Dallas Mavericks 2001-02 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Santa Clara

Nash shot an amazing 89.5 percent from the free throw line in the 2000-01 season. By the end of his career, Nash was a 2-time MVP, 8-time all star, and played more than 1,200 games, but never won a championship.

Answer: Donnell Harvey

Nash is from South Africa (But holds Canadian citizenship), Zhizhi is from China and Najera is from Mexico. Tariq Abdul-Wahad (France), and Dirk Nowitzki (Germany) were also on that roster. Wahad changed his name from Olivier Michael Saint-Jean during his career.
Shawn Bradley is a U.S. citizen, but was born on a U.S. Army base in Germany.

Answer: Greg Buckner

Nash and Finley came from Phoenix in the Jason Kidd trade. Griffin originally played for the Boston Celtics.

Buckner joined the Mavericks in 1999 and left in 2002: he went on to play for the 76ers, Nuggets, Timberwolves and Grizzlies.

Answer: Tim Hardaway

Hardaway played for University of Texas El Paso.

Tariq Abdul-Wahad (formerly known as Olivier Michael Saint-Jean), and Juwan Howard both went to Michigan. Charlie Bell went to Michigan State, Evan Eschmeyer went to Northwestern, and Michael Finley went to Wisconsin. The team was full of Big 10 talent in season 2001-02.

Tim Hardaway Jr. would later play for Michigan in the Big 10, and spent several seasons with the Mavericks.

Answer: Johnny Newman

Manning had been in the league for 13 years. Hardaway was next with 11, Howard had seven years in at that time.

Newman was a journeyman, having played for seven teams in his 15 seasons. He played for New York, New Jersey, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Cleveland and Denver, before spending the final 47 games of his career (his shortest stint) with Dallas. In 1,159 games, Newman averaged 11 points per game.

Answer: Michael Finley

That was Finley's second all star game. Tim Hardaway, Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Juwan Howard, Nick Van Exel, and Danny Manning were all either former or future all stars on that roster.
They were led by coach Don Nelson.

Answer: Dirk Nowitzki

Nowitzki averaged 9.9 boards per game. Bradley, although 7 feet 6 inches, only averaged 3.3 per game. Howard was second on the team with 7.4, he tied with Raef LaFrentz per game. But Howard played 53 games to LaFrentz's 25. Zhizhi had just 2 rebounds per game that season.

Answer: Derek Harper

The team was lead by head coach Don Nelson, and assistants, Rolando Blackman, Del Harris, Sidney Moncrief, Charlie Parker and Donnie Nelson. Brad Davis was in charge of player development, and Roger Hinds was the athletic trainer. Harper had last played in the NBA in 1999, for the Lakers, but was not coaching that season.
The team finished with a 57-25 record, good enough for second in the Midwest Division.

Answer: Avery Johnson

Buckner was drafted by the Mavericks in 1999. Griffin came to Dallas via Boston in 2001. Bradley was acquired in a trade with the Nets in 1997.

Johnson was picked up midseason. At 36-years-old he was at the end of a career that had seen him win a championship with the Spurs in 1999. He played just 17 games with the Mavs that season, but returned for another year in 2001-02. In college, Johnson played for Cameron University, Southern University and New Mexico Junior College.

After his playing days were over, Johnson was an assistant coach with Dallas from 2004-05 and the head coach from 2005-08.

Answer: Muggsy Bogues

Bogues never played a game for the Mavericks. He was traded to the team in August of 2001, during the offseason. He was cut from the team, and never played in the NBA again. At the time he left the league, Bogues was the shortest player to ever play in the NBA at 5 feet 3 inches tall. Bogues played just three games in Toronto the prior year. In all, Bogues played 14 seasons in the NBA. He averaged 7.7 points per game over his career, along with 7.6 assists. Bogues was selected second overall in the 1987 United States Basketball League draft by the Rhode Island Gulls. Then in 1988 he was drafted 12th overall in the NBA by the Washington Bullets.

Johnson was a late season pick-up and Hardaway was the team's starting point guard for most of the season. Webb never played for the Mavericks, but was another short NBA player in the 1980s and 90s.