Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Terry will return against the Chicago Bulls with a customized mask and a tweaked nickname.

Matt Brown/NBAE/Getty Images Neil Olshey took over the top front office job when Mike Dunleavy was fired. There are only a handful of people with the authority to make consequential personnel decisions in the NBA. Last Tuesday, Neil Olshey joined that fraternity when Mike Dunleavy was fired, and Olshey was promoted to general manager of the Los Angeles Clippers.

  The Mavericks’ trade for Karon Butler and Brendan Haywood seems to be the move of the year in the NBA as the Mavericks have won 13 games in a row . Owner Mark Cuban and general manager Donnie Nelson strengthened there team by adding another scorer in Butler and another inside threat in Haywood.

  The Mavericks’ trade for Karon Butler and Brendan Haywood seems to be the move of the year in the NBA as the Mavericks have won 13 games in a row . Owner Mark Cuban and general manager Donnie Nelson strengthened there team by adding another scorer in Butler and another inside threat in Haywood.

Photo: Catherine Steenkeste Amadou Gallo Fall, pictured with Spurs general manager R.C. Buford, is heading up the NBA’s new office in Johannesburg

Photo: John Marcus Jonathan Kraft, Mark Cuban, Daryl Morey, Bill Polian, Bill Simmons, Michael Lewis and conference co-founder Jessica Gelman. I heard a ton of raves and very few complaints about the 2010 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. (Although, worth noting ..

It’s one thing for an NBA organization to commit itself to collecting and analyzing advanced statistics, but it’s quite another to get the coaching staff to buy in. Zach Lowe of Celtics Hub attended the panel on Saturday at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference on coaching analytics. Lowe reports that much of the discussion on the panel focused on the Dallas Mavericks’ playoffs successes and failures while Avery Johnson implemented the findings of Wayne Winston, who was working for the Mavs as a consultant: Before [Avery] Johnson was hired in Dallas, he says, the basic box score “was my Bible.” He never thought beyond the basic stats — points in the paint, field-goal percentage, free throw differential

Bob Ford of The Philadelphia Inquirer: “Well, that was fun. The nonstop thrill ride that was Allen Iverson, Part II, came to an end yesterday when 76ers general manager Ed Stefanski announced that Iverson would miss the rest of this exciting NBA season. It was an oddly worded statement in a way, but what hasn’t been odd about the team’s whole misguided dalliance with the past?” Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “Observations from Tuesday’s 110-106 victory over the Warriors at AmericanAirlines Arena: Is there such a thing as an embarrassing victory?

KHAMPHA BOUAPHANH / DMNThe Dallas Mavericks led the New Orleans Hornets by 25 points in the third quarter, but had to slug it out down the stretch to escape with a 108-100 victory Sunday night.

APThe Dallas Mavericks’ victory Friday was the sort of benchmark win that elevates a team’s swagger to anything-is-possible levels.