1997-98 Mavs Transactions 4/14 Dallas named Terdema Ussery as team president and chief executive officer. 4/23 Dallas fired assistant coach Lanny Van Eman. 5/13 Dallas named Keith Grant as director of player personnel. Grant was signed to a 3 year contract. 5/13 Dallas extended head scout Ron Ekker's contract by 3 years. 6/1 Sasha Danilovic signed with Buckler Bologna of the Italian League. 6/25 Dallas drafted Kelvin Cato with the 15th pick and then traded him to Portland for #18 draft pick Chris Anstey and money. Dallas drafted Bubba Wells with the 35th pick. 8/18 Dallas re-signed Erick Strickland to a 6 year, $14.4 million contract with a player opt-out clause after the 4th season. Dallas also formally renounced their rights to Sasha Danilovic. 8/26 Ted Davis resigned as the Mavs radio announcer. 9/5 Dallas signed Hubert Davis to a 6 year, $4.5 million contract with a player opt-out clause after the 3rd year. 9/19 Dallas named Matt Pinto as radio voice of the Mavs. Pinto will be calling all the games, including pre-season games, on KLIF 570. Pinto was radio voice of the Charlotte Hornets from 1990 - 1996. 9/24 TRADE: Dallas traded Derek Harper and Ed O'Bannon to Orlando for Dennis Scott and $500,000. The money will be donated to the Dallas Mavericks Foundation - the team's charity. All three players are in the last year of their contracts. 10/1 The Mavs signed Michael Finley to a 5 year, $42 million extension with a player opt-out clause the 3rd year (2000-01). 10/2 Dallas signed 2nd round draft pick Bubba Wells to a 2 year contract and signed Malcolm Mackey, Carlos Strong, Ace Custis, Ike Nwankwo, Kevin Whitted, and Derrick Chandler to non-guarenteed 1 year contracts. 10/2 Dallas named Sonny Allen as an assistant coach. Allen spent the last two seasons as a scout for Golden State and the 5 seasons before that as the scout for Charlotte. He was the head coach of SMU from 75-76 - 79-80. 10/7 Because of all the training camp injuries, the Mavs have added Kevin Ollie to the roster. He's signed to a 1 year, non-guaranteed contract. 10/8 Dallas released Derrick Chandler. 10/21 Dallas signed Adrian Calwell to a 1 year, non-guaranteed contract. 10/22 Dallas released Malcolm Mackey. 10/22 Dallas signed Reggie Freeman and Jerome Allen to 1 year, non-guaranteed contracts. 10/28 Dallas released Jerome Allen, Ike Nwankwo, Carlos Strong, and Kevin Whitted. 10/30 Dallas released Reggie Freeman. 10/30 Dallas placed Robert Pack (borken finger), Ace Custis (torn ACL), and Martin Muursepp (sprained ankle) on IR. 11/3 Dallas signed Chris Anstey to a 3 year, $2,956,000 contract and released Adrian Caldwell. 11/24 Dallas activated Martin Muursepp and placed Kurt Thomas on IR with a fractured right ankle. 12/4 Dallas fired head coach Jim Cleamons and assistants Butch Beard and Sonny Allen. Don Nelson was named as new head coach and Ron Ekker was named as an assistant coach. Nelson retains the GM position. Ekker was the director of scouting. Assistants Charlie Parker and Bob Salmi retain their jobs. 12/5 Dallas named Kurt Thomas as an assistant coach. Thomas is out for the season with a fractured right ankle. 12/16 Dallas activated Robert Pack and placed Erick Strickland on IR with a sprained right ankle. Strickland had been playing with the ankle sprain since pre-season. 12/17 Dallas released Kevin Ollie and signed Eric Riley. 12/30 Dallas and Don Nelson have reached an agreement on a 2 year coaching contract, under which Nelson will coach through the 1999-2000 season. Nelson is currently coaching under his 5 year, $7.2 million GM contract. The 2 year coaching contract is worth about $6 million, which Nelson will receive in addition to his GM salary. Nelson says he will turn the coaching reigns over to another coach after the 2000 season and will retain his GM title. 1/2 Dallas named Mark Aguirre as a scout. Aguirre has been working with the team lately providing instruction. He also served as director of player development and scout last year. 1/2 Dallas activated Erick Strickland and placed Chris Anstey on IR with a sprained left ankle. Anstey suffered the injury in practice. 1/2 Dallas named Donn Nelson as director of scouting. Nelson has been an assistant coach for Phoenix for the past 3 season and was his father's assistant in Golden State for the 9 prior seasons. Head coach Don Nelson said that Donn will become his head assistant next season and will take over as head coach in 2000-01. Assistant coach Ron Ekker was the director of scouting before Jim Cleamon's was fired. 1/4 Donn Nelson decided that since he's going to be here anyways, he might as well start his assistantship now. Thus, Dallas named Donn Nelson as an assistant coach. Scout Scott Roth is now director of scouting. 1/17 Dallas activated Chris Anstey and placed Bubba Wells on IR with a sprained right big toe. 1/30 Dallas activated Bubba Wells and placed Robert Pack on IR with torn ligaments in his right thumb. 2/18 Dallas traded Dennis Scott to Phoneix for Cedric Ceballos. 3/2 Adding to a crowded bench, Scott Roth was named as an assistant coach. The Mavs now have 6 assistant coaches, but Donn Nelson and Ron Ekker (and I assume Roth too) will be spending part of their time scouting. 3/27 Dallas signed Shawn Respert to a 10-day contract. With the league's permission, the Mavs currently have 13 players on their active roster. 3/30 Don Nelson again changed his bench. Assistant coach Bob Salmi has been reassigned to the scouting department for the rest of the season. If he does not find a coaching job else where, Salmi has been invited to be an East coast scout for the Mavs next season. Nelson says his bench for next season will be Donnie Nelson, Scott Roth, and Charlie Parker. 4/8 As expected, Dallas signed Shawn Respert to a 2nd 10-day contract. The contract will carry him through the rest of the season. 4/8 Assistant coach Charlie Parker was given a 3 year contract extension.