During the first round of the playoffs, Josh Howard admitted to smoking marijuana during the offseason when he was on Michael Irvin’s radio show. In a recent interview with Dan Patrick, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban admitted he has tried marijuana in the past.

While Cuban didn’t give Howard a clean pass, he did make it seem like the Mavs weren’t going to punish Howard. It also doesn’t sound like Dallas will look to trade Howard in the offseason.

Howard’s play struggled down the stretch of the season and especially into the playoffs. Some rumors around the team point to ex-coach Avery Johnson partially being at fault. Supposedly Johnson and Howard didn’t see eye to eye at the end of Johnson’s tenure as coach of the Mavs.

Under new coach Rick Carlisle, Howard should be able to regain his All-Star status. His fantasy basketball stock is a bit down due to his poor showing in the playoffs, but expect Howard to make a full fantasy recovery for the 2008-09 season. That is especially true now that Cuban seems to have come to his defense.

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Rick Carlisle has been hired by Mark Cuban to coach the Dallas Mavericks and was signed to a four-year contract. Carlisle replaces the fired Avery Johnson and comes to the Mavs after coaching stops with the Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers.

In terms of fantasy basketball, this news doesn’t immediately affect the fantasy value of the Mavs players one way or another. Carlisle has at times in his coaching career gone with a slow-paced offense, which would hurt fantasy value. However, Carlisle has talked about changing that philosophy. Basically, we’ll have to wait and see how Carlisle decides to run Dallas’ offense before making any judgment.

This season, the Mavs finished the regular season with 51-31 record. In the first round of the playoffs, they took on the New Orleans Hornets. After losing the first two games in New Orleans, the Mavs won Game 3 but then lost Game 4 and Game 5. After being eliminated, Cuban was quick to fire Johnson and begin his coaching search.

While some media reports indicated that Mike D’Antoni could get into the mix, Carlisle ended up being the first and last serious candidate.

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Shortly after the Dallas Mavericks were eliminated from the 2008 NBA playoffs by the New Orleans Hornets, rumors surfaced that Avery Johnson will be fired. Johnson, the head coach of the Mavericks, is just a couple years removed from leading Dallas to the NBA Finals.

However, since that appearance in the Finals, everything has been downhill for Johnson and the Mavs. After getting up 2-0 in the Finals, the Miami Heat came back and won four straight games to claim the NBA championship. Last season, the Mavericks fell to the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs. Now this season, the Mavs again lost in the first round of the playoffs.

While the decision to fire Johnson is questionable, fantasy basketball owners will actually view this move as a positive for the players on the Mavs. Under Johnson, the Mavericks played a slow paced game that concentrated mostly on defense. If Mark Cuban and the Mavs bring in an offensive coach, players such as Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowtizki and Josh Howard could see their fantasy production skyrocket.

Keep an eye on who the Mavs hire to be their new coach if Johnson is indeed fired. If it’s an offensive coach, such as Mike D’Antoni, fantasy owners should definitely take note.

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