Dallas Mavericks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Mavs Notes: Chandler, Powell, Burke, Ntilikina

September 30th, 2021 at 1:13pm CST by Luke Adams

Former Mavericks center Tyson Chandler doesn’t officially have a role on his old team’s coaching staff, but he’s present at training camp and is sharing his knowledge with Dallas’ players, writes Dwain Price of Mavs.com.

“For me, I just want to help in any way I can,” Chandler said. “(Head coach) Jason (Kidd) called me and said, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘Nothing much. Working out.’ And he’s like, ‘Well, come by.’ So I came by and I’m just trying to lend my knowledge and help any way I can.”

Chandler isn’t sure whether he wants his unofficial role with the Mavericks to lead to something more formal down the road. For now though, Kidd is happy to have his former teammate around working with the club’s big men.

“He started helping out, and he wanted to see if he loved it,” Kidd said. “We’re lucky to have someone like that who can help our bigs. It was great to hear players mention him yesterday. That’s a sign of Tyson is doing the right thing.”

Let’s round up a few more Mavs notes…

Dallas’ plan to open the season is to have Dwight Powell starting at center alongside power forward Kristaps Porzingis, Kidd said on Wednesday (link via Eddie Sefko at Mavs.com). Kidd added that he wants to experiment a little with different lineups early in the year “to see what combinations work.”
The Mavericks said earlier this week they’re hoping to get 100% of their roster vaccinated against COVID-19, but guard Trey Burke said on Wednesday that he’s “not trying to rush into a decision,” per Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link). Burke said he wants to learn more about possible long-term effects of the vaccine.
Kidd had a hand in the Mavericks’ decision to sign Frank Ntilikina, having pushed for the move, a source tells Marc Berman of The New York Post (Twitter link).

Porzingis Reportedly Wanted Trade Prior To Coaching Change

September 29th, 2021 at 8:40am CST by Luke Adams

At the end of a disappointing 2020/21 season, Mavericks big man Kristaps Porzingis would have liked to be traded, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon said during an appearance on Brian Windhorst’s Hoop Collective podcast (hat tip to Dan Feldman of NBC Sports). However, according to MacMahon, Porzingis is “coming back optimistic” following a healthy summer and Dallas’ hiring of Jason Kidd as head coach.

“At the end of last year, Porzingis wanted to be traded. My understanding is he feels like he has a fresh start with the coaching change,” MacMahon said, per Feldman. “He’s had the healthy offseason. He has been able to work, not just on his game, but on his body some more. He’s kind of coming back with a refreshed feel.”

Even if the Mavs hadn’t made a coaching change in the spring, MacMahon doesn’t think Porzingis would have come out and asked the team to trade him, recognizing the poor optics of such a move following his up-and-down season. However, it’s not hard to understand why he was frustrated by his role following a first-round playoff loss in which he averaged just 13.1 PPG and 5.4 RPG in seven games (33.3 MPG) and often found himself standing in the corner on offense.

According to MacMahon, Porzingis felt more like an afterthought than a co-star for Luka Doncic under former head coach Rick Carlisle. Kidd visited Porzingis in Latvia over the summer – which the 26-year-old said on Monday was “huge for me” (Twitter link via Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News) – and envisions a more expansive role for the former Knick.

“The simple way to put it is, I want KP to be a basketball player,” Kidd said, adding that he expects Porzingis to start at power forward. “There’s no limitations on just shooting threes. Being able to roll, to be able to shoot the mid-range, to be able to put the ball on the floor — I want him to be who he is, and that’s a basketball player and not just be limited to shooting threes or crashing from the corner. I want him to feel comfortable on the floor in any spot. I think he’s a weapon. He shoots the ball too well not to be able to shoot mid-range shots.”

The Mavs are optimistic that a healthy offseason for Porzingis – who has a history of knee and leg injuries and missed 29 games last season – will position him for a nice bounce-back year in 2021/22, writes MacMahon.

“I think he’s in way better shape this year, especially mentally,” Doncic said of his teammate on Monday. “You can see him having a good time when we’re playing pickup, and I think he’s going to have a great season this year.”

Southwest Notes: Zion, Vaccinations, Temple, Harrison, Brooks

September 27th, 2021 at 1:58pm CST by Luke Adams

Addressing reporters at the Pelicans‘ Media Day on Monday, star forward Zion Williamson expressed a desire to remain with the franchise for the foreseeable future.

“I love it here. I love the city of New Orleans,” Williamson said, per Andrew Lopez of ESPN (Twitter link). “I don’t wanna be anywhere else.”

An offseason report suggested that some of Williamson’s family members want him out of New Orleans, while a more recent story suggested he and Pelicans head of basketball operations David Griffin aren’t on particularly great terms. However, after dismissing the idea that he wants to leave the Pelicans, Williamson also downplayed the idea that there’s any frostiness between him and Griffin.

“It’s all love with me and Griff,” Williamson said. “… We’re both competitors, we both want to win. Do we disagree on some things? Yes. But no one agrees on everything.”

Here’s more from around the Southwest:

Griffin said today that there are one or two players left on the Pelicans‘ roster who remain unvaccinated, while Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said his team is 100% vaccinated (Twitter links via William Guillory of The Athletic and Mike Finger of The San Antonio Express-News). Meanwhile, Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd estimated that his players are about 90% vaccinated, adding that the goal is to get that number to 100% by opening night (Twitter links via Callie Caplan and Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News).
Veteran Pelicans guard Garrett Temple said he’s interested in getting into coaching or front office work after he retires, tweets Christian Clark of NOLA.com. Temple added that his preference would likely be a front office role, since coaching can be “finicky.”
Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News shares an in-depth profile of new Mavericks president of basketball operations Nico Harrison, detailing the long path Harrison took to becoming Dallas’ lead basketball decision-maker.
Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks will be a full participant in training camp, head of basketball operations Zach Kleiman said today (Twitter link via Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian). Brooks was out for eight weeks this summer after breaking his hand in two spots, tweets Drew Hill of The Daily Memphian.

2021/22 NBA Over/Unders: Southwest Division

September 27th, 2021 at 11:23am CST by Luke Adams

The 2021/22 NBA regular season will get underway in just over three weeks, so it’s time to start getting serious about predictions for the upcoming campaign and to resume an annual Hoops Rumors tradition.

With the help of the lines from a handful of sports betting sites, including Bovada and BetOnline, we’re running through the predicted win totals for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, by division. In a series of team-by-team polls, you’ll get the chance to weigh in on whether you think those forecasts are too optimistic or too pessimistic.

In 2020/21, our voters went 17-13 on their over/under picks. Can you top that in ’21/22?

As a reminder, the NBA played a 72-game schedule in 2020/21, so a team that won 41 games last year finished with a 41-31 record. This year, a club that wins 41 games would be a .500 team (41-41). For added clarity, we’ve noted the record that each team would have to achieve to finish “over” its projected win total.

We’ll turn today to the Southeast division…

Dallas Mavericks

2020/21 record: 42-30
Over/under for 2021/22: 48.5 wins (49-33)
Major offseason moves:
- Added: Reggie Bullock, Sterling Brown, Frank Ntilikina, Moses Brown
- Lost: Josh Richardson, J.J. Redick, Nicolo Melli, Tyler Bey

Memphis Grizzlies

2020/21 record: 38-34
Over/under for 2021/22: 41.5 wins (42-40)
Major offseason moves:
- Added: Steven Adams, Ziaire Williams, Santi Aldama, Jarrett Culver, Kris Dunn, Sam Merrill
- Lost: Jonas Valanciunas, Grayson Allen, Justise Winslow, Tim Frazier, Jontay Porter

New Orleans Pelicans

2020/21 record: 31-41
Over/under for 2021/22: 39.5 wins (40-42)
Major offseason moves:
- Added: Jonas Valanciunas, Devonte’ Graham, Tomas Satoransky, Garrett Temple, Trey Murphy, Herb Jones
- Lost: Lonzo Ball, Steven Adams, Eric Bledsoe, James Johnson, Wesley Iwundu

San Antonio Spurs

2020/21 record: 33-39
Over/under for 2021/22: 29.5 wins (30-52)
Major offseason moves:
- Added: Thaddeus Young, Doug McDermott, Zach Collins, Joshua Primo, Bryn Forbes, Al-Farouq Aminu, Jock Landale
- Lost: DeMar DeRozan, Patty Mills, Rudy Gay, Trey Lyles, Gorgui Dieng, DaQuan Jeffries

Houston Rockets

2020/21 record: 17-55
Over/under for 2021/22: 26.5 wins (27-55)
Major offseason moves:
- Added: Daniel Theis, Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, Usman Garuba, Josh Christopher
- Lost: Kelly Olynyk, Sterling Brown, Avery Bradley, D.J. Wilson

Previous voting results:

Atlantic:

Brooklyn Nets (55.5 wins): Over (63.2%)
Philadelphia 76ers (51.5 wins): Under (70.0%)
Boston Celtics (46.5 wins): Over (58.1%)
New York Knicks (42.5 wins): Over (65.1%)
Toronto Raptors (36.5 wins): Under (50.6%)

Central:

Milwaukee Bucks (54.5 wins): Over (63.7%)
Indiana Pacers (42.5 wins): Under (58.2%)
Chicago Bulls (42.5 wins): Over (68.3%)
Cleveland Cavaliers (26.5 wins): Under (50.5%)
Detroit Pistons (25.5 wins): Under (52.6%)

Southeast:

Miami Heat (48.5 wins): Under (53.6%)
Atlanta Hawks (47.5 wins): Over (62.2%)
Charlotte Hornets (38.5 wins): Over (54.5%)
Washington Wizards (34.5 wins): Over (54.9%)
Orlando Magic (22.5 wins): Under (53.8%)

Northwest:

Utah Jazz (52.5 wins): Over (61.7%)
Denver Nuggets (48.5 wins): Over (69.3%)
Portland Trail Blazers (44.5 wins): Over (53.0%)
Minnesota Timberwolves (34.5 wins): Under (57.1%)
Oklahoma City Thunder (23.5 wins): Under (65.0%)

Pacific:

Los Angeles Lakers (52.5 wins): Over (58.2%)
Phoenix Suns (51.5 wins): Over (58.6%)
Golden State Warriors (48.5 wins): Over (50.3%)
Los Angeles Clippers (43.5 wins): Over (51.2%)
Sacramento Kings (36.5 wins): Under (66.0%)

Previewing Mavericks' Training Camp

September 26th, 2021 at 8:40pm CST by JD Shaw

Dwain Price of Mavs.com previews the Mavericks‘ training camp, which is set to start on Tuesday. Led by Luka Doncic, Dallas is viewed by league observers as quietly one of the most dangerous teams entering the season. “I think we’re going to be a team that’s going to play hard, that’s going to be unselfish, and I think everyone will be accountable and I think it’ll be fun,” head coach Jason Kidd said. “That’s a Jason Kidd-coached team is a team that’s going to be accountable, will have fun out there and will play hard and be unselfish.”

Haralabos Voulgaris No Longer With Mavericks

September 23rd, 2021 at 11:14am CST by Luke Adams

The Mavericks have parted ways with Haralabos Voulgaris, a well-known sports gambler who was hired by the team in 2018 as the director of quantitative research and development, reports Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News.

As Townsend explains, Voulgaris wasn’t fired by the Mavs. His contract expired at the end of the 2020/21 season and the club simply opted not to re-sign him to a new one.

Although Voulgaris was never Dallas’ head of basketball operations, his departure from the organization is worth highlighting, since he had reportedly gained an outsized influence in the front office in recent years.

A report in June stated that Voulgaris had either initiated or approved nearly all of the Mavs’ roster moves for the last two seasons and suggested that his influence was virtually on par with that of president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson. While Mavericks owner Mark Cuban disputed The Athletic’s portrayal of how much power Voulgaris had, the executive’s abrasive personality was reportedly a source of some tension in the front office and he was said to have a “strained” relationship with star guard Luka Doncic.

Now, three months after that report was published, neither Nelson nor Voulgaris are part of Dallas’ front office, which was overhauled this offseason. Nico Harrison is the team’s new general manager and president of basketball operations.

Contract Details For Ntilikina; Harper Gives B-Minus Grade For Mavs' Offseason

September 21st, 2021 at 3:01pm CST by Rory Maher

In the same tweet, Marks states that the first year of Frank Ntilikina‘s contract with the Mavericks will be guaranteed.
The Mavericks have a similar group as last season’s squad, essentially replacing wings Josh Richardson and the recently retired J.J. Redick with free agent acquisitions Reggie Bullock and Sterling Brown. Zach Harper of The Athletic gave the team a B-minus for its offseason moves. He states that the team’s main improvement will have to come from internal development if it wants to climb the standings in the West.

Ntilikina's Contract To Include Team Option

September 17th, 2021 at 6:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The two-year contract that guard Frank Ntilikina has signed with the Mavericks includes a team option in the second season, Marc Stein of Substack tweets. It’s still unclear whether the former Knick received a full guarantee for the upcoming season.

Mavericks Sign Frank Ntilikina

September 16th, 2021 at 8:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Ex-Knicks guard Frank Ntilikina has signed with the Mavericks, the team’s PR department tweets.

A report surfaced on Tuesday that Dallas was expected to ink the point guard and now it’s official. The Mavs have a full 20-man training camp roster.

It’s believed to be a minimum contract, according to Marc Stein of Substack. The Mavericks already have 14 other players on guaranteed deals, plus Moses Brown on a partially guaranteed contract.

During the 2020/21 season, Ntilikina earned $6.2MM in the fourth year of his rookie deal.

The 6’4″ guard, still just 23, suited up for 33 games with the Knicks last year under head coach Tom Thibodeau. He averaged just 2.7 PPG and 0.9 RPG across 9.8 MPG.

The defensive specialist, who is shooting 36.6% from the field for his career, averaged 6.3 PPG and 3.0 APG in 20.8 MPG during the 2019/20 season.

Dallas already has Jalen Brunson and Trey Burke as rotation options behind Luka Doncic, so Ntilikina doesn’t project to play much even if he’s on the 15-man roster this season.

Mavericks Expected To Sign Frank Ntilikina

September 14th, 2021 at 9:41pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

It is anticipated that the Mavericks will add defensive-oriented former Knicks guard Frank Ntilikina within the next few days, league sources inform Marc Stein of Substack (Twitter link).

Stein notes that Dallas had been eyeing Ntilikina even in the 2017 NBA draft lottery, but after the Knicks selected him with the eighth pick, the Mavericks pivoted to Dennis Smith Jr. with the No. 9 selection. Smith, who himself was eventually sent to the Knicks in 2019, recently signed a training camp deal with the Trail Blazers.

During the 2020/21 season, Ntilikina earned $6.2MM in the fourth year of his rookie deal. This year, his deal will most likely be either a non-guaranteed deal or a veteran’s minimum. The Mavericks currently have 14 players on guaranteed deals, with one player – Moses Brown – signed to a non-guaranteed contract and both of their two-way contract spots occupied.

The 6’4″ reserve guard, still just 23, suited up for 33 games with the Knicks last year under head coach Tom Thibodeau. He averaged just 2.7 PPG and 0.9 RPG across 9.8 MPG. A talented defensive player, Ntilikina has yet to develop on the other end of the hardwood. He holds career averages of 5.5 PPG, 2.7 APG and 2.0 RPG.