It's a bright, sunny, summer-like day in Dallas, TX today. If you didn't look at the calendar you would have a hard time determining whether it's March, June, or October. There's not a cloud in the sky, but if you look towards downtown you can still see a little haze, and it's not just from the pollution we spew into the atmosphere on a daily basis. No, this particular haze is all that's left of an ugly, black could that has been hanging over American Airlines Center since the NBA's best regular season team fell apart and lost in the first round of the playoffs.

The atmosphere inside the arena is much different. Many of the players have been in town for weeks, some are just coming in, but all of them have an air of confidence as they prepare for the start of training camp. 

Devin Harris was all smiles as we talked about his contract extension and his long-term future as a Dallas Maverick, but he admitted that it's been a long summer having to live with them memory of that first round tragedy.

"It has been a long summer," admits the Mavs' point guard. "I don't think we'll ever forget it. You want to keep that fresh in your mind so you can know what things can happen if you don't prepare well enough and if we don't play to our potential. I think we may have peaked a little too soon and we didn't come into the playoffs hitting on all cylinders. That's something we look to correct this year."

A big part of correcting that will be the play of forward Josh Howard, who has shown remarkable improvement in each of his four seasons in the NBA. When teams came calling this summer to see what Dallas had to offer most of them had Howard on their mind - and it made their conversations with Donnie Nelson very brief. Josh is the heart and soul of this team, and will likely be the key to success in 2007-08.

"I'm focused on staying comfortable out there," Howard said of his summer workout. I'm doing anything and everything I can to help my team win. I've been working on my shot, as always, and just trying to get to the point where it's consistent so I can help Dirk (Nowitzki) and Jet (Terry)."

It's a credit to this organization that they turned away trade proposals, even for big names, in order to keep their core group together. The temptation was certainly there to make major changes after a major collapse in the playoffs, but this is still a young team and young teams make mistakes. Mark Cuban, Nelson, and Avery Johnson chose to stick with their young team and let them have at least one more shot at winning a title together.

"It shows that they believe in us," says Harris. "Obviously, we know what it takes in this locker room and the guys have confidence in each other. That's where it starts. We can't worry about the outside world. We got to the Finals with this core group before and we know we can do it again. All it takes is us having the confidence in ourselves and in each other to believe we can do it again and it starts from there."

"I just think we need to finish off the seasons," adds Howard. "We didn't have a strong outing the last month. When the playoffs come around, Coach always says it's a new season, the third season, because we have preseason, regular season, and the playoffs are the third season. We just need to finish the seasons and stay mentally tough. I think we all let up as a team and Golden State crept in and beat us."

That's all behind the Dallas Mavericks now. The dark cloud over downtown is now more of a foggy mist. Fans are beginning to feel that hope, that excitement, once again. It's September and NBA junkies are about to get their fix. The temptation in Dallas is to start thinking about June before we even get to October, but Devin Harris cautions that the journey is as important as the result.

"Each season is a long journey and is starts in training camp. I think the more we go through the regular season and learn more about each other the better off we'll be. We can't expect to win every game, though that's what we'd like to do, but we need to look to our bench and try to make it deeper so when we get to the playoffs we can go really deep and compete and leave it all out on the floor. It starts with training camp."

Training camp is just a week and a half away. It's time for the Mavericks and their fans to wash away the old memories and start making some new ones.

Be sure to visit the main page: http://www.hoopsworld.com and see the recent video interviews with Devin Harris, Josh Howard - and check the archives for Jason Terry, assistant coach Joe Prunty, Erick Dampier, DJ Mbenga, and more!