It's been a busy summer for the Mavs, but tempered with the extreme disappointment with the loss of Steve Nash. Dallas has now made 2 major trades and a minor one since I last wrote a report (July 1) [I didn't write after the 1st major trade as I went on vacation the day before it became official and when I got back last Thursday I thought I'd wait for this one to become official before writing]. And there will probably be at least 1 more trade to come as the team now has 17 players under contract for the up coming season (and that is excluding Avery Johnson, who supposedly will actually sign with the team sometime). The team can only have up to 15 players on their regular season roster (12 active and up to 3 on IR). On August 4, Dallas traded Antoine Walker and Tony Delk to Atlanta for Jason Terry, Alan Henderson, and a 1st round draft pick. The draft pick originally belonged to Philadelphia. No one was surprised that Walker was traded. Though he tried to fit in with Dallas, he never did mesh and was seen as one of the clogs as to why the team struggled so much last season. Delk never had a true role with the team and spent a good chunk of last season on IR. He was basically included in this trade to make the dollars work [trade salary matching rules]. As for what Dallas got, I've always been some what found of Terry as one of the unheard of good young guards (along with Baron Davis, before he got some attention with the Hornets making the playoffs, and Andre Miller from his Cleveland days). He is a shooting point guard, which will always rub some people wrong. 03-04 was his 5th season in the league and he averaged 16.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 5.4 assists in 37.3 minutes. His shooting wasn't great though as he shot 41.7% FG and 34.7% 3-pointers. Unlike other players the Mavs have traded for this summer, I think Terry will stick with the team [some others will be or already have been traded on]. It will be interesting to see what Terry can do with a talented team instead of a team consistently stuck in the mud (his whole career has been with Atlanta). Hopefully he will scale back his shooting some and increase his passing. Terry's career stats: Year GP-GS MIN AVG FGM-FGA PCT 3PM-3PA PCT FTM-FTA PCT 99-00 81-27 1888 23.3 249-600 0.415 46-157 0.293 113-140 0.807 00-01 82-77 3089 37.7 596-1367 0.436 124-314 0.395 303-358 0.846 01-02 78-78 2967 38.0 524-1219 0.430 172-444 0.387 284-340 0.835 02-03 81-81 3081 38.0 488-1141 0.428 160-431 0.371 259-292 0.887 03-04 81-78 3018 37.3 499-1196 0.417 146-421 0.347 215-260 0.827 Total 403-341 14043 34.8 2356-5523 0.427 648-1767 0.367 1174-1390 0.845 | Rebounds | Year OFF DEF TOT AVG AST AVG PF-D STL TO BLK PTS AVG HI 99-00 24 142 166 2.0 346 4.3 133-0 90 156 10 657 8.1 22 00-01 42 227 269 3.3 403 4.9 204-2 104 239 12 1619 19.7 38 01-02 40 230 270 3.5 444 5.7 156-0 144 181 13 1504 19.3 46 02-03 37 242 279 3.4 600 7.4 175-2 126 249 14 1395 17.2 33 03-04 49 287 336 4.1 437 5.4 192-2 124 229 16 1359 16.8 30 Total 192 1128 1320 3.3 2230 5.5 860-6 588 1054 65 6534 16.2 46 Terry on the trade: "I'm hungry. If I had to stick it out and rebuild in Atlanta, I would have. My heart is in the game. I love it. At the same time, I'm a young guard in the league and I see all of the opportunities that come to a Mike Bibby in Sacramento or a Steve Francis. I feel I'm in that class, an elite class." Donn Nelson on Terry: "Terry gives us a scoring point guard. Those type of players have done very well in our system in the past, from Tim Hardaway [from the Golden State days] to Steve Nash. And this will afford us an opportunity to gradually break Devin in. I think that's important for what we want to do this year." Henderson, a 6-9 240 power forward, had a promising start to his career and then was plagued by injuries and isn't much more than a role player now. He has only played in 70+ games in 4 of his 9 seasons (38 games in the 50 game lockout season). He only played in 6 games last season due to a torn disk in his lower back. In 02-03, he did play in all 82 games and averaged 11.4 points and 4.9 rebounds in 18.2 minutes. He is in the last year of his contract, so he may be trade bait for a team looking to dump a longer contract. Terry has 2 years left on his 3 year contract and will earn $7,500,000 for this season. Henderson is in the last year of his 7 year contract and will earn $8,273,125 this season. Walker is in the last year of his 7 year contract and will earn $13,625,000 this season. Delk has 2 years left of his 6 year contract (but could opt-out after next season) and will earn $3,150,000 this season. On August 24, Dallas traded Eduardo Najera, Christian Laettner, the rights to Luis Flores, the rights to Mladen Sekularac, Dallas' 1997 1st round draft pick, a Philadelphia 1st round draft pick (which Dallas got via the Atlanta Jason Terry trade), and cash to Golden State for a re-signed Erick Dampier, Evan Eschmeyer, and the rights to Steve Logan. Dampier was re-signed to a 7 year, $73 million contract. He also lost a year off his age as he was born in 1975 and the league had always had him listed as being born in 1974. Dan Dickau was technically part of a separated deal where Dallas acquired him from Golden State in exchange for a trade exception. Dickau could not technically be included in the real deal as Golden State acquired him on July 20 and he could not be included in a multi-player deal until 60 days after his last trade. Now I'm not a fan of this trade. Yes, the team finally got a true center in Erick Dampier, but put me down as one of those being highly skeptical of Dampier's performance this past season. Here is a player who was considered mediocre to a bust for his first 7 seasons where he averaged 8.3 points including 43.2% FG and 6.4 rebounds and he responsed with 12.3 points including 53.5% FG and 12 rebounds for 03-04, his contract season. A player who steps it up only in a contract year (he opted-out after completing 5 years of his 7 year contract) is cause for concern - was he just playing for a new contract or has he really improved his game? I'm not one who would give as large of a contract as he receive for 1 season's worth of performance. If you want to spend money like that, spend it on a known commodity like Steve Nash. I hope Dampier proves my worries wrong and his career continues or improves from his strong 03-04 season. If it doesn't, that contract is going to be an albatross around the Mavs' neck. Dampier's stats: (96-97 with Indiana, 97-98 - 03-04 with Golden State) Year GP-GS MIN AVG FGM-FGA PCT 3PM-3PA PCT FTM-FTA PCT 96-97 72-21 1052 14.6 131-336 0.390 1-1 1.000 107-168 0.637 97-98 82-82 2656 32.4 352-791 0.445 0-2 0.000 267-399 0.669 98-99 50-50 1414 28.3 161-414 0.389 0-0 0.000 120-204 0.588 99-00 21-12 495 23.6 70-173 0.405 0-0 0.000 27-51 0.529 00-01 43-26 1038 24.1 126-314 0.401 0-2 0.000 67-126 0.532 01-02 73-46 1740 23.8 209-480 0.435 0-0 0.000 136-211 0.645 02-03 82-82 1978 24.1 259-522 0.496 0-2 0.000 155-222 0.698 03-04 74-74 2403 32.5 348-650 0.535 0-2 0.000 217-332 0.654 Total 497-393 12776 25.7 1656-3680 0.450 1-9 0.111 1096-1713 0.640 | Rebounds | Year OFF DEF TOT AVG AST AVG PF-D STL TO BLK PTS AVG HI 96-97 96 198 294 4.1 43 0.6 153-1 19 84 73 370 5.1 15 97-98 272 443 715 8.7 94 1.1 284-6 39 175 139 971 11.8 23 98-99 164 218 382 7.6 54 1.1 165-2 26 92 58 442 8.8 22 99-00 48 86 134 6.4 19 0.9 75-1 8 29 15 167 8.0 16 00-01 97 153 250 5.8 59 1.4 123-3 17 82 58 319 7.4 20 01-02 167 220 387 5.3 87 1.2 235-4 17 156 167 554 7.6 22 02-03 248 295 543 6.6 58 0.7 242-3 27 112 154 673 8.2 31 03-04 344 543 887 12.0 60 0.8 227-3 33 131 137 913 12.3 26 Total 1436 2156 3592 7.2 474 1.0 1504-23 186 861 801 4409 8.9 31 Donn Nelson on Dampier: "Obviously, center is an area we wanted to address, and Damp is one of the top centers in the NBA. He can hold the fort with his rebounding, his shot blocking, and his low post presence. Plus he'll be a real asset in our lockerroom." Golden State was more than happy to have Dallas take back Evan Eschmeyer's ridiculous contract, as Dallas was when they included him with the last summer's Antawn Jamison trade. Esch did not even play last season as he spent the entire season on IR after undergoing knee surgery during the off season. Don't look for him to find much time with Dallas as the team has a ton of role playing backup centers (Shawn Bradley, Calvin Booth, Didier Ilunga-Mbenga, and Pavel Podkolzin). Dickau waved at Golden State as he passed through. Golden State acquired him from Portland as part of the Nick Van Exel trade. He spent half of last season, his sophomore season, with Portland and Atlanta. The 6-0 point guard hasn't played much in his 2 years as he's averaged just 8.7 minutes, 2.4 points including a mere 39.9% FG and 35.2% 3-pointers, and 2.2 assists over the 2 years. Logan was the #30 pick of the 2002 draft and has yet to play in the NBA. He was a holdout for 02-03 as he wanted a guaranteed contract and Golden State wouldn't give him one. He is a 6-0 point guard and probably won't find a spot with Dallas either. The Mavs lost a fan favorite and hustle player with this trade. Eddie Energy often had a away of changing without putting up much numbers to signify the influence he had. Look for the Warriors fans to embrace Najera as their new hustle player to replace their now departed Brian Cardinal. Laettner waved at the Mavs as he passed through this summer. Laettner's value is in that he has just 1 year left on his contract. He was acquired by Dallas on June 24 as part of the Jerry Stackhouse trade. Neither Flores nor Sekularac would have been on Dallas' 04-05 roster. As mentioned above Dampier's new contract is 7 years, $73 million and will earn $7.6 million for 04-05 [note: there is a reported range of what his new contract is - the Dallas Morning News reported it as 7 years, $63 million (which sounded way low), the Fort Worth Star Telegram reported 7 years, $71 million with a starting salary of $7.1 million (which those numbers don't add up - $7.1 mill -> $68 mill for 7 years according to my math), and ESPN reported it as $73 mill; I don't yet have any numbers from my sources]. Eschmeyer has 3 years left on his 6 year contract (can opt out for the last year) and will earn $3,103,800 for 04-05. Dickau has 1 year left on his 3 year rookie contract with a team option for 05-06 and will earn $893,400 for 04-05. Najera had 4 years left on his 6 year contract (can opt out for the last year) and will earn $3,809,524 for 04-05. Laettner is in the last year of his 4 year contract and will earn $6,187,500 for 04-05. In the minor trade, on July 26 Dallas traded Danny Fortson to Seattle for Calvin Booth. Basically, junk for junk and giving both players a new start as neither was productive with the team he left. Booth had a brief stint with Dallas where he had his pro highlight with the game winning layup at the end of game 5 vs Utah in 2001. Last year with Seattle, he averaged just 4.6 points and 3.9 rebounds in 17 minutes (and played in 71 games). He has 3 years left on his 7 year contract and will earn $5,900,700 this season. Fortson also had 3 years left on his 7 year contract (but he could opt-out after next season, but probably won't) and will earn $5,818,136 this season. Dallas signed both of their 1st round draft picks (1st round draft picks are signed to 3 year contracts with a 4th at the team's option to a range amount (20% above or below a set amount for where the player was drafted)). Devin Harris was signed on July 2 to a 3 year, $8,842,440 contract with a 4th year worth $3,995,003 at the team's option. Pavel Podkolzin was signed on July 29 to a 3 year, $3,424,680 with a 4th year worth $1,945,435 at the team's option. As expected, Dallas re-signed Marquis Daniels to a 6 year, $38,587,500 contract with the 6th year at Dallas' option. The Mavs used the full mid-level exception to re-signed Daniels. He will earn $4,900,000 for this season. Though he did not have the contract security of a 1st round draft pick last season, he actually made out better than any of the 1st round draft picks from 2003 [Daniels was not drafted]. As the #1 pick from 2003, LeBron James will earn $4,320,360 for 04-05. Dallas used their million dollar exception (actual amount $1.6 million) to signed free agent rookie Didier Ilunga-Mbenga to a 2 year, $3.36 million contract. With the signings of Daniels and Ilunga-Mbenga, Dallas used all of their available signing exceptions and can only sign other free agents to minimum contracts (or get them via sign-and-trades as with Dampier). The Mavs reached a 1 year, minimum contract agreement with Avery Johnson way back in July, but the deal has not yet been formally signed. Every once in a while a report will spring up that it is about to be signed, but it hasn't been signed yet. Trainer Roger Hinds was fired early in the summer. Hinds had been the team trainer for the past 8 seasons. Casey Smith was later named as the new trainer. He became the 3rd trainer in team history (joining Hinds and Doug Atkinson). Morlon Wiley join Orlando as one of Johnny Davis' assistants. Wiley had been a member of Dallas' developmental coaching staff for the past 4 seasons. What the (bloated) roster looks like right now: No. Player Pos Ht Wt B-day College Exp 00? Evan Eschmeyer ........ C 6-11 250 5/30/75 Northwestern'99 4 4 Michael Finley ........ G-F 6-7 225 3/6/73 Wisconsin'95 9 5 Josh Howard ........... F 6-5 210 4/28/80 Wake Forest'03 1 6 Marquis Daniels ....... G 6-5 200 1/7/81 Auburn'03 1 9 Tariq Abdul-Wahad ..... G-F 6-6 230 11/3/74 San Jose State'98 6 10 Jon Stefansson ........ G 6-5 203 9/21/82 Iceland R 21? Dan Dickau ............ G 6-0 190 9/16/78 Gonzaga'02 2 25? Erick Dampier ......... C 6-11 265 7/14/75 Mississippi State'97 8 31 Jason Terry ........... G 6-2 180 9/15/77 Arizona'99 5 34 Devin Harris .......... G 6-3 185 2/27/83 Wisconsin'05 R-1 41 Dirk Nowitzki ......... F 7-0 245 6/19/78 Germany 6 42 Jerry Stackhouse ...... G-F 6-6 218 11/5/74 UNC'97 9 44 Shawn Bradley ......... C 7-6 280 3/22/72 BYU'94 11 52 Calvin Booth .......... C 6-11 231 5/7/76 Penn State'99 5 55 Pavel Podkolzin ....... C 7-5 260 1/15/85 Russia R-1 ?? Didier Ilunga-Mbenga .. C 7-0 245 12/30/80 Congo R ?? Alan Henderson ........ F 6-9 230 12/2/72 Indiana'95 9 ?? Travis Best ........... G 5-11 180 7/12/72 Georgia Tech'95 9 ?? Scott Williams ........ C 6-10 260 3/21/68 UNC'90 14 ?? *Steve Logan ........... G 6-0 195 3/20/80 Cincinnati'02 R [Best and Williams are unsigned free agents (and Dallas likely won't re-sign them) and Logan is an unsigned draft pick (also likely not to be signed)] Training camp starts October 4. patricia