I came to catch up on Mavs info only to find pages of playground antics.

Can we get back to normal basketball talk folks!

Man, this thread is worse than the GB.

I think the Mavs got great value with Larkin. ACC Player of the Year. I think the last time we had one of those it was Josh Howard. I'm hearing Larkin is a JJ type. Sounds good to me. Calderon and Larkin sounds like a good combo at PG.

Getting Monta Ellis should take some of the pressure off Dirk.

I think we need another 3 and another big man.

I'm interested in seeing how Crowder and James do in their 2nd season. Both have a lot of potential.

What's the word on Cunningham?

Cunningham is no longer with us.

We need another 4 and 2 big men. and probably another 2.

Dalembert, Wright, and James [and possibly the resurrected knees of Oden] could be a serviceable frontcourt rotation next to Dirk. Not great, but better than the poop sandwich we threw out there last season.

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I think the Mavs got great value with Larkin. ACC Player of the Year.

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I agree. It's kind of a bummer that his ankle fell off and he'll miss the summer league -- he really could have used that time to develop, especially considering Carlisle's propensity to never play any rookies ever under any circumstances.

By my count:

PG: Calderon, Larkin, Mekel
SG: Ellis, Ledo, Ellington
SF: Marion, Carter, Crowder
PF: Dirk
C:

Never thought I would say this, but I hope we get Oden.

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Cunningham is no longer with us.

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Ah. I didn't realize he was part of the trade to get Larkin.

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/mavericks/post/_/id/4696509/mavs-trade-down-again-dump-cunningham

In a game focused on tall guys, we have no tall guys.

Actually James has looked pretty okay to me when he's been in and the Mavs always seem to do better when Wright is in the lineup as compared to when he is not. Not sure why he didn't get more minutes.

Speaking of minutes, anyone know why Dalembert had so little minutes last year?

Not sure I would want Wright playing more than 20-25 minutes/game. He can be effective in small doses as your energy big off the bench, but I think that's pretty much his ceiling.

Good point. I see now where he averaged 18 min a game and 8.5 points. I thought he had less minutes than that.

[This message has been edited by AgBeliever (edited 7/16/2013 1:47p).]

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Speaking of minutes, anyone know why Dalembert had so little minutes last year?

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Larry Sanders is better would be my guess

True but his minutes have been going down for the last 5 years. Looks like he only averaged 16 min a game last season.

For what is supposedly the best available center, he doesn't seem like much. 6 pts and 6 boards a game. Kind of think the Mavs may be better off just resigning Brand.

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Kind of think the Mavs may be better off just resigning Brand.

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He's a Hawk

Instead of Dalembert or Brand, I kind of think the Mavs may be better off just signing Dwight Howard

Looks like they still are interested in Harris. After they address their center issue, they will probably extend an offer to him.

http://espn.go.com/dallas/nba/story/_/id/9482655/dallas-mavericks-devin-harris-trying-work-new-deal-sources

Kind of thought Cleveland was a little crazy with that offer to Bynum. but this Oden thing may end up being more crazy.

Need more guards imo.

Do the Mavs have enough cap space to offer Pekovic $12-15?

No, but that's a good question. Guy would perfect for us. He's a player.

After watching the Israeli pg play in the summer league game yesterday, we may need Harris. That guy looked awful, seemed very unathletic. I didn't watch much of the game, but from the parts I saw, I don't understand why we signed him at all, much less to a multi-year deal. Hopefully our front office knows something I don't.

Mekel had 7 assists in the first quarter but only 2 the rest of the game.

Looks like we agreed to a deal with Dalembert.

Dalembert is a good pairing with Dirk. This team will be decent if Dirk recovers some pre-injury form, which I expect he will.

Oh Cubes...

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/228979/Cuban-Mavericks-Better-Off-Without-Howard

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Cuban: Mavericks Better Off Without Howard

Mark Cuban believes the Dallas Mavericks are in a more advantageous position without Dwight Howard.

"I think we've put ourselves in a spot where we're in a better spot than we were at if we got just the one max-out deal," Cuban said. "I think it'd be better shorter and longer term. I don't want to make that sound the wrong way. I think we'll be better this year because we added five good players or more."

The Mavericks have signed Jose Calderon, and agreed to terms with Monta Ellis, Wayne Ellington and Samuel Dalembert. Dallas is also close to finalizing a deal with Devin Harris.

"Obviously we didn't get Dwight," Cuban said. "We took a chance, and it didn't happen. I think we put together a really good team. It sticks within the culture we've tried to define. We've dealt with some of the weaknesses we had from last year. Hopefully if we stay healthy, good things will happen."

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So, Ellington, Calderon, Ellis, Dalembert and Harris is better than Dwight Howard...

I'm not excited about this team, but I'm glad we didn't get Howard. I don't think this team is better without him

I don't blame Cuban for saying that, regardless of how true it is. His job is to make the team as good as he can and sell as many tickets as he can. He's done both with what he has.

I don't think this team will be any good, but I do think they'll be fun to watch. We have a bunch of guys who don't play any defense, plus Dalembert. At least this season will be more interesting than last.

Ricky Ledo is putting together a pretty good game today against GSW.

Heard some talk on Calderon. Basically that he will get the ball where Carlisle wants it to be. He may not be a Kidd or Nash, but he'll be better for us than Collison.

1 - Calderon
2 - Ellis
3 - Marion
4 - Dirk
5 - Dalembert

Not exactly a terrible starting lineup. Larkin, Carter, Crawford, Ellington, Wright and James, and maybe Harris will give quality depth.

Eh, could be a 500 club or even a little better with Carlisle coaching and Dirk at 100%.

[This message has been edited by AgBeliever (edited 7/22/2013 8:58a).]

Just an FYI, I saw Bernard James was waived the other day.

Ellis driving and dishing to Calderon/Dirk for 3 will be entertaining.

James cleared waivers and is expected to resign with Dallas once everything plays out

Brandan Wright signed. 2 Yrs, $10 mm. Seems like a bit of an overpay, considering his other options at this point in the offseason.

Any idea if this move should be credited to Cuban or the new GM?

Maybe a little but he's a high energy player that was our 2nd best player in the plus-minus stat last year (+100). Behind only Carter (+241). Dirk was 3rd(+56). Marion was the lowest at (-161) which I found weird.

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nba/stats/individual-player-plus-minus-statistics/2012/

The problem with Wright, as Dan said earlier, is that he is only going to give you around 20-25 min a game.

Still though, a rotation of Wright, Dalembert and James all playing around 20 min, with Dirk playing 35 or so, is not a bad big man rotation.