Mavericks' forward Josh Howard took a step towards reconstructing his reputation on Monday when he issued a public apology for his summer transgressions.

"The last five months, it was just me not concentrating on my job," Howard said.

He didn't make any excuses and blamed no one but himself.

His teammates are ready to forget about the drama and just play some basketball.

"Josh is so talented in the open court," Jason Kidd said. "If we can get him out on the run, it'll make the game better for everybody."

Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban has revealed that several of his players came to him and said they wanted to be traded if Avery Johnson returned as the team's head coach in 2008-2009, the Dallas Morning News is reporting.

"I knew after I had so many people asking to be traded," Cuban said. "I mean, I had to deal with either the players and moving them or the coach and moving him."

Johnson was let go after the season and has since been replaced by former Coach of the Year Rick Carlisle.

Dirk Nowitzki hasn't played a game for Coach Rick Carlisle yet, but heading into the season he appears happy with the Mavericks' coaching change, according to Dallas Morning News.

"I had a good time with Avery [Johnson]," Nowitzki said Thursday. "But sometimes I wish we had communicated a little more. We all know Avery ran a little dictatorship here. I think this league is still a league of players, not a coach's league."

Johnson's regimented style and lack of offensive creativity wore down Nowitzki and his teammates.

"Avery had a really strong will of what should go on out there, and he controlled the game a lot. I don't think there was enough movement going on," Dirk added. "People were just sitting on our stuff, especially in the playoffs. We just couldn't score enough."

"I don't think we got enough easy stuff, either on the break or on cuts. Everything was post-ups or contested shots. It wasn't easy. I don't want to use this year to bash Avery. He took us to the Finals and did a phenomenal job. He came in and brought fire and enthusiasm."

Because Jason Kidd is in the final year of his contract and is not in a position of strength to negotiate a new deal, he could potentially be an attractive chip on the trade market.

"I'm not so much thinking about the contract," Kidd said. "I will let the work speak for itself. If I go out and have a good season, then maybe Mark will talk to Jeff about the extension. My play will dictate what happens."

"That's why there were no talks, rumblings or anyone who was upset over the summer. It didn't make sense for either side."

The Mavericks are hoping that the arrival of Rick Carlisle in town will revitalize the team, especially aging point guard Jason Kidd, according to Dallas Morning News.

"Automatically," Jason Terry said of whether the team's attitude has changed. "It's obvious, if we come back and play the way we played the last two years, the system wasn't bad, but now you've changed the roster. So we needed to go in a different direction."

Carlisle also brought three new assistants to Dallas with him.

"It's going to be really important to keep the fresh approach," new assistant Coach Dwane Casey said. "Avery did a great job of tightening the ship, and he and Nellie [previous coach Don Nelson] were so different. We want to keep it simple."

Terry believes that having Kidd for more than two months is going to make a huge difference for the Mavericks.

"You look at Jason Kidd, and we had him for two months," Terry said. "This is one of the greatest point guards to ever play the game. And two months is really cheating us."

"Now we're going to have him through training camp, and he's going to put his stamp on this team."

Mavericks' Coach Rick Carlisle says that he will address the latest media frenzy surrounding forward Josh Howard in training camp, according to Star-Telegram.

"It?s something he?s going to have to address before training camp," Carlisle said. "I can talk to you about his summer of basketball, which has been great. This other thing is something that he?s going to have to address when he?s back here."

Howard was recently seen disrespecting the national anthem in a viral YouTube video.

With the incident raging, Carlisle did have a lengthy one-on-one discussion with Howard. Mark Cuban and President of Basketball Operations Donnie Nelson also have spoken candidly with Howard, who can likely expect to be on a tight leash this season.

Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban commented on the situation surrounding Josh Howard and realizes the forward's comments about the national anthem were wrong, according to Associated Press.

In his blog, Cuban also responded to e-mails he has received commenting on the player's remarks by saying Howard "will work with us" and "beyond that, it's a private issue."

Cuban posted a number of the inflammatory replies on his blog site Thursday night, with the e-mail addresses of the senders.

By Friday night, Cuban's remarks slugged, "Thanks for the advice on Josh" had been removed from the blog and replaced with a posting saying, "I made my point."

Jason Kidd's agent did not discuss a contract extension with Mark Cuban over the summer, and the point guard is at peace with that.

"I'm OK with playing it out," said Kidd.  "And I'm excited. I like my situation in Dallas. I have an owner who is aggressive, in the sense that he wants to win. So I'm confident we'll be pretty good. I'm sitting in a good seat."

The Mavericks received several off-season trade offers for Josh Howard, but almost all of them were not deemed worthy of consideration. Team officials have said repeatedly they're not interested in trading Howard.

"Josh really is a good guy with a great heart," said Mark Cuban. "He just doesn't do a good job of showing that side of himself publicly. We will work on that."

Mavericks' forward Josh Howard was filmed disrespecting the American National Anthem, and the video was posted on YouTube.

Howard is shown at Allen Iverson's charity flag football game in July. When the national anthem is being sung, various participants are shown mugging for the camera. When the camera gets to Howard, he says, "'The Star-Spangled Banner' is going on. I don't celebrate this [expletive]. I'm black."

The Mavericks claim they already knew about the incident, and owner Mark Cuban dealt with it back in July when it happened.

"That said, we will be going through some advanced communication-skill sessions together this training camp," Cuban said Tuesday. "I have explained to him that cellphone cameras are not your friend and that what you think you said on camera is never what people will hear when it shows up on YouTube or TV."