Injuries to Dirk Nowitzki and Andrew Bogut have depleted the Mavericks’ front line, but at least their backcourt is getting healthy, writes Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. Seth Curry returned to the lineup and played 25 minutes Friday night. Deron Williams no longer has a minutes restriction, while Devin Harris is playing, although he is still limited to 20 minutes per game. “I was a little careful with [Curry] with the minutes in his first game back,” said coach Rick Carlisle. “I thought considering he’d been out nine days, he did fine. Having that extra guy at the guard position really alleviates a minutes crunch. And it helps Devin’s situation, too.”
There’s more news out of Dallas:
- Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni can sympathize with the Mavericks because he has experience in trying to run a team with an injured star, Sefko notes in a separate story. D’Antoni coached the Lakers in 2013/14 when Kobe Bryant was limited to six games. “It’s tough. You have a big part of your team for the last 15 years or whatever Dirk’s played,” D’Antoni said. “Not being there, there’s no way around it. When you have a superstar that good, you can’t get around it. We’re not going to feel sorry for them, but it’s not a great thing to go through, that’s for sure.”
- Nowitzki can’t turn this year’s Mavericks into a playoff team, claims Tim Cowlishaw of The Dallas Morning News. Cowlishaw says the team wasn’t built to withstand the wave of injuries it suffered early in the year. He adds that the main concern now should be seeing how much value the Mavericks can get for Bogut and some of the other veterans.
- Owner Mark Cuban sees parallels between his team and the cross-town Cowboys, who came off an injury-filled season and now have the NFL’s best record, relays Adam Grosbard of The Dallas Morning News. Cuban says the Mavericks have players who can be successful, but they need to find a new franchise player the way the Cowboys did. “We feel that we got some pieces that can be good pieces on a great team,” he said. “But we still need that superstar starter for the future.”
Mavs17 Jahlil Okafor or Nerlens Noel. Mavs desperately need a young center to build with. Problem is, there’s none for certain in this year’s draft. Definitely none worth drafting where they’ll be. Need to give up that pick to the sixers for either Noel or Okafor. They went hard after DeAndre Jordan in ’15. Noel is a very similar player.
Noel is more of a defender, I’d go with Okafor, but Dallas doesn’t have the assets to get him, if Philly were to trade him. Noel is the one they deal, I’m sure. Embid is untouchable at this point.