Ya, I know it's been a while and a lot of signings of occurred since I last
wrote, but I have a small excuse in that I was out of town for the last 2
weeks of July - when most of the signings occurred and then I put it off 2
more days as I heard Bradley was about to be signed.  Here's what has
happened with the Mavs.

First the non-signing news:

The 2001-02 schedule has been released.
The local broadcast schedule has not yet been released, but the national
schedule has and, shockingly, Dallas will be on NBC 3 times, TNT 5 times,
and TBS 4 times.  That's the most regular season national broadcasts Dallas
has ever had.  The NBC games are Feb 3 vs the Lakers, Feb 23 vs Sacramento,
and April 6 at San Antonio.

Dallas finished the Long Beach Summer League with a record of 3-2 and the
Rocky Mountain Revue with a record of 1-4.  Donnell Harvey averaged 14.2
points and 6.5 rebounds, Kenny Satterfield averaged 14.8 points, Derek Hood
averaged 12.6 points and 9.6 rebounds, and Kyle Hill averaged 7 points.  
I've the boxscores for the games and the final summer stats for Dallas at
http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/mavs/mavs-news/sum01/sum01.html

Gary Trent underwent knee surgery in late July and is out until September.

Denver named Kiki Vandeweghe as Denver's new GM.  He signed a 5 year 
contract.  Vandeweghe had been Dallas' director of player development for 
the past 2 years.


And for the signings...
7/23 Dallas signed Michael Finley to a 7 year, $102,265,625 contract with a
player opt-out after the 5th year.  It is the maximum that Finley could
receive.  Finley didn't even talk with any other teams.  No surprise here.

Don Nelson: "I always expected Michael to re-sign with us, and he has.  We
have built the team around him, and will continue to do so."
 
Mark Cuban: "Michael Finley made a promise to the fans of Dallas when he
came here that he would help turn this team around and make us into a
playoff contender.  He's done that, and we are excited that he will be
here to lead us for a long time and, hopefully, take us to championship
levels."
 
Michael Finley: "I'm very excited about returning to the Mavericks.  After
our playoff run last season, I am more convinced than ever that the pieces
are falling into place for us to seriously contend for an NBA championship."

Finley: "I want to finish something that I started.  I didn't want to leave
halfway through the team being built.  The goal is to get a championship."
 
Finley on the $20 million difference if he had signed a 1 year contract and
then a 7 year contract next season: "$20 million is a lot of money, but
it's probably $20 million I wasn't going to see.  By deciding to sign the 7
year instead of taking the 1 year, I probably took money out of my kid's
kid's kid's pockets."
 

7/27 Dallas signed Adrian Griffin to a 2 year, $1,203,285 contract
(minimum).  He is 6-5 and 27 years old and can play both shooting guard and
small forward.  Griffin played 3 years in the CBA and Europe before making 
the Celtics' team in 99-00.  He had a great 1st half of his rookie season 
and was even co-Rookie of the Month for November.  His production fell some
in the 2nd half of the season and he had a poor sophomore season and was
limited to 44 games due to a back injury.  He is reportedly fully recovered
from the back injury and played well in the Shaw's Pro Summer League in July
where he averaged 12 points and 4.7 rebounds.  For minimum, Griffin is a 
very good pick up.  He'll give competition in practice, but will have to
earn minutes to see real court time.  The Mavs are looking at him as
insurance with Greg Buckner having only played 37 games last season and 
missing 5 games in the playoffs.

Mark Cuban: "He gives us insurance if Buck gets hurt.  What the coaches 
really like is his tenacity and ability to play both the shooting guard and
small forward."
 
Cuban: "He's kind of like a Junior Buck, if you will."

Adrian Griffin on signing with Dallas: "It was a very easy decision.  It
really sort of out of the blue.  [My agent] mentioned Dallas wanted me for
a couple of years and I said, 'That's terrific.'"


The Mavs gained one and lost one as July ended.
7/31 Dallas signed Danny Manning to a 2 year, $3.2 million contract.
Manning, a veteran big man, brings experience and brains to the team.
He has one of the purest shots in the league and can play small forward,
power forward, and some center (but you wouldn't want him there for more
than spot minutes).  At this stage in his career, he is a role player.  He
averaged 7.4 points and 2.6 rebounds in 15.9 minutes for Utah last year.
Mavs fans will remember him from last season for his killer 3-pointer at the
end of Game 1.  Despite that, he is not a good 3-point shooter.  He shot
7-28 3-pointers in 00-01 and is only 20.1% for his career.  On the other
hand, he's a career 51.2% FG shooter.  He's a very good pickup for Dallas
and will provide the veteran experience and leadership the team has been
looking for the past couple of years (Mark Bryant, Vernon Maxwell, Hot Rod
Williams).  Dallas used part of the mid-level exception to sign Manning
[and the rest was used to sign Evan Eschmeyer - see below].
Manning will become the 3rd #1 draft pick (1988 by the Clippers) to play 
for Dallas.  Trivia: who are the other 2?

Don Nelson: "We're trying to beef up our bench, and he's a very good
player.  He's got a lot experience.  He's just the type of guy we're
looking for, and I feel real good about him joining our ballclub."
 
Danny Manning: "I'm excited about the direction the Mavericks are going
in, and hopefully once we step on the court I'll be able to make a
contribution by being here and sharing my experiences with some of the
younger players."
 

7/31 Seattle signed Calvin Booth to a 6 year, $34 million contract.
Because the first year of the contract is worth $4,539,000, Dallas can 
not match the offer (Booth was a restricted free agent) as the most Dallas
could offer Booth was $4,538,000.  This came as a big surprise to Dallas as
they were expecting and planning on re-signing Booth.  But Dallas was only
looking for a 2 year contract [some fantasy about freeing up money in 2003
to go after Tim Duncan] and Seattle not only offered the 6 year contract,
but they offered the fulltime starting center job, while Dallas would have
had Booth splitting minutes with Shawn Bradley.  Dallas was not informed of
Seattle's 6 year offer before hand and not given a chance to up Dallas' 
offer to 6 years by the Booth camp - they chose Seattle and closed the door
on Dallas.  That is not to say that Dallas did not lose Booth by not making
Dallas the more attractive place for Booth to be at.  The long contract was
important to Booth.  The total difference in the contract Seattle gave Booth
and a 6 year one Dallas could have given Booth was only $20,000.  On the
other hand, I wouldn't have given Booth a 6 year contract.  That's too long
for a player with Booth's experience (only 49 games played in 2 seasons) and
talent level.  It's a loss as it left (for the time) Dallas without a backup
center, but Seattle gave him too much.

Don Nelson on losing Booth: "It's a sad day for me because I absolutely love
coaching him and anticipated a long relationship with him.  But that's over 
now.  He's a SuperSonic."
 
Nelson: "We lost a good young player.  We were counting on Calvin being
our backup, or even starting center.  We started him last year, and we
liked that relationship between he and Shawn.  Now we've got to go back to
the drawing board."
 
Nelson: "We were going to match any offer, but they took that away.  We
couldn't match when he went over the [$4.538 million] limit."
 
Booth's agent Mark Termini: "Seattle recruited Cal very aggressively and
presented him with the financial package and a playing opportunity that he
could not turn down.  The situation in Dallas was very positive, and there
was never anything negative viewed toward the Dallas organization.  It's
just that this was a combination of the contract, and the opportunity to
be the starting center and one of their building blocks that brought Calvin
to this decision."
 

8/1 San Antonio signed free agent Mark Bryant.  No loss to Dallas as the
team wasn't going to re-sign him.


8/2 Dallas signed Khalid El-Amin and Darrick Martin to 1 year, minimum
contracts.  Even with guaranteed contracts, both will have to fight to make
the team.  And that is what Mark Cuban wants: competition in training camp.
Both are good pickups for minimum.  I've like Martin for a while as a solid
role player as a backup point guard and El-Amin is young and you don't know
what, if anything, he'll develop into.  With their addition, things look
more bleak for 2nd round draft picks Kyle Hill and Kenny Satterfield making
the team.

Mark Cuban: "Darrick brings a lot of experience.  Khalid is a penetrator.
We wanted Kenny [Satterfield] to have some competition coming into camp;
we want it to be a war."
 
Darrick Martin: "I think [their style of play is] suitable to how I like
to play, and hopefully I can get here and help this team.  Coming from
Sacramento, I'm leaving one team that likes to have fun and coming to
another team that likes to have fun, so the transition should be easy."
 
Khalid El-Amin: "I think I'm going to bring a lot of energy, a lot of
good emotion.  I think I'm good in the open court, and I just feel like
Dallas is the place for me to prosper."
 

8/8 Dallas re-signed Shawn Bradley to a 7 year, $40 million contract an
opt-out after 5 years.  There are a number of incentives in the contract.
Bradley did not talk with any other teams.  The reason the contract wasn't
signed until now was that first Cuban was out of town, then his agent was
out of town, and then Bradley was out of town.  This is a good contract.
You can't find a starting center (and no matter what you think about
Bradley, Dallas did not have a center without him - you don't want Dirk
playing major minutes there) for $5 million these days.  Hey, look at the
ridiculous contracts _backup_ centers are making (see Booth and Eschmeyer).
And Bradley did not even turn around and ask for more money like he could
have when the team lost Booth.  Bradley opted for the security of a long
term contract in a city he likes instead of going for more money.  [And 
to the dunce on the radio yesterday about Bradley only playing good in 
contract years, this is Bradley's 2nd contract - his crazy rookie contract 
was for 8 years, $45 million and he earned $8,370,000 last season.]  And 
Bradley will be participating in Pete Newell's Big Man's Camp next week - 
the 3rd straight year he will be attending.

Don Nelson: "We think shot blockers are even more important now.  Shawn 
was a huge priority for us to re-sign, and I'm glad we got the job done.
When we got him, I liked him.  And he's made a huge improvement in his 
game and is quite a factor in the NBA now."

Nelson: "He has improved as a player.  He's a good fit for us.  He doesn't
complain about wanting more minutes or his role on the team, and he does a 
lot of the dirty work that has to be done."

Shawn Bradley: "My goal was to find a place to finish my career.  I've found
a home here in Dallas."

Bradley: "I've really found a home here in Dallas.  My wife and I love the
area, we love the community, our kids are in school here, they've got 
great friends.  This contract was geared to keep me around here, so that I
can be a part of this community for a long time."

Bradley: "This contract was really geared to keep me here for the rest of my
career."


8/8 Dallas signed Evan Eschmeyer to a 6 year, $20 million offer sheet. 
Eschmeyer is a restricted free agent and New Jersey will have 15 days to 
match the offer (but is not expected to as they recently signed Todd 
MacCulloch).  Eschmeyer fills the backup center position that was left open
when Calvin Booth left.  Yuch.  This is a panic signing.  Let's hope it
works out better than the last panic signing Dallas made - Hot Rod Williams
when Kurt Thomas signed with New York.  If I didn't like the idea of giving
Calvin Booth a 6 year contract, you can imagine what I feel about this
signing.  Dallas used the rest of the mid-level exception to sign Eschmeyer.
Eschmeyer, who is 6-11 and 255, averaged 3.3 points and 4.9 rebounds in 16.2
minutes while playing in 74 games last season.  He played in 31 games his
rookie year.  Please welcome Dallas' latest BWS.  [shaking head - 6 years]

Mark Cuban: "He knows how to play the game very, very well.  When he's on 
the court he makes the people around him play better."

Don Nelson on signing Bradley and Eschmeyer: "This bails us out of a hole.
We were in trouble if we didn't get this done."



What's next?
Dallas is expected to signed Ruben Wolkowyski when he clears waivers on 
Friday.  It will be a 1 year, minimum contract and he'll be another fighting
for a roster spot in training camp.  Wolkowyski is a 6-10 forward/center
who didn't do much in his rookie season with Seattle - 2.2 points, 1.4
rebounds in 9 minutes per game and only 34 games.

The Mavs have until October 31 to sign Dirk Nowitzki to a 6 year, maximum
contract extension.  Look for them to do so.  Nowitzki is still in Germany.

The Mavs have no more exceptions left.  If the Mavs want to sign any more
free agents, they would have to be signed to minimum contracts or as part
of a sign-and-trade.  Howard Eisley has asked to be traded and is on the
block and Gary Trent is also available for a sign-and-trade.  If Trent can't
find another team to take him (either straight sign or sign-and-trade), look
for him to be back in Dallas next season.  Eisley is also likely to remain
as many teams are trying to avoid the luxury tax and Eisley will earn
$4,781,250 next season and has 6 years left on his contract.  Despite the 
fact that Dallas currently has 15 players under contract for next season, 
look for more transactions to still occur.  Cuban wants lots of competition 
in training camp and there are still a number of interesting free agents out
there who likely have to take much less money than they were hoping for.  
Tim Hardaway keeps getting mentioned, but he doesn't really fit with this 
team and giving him anything more than minimum would be silly (such as 
Eisley's $4.78 million, plus Miami doesn't want to take on any money).  A 
number of other names have been floating around with "Dallas showing 
interest", but I won't mention them as none of them are likely to happen 
(_maybe_ one of them _might_ occur).
 

Trivia answer: Mark Aguirre (1981 by Dallas) and Austin Carr (1971 by
Cleveland)


patricia