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Mavericks Notes: Nowitzki, Bogut, Rondo, Barnes

December 4th, 2016 at 10:01am CST by Arthur Hill

Shortly after being ruled out indefinitely with a lingering Achilles problem, Dirk Nowitzki told reporters he is “all in” for the rest of the Mavericks’ season, relays Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. Soreness in his right Achilles tendon has limited Nowitzki to five games this season. The problem began after he played 38 minutes on opening night. The veteran forward, who re-signed this summer for $50MM over two years, said he remains committed to this season despite the pain and Dallas’ 4-15 start. “This is obviously not a career-ending injury that I’ve got,” he said. “It’s something that just keeps lingering unfortunately. I can hopefully get over it. There’s still a lot of season left. December just started. We know that there’s a lot of games coming, so hopefully sometime soon I’ll be out there and then stay out there. I don’t want to jump in and out of the lineup with soreness or fight this whole year. I’d love to be healthy and stay out there once I go.”

There’s more from Dallas:

Center Andrew Bogut says the Mavericks have to turn things around quickly to have any hope for the playoffs, tweets Dwain Price of The Fort Worth Star Telegram. “We probably honestly genuinely got about a month left to try and salvage this season,” Bogut said before Saturday’s win over the Bulls. The Mavericks’ performance over the next few weeks may determine if Bogut remains with the team all season. He will be a free agent next summer and could be traded before the February 23rd deadline if Dallas isn’t in contention.
Coach Rick Carlisle remains a supporter of Rajon Rondo even though they had a rocky relationship during the point guard’s time in Dallas, according to Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. Carlisle gave a glowing report about Rondo to the Bulls’ coaching staff when the team was considering making an offer to him in free agency. “I’ve recommended Rondo to a couple teams who have called me about him the last couple years,” Carlisle said. “As a competitor, you’re not going to find a guy better or more resourceful. It didn’t work out here for various reasons. It just was not a good fit. We did everything we could to make it work.”
Harrison Barnes is still adjusting to being a primary scorer after starting his career as a complementary piece in Golden State, writes Pat James of The Charlotte Observer. The Mavericks gave Barnes a four-year, $94MM contract this summer and promised him a larger role in the offense. “You just have to go and be aggressive,” he said. “That’s just the mentality coach has been trying to get me to be in this entire season. When he [Carlisle] draws up that play, it can’t be that I’m indecisive or thinking, ‘What play should I do?’ It’s just got be, ‘Make a read, and make or miss you live with the result.’ ”

Mavericks Notes: Nowitzki, Bogut, Curry, Gibson

November 28th, 2016 at 10:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

Mavericks veteran Dirk Nowitzki should be back for another season no matter how this one turns out, according to Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. A strained Achilles has limited Nowitzki to just five games as the Mavs have stumbled to a 3-13 start. In a question-and-answer column, Sefko says the 38-year-old still has a strong desire to play and won’t want to walk away from the $25MM he is owed next season.

There’s more tonight out of Dallas:

Center Andrew Bogut understands that he will only be in Dallas for one season, and maybe less, Sefko adds in the same piece. The veteran center was acquired in an offseason deal with the Warriors when Golden State was shedding salary to sign Kevin Durant. Bogut has started all 13 games that he has played and is grabbing 10.5 rebounds per night, but his expiring contract may make him attractive to a contender before the February deadline.
Seth Curry will take time to develop as a point guard, Sefko cautions in a separate story. After signing a two-year, $6MM deal in July, Curry has been pressed into service because of injuries to Deron Williams, J.J. Barea and Devin Harris. Sefko says Curry works on ballhandling as much as his brother Stephen does, and just needs repetition and confidence to improve as a point guard.
Guard Jonathan Gibson and center A.J. Hammons are the players most likely to be let go if Dallas needs to open a roster spot, Sefko says later in the same story. Gibson re-signed with the Mavericks earlier this month after being waived during the preseason, and Hammons is a rookie second-round pick out of Purdue. Sefko adds that everyone except Nowitzki should be considered as trade candidates between now and the deadline.
We rounded up a few more Mavs notes earlier in the day.

Community Shootaround: What Should Mavs Do?

November 21st, 2016 at 9:02am CST by Luke Adams

The Dallas Mavericks have enjoyed an impressive run of success over the last decade and a half, finishing at or above .500 in each of the last 16 seasons. The last time the Mavs finished below .500 was back in 1999/2000, Dirk Nowitzki‘s second NBA season, when the team had a 40-42 record.

This season, however, the Mavs will face a major uphill battle to get to 41-41. Just a dozen games into the season, Dallas is already eight games below .500, at 2-10. Nowitzki, battling an Achilles injury, has missed time, as have veteran guards Deron Williams, J.J. Barea, and Devin Harris. The club’s top offseason addition, Harrison Barnes, has looked good, but his 21.3 points per game haven’t been enough to get Dallas more than a pair of victories so far.

It’s unclear at this point whether or not the Mavs will enter a full-fledged rebuild, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders, who tweets that the team is definitely keeping an eye on some young players as potential targets. There’s no sense at this time that the Mavericks will blow up their roster, but if they don’t turn things around and some of their veterans want to be traded to contenders, the Mavs could attempt to accommodate them, tweets Kyler.

Meanwhile, in a piece for The Ringer, Kevin O’Connor identifies Dallas as one of a handful of teams that should be tanking this season instead of going all-out to contend. As O’Connor observes, despite having some decent pieces in Barnes, Wesley Matthews, Justin Anderson, Dwight Powell, and Dorian Finney-Smith, the Mavs’ roster “badly needs an infusion of young talent.”

One team executive tells O’Connor that he thinks Dallas would only tank if Nowitzki’s injury issues persist throughout the year. In that scenario, veteran center Andrew Bogut would draw “plenty” of trade interest, according to the exec. The Mavs also hold their own first-round pick for 2017, so a bottom-five finish would give the team a chance at a top prospect.

What do you think? Should the Mavs hope they can get healthy and turn things around, or is it already time to start looking toward the future? If Dallas does decide to focus on next year, which of their vets should be on the trade block, and which ones should be retained as building blocks? Jump into the comments section below to let us know what you think!

Western Notes: Dieng, Dudley, Mavs, Griffin

November 10th, 2016 at 10:40pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Timberwolves big man Gorgui Dieng vows not to get complacent after agreeing to a four-year, $62.8MM extension, Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders reports. “You can get a contract, but you gotta earn it,” Dieng told Taylor. “I want to show that I’m worth every penny and I’m gonna try the best I can to help this team get better and myself.” Despite the team’s slow start, Dieng is averaging 10.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.1 steals per game.

In other news around the Western Conference:

Jared Dudley has been moved to the Suns’ second unit to give it an offensive boost, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic relays. Phoenix has placed rookie Marquese Chriss into the starting five at power forward. Dudley was expecting to be a starter until about midseason, when either Chriss or fellow rookie Dragan Bender would take that spot, but coach Earl Watson felt he needed to make a switch much earlier because the reserves were getting dominated, Coro adds. “The second-unit was suffering, especially we need to get B-Knight (Brandon Knight) going, and he’s such a huge part of us,” Dudley told Coro.
Mavs center Andrew Bogut has no problem with playing more minutes this season, Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News reports. Bogut is averaging nearly 26 minutes, an uptick from the 20 minutes he typically played for the Warriors last season. “Yeah, a good number for me is around 30,” Bogut told Sefko. “I didn’t play that the last couple of seasons, obviously. But in Milwaukee I was playing high 30s, low 40s. That’s probably a bit too much. But I’m comfortable around 30.”
Blake Griffin isn’t being wooed by his friends to return to his hometown and join the Thunder next season, according to Andrew Han of ESPN.com. The Clippers power forward becomes an unrestricted free agent in July. “They know that my main focus is this season and this team,” Griffin told Han and other writers. “And they know that I enjoy playing here and I love this team, coaching staff, everybody. So they know that that’s my main focus. So I think they pretty much know not to bring that up.”

Andrew Bogut Talks About Leaving The Warriors

November 9th, 2016 at 6:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

With the Warriors posting a record-setting win total and reaching the NBA Finals for a second straight season, Andrew Bogut appeared to have a long career ahead in Golden State. But Kevin Durant‘s desire to join the organization meant changes had to be made, and Bogut’s salary of more than $11MM was shipped to Dallas to create cap room to sign the former MVP. As he prepares for tonight’s game with the Warriors, the veteran center discusses his former team and other topics in an interview with USA Today’s Sam Amick.

On parting ways with a franchise that had been so successful:

“There’s no doubt it’s disappointing to leave one of the best teams – record-wise, those last two years … you leave a team like that and it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. It was bitter in a way. I wasn’t mad at anybody about it. I understood it completely. I’m not stupid. But yeah, you’re disappointed leaving guys who you battled for a championship with, and guys where everyone understood their role and it was just fun to play and be a part of that team, because every day you came in to work and everyone kind of knew their role and accepted it. It was just cool to be part of that every day. It was just automatic. … That was probably the [most fun] part of it, was it was just so automatic for two years.”

On whether the Warriors would have stayed together if Durant had not become available:

“I think the move was to go a lot more long term, but we went to [seven] games in the NBA Finals … up 3-1, we’re a couple of minutes away [from winning it all] in Game 6 and Kyrie [Irving] hits a hell of a shot in Game 7. That’s the way it goes. But [the Cavs] were on the same side the year before. We [the Warriors] peaked pretty quickly. For us to go from the second round [of the playoffs in 2013] to first-round elimination [in 2014] and [Warriors coach Steve] Kerr comes in and wins a championship, nobody expected that. People thought it was going to be [the Warriors] having your battles, maybe go second round, then conference finals and lose. But we got there. That’s sport, man. They saw a vision where they wanted to get one of the best players in the world [in Durant], and they already had the best player in the world, and that’s the way it goes.”

On doubts about his durability that were expressed by people in the Warriors’ organization:

“People can take parting shots. I didn’t have a great Finals series obviously, with the injury, and finish off the way I wanted to, but that’s the way it goes. I’m not bitter about it. I could have played better definitely, especially on the offensive end. But I think defensively that I provided something for them that really helped that team win games.”

On Golden State’s early-season defensive problems:

“It’s an adjustment for them. Obviously [Warriors forward] Draymond [Green], we had a really good sync defensively where when he got beat I was there. When I got beat, he was there, and it was automatic. We didn’t have to talk about it. It was just reads. We knew how to play, and Steph [Curry] and Klay [Thompson] did a good job of funneling guys to me and Draymond. Obviously they have to adjust to that when they go small now. I think OKC exposed us a little bit last season [in the seven-game conference finals] when we went small and they went big. They kind of exposed it. They went the anti-death lineup, which was staying true to who they were and should have beaten us hypothetically, so I think they’ll figure it out.”

On his feelings about facing the Warriors for the first time since the trade:

“No emotions. I’m good. Just go to work, try to get the win. Obviously it’s [one of] the toughest places to play in the league, and I’ll probably be more thankful when it’s all over. It’s going to be a circus … It’s going to be more draining than a regular game.”

Bogut Explains Decision To Join Mavs Over Rockets

October 28th, 2016 at 2:41pm CST by Luke Adams

Andrew Bogut wasn’t a free agent this summer, but he did have some agency when it came to deciding his new team. Multiple reports throughout the offseason indicated that the Warriors could have sent Bogut to a number of different teams in a salary-shedding trade to clear cap room for Kevin Durant. Golden State reportedly allowed the former first overall pick to pick his destination from a list of clubs that included the Mavericks, Rockets, and the Sixers, and Bogut chose Dallas.

According to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com, Bogut viewed the Mavericks as the best fit for him, and wanted to land with a team he could potentially re-sign with in 2017. The veteran center cited culture, coaching, and his agent’s familiarity with the Mavs as reasons why Dallas made more sense than Houston, per MacMahon.

“I’m not saying Houston has a bad culture by any means, but my agent (David Bauman) has a familiarity here,” Bogut said. “I’ve known a lot of players that have been pretty happy here when they were here. Richard Jefferson was one of them. And then the city — I like the city, so it all made sense.

“Rick Carlisle is also one of the best coaches in the league,” Bogut continued. “He knows how to get the best out of his players. He’s very, very smart and makes great adjustments. He’s a guy you want to play for. Obviously, [Mike] D’Antoni is a pretty good coach, too, but probably not suited for my style of play. I would have probably had to drop about 20 pounds to play in his system. They play a tough system, get up and down the court.”

Bogut, who is in a contract year, said back in September that he would have asked for a buyout if he ended up with a team besides the Mavs. However, he clarified those comments today, walking them back slightly by saying a buyout would have been “an option” and not necessarily something he would have forced. As MacMahon details, Bogut also said he was referring to “a different team, not Houston,” when he talked about that option. The Sixers were likely the club in question.

Andrew Bogut Open To Long-Term Stay With Mavs

October 14th, 2016 at 8:50am CST by Luke Adams

Andrew Bogut, traded from the Warriors to the Mavericks over the summer, has yet to play his first regular-season game as a member of his new team. Based on his experience in Dallas so far though, he’s very open to the idea of remaining a Maverick beyond this season. The veteran center tells Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com that he’d love to stay with the Mavs long-term, if he can.

“I’d love to be here,” Bogut said. “The organization is first class. [Mark Cuban is] a great owner. Passionate and wants to win. From everything that I’ve seen, if it remains this way throughout the season, it’s sensational.”

Bogut, who also extensively praised the Dallas-Fort Worth area, cautioned that “things could change throughout the year,” so he’s not getting his signature ready for his next contract with the Mavericks quite yet. Based on his comments, it also sounds like Bogut will wait until next summer to ink his next deal, giving himself a chance to explore the market.

The former first overall pick is eligible for a contract extension as of October 25, but because the Mavs don’t have any cap room available at the moment, he’d only be able to get a small raise on a new deal by signing an extension. There will be no such salary restrictions next July.

While October declarations about future free agency should probably be taken with a grain of salt, Dallas was Bogut’s preferred destination when the Warriors looked to trade him in the offseason. His enthusiasm for the team and the city is also reciprocated by the Mavs. As Howard-Cooper details, head coach Rick Carlisle said he has been “an enormous fan of [Bogut’s] for over a decade.”

“You’re talking about a [Arvydas] Sabonis-, [Bill] Walton-level rim protector, rebounder, passer, play-maker at 7’2″ or whatever his height is,” Carlisle said of Bogut. “I just remember he was such a load to deal with in Milwaukee when he was a central figure in their offense. Not that he’s going to be a central figure [in Dallas], but we want him to be one of the people that creates a real balance when he’s on the floor.”

Bogut is set to earn just over $11MM this season before reaching free agency next offseason at age 32.

Pacific Notes: Clippers, Bogut, Deng, Tolliver

October 12th, 2016 at 9:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

Four positions are set for the Clippers, but the starting small forward could vary from game to game, writes Dan Woike of The Orange County Register. Luc Mbah a Moute, Wesley Johnson, newcomer Alan Anderson and even shooting guard Austin Rivers may get starts at the position, although coach Doc Rivers would like to see someone step up and claim it. “You always want separation. That’s always nice,” Rivers said. “I don’t know who it will be. I’m hoping it will be someone, but I can’t predict the future. It’d be nice, but if not, it’ll be matchup-based.” It’s a familiar problem for the Clippers, who used Lance Stephenson, Paul Pierce and Johnson at the position last season before giving the role to Mbah a Moute.

There’s more tonight out of the Pacific Division:

Even as they were making history with 73 wins, the Warriors were dealing with Kevin Durant rumors all season, Andrew Bogut tells Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. Bogut believes the Warriors knew well before summer that they were likely to sign Durant, and he says he isn’t surprised that he was traded away. “Andre Iguodala and I knew it was one of us that was going to go, and it was me,” Bogut said. “That’s part of the business. I have no gripes about it. You get a Hall of Famer — he’s going to be a Hall of Famer — in K.D. If I’m the GM, I do the same deal. That’s just the reality of the business.”
New coach Luke Walton helped lure Luol Deng to the Lakers, according to Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News. Deng liked the impressive history of the franchise and the idea of living in Los Angeles, and of course the four-year, $72MM offer was a huge factor. But he says the transition to Walton, who took over the team after serving as Steve Kerr‘s lead assistant in Golden State, helped seal the decision. “He’s new to coaching, but he has a positive mindset,” Deng said. “The way he coaches, he really respects players and demands respect back.”
At age 31, newly signed Anthony Tolliver wants to show the Kings he can be more than just a mentor, relays Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento gave the small forward a two-year, $16MM deal over the summer to leave Detroit, but he will have to compete for playing time with Omri Casspi and Matt Barnes. Tolliver doesn’t mind taking on a mentor’s role, but he want to be thought of as a player first. “Maybe in a few years, with a few more miles on my body, maybe I’ll be in that position to be a locker room guy,” Tolliver said. “But right now I feel I can still compete and help teams win games. That’s why I came here to get that chance. Looks good so far.”

Western Notes: Rockets, Bogut, Barnes

September 26th, 2016 at 10:12pm CST by Eddie Scarito

There is a more positive feeling in the Rockets locker room this year, something that team owner Leslie Alexander chalks up to the teams new additions, Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com relays. When asked if he sensed a different vibe as the team begins training camp, Alexander told Watkins, “100% — they seem happier. James Harden especially seems happier, and I think they’re all together this year. They’re all in it to win, and the guys we brought over, Nene, Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon, they didn’t win last year, and they have this tense desire to win.”

When asked what prompted him to make significant changes after Houston’s disappointing 2015/16 campaign, Alexander said, “I wanted to play a different style. I thought defensively we lacked a lot of focus, and I think we brought in a real good defensive guy [assistant coach Jeff Bzdelik], and we brought in three strong players. One of our weaknesses last year was we couldn’t shoot the ball, and we brought two good shooters in, and we changed the team dramatically.”

Here’s more from out West:

Nuggets executive Josh Kroenke told members of the media that Denver intends to establish a D-League affiliate in the near future, Harrison Wind of BSNDenver.com tweets. “Yes, there has been a lot of dialogue about that,” Kroenke said.
Mavericks center Andrew Bogut said that he would have asked for a buyout if he was traded to a team other than Dallas this summer, Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com relays. The Warriors reportedly gave Bogut the choice of being traded to the Mavs and the Rockets, with the big man ultimately deciding to go to Dallas. The Sixers had also reportedly expressed interest, but Golden State wanted to deal the veteran big man to a team with more realistic playoff hopes than Philly.
The expectations for Harrison Barnes have increased since he inked a maximum salary deal with the Mavs this offseason and its a challenge the young forward will have to embrace, coach Rick Carlisle told MacMahon in a separate piece. “I talked to him [Barnes] this summer a lot about that. Bottom line is that it’s a challenge that he’s got to love to take on. The important thing is that an elevation in responsibility comes at the right rate,” Carlisle said.

Pacific Notes: Cousins, Curry, Suns, Warriors

September 10th, 2016 at 9:57pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Kings are losing leverage the longer they hold onto DeMarcus Cousins, contends Shaun Powell of NBA.com. The All-Star center has two seasons left on his current deal, making nearly $17MM for the upcoming season and more than $18MM in 2017/18. Powell believes teams will be less likely to trade for Cousins as his free agency date nears, and Sacramento will have a hard time keeping him if he stays until the end of his contract. The writer isn’t a fan of the Kings’ offseason moves, as they made little effort to re-sign league assist leader Rajon Rondo, drafted two unproven big men, put Rudy Gay on the trading block and signed 30-year-old Arron Afflalo.

There’s more out of the Pacific Division:

The Kings made a mistake by letting Seth Curry get away, writes A.J. Neuharth-Keusch of USA Today. Even though Curry has only appeared in 48 NBA games, he showed promise at the end of last season, averaging 16.4 points, 5.3 assists and 3.3 three-pointers per night over his final seven games. Curry signed a two-year, $6MM deal with the Mavericks in July.
Devin Booker‘s great rookie season has created a logjam in the Suns‘ backcourt, according to Dan Feldman of NBCSports.com. Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight both see themselves as lead guards, and Booker has earned starters’ minutes with his performance in 2015/16. Bledsoe and Knight are signed for the next three seasons and Booker is under team control for the next four years, so Phoenix has time to work out the situation if all three players are willing to share minutes. Otherwise, Feldman suggests it’s a good situation for a trade.
Things aren’t perfect for the Warriors, even after winning 73 games and signing former MVP Kevin Durant, cautions Monte Poole of CSNBayArea. Coach Steve Kerr is concerned about the defensive dropoff after losing centers Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli. Golden State added Zaza Pachulia in free agency to help compensate for their departure. “The thing that’s different will be a lack of rim protection,” Kerr said. “We had great rim protection from Bogut and Ezeli, and both those guys are gone. Zaza’s a very good defender, but he’s more of a positional guy than a shot blocker.”