months since the Dallas Mavericks won the franchise’s first NBA championship, the personalized hardware has finally arrived.
In a brief ceremony prior to Wednesday night’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, nine current Mavs, plus title team members J.J. Barea (now with the Wolves) and retired sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic, will receive their world championship rings.
The crowd at Monday’s home game got brief glimpses of the ring in a video showing the making of the diamond-encrusted beauties. Not even the players have seen the finished product.
Jason Terry said the thrill of this final championship celebration probably won’t hit until he holds the estimated $40,000 piece of jewelry in his hands.
“We’ve only seen a brief design of it,” Terry said. “Once you get it and see and hold it and touch it, it’s probably like a baby — you know I got four of those — so that’s probably what it’s like.”
Mavs owner Mark Cuban said he paid a total of $1.4 million for the rings for the 15 players and the entire coaching staff. The design is similar to the one chosen by the 2009-10 Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.
One side of the ring will include the player’s name engraved above the team logo with the player’s jersey number. Terry said he also believes the team’s postseason motto, “The Time is Now,” is engraved on the ring.
Cuban, who flirted with going nontraditional and with something other than championship rings, only to be strongly rebuffed by his players and coaches, said his excitement comes from finally having the rings in the building. Cuban waited until after the lockout to have the rings made so he could consult with veteran players, such as Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd, on the design.
Mavs coach Rick Carlisle is part of an exclusive group of people who have won a championship as a player and as a coach. The championship ring from the 1985-86 Boston Celtics team that he keeps locked away in his home will be joined by this one, won in his ninth year as a head coach and with his third team.
“This has been a wonderful trilogy of experiences — the banner, the White House and then the ring ceremony will be great,” Carlisle said. “But we’ve got to be able to go from that feel-good moment to being a bunch of ass-kickers against this team coming in here. These guys beat us pretty convincingly last game, and they’re dangerous. They’re legit, and we’re going to have to be ready.”
With the Mavs quickly closing in on one-third of their 66-game schedule being complete, the title has taken a backseat to the task in front of them. They remember the whipping handed out by the Miami Heat on Christmas Day shortly after the championship banner was raised.
They’ll appreciate the ring ceremony, but winning a fourth consecutive game and third in a row without Nowitzki tops the agenda.
“The moment’s already gone,” Kidd said. “We accomplished that in June and we had our banner raised against Miami. All this is past. This is just icing on the cake in the sense of being able to get the hardware, finally, but this is a new season, so we’re fighting for another ring.”
WRITTEN BY Jeff Caplan covers the Mavericks for ESPNDallas.com & FULL STORY HERE
Follow Jeff Caplan on Twitter:Â @espn_caplan
