DALLAS _ There's one more clean-up move for owner Mark Cuban to do and we can close out the books on the 1980s Dallas Mavericks.
It's time to put No. 24, Mark Aguirre, up in the rafters.
There are only three jerseys in the rafters, Brad Davis, Rolando Blackman and Derek Harper. Harper had his jersey retired Sunday night.
Whatever rift that developed between Aguirre and head coach Dick Motta years ago, whatever the response the front office gave to that problem that forced Motta to quit, whatever issues that forced the Mavericks to trade a 29-year-old Aguirre to Detroit, need to be buried once and for all.
Without Aguirre, who averaged 18.7 points in his rookie season of 1981-82, the Mavericks might have been a defunct franchise by now.
We wouldn't know Dirk Nowitzki. We wouldn't get a potential theatrical presidential run out of Cuban and we likely wouldn't see the management that has led to a third cycle for Dallas that includes Dennis Smith Jr. and perhaps Harrison Barnes as a centerpiece.
By the mid-1980s, even owner Don Carter wondered if his expansion team would survive in a football town.
But a huge part of that success, more like an understated part of that success, was what Aguirre did on the floor.
He arguably owns every red-letter day of that era, which includes prolific performances that brought towel-waving crowds to their feet at Reunion Arena.
Which one do you want?
_ A franchise statement in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals in 1986 when Aguirre's 25 first-quarter points allowed the Mavericks to even the series with the Showtime Lakers of Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson and James Worthy?
_ How about 27 points in the third quarter of Game 4 of the 1988 first-round playoffs against the Houston Rockets?
_ There's also Jan. 28, 1985, the night he poured in a career-high 49 points on Dr. J and the 76ers in Philadelphia. That's the night Aguirre found out that the Western Conference coaches had left him off their All-Star team.
Aguirre's career numbers in Dallas are superb. He averaged 24.6 points per game, 5.7 rebounds, shot 49.2 percent from the field.
Aguirre's scoring average, had his career been judged just by his days in Dallas alone, would have placed him inside the top 15 all-time scoring averages of the NBA's best.
So, Mark, what's the holdup?
It's time to put Aguirre, third on the Maverick's all-time scoring list in field goals and total points in just eight seasons, in the space where he really belongs.
