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After three signings on Friday, the Mavs have 14 players under contract. They have one more vacancy.
Here's the team as it stands on July 11:
PG: Jason Kidd, Keith McLeod, J.J. Barea
SG: Jason Terry, Jerry Stackhouse, Gerald Green, Antoine Wright, Eddie Jones
SF: Josh Howard, James Singleton
PF: Dirk Nowitzki, Brandon Bass
C: Erick Dampier, DeSagana Diop
Antoine Wright signed a two-year contract to return to the Dallas Mavericks on Friday. The former Texas A&M standout is entering his fourth NBA season, the first two-plus were spent playing alongside Jason Kidd in New Jersey. The 6-foot-7 shooting guard was in the midst of his best season as a pro last year as the Nets' sixth man, but his playing time dramatically decreased once he arrived in Dallas as part of the blockbuster deal for Kidd.
Wright's new deal is believed to be around $2 million a season.
Former coach Avery Johnson didn't use Wright much, but when Wright did he get in he displayed an ability to get to the basket and he's always been noted as a pretty good defender. He'll likely enter training camp with a shot at competing for the starting 2-guard job. In 56 games last season, Wright averaged a career-high 6.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 22.0 minutes per game.
The Mavs also signed two summer-league roster players, point guard Keith McLeod and forward James Singleton to one-year deals. McLeod played part of one season for Mavs Coach Rick Carlisle at Indiana and Singleton has NBA experience with the Clippers. Both begin play tonight in Las Vegas with a little more security.
Both played last season overseas. McLeod (6-2, 190) was a member of Montepaschi Siena, the winner of the Italian National Championship in 2007-08. In four games, he averaged 4.5 points, 0.3 rebounds and 0.3 assists in 14.4 minutes in Euroleague play. The four-year pro has played with four NBA teams (Minnesota, Utah, Golden State and Indiana) and holds career averages of 5.5 points, 2.7 assists and 1.3 rebounds in 200 games with 88 starts.
AnOhio native, McLeod played four years of college basketball at Bowling Green State University and finished as the school’s second-leading scorer (1,895 points). He went undrafted in the 2002 NBA Draft.
Singleton (6-8, 230) spent the 2007-08 season with the Spanish National Champion TAU Cerámica. In eight games after coming back from a knee injury, he averaged 3.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 0.5 assists. In Euroleague action, he averaged 3.7 points and 3.1 rebounds in seven games. Prior to that, he spent two seasons (2005-06, 2006-07) with the Clippers. In 112 career games with 10 starts, he has career averages of 2.6 points and 2.7 rebounds in 10.1 minutes a game.
After going undrafted in the 2003 NBA Draft, Singleton signed with Sicc Cucine Jesi and was named All-Italian Lega2 Player of the Year.
-- Jeff Caplan
The Onion had a little fun with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, who apparently is no longer just the owner of the Mavs, but the owner of all of sports. Crazy.
-- Jeff Caplan
The Dallas Mavericks summer team is on its way to the airport for a flight to Las Vegas for the Summer League (yes, they are flying commercial on American, any odds on their flight actually leaving on time?) and Pops Mensah-Bonsu isn't going.
He's been removed from the official team roster because he received two offers from European clubs and is staying behind to discuss his options with his agent. Mensah-Bonsu is on the fringe of making it in the NBA, but there are no guarantees. Playing in Europe in Europe is lucrative and a great opportunity if things don't work out in the NBA.
This is the third consecutive summer that Pops has had ties to the Mavs. This is where he wants to play basketball, but he knows that might not happen. He said he plans to meet the team in Vegas on Saturday and Sunday and get on the floor.
-- Jeff Caplan
The Mavs have added five players to the summer-league team roster and cut one Thursday morning as they wrap up practices this afternoon and head out for Las Vegas to start play Friday night.
Pops Mensah-Bonsu will not be taking the trip. I'm not sure why at the moment, but he's been taken off the team's official roster, which was just updated. Five players who have been practicing with the team weren't guaranteed of going to Las Vegas are now officially going.
Those players are: G Derrick Low, 6-2, Washington State; G Aaron Miles, 6-1, Kansas; F Charles Rhodes, 6-8, Mississippi State; F Marcus Slaughter, 6-9, San Diego State; and G Reggie Williams, 6-4, Virginia Military Institute.
-- Jeff Caplan
Now that the Mavs have their mid-level exception tied into DeSagana Diop and have signed athletic youngster Gerald Green and backup point guard J.J. Barea, where do they go from here?
Negotiations are ongoing with Devean George and Antoine Wright. The Mavs would like to sign both. Wright would be especially good to bring back because at 6-7 and entering his fourth season in the league, Wright is maturing and the Mavs have been looking for a young, good-sized shooting guard who can defend. Wright fits that bill and with his experience playing alongside Jason Kidd for three seasons in New Jersey, he would be a nice piece to have running the wing.
The Mavs' summer league team opens play Friday night in Las Vegas. Seven of the 11 players on the official roster have NBA experience. The Mavs are eager to see draft pick Shan Foster in action. Forward James Singleton, who spent two years with the LA Clippers and last season overseas is another intriguing player the Mavs really seem to like. He's a young, high-energy forward who can rebound and also step out and hit the 3-pointer. He's a definite possibility to sign a contract.
Several other players have a chance to impress, including, but not limited to 3-point specialist Richie Frahm, point guard Keith McLeod and power forward Pape Sow. So with a summer team that has some interesting pieces and a roster that is already well over the luxury tax, meaning the Mavs are on the look out for inexpensive players to round out the 15-man roster, the club might take its time to examine the summer players and then see which free agents fall through the cracks.
It will be difficult for the team to pull off any trades of consequence so what you see now will very likely be the team you see come training camp and beyond.
Here's what the Mavs look like as of now: PG Jason Kidd, PG J.J. Barea, SG Jason Terry, G/F Jerry Stackhouse, G/F Eddie Jones, G/F Gerald Green, SF Josh Howard, PF Dirk Nowitzki, PF Brandon Bass, C Erick Dampier, C DeSagana Diop.
-- Jeff Caplan
Point guard J.J. Barea signed with the Dallas Mavericks today as expected. The third-year player out of Northeastern signed a three-year deal worth about $4.8 million.
The Mavs now have 11 players under contract for next season. Four roster spots remain.
-- Jeff Caplan
The Dallas Mavericks just announced the DeSagana Diop has signed a new contract with the club, which does not release the terms. Diop's deal is for five years for the full mid-level exception. The NBA set that value last night at $5.585 million for next season. With built-in raises, the life of the contract will work out to be about $32.4 million. Not bad for a guy who averaged 3.0 points and 5.0 rebounds last season.
The Mavs, however, are glad to have him to help out Erick Dampier in the middle. Diop, traded to New Jersey in February as part of the Jason Kidd trade, was sorely missed on the defensive end and offensive rebounding during the first round of the playoffs.
-- Jeff Caplan
The NBA's moratorium on signings and trades ended at 11:01 p.m. Tuesday night, which is when the league announced the salary cap and other figures for the 2008-09 season. Here they are, straight from the NBA:
The Salary Cap for the 2008-09 season will be $58.680 million. The new Cap goes into effect immediately as the league’s “moratorium period” has ended and teams can begin signing free agents and making trades.
The tax level for the 2008-09 season has been set at $71.150 million. Any team whose team salary exceeds that figure will pay a $1 tax for each $1 by which it exceeds $71.150 million.
The mid-level exception is $5.585 million for the 2008-09 season and the minimum team salary, which is set at 75% of the Salary Cap, is $44.010 million.
For the 2007-08 season, the Salary Cap was set at $55.630 million, the tax level was $67.865 million and the mid-level exception was $5.356 million.
For those wondering, the Mavs' payroll will stand at about $87 million once DeSagana Diop and J.J. Barea sign their deals, which they are expected to do today or very soon after. The Mavs' roster won't be complete however. They continue to pursue Devean George and Antoine Wright, plus other low-salary additions to round out the 15-man roster. So Mark Cuban will be paying heavily for this season.
-- Jeff Caplan
Former Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Joe Prunty has taken an assistant job with the up-and-coming Portland Trail Blazers. Prunty, who served nine years with the San Antonio Spurs in multiple capacities, was hired by Johnson and spent the past three years in Dallas.
But, with Johnson apparently out of coaching next season, Prunty has decided to move on.
There's one more piece to this puzzle, however. As most fans know, Prunty's wife is Mavs TV sideline reporter Laura Green. Will Prunty's move to the beautiful northwest end Green's tenure on the sideline?
-- Jeff Caplan
