The Mavs released Jervaughn Scales, Stan Rose, and Richard Rellford yesterday. Thus, the Mavs roster is down to 15 players. Back when Tarpley was signed, the Mavs also gave Morlon Wiley a guarenteed contract. Thus, the Mavs do have 12 players under guarenteed contract (Kidd, Jackson, Mashburn, Tarpley, Jones, Rooks, Dumas, Hodge, Harris, Davis, Smith, and Wiley). For one of the three other players still in training camp (Greg Sutton, Damion Sweet, and Lorenzo Williams) to make the team, the Mavs would have to eat a contract. Sutton and Sweet are fighting Wiley for a spot. Look for Wiley to keep it. Sutton and Sweet looked to be good shooters from what I saw, but what the Mavs really need is a backup pure point guard - which is what Wiley is. A real battle for a spot is going on between Williams and Hodge. Williams has been looking good in camp and provides something the Mavs desparately need - the ability to block shots. But Hodge does have two years left on his contract. With Carter having told Motta to select players regardless of contract, look for the Mavs to Do the Right Thing (which, amazingly, they seem to be doing a lot this season) and keep Williams. The other thing to look for during the pre-season is who gets to start for power forward and who for center. Popeye Jones and Terry Davis are fighting for starting power forward. I'd say Popeye has it locked up. He has looked great in camp - looking more for his shot than before and an improved shooting touch in addition to his tenacious rebounding - and Motta has been highly complementary of him. Sean Rooks and Roy Tarpley are the contenders for starting center. Randy Galloway says that Tarpley will be the starter, but I have no idea on what Motta intends to do (Hodge, of all people, started Saturday's game). Another thing to note is that it looks like Doug Smith is _the_ backup small forward. Motta commented that Tony Dumas is too small at 180 pounds to play small forward right now. Some retirement: With the players cut, assistant coach Brad Davis has been participating in some of the drills to make the teams even. Tarpley, who used to report to camp consistently over weight, thinks he needs to gain about 10 pounds since he will be playing a lot of center. Tarp reported to camp at 255 pounds. Motta prior to last Saturday's pre-season game where he planned (and did) to play all 18 players: "It'll be a Chinese fire drill. It'll be horrible." Tarpley's contract numbers: Season Salary 94-95 $3 million 95-96 $3.9 million 96-97 $4.8 million 97-98 $4.8 million 98-99 $4.8 million 99-2000 $4.5 million Praise for Popeye. Motta: "I like him. I really like him. He's really worked on his low-post moves. "He's like a sponge. You don't need to tell him too many times what to do. It doesn't look like he has great speed or quickness, but he's very, very deceptive. He's a worker and such a neat guy. He's the kind of guy that way down deep you cheer for." The raise and 3-year extension that Popeye received about a month ago was a complete surprise to Popeye. Popeye: "They didn't have to do that. I was real happy. The thing I'm most proud of is the security part of it. Plus, I'm happy to be in Dallas for four more years. I'm the kind of person, when I start something, I want to get something out of it. "I wasn't really looking for anything." Aren't you glad that the Mavs _didn't_ get the 1st pick of the draft? Could you even imagine Carter giving anyone a $100 million contract??? Where are they now: Mavs assistants from last year Greg Ballard and Randy Wittman are now assistant coaches for Minnesota. Former Mav assistant ('80-'86) Bob Weiss will be doing color commentary on 26 Mavs games on channel 11. Here are Roy Tarpley's career stats while with the Mavs. Roy Tarpley | Rebounds | Year GP-GS Min Avg FGM-FGA PCT FTA-FTM PCT OFF DEF TOT AVG AST 86-87 75-1 1405 18.7 233-499 .467 94-139 .676 180 353 533 7.1 52 87-88 81-9 2307 28.5 444-888 .500 205-277 .740 360 599 959 11.8 86 88-89 19-6 591 31.1 131-242 .541 66-96 .688 77 141 218 11.5 17 89-90 45-35 1648 36.6 314-696 .451 130-172 .756 189 400 589 13.1 67 90-91 5-5 171 34.2 43-79 .544 16-18 .889 16 39 55 11.0 12 Total 225-56 6122 27.2 1165-2404.485 511-702 .728 822 1532 2354 10.5 234 Playoffs: 86-87 4-1 114 28.5 24-48 .500 5-7 .714 18 24 42 10.5 1 87-88 17-0 563 33.1 125-241 .519 54-73 .740 88 131 219 12.9 30 89-90 3-3 129 43.0 22-46 .478 6-12 .500 9 37 46 15.3 1 Total 24-4 806 33.6 171-335 .510 65-92 .707 115 192 307 12.8 32 Year PF-D STL TO BLK PTS AVG HI 86-87 232-3 56 101 79 561 7.5 20 87-88 313-8 103 172 86 1093 13.5 29 88-89 70-2 28 45 30 328 17.3 35 89-90 160-0 79 117 70 758 16.8 27 90-91 20-0 6 13 9 102 20.4 29 Total 795-13 272 448 274 2842 12.6 35 Playoffs: 86-87 18-1 1 7 7 53 13.3 25 87-88 69-3 21 32 26 304 17.9 27 89-90 12-0 7 9 10 50 16.7 22 Total 99-4 29 48 43 407 17.0 27 patricia