[SlimParticipant]

Question: How did you perceive the hype around James, Bosh and Wade?
Answer: That was sheer lunacy. I flew back at the end of June, because I was also a free agent. The hell broke loose. There were updates every 10 or 15 minutes on the internet: Breaking news, he is going there!
–
Question: Did you follow that on the internet closely?
Answer: Well, a bit. But it was also a weird time for me, because I didn’t know what I will do. But now I’m happy to stay in Dallas. Obviously I thought about the options I had, but for me staying in Dallas was the right decision. I extended my contract for another 4 years, and I still hope that our dream comes true – the championship. We were close in 2006, but obviously not in the last couple of years. But I think we can make something happen within the next 4 years to be back at the top.

But it is lunacy what Miami did. With James, Bosh and Wade all on one team. You have to congratulate Miami for them being able to have that much capspace to pull that off. That was a really good job. They went from being a normal playoff team to a contender over night.
–
Question: Did you get concrete offers? What teams?
Answer: Yes, I mean I wanted to stay in Dallas. There were different offers, but I don’t want to talk about that in detail. It would have to be an incredible situation, for example going somewhere with LeBron or playing with Wade in Miami. But even then I would have had to think a lot about that whether I really want to leave Dallas, because I really feel comfortable in Dallas. Everything fits in Dallas for me. Therefore it was the right decision to stay. There weren’t any super options and I feel good about my decision to stay for the next 4 years in Dallas.
–
Question: How about other teams? The Chicago Bulls could have used a PF like you? Or the Nets? Did you consider those teams?
Answer: It wouldn’t have made any sense to join a team which only has 3 or 4 players under contract and I would have had the same situation as in Dallas. Only to go to Chicago to be in the same situation like in Dallas, would have made no sense to me. Given that I much rather stayed in Dallas.
–
For me to consider leaving Dallas the situation offered must have been incredible. If, for example, James and Wade would have called me: “Hey, do you want to come to Miami”. That would have been a situation I had hard to think about (I would have considered strongly). But I don’t need to go to another team just for changing the team. The situation in Dallas is still very good, and nothing unbelievable came up. The problem is that no one is able to guarantee me a championship.
—————-

[Author]

Posts