Southwest Notes: Williams, Parsons, McGee, Butler

Deron Williams admits he bought into the idea of himself as a reduced player the past few seasons with the Nets, but both he and Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle are optimistic about what the 31-year-old point guard can do in Dallas, as Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com details.

“I want to prove myself wrong,” Williams said Monday. “I started to doubt myself in the past. Mentally, it took a toll on me. I just got to get out of that rut that I was in the last couple years mentally, and I look forward to this situation. I think I’m past that. This fresh start has definitely helped that a lot. I’m looking forward to this year. It’s a better situation.”

The Mavs invested a two-year, $11MM deal in the hopes that Williams can indeed perform better. See more on the Mavs and their Southwest Division rivals:

• Chandler Parsons spoke about his close relationship with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban in an interview with GQ’s Alex Wong that further addressed the Mavs’ failed effort to recruit DeAndre Jordan this summer. “He didn’t do anything illegal. I’m not mad at him,” Parsons said of Jordan. “At the end of the day, he’s a grown man and he’s entitled to do whatever he wants,” Parsons says. “He’s one of the best young centers in the NBA, and I wanted to play with him. He could have made us great. But he screwed us over.”
• JaVale McGee is unlikely to be healthy enough to play at the start of the regular season, MacMahon tweets. McGee, who continues to recover from a recurring stress fracture in his left tibia, has a partially guaranteed contract, and his continued place on the Mavs roster depends on how other players perform in camp, MacMahon says. McGee’s partial guarantee of $250K jumps to $500K if he remains under contract through the end of business today.
• Rasual Butler‘s deal with the Spurs is non-guaranteed for the minimum salary and only covers this season, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
• Jeff Adrien‘s one-year, minimum salary contract with the Pelicans is non-guaranteed, reports Pincus also reports (Twitter link). The team’s non-guaranteed pact with Corey Webster is for two years, not three, as initially reported, Pincus reveals.