Dirk Nowitzki

Southwest Notes: Nunnally, Najera, Nowitzki

A few notes from around the Southwest division.

  • According to RidiculousUpside.com's Keith Schlosser, James Nunnally, who spent last season playing for the Bakersfield Jam, will work out for several teams including the Spurs and Jazz.  
  • Former NBA player Eduardo Najera added general manager to his job title with the Texas Legends, along with head coach of the Mavericks' D-League affiliate, according to a tweet from Yahoo! NBA reporter Marc J. Spears. 
  • According to ESPN.com's Marc Stein, Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki says he won't rule out participating in the 2016 Olympic games, competing for his native Germany.

Odds & Ends: Mavericks, Cuban, Bulls

There's hardly a dull moment with Mark Cuban when he speaks with the media, as the outspoken Mavericks owner said on the Artie Lange Show that hiring a head coach is "harder than finding a wife" (hat tip to SportsDayDFW). On a more serious note, Cuban explained why he'll never trade Dirk Nowitzki

"Dirk defines our culture. When your best player, no matter how old, is the first one in the gym and the last to leave, and works the hardest and encourages guys the way Dirk does … that has a value that goes far beyond what you see on the court."

Here's a roundup of the rest of tonight's links: 

Odds & Ends: James, Bobcats, Bucks, Cavs

There are a lot of contenders to the Eastern Conference crown that LeBron James and his Heat teammates have worn the last three seasons. James knows he's got to keep getting better if he wants to remain on top next year and advance to his fourth NBA Finals in his four seasons in Miami.

Shandel Richardson of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel caught up James during his charity event in Akron today to discuss all the wheeling and dealing in the Eastern Conference this off-season. 

James is aware that the Heat face an even harder field in the Eastern Conference next season, and he's doing everything in his power to meet the challenge, telling Richardson, "I've seen what so many teams have done to get better. I've seen the moves that we've made, so I've got to do my part."

Here's what else is happening around the league on Saturday night:

Mavs Notes: Cuban, Dirk, Dalembert, Kaman

The Mavericks have made some summer off-season moves to better surround Dirk Nowitzki with a cast of players that can help the 35-year-old make one last push for a second NBA title. Mark Cuban joined Norm Hitzges on KTCK-AM radio, as transcribed by The Dallas Morning News, to talk about some of those additions.

  • Last season's hodge-podge of ancillary Mavs parts included oft-injured center Chris Kaman, who signed with the Lakers this summer. Cuban tells Hitzges that Kaman didn't pair well with Nowitzki last season because he continually dribbled during pick-and-roll sets with Dirk, instead of just picking and rolling to the rim or picking and popping for a jumper.
  • Cuban feels Brandan Wright–who the Mavs re-signed earlier this summer–worked the pick-and-roll a lot better with Nowitzki.
  • The Mavs owner also believes Dallas' signing of Samuel Dalembert will go better than the one-year Kaman experiment because Dalembert is primarily focused on rebounding and protecting the rim. 
  • The Cuban – Hitzges talk also touched on how Dirk wants to send a message next season that he's not done yet, and the Mavs can still be contenders for the Larry O'Brien Trophy despite two down seasons after their Finals win over the Heat in 2011.
  • Dirk is entering the final year of a contract that will pay him $22.721MM next season, but Cuban didn't offer up anything on what he'll likely pay his star forward next summer, despite assurances that he won't let the smooth-shooting German sign elsewhere.

Cuban On Dirk, Dwight, Roster Construction

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is never shy about expressing his opinion, with the possible exception of his superstitious refusal to criticize the league or its referees during his team's 2011 playoff run. The latest post on his personal blog shows Cuban in typical form as he opens up about his feelings on the Mavs and player movement around the league. He begins with a history lesson of sorts, explaining his moves from the past two years, and he transitions into his conclusions about the team's summer, a second straight offseason in which marquee free agents spurned the Mavs. Cuban shares plenty, including a link to a cartoon the team put together as part of its pitch to Dwight Howard. We'll hit a few highlights from Cuban's piece here:

On Dirk Nowitzki and his presence on the team:

"Culture is very important to the Mavs.  Your best player has to be a fit for what you want the culture of the team to be. He has to be someone who leads by example. Someone who sets the tone in the locker room and on the court.  It isn’t about who talks the most or the loudest. It is about the demeanor and attitude he brings.  It is amazing how when the culture is strong, the chemistry is strong.  When the Mavs have brought in players that didn’t fit or buy in to our culture it created on-the-court and off-the-court problems.  It's possible to handle one guy who may not fit it. It’s going to have a negative impact on your won-and-loss record if you have more than one. Our culture is one of the reasons I won’t trade Dirk."

On Howard and the way he would have fit into the team's culture:

"We saw it as somewhat of a risk, but felt like because Dwight, by all appearances and checking we did, is a good guy and with our support systems we believed we could make it work. If not, he was obviously a very trade-able asset.  But, as everyone knows, we didn’t sign him. He went to the Rockets.  I do have to say the meeting with Dwight was very interesting. He is a smart guy. Much smarter than people give him credit for. He is also a very, very good listener.  Unlike most people, he spent far more time listening than talking.  And he had the best response to an opening question that I have ever heard from a player, or anyone for that matter.  When we asked him what his goal was, his response was very specific: 'I want to be Epic.' Which was a perfect lead-in to the video we created for him."

On building a championship team:

"I see quite a few teams taking what appears to be the same approach to building a team.  I can understand why they are taking this approach. In the current CBA the value of a player chosen in the draft can be considerable because of the defined contract terms.  And if you put together some great young players, it is very enticing to want to keep those players together for a long period. But I also know that even if you have the worst record in the NBA, you may not get the top pick and even if you do, there is a material chance you pick the wrong player, or it just happens to be a draft when there are not any IDENTIFIABLE superstar potential players at the top of the draft. In other words, while it may be popular, I think the quantity of teams taking the same approach makes it more difficult to build a team in this manner."

On the team's strategy this offseason:

"If we had gotten a single, max-out free agent that cost us $19 or $20MM, we would have had a good team. Possibly a great team if we were able to add the right minimum contract players around our core plus our new max-out free agent.  But we probably would not have had a championship-contending team.  It would be next year when we had cap room again and we would add what would hopefully be the finishing pieces either through free agency or through trade. If we didn’t get our max-out player, we had planned to accelerate what we would have done next year to this year. Which we obviously did."

On the coming season and the future for the Mavs:

"If we stay healthy, I think we can have a good team. How good? I don’t make predictions.  I do believe that by having a core of players that we can grow and develop with, and cap room in the upcoming season and what we feel is the ability to develop and improve the performance of our players, we are in a good position for this year and for the future.  We have been hurt by not having a core of players in place that free agents see as teammates they want to play with.  That shouldn’t be the case next year."

Warriors Meeting With Howard Next Week

7:14pm: USA Today's Sam Amick tweets that Howard will meet with the large Rockets contingent (see below) at 9 p.m. PST Sunday when free agency officially begins.

6:59pm: Sam Amick of USA Today tweets that Howard's schedule next week in LA includes Warriors and Hawks on Monday and Mavericks and Lakers on Tuesday. 

This comes after Dwight meets with the Rockets late Sunday night when the free agency period officially starts at midnight. 

  • ESPN.com's Ric Bucher earlier said Howard would not be meeting with the Warriors (Sulia link), but they have been granted the option to visit him, and will take that opportunity league sources tell him. This despite the unlikelihood the Warriors could afford Howard without a sign-and-trade (Sulia link).

6:14pm: Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that Warriors owner Joe Lacob, GM Bob Myers and coach Mark Jackson will meet with Howard next week (Twitter).

5:51pm: The Dwight Howard drama continues as we come up on the month of July when teams, other than the Lakers, can pitch the big man on joining forces this summer. Dwight's the biggest question mark among the star free agents this summer, after the Lakers had initially appeared to be the frontrunners to retain the three-time Defensive Player of the Year. 

Chris Paul is likely to re-sign with the Clippers after they traded a 2015 first round pick to hire Doc Rivers away from the Celtics, but now the Clippers might be making a move to challenge the Rockets, Mavericks and Lakers for D-12's services, reports Sports on Earth's Shaun Powell (Twitter links).

The Clippers have the OK from owner Donald Sterling to do whatever it takes, but the acqusition of Howard would depend on a salary and sign-and-trade options, since signing Paul and Howard to max contracts would be untenable under the current CBA with their cap space.

According to Powell, Howard wants to play with Paul because he feels the point guard would get him the ball. Despite both Doc and Paul wanting Howard, they won't pursue him at the expense of Blake Griffin (Twitter links). Here's some more surrounding Howard's upcoming week talking with various team's jockeying for his services. 

Mavericks Interested In Trading For Rajon Rondo

4:09pm: Two sources tell Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald that the Mavs and Celtics haven't engaged in any trade talk about Rondo, with one of the sources calling the notion "ridiculous."

2:11pm: The Celtics want Dirk Nowitzki in return for Rondo, and that's gummed up trade talks between the teams, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). The Celtics are interested in Mavs draft acquisition Shane Larkin, too, notes Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).

2:05pm: The Mavericks are interested in acquiring Rajon Rondo from the Celtics, a source confirms to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com originally reported the Mavs' engagement in talks with Boston. The Mavs would love to acquire Rondo as part of a recruiting effort to land Dwight Howard, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, but Wojnarowski cautions that the Celtics would require the Mavs to absorb multiple contracts as part of a trade. Taking back salary along with Rondo could make it difficult, if not impossible, for the Mavs to sign Howard.

Rondo has $24,863,636 left over the final two seasons of a team-friendly contract that ends in 2015. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge told reporters Thursday that his team will not trade Rondo, but that won't stop the Mavs from asking, Washburn writes. Once the 2013/14 season officially starts in July, Dallas will have the cap space necessary to absorb Rondo's contract without taking on any other players. Still, Washburn figures the Mavs will want to send Shawn Marion's contract to the C's along with a younger player and a draft pick to entice Ainge into making a deal. Given Wojnarowski's report, I'm not so sure the Celtics would want Marion, but that's just my speculation.

The Mavs figure to have about $36MM in guaranteed salaries for next season, leaving just about enough room to sign Howard. Taking on Rondo without giving up an equal amount of salary in return wouldn't leave enough space for Howard or any other maximum-salary free agent, so I don't think a Rondo-Howard collaboration is likely in Dallas, unless the Mavs can engineer a series of other moves.

Odds & Ends: 2014 Draft, CP3, Mavs, Warriors

About 12 hours after the 2013 NBA draft officially came to an end, ESPN.com's Chad Ford was already looking forward to 2014. Ford's latest Insider-only blog at ESPN.com takes a very early look at the '14 draft class, which several scouts and GMs believe could be one of the strongest ever. While Andrew Wiggins in the consensus top prospect for '14, the rest of Ford's top 100 is considered well above average as well, with Julius Randle, Marcus Smart, Jabari Parker, and Andrew Harrison rounding out the top five.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NBA:

  • Speaking of next year's draft, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reports that the NBA is considering moving the event back at least a week next year, since the current setup doesn't leave much time between the Finals and draft night. However, the league doesn't want to postpone free agency and Summer League play significantly, so it's unclear whether or not the timing will work. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing the draft happen a few weeks after the free agency period begins, but it doesn't sound like that's an option.
  • Appearing on the Dan Patrick Show today, Doc Rivers said he talks to Chris Paul every day and that he believes CP3 wants to remain a Clipper (Twitter link via Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com).
  • Dirk Nowitzki addressed reporters, including Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com, on draft night and revealed that he has talked to Dwight Howard about the possibility of D12 signing with the Mavericks. "I reached out to him and told him we'd love to have him," Nowitzki said. "That's really about it. It's not like we call each other every day."
  • Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News has an excellent in-depth look into what happened in the Warriors' draft room last night, detailing how happy the team was with the end result of its series of trades.
  • Mike Brown's staff with the Cavaliers will include the following assistants, according to Bob Finnan of the News-Herald (via Twitter): Jim Boylan, Bernie Bickerstaff, Igor Kokoskov, Jamahl Mosley, Phil Handy, Vitaly Potapenko, and Bret Brielmaier.

Western Notes: Mavericks, Clippers, Oberto

We've already mentioned the "draft and stash" philosophy earlier in the night, and that's what Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News thinks the Mavericks might do if they don't trade their 13th pick in this year's draft. He says they're eyeing German point guard Dennis Schroeder if they choose to keep the pick, which has been considered unlikely as they go for broke at another title with Dirk Nowitzki not getting any younger.

Nowitzki would help fellow German Schroeder mesh with the team, and the Mavs are looking for point guard help after Darren Collison failed to inspire a lot of confidence last season when the team missed the playoffs for the first time since the 1999/00 campaign. Schroeder can also be stashed if the Mavs don't feel he's ready to come in and play heavy minutes in the rotation.

Here's what else is happening around the Western Conference on the first Saturday night since the 2012/13 NBA season concluded. 

Odds & Ends: Clippers, Collins, Shaw, Karl

Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times reports that Lionel Hollins met with the Clippers today and engaged in a lengthy conversation about their head coaching job. Turner also relays that Brian Shaw is expected to interview with team brass on either Monday or Tuesday next week (Twitter links). As for George Karl, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN Los Angeles tweets that while the Clippers haven't spoken to him directly, they have been in contact with his representative. Both ESPN's Marc Stein and Shelburne report that Karl and Shaw have emerged as the team's top two candidates for the job. 

As we gear up for Game 1 of the NBA Finals, here are a few miscellaneous notes to share from around the league tonight:

  • As far as his next contract goes, Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki says that it'll probably be a two- or three-year deal (Jon Machota of SportsDayDFW). 
  • Sam Amick of USA Today hears that the Grizzlies reached out to Karl almost immediately after he was let go in Denver today. The Nuggets had to grant permission to Memphis in order to reach out to Karl because the severance agreement hasn't been finalized and the 62-year-old coach is still under contract.
  • Amick notes that the Grizzlies had their sights set on assistant Dave Joerger as their top candidate to replace Hollins, but made that option contingent on whether or not Karl would become available. 
  • Sportando.net's Emiliano Carchia tweets that former NBA player Andres Nocioni is in talks regarding a contract extension with Baskonia, a Spanish ballclub that participates in the ACB and Euroleague. 
  • Flip Saunders confirmed on KFAN radio in Minnesota that the Timberwolves currently have Victor Oladipo ahead of Ben McLemore on their draft board, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN. 
  • ESPN Insider Chad Ford says that many teams are bummed that Dario Saric is considering withdrawing his name from this year's draft, adding that several NBA executives had him ranked in their top five or top seven prospects. He also mentions that there are other teams who had no intention of drafting Saric that aren't thrilled with the news either, considering the notion that the draft gets weaker when talent leaves. Interestingly enough, Ford says he wouldn't be surprised if some NBA teams that are currently in Italy for the Eurocamp will try to travel to Croatia in order to make an attempt to persuade Saric to keep his name in consideration this year (All Twitter links). 
  • Ricky Ledo's agent, Seth Cohen, tells SNY.tv's Adam Zagoria that his client will not work out for the Thunder (Twitter link).
  • For whatever it's worth, Shaquille O'Neal said that he and Chris Webber would like to own the Kings (Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram noted the comment via Twitter).