Rookie guard Tyrell Terry is back with the Mavericks after missing the past eight weeks due to a personal matter, according to Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News. Terry, the 31st pick in last year’s draft, has played just 11 games for Dallas. He was in the G League bubble with the Memphis Hustle in February, then left the Mavericks on March 17 to deal with personal issues.
Terry has been going through light workouts to regain his conditioning and isn’t in uniform for tonight’s game, Caplan adds. He hasn’t been in an NBA game since late January, and it’s uncertain if he’ll play at all before the season ends Sunday.
“It’s unlikely that he’ll dress (for) any of these three games because he’s been out for quite a while,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “But I shouldn’t say that’s 100%, either. We’ll have to see what our numbers look like.”
There’s more from Dallas:
- After leaving Tuesday’s game with soreness in his right heel, Mavericks guard J.J. Redick won’t play any more during the regular season, tweets Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com. “He’s getting his right heel evaluated and then we’ll see where we are,” Carlisle said.
- Mavericks big man Kristaps Porzingis is playing tonight for just the second time since April 22, tweets Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. Porzingis, who has been dealing with soreness in his right knee, is on a minutes restriction, but Carlisle refused to specify what the limit is (Twitter link). Carlisle said Porzingis “understands it’s about helping the team win games but also getting him back” on the court and preparing for the postseason. He added that the team has determined its best lineups are with Porzingis at power forward, rather than center (Twitter link).
- In an interview with Marca, a Spanish sports publication, Porzingis denied having any disputes with Luka Doncic (translation from Alessandro Maggi of Sportando). “I’ve never had any problems with my teammates off the court, I’ve always gotten along very well with them,” Porzingis said. “I don’t know what (team owner Mark) Cuban was talking about. I try to be as professional as possible, do what I have to do and be a soldier for the team.” In a recent radio interview, Cuban suggested there had been “dust-ups” between the two stars, relays Sam Quinn of CBS Sports.
Hmmm … Porzingis calling out Cuban in a foreign rag – I’m betting Dallas at least attempts to do an overhaul of this roster around Luka this offseason.
I’ve been saying for a while that KP is at his best playing next to a traditional center…even a traditional center with an incomplete game. KP was probably at his best playing next to Enes Kanter. Luka is at his best playing 5 out. I would say the Mavs can play 5 out with KP at center if Luka is on the court, but swap out Luka for Brunson and all of a sudden KP is not strong enough a center to keep the other team off the offensive glass. It would help the Mavs if they get a near all star level power forward that can pick and pop/roll…if the Mavs had a young Paul Milsap they could keep KP at center basically full time. Obviously Luka is the bigger star and the Mavs should do their best to build a 5 out roster around him. 5 out is the best system for the modern NBA rules, but only when a team has the personnel. When Luka sits it’s gonna be hard for the Mavs to play 5 out, but they can build a bench team around KP/Brunson and traditional center like Kanter that is a top 3 bench team in the league.