Southwest Notes: Curry, Carlisle, Asik, Anderson

With a famous father and an even more famous brother, Seth Curry is working to build his own reputation in his first season with the Mavericks, writes Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com. After limited opportunities with three teams, Curry began to show what he can do in 44 games with the Kings last season, averaging 6.8 points per night and shooting 45% from 3-point range. That potential turned into a two-year, $6MM offer from Dallas and the chance for an expanded role with a veteran team. The son of 16-year veteran Dell Curry and brother of two-time MVP Stephen Curry, Seth has the family pedigree to be a great NBA shooter. “He could legitimately play both guard positions, and he’s going to be a factor for us,” said Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle. “He’s better than I thought he was, and he’s at an age where he’s still getting better really at both positions, so I’m excited about him.”

There’s more from the Southwest Division:

• Carlisle says seven players are competing for two open roster spots, Sneed relays (Twitter link). Dallas has 14 players in camp with fully guaranteed contracts, but it sounds like at least one – likely Jonathan Gibson – has yet to lock up a regular-season job.
• Pelicans center Omer Asik started 64 of the 68 games he appeared in last season, but that number will drop this year, according to John Reid of The Times Picayune. Coach Alvin Gentry said today that he plans to use Anthony Davis in the post more often and not worry about having a traditional center. Alexis Ajinca and Terrence Jones may also be used in the starting lineup, depending on the opponent. That means fewer minutes for Asik, who is still guaranteed more than $32MM over the next three seasons on the contract he signed last summer. ”Last season really left a bad taste, so we are really working hard to change that,” Asik said. ”My whole focus this summer was to get better physically and get stronger.”
• New Rockets power forward Ryan Anderson is happy to leave behind the Pelicans‘ offense, writes Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo Sports. Anderson, one of the league’s best shooting stretch fours, saw his average of 3-point shots dip to 5.6 per game over the last two years after being close to 7.0 the three previous seasons. That number should rise dramatically now that he is playing for coach Mike D’Antoni in Houston. “I’ve had more wide-open looks in our pickup games here than I’ve had in the past four years, probably,” Anderson said.