Dallas Mavericks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Silver Wants Best-Of-Seven Playoff Series If Season Resumes

May 21st, 2020 at 12:25pm CST by Luke Adams

One of the many topics discussed by the NBA in the 10 weeks since COVID-19 shut down the 2019/20 season is the possibility of adjusting the playoff format if the season resumes. Reducing the number of games per series or even shifting to more of a tournament-style postseason could significantly cut down on the amount of time players and teams would have to remain in a “bubble” location to complete the season.

However, appearing on ESPN’s Get Up this morning (video link), Adrian Wojnarowski stressed that commissioner NBA Adam Silver continues to prioritize a best-of-seven format for playoff series, assuming the season can resume.

“Adam Silver wants to have seven-game series in the playoffs,” Wojnarowski told Mike Greenberg. “He doesn’t want to have shortened series early on. He wants to try to legitimize the champion as much as he can.”

While it seems inevitable that some NBA fans and observers will attach an asterisk to whatever team wins the 2019/20 title, maintaining that best-of-seven format would at least ensure that this year’s winner doesn’t make it through the playoffs under entirely different circumstances than usual.

Of course, the end of the season – again, assuming it can be completed – will still be very atypical. As Wojnarowski noted on Get Up and during a Wednesday appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter (video link), the NBA still hopes to bring back all 30 teams – or as close to 30 as possible – this summer, and may need to provide some sort of incentive to convince those lottery-bound teams to return.

One of the biggest ongoing conversations around the league is how many clubs will be invited to the NBA’s “bubble,” how many will have an opportunity to make the playoffs, and what a potential play-in tournament for the final postseason spot or two could look like.

As Woj pointed out during both of his TV appearances, the league will have to walk a fine line as it attempts to make things fair for teams like the Mavericks and Grizzlies, who comfortably hold the Nos. 7 and 8 seeds, while potentially incentivizing a return for current lottery teams by putting those playoff spots up for grabs.

Mark Cuban Talks Mavs, Practice Facility, 2019/20 Season

May 12th, 2020 at 10:36am CST by Luke Adams

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said last week that his team will proceed with caution when it comes to reopening its practice facility. Speaking this week to Tim Cato of The Athletic, Cuban provided a few additional details on his stance, reiterating that he doesn’t feel the need to reopen the club’s facility until frequent coronavirus testing is possible.

“The way the White House protects the president and vice president is the way that I want to protect our players and employees, you know?” Cuban said. “We’ll just try to just copy what they do as a means of knowing when the time is right. As of now, for all we know, for all we’ve been informed, anyways, they’re testing everybody. And they test their top people on a daily basis. And so they have access to the best science, the best information, and so it just makes sense to me that we just copy them.”

Noting that the NBA is limiting players to one-hour workouts at practice facilities, with limited resources available in those sessions, Cuban suggested that opening up the Mavericks’ facility wouldn’t hugely benefit his own players, who all have access to hoops. For that reason, Cuban also doesn’t believe that teams opening their facilities now will have a major leg up over the Mavs.

“I don’t think it matters because the competitive advantage of one guy on one basket for one hour at a time isn’t all that significant,” Cuban told Cato.

Here’s more from the Mavs owner:

Cuban isn’t worried about the possibility of lottery-bound teams resisting participation in regular-season games this summer, if and when the season resumes, as he tells Cato. “Guys realize there’s something bigger at stake,” he said. “And that’s the best way to put it. NBA players are smart. They recognize there’s something bigger at stake than, you know, the aggravation of playing five, six, seven, whatever-it-may-be more regular-season games even if they’re completely out of the playoffs.”
Cuban pointed to the most recent episodes of The Last Dance when he explained one reason why the NBA wants to play regular season games rather than jumping right into the playoffs if the season resumes. “If you watched Sunday, when Michael Jordan came back?” Cuban said, referring to Jordan’s 1995 return to basketball. “And we’re talking Michael Jordan, right, in his prime. And he talked about how he didn’t have his legs for the playoffs.”
The Mavericks won’t necessarily have to make major changes to their roster in order to become a championship contender, in Cuban’s view. Asked if he could picture eight or 10 players from the current roster being part of a title-contending Mavs squad a few years from now, he replied, “Yeah, absolutely. I expect our team to grow.”
As for what he’ll remember about the pre-pandemic 2019/20 season, Cuban singled out Luka Doncic‘s growth, Kristaps Porzingis‘ return, and the “great progress” that the Mavs made. “We went from being a team that, you know, was out of contention for everything to being a team that, if we’re healthy, can potentially compete,” Cuban said.

Doncic Returned To Slovenia During Hiatus

May 8th, 2020 at 8:07pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Mavericks star guard Luka Doncic flew home to Slovenia on a private jet shortly after the NBA suspended the season, Shelburne reveals in a separate story. Doncic will have to go into quarantine once he returns to the U.S., though domestic players who flew out of state during the shutdown will also have to quarantine.

Brunson Talks Rehab; Mavs Not Reopening Facilities Yet

May 7th, 2020 at 9:47am CST by Luke Adams

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is holding off reopening the team’s practice facility for the time being, suggesting to Brian Dameris and Mark Followill on their 77 Minutes in Heaven podcast that an inability to test players and staffers for COVID-19 is a roadblock (Twitter link via Tim MacMahon of ESPN). “I just don’t think the risk is worth the reward,” Cuban said, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who tweets that other teams share the Mavs’ concerns about not being able to test asymptomatic players entering their gyms.

Appearing recently on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson said his rehab from a shoulder injury is “definitely going well,” but that he’s still a ways off from being able to suit up and play. “As much as I would want to, as much as I would try my hardest to force them to let me play (if the season resumes in June), I don’t think it would be a possibility,” Brunson said, per The Dallas Morning News.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is holding off reopening the team’s practice facility for the time being, suggesting to Brian Dameris and Mark Followill on their 77 Minutes in Heaven podcast that an inability to test players and staffers for COVID-19 is a roadblock (Twitter link via Tim MacMahon of ESPN). “I just don’t think the risk is worth the reward,” Cuban said, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who tweets that other teams share the Mavs’ concerns about not being able to test asymptomatic players entering their gyms.

Powell In Great Shape Due To Home Workouts

May 1st, 2020 at 8:08pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Mavericks big man Dwight Powell was well prepared to stay in shape during the suspension of play, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. After rupturing his right Achilles tendon in January, Powell was unable to drive to the Mavericks practice facility, so he invested in fitness equipment. One of those machines, a Concept 2 Skier, mimics the upper body motion of cross-country skiing while standing still. “Ten seconds on that at full bore will get you up to max heart rate,” Powell said. “I’m a push-up master and mixing in that cardio, so I’m actually in great shape, considering I’m not able to run right now.”

Spurs, Mavs Interested In Facundo Campazzo

April 30th, 2020 at 4:06pm CST by Luke Adams

The Spurs and Mavericks are among the NBA teams with interest in Real Madrid guard Facundo Campazzo, according to a report from Croatian outlet Crosarka (hat tip to Jeff Garcia of Spurs Zone). Campazzo, who is averaging 9.9 PPG and 7.1 APG in 28 EuroLeague games this season, spoke back in 2016 about wanting to play in the NBA, but said about a year ago that he’s no longer “obsessed” with that idea.

2020, 2021 FA Periods Will Be Crucial For Mavs

April 27th, 2020 at 12:14pm CST by Luke Adams

Although the Mavericks reentered the playoff picture this season, they’re not yet a legit title contender. Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News examines how the club might try to ascend to that level during the 2020 and 2021 free agency periods.

Bulls Notes: GM Search, Finley, Boylen

April 24th, 2020 at 4:52pm CST by Luke Adams

The Bulls remain on the hunt for a new general manager, and Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times writes that the interview process may carry through next week.

A since-deleted report on Thursday suggested that CAA agent Austin Brown was in serious talks to become Chicago’s next GM, but a source tells Cowley there’s no frontrunner at this point. Brown’s name is in the mix, per Cowley. Still, there has been no confirmation that he has even interviewed for the job yet.

Although no one has emerged yet as an obvious favorite – as new executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas did during his own interview process with the Bulls – Cowley’s source says that Mavericks VP of basketball ops Michael Finley “made a great impression” on Karnisovas. Finley reportedly interviewed for the GM position last week.

Here’s more out of Chicago from Cowley:

Since being hired by the Bulls, Karnisovas has spent plenty of time reaching out to as many of the club’s current players as possible, as well as meeting with “what’s left” of the scouting departments, says Cowley. Karnisovas is collecting information and opinions on what he has to work with in the front office and on the roster, a source tells The Sun-Times.
While many Bulls fans are impatient to learn the fate of head coach Jim Boylen, a decision on Boylen’s future is further down on Karnisovas’ list of priorities, Cowley writes. As Cowley has previously reported, Boylen remains optimistic that he’ll retain the job. He has been staying in touch with his players for updates and to have them study film clips and has “regularly” met with Karnisovas this month.
While letting go of Boylen and letting one of his assistants finish the season – if it resumes – could be one path Karnisovas considers, Cowley suggests it’s not likely. A source tells The Sun-Times there’s no obvious candidate to replace Boylen on an interim basis, since the assistants are “all viewed to have equal footing from an experience standpoint.”

Mavs Exec Michael Finley Interviews For Bulls’ GM Job

April 17th, 2020 at 8:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Mavericks vice president of basketball operations Michael Finley has interviewed for the Bulls’ general manager job, Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets.

Finley is a Chicago native who has spent the last seven seasons in the Dallas front office after a long playing career. Mavs owner Mark Cuban indicated in a radio interview this week he’d allow Finley to talk to the Bulls.

Chicago’s newly-hired head of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas has promised an “extensive and diverse search” for a GM. Chicago had already been granted permission to speak to Sixers senior VP of player personnel Marc Eversley, Clippers assistant GM Mark Hughes, and Magic assistant GM Matt Lloyd.

Thunder executives Troy Weaver and Nazr Mohammed have also had their names bandied about as potential GM targets for Chicago. However, based on a subsequent report, it would be a surprise if Weaver has interest in the job. Karnisovas has already added J.J. Polk and Pat Connelly in the first steps toward assembling a new front office.

Cuban Would Grant Bulls Permission To Interview Finley

April 17th, 2020 at 4:54pm CST by Luke Adams

Appearing on the McNeil & Parkins Show on 670 The Score in Chicago, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was evasive when asked whether the Bulls have asked to interview Michael Finley for a front office position. However, he said he’d grant Chicago permission to speak to Finley if asked. Finley was identified last week as a potential candidate for the Bulls’ GM opening.