Always a Maverick: Nick Van Exel was known as much for his difficult attitude as his trademark hot streaks until he was traded to Dallas last season. Now, the fire in his belly has ignited the Mavericks' run to the Western Conference finals

Sporting News, The, May 26, 2003 by Sean Deveney

"I can't say enough about Nick," Nelson says. "He has been my best player in the playoffs. I love the guy. He has been able to raise his level in the playoffs, in the pressure of big games, and not many are able to do that."

Maybe all Van Exel needed was a clean slate. The attitude and nonchalance that haunted him in the draft 10 years ago can be rehashed. We can discuss the problems he and Harris had in Los Angeles, but Harris is now an assistant with the Mavericks, and there have been no problems. As for the whiny trade demands last year, if Van Exel comes across as a spoiled athlete, so be it. Maybe he is, but his transgressions are in the past. He is with a team that is nearing championship caliber and has a chance to show it is already there. He has been nothing but a model citizen.

"I'm just doing what I have been doing for 10 years" Van Exel says. "We're winning. That's all that matters."

If Van Exel has mellowed, though, part of the credit goes to little-used veteran point guard Avery Johnson, who was part of the Dallas-Denver trade (along with Mavericks center Raef LaFrentz and forward Tariq Abdul-Wahad) last February and has become something of a mentor for Van Exel. But heap the credit for level-headedness on Van Exel himself. When the Mavericks acquired him, Nelson, who also is the Mavs' general manager, made no secret of the fact he took Van Exel simply because the Mavericks wanted LaFrenz.

Van Exel has endured a litany of trade rumors in his year and a half with Dallas and has done so with a shrug of the shoulders and a smile. He willingly has accepted his role as backup to Nash. In fact, Van Exel approached Nelson before the season and told the coach he wanted to come off the bench, quickly defusing any potential for controversy. As Nelson points out, Dallas uses Van Exel like a starter. "I like to put him in early and keep him in late," Nelson says.

When Van Exel had knee surgery on November 11 this season, he was expected to miss four to six weeks, but the same player who took it easy through entire seasons in Denver missed just 19 days and says he would have come back earlier if he had been allowed. According to his coaches, he still seems bored at times, but he has shown a sense of duty with this team, unlike in his tours with the Lakers and Nuggets.

Though Van Exel's temper runs cooler these days, he has not become a wilting flower. He was sufficiently ticked off at his teammates following their opening-game 124-113 embarrassment against the Kings two weeks ago to engage in an old-fashioned, locker-room tirade so packed with profanity it would have made a drunken pirate blush. Van Exel indicated that he thought the Mavericks were afraid of the Kings, giving them too much respect. In mock wonder, he told reporters, "Wow, these guys are the greatest thing on this planet. These guys pass the ball so well. They do this so great; they do that so great." Then he shifted and said, "I could care less about that. I want guys who say, '(Forget) these dudes.'"