The Mavericks made several new additions this offseason and coach Rick Carlisle envisions the team playing a different style than it did last season, as he said on 103.3FM ESPN (h/t to Earl K. Sneed of NBA.com). “We’re more physical,” Carlisle said. “You know, [Chandler] Parsons was a guy that is a different kind of player than Barnes, and Parsons was a very good ball-handler and playmaker. You know, I think [Harrison] Barnes can develop into a playmaker, but that has not been his DNA and that has not been what’s been asked of him in Golden State. What I found spending five days in the gym working out with him is that he’s a better ball-handler than most of us would expect, but we’re going to have to ease him into those situations and just kind of go from there.”
Here’s more out of Dallas:
- Dwight Powell signed a four-year deal worth $37MM this offseason, but he remains motivated to improve his game, as Sneed writes in a separate piece. “My job is to be ready for whatever opportunity I find myself presented with and be ready to perform at the highest level,” Powell said. “For me, it’s business as usual. Just in the gym grinding. Hopefully it says that I’m an NBA player, that I belong in the league and that I’m able to perform. I’m willing to work and do whatever it takes to get better. I’m willing to put in the time and the effort and sacrifice to do that to help a team win. Hopefully it’s a positive. I mean, I do work. That’s something I’ve done my whole life and something I was taught at a young age, so it’s part of who I am.”
- Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News takes a look back at the key members of the Mavericks‘ 2011 championship team and examines where they are in their careers now.