David McDavid is excited about a phone call he got recently.

"Nellie called the other day and said out of the blue, 'I love your team,' " McDavid says, Nellie being Dallas Mavericks coach and general manager Don Nelson, and the team being the Hawks, still AOL's but apparently soon to be McDavid's.

"Nellie said, 'You're one player away, maybe two, from really being something,' " McDavid goes on. "That was an unsolicited thing that made me feel good, because Nellie is critical. He doesn't have a reputation for calling you up and saying something just to make you feel good."

Now, I know what you're thinking: The one or two players Nellie had in mind must have been Tim Duncan and/or Jason Kidd.

But Nelson's scouting report isn't really the point.

The point is . . . McDavid sounds excited and rarin' to go.