Draft talk The NBA held the draft yesterday. And for the 2nd year in a row, Dallas didn't do much - no trades and only used their 2nd round pick. With the #55 pick, Dallas selected Mladen Sekularac. But unlike last year, the Nelsons sounded like this was a guy that they really like (Kyle Hill and Kenny Satterfield were presented last year as "they'll have to make the team" and Satterfield was purely what the scouts said to pick as Don Nelson didn't know much about him at all). Sekularac is a 6-8 shooting guard (due to his height, he can play small forward, but is more comfortable at guard). He's 21 years old and has been playing for FMP Zeleznik of Yugoslavia for 5 years. He averaged 17.4 points including 54.1% FG and 4 rebounds in 33 minutes last season. He is under contract with Zeleznik for one more year, but Dallas sounds happy to let him stay there one more year. Don Nelson: "He's a young player that is still under contract. The good news is we can leave him over there to develop." Nelson: "It's probably better to let him play another year. He'd probably be more comfortable playing another year [in Europe]. He's indicated that he would like to play another year before he comes over, so it's just perfect." Both Don and Donn compared him (in response to a question of who to compare him to) to Sarunas Marciulionis, Don with the way he lowers his head when he drives and Donn in the way he attacks the basket relentlessly. The Mavs do have good knowledge about Sekularac in that he's a teammate of Ognjen Askrabic, who the Mavs looked at extensively last month in Yugoslavia (both Nelsons and Del Harris were there to work Askrabic out and some of his teammates, including Sekularac, were part of the workouts) [Askrabic, a free agent (he wasn't drafted last year), is also under contract this season and Dallas hopes to bring him over next season]. Sekularac also played in the 2000 Global Games in Dallas, which Donn Nelson is heavily involved in. Donn Nelson said that they were very surprise that Sekularac was still available at the #55 pick - he was even in the late 1st round of a couple of mock drafts - and that a number of teams called Dallas enquiring about trading for the pick so that they could take Sekularac (and that San Antonio would have likely taken him at #56 if he was still there). Both Don and Donn sounded happy to get him. [Don Nelson opened his press conference by saying, "I'm only going to say this once. Mladen Sekularac." and didn't say the hard to pronounce name again. Donn Nelson, of course, had no problem pronouncing the name.] Don Nelson on Sekularac's game: "Very good in the open court. He's a good shooter and a good all-around player. Just a good basketball player." Nelson: "He'll get better and better. I think he'll be a good NBA player. He may be a good one now, but he'll get better as long as he matures." Nelson: "[But] this is a player who could very well be ready [for the NBA now]. For the 55th pick, we're very, very happy to select this player." Donn Nelson: "But he was kind of another guy that fell through the cracks. He shoots the 3. He's really good in the open court. He's real aggressive to the basket, a pretty decent passer in the open court, and he's fearless. We think it's a nice fit to our open court offense." Don Nelson also referred to the team really liking another player that went undrafted and that the team plans on talking to him and hopes to bring him to Dallas. Nelson: "We have a big man we like. He's under contract. I'm not going to talk about him now. I'll talk about him later." Nelson wouldn't give a name, but the assumption was that it is a foreign player. Nelson added further clues this morning on the radio by saying that he is a 7-footer, a center, and just had surgery on his knee ["just" could mean months or a year ago]. [No, I don't know who it is and I'd be guessing like everyone else with names I threw out.] Free agency talk As expected, Dallas extended qualifying offers to Raef LaFrentz, Eduardo Najera, and Wang Zhizhi, making all 3 restricted free agents. As Dallas has Bird rights with LaFrentz (not restricted by the salary cap to re-sign), Dallas can match any offer another team made to him [ie, he's not going any where unless Dallas does a sign-and-trade]. Dallas doesn't not have full Bird rights with Najera and Wang and, thus, with Dallas being over the salary cap, the technicalities for re-signing them are a little more difficult - another team can offer more than Dallas could match so Dallas could lose them (like what happened with Calvin Booth last summer). Dallas' options for re-signing Najera and Wang are using the million dollar exception (actually $1.4 million), using part or all of the mid-level exception (108% of the average salary - exact amount won't be known until July 16; was about $4.5 mill last season), early Bird exception (at least 2 year contract at average salary), or the qualifying offer ($762,435 = minimum + $150,000). Reports are that Dallas plans on re-signing all 3. Also as expected, Dallas released Danny Manning. Manning signed a 2 year contract last summer, but only $900,000 of the $1,700,000 he was scheduled to make in 2002-03 was guaranteed. Greg Buckner is also an unrestricted free agent - Dallas has Bird rights with him - whom the Mavs hope to re-sign. Johnny Newman is the Mavs' only other free agent (unrestricted, no Bird or early-Bird rights), but the Mavs will probably not re-sign him. For non-Mavs free agents, Dallas only has the million dollar exception and mid-level exception (which can be split among more than one player) and minimum to use to try to sign free agents (unless those exceptions are used in re-signing Dallas' free agents). Teams can not start negotiating with free agents until July 1 and can not actually sign free agents (including their own) until July 16. Trades can also not take place until July 16. Wang talk The talk of the town basketball-wise before the draft centered around Wang Zhizhi. Per the Mavs' agreement with China which allowed Wang to come to the NBA, Wang was supposed to report back to China immediately after the season ended. Wang decided not to do so and said that he felt he needed to stay here against stronger competition to work on his game and that he wants to participate in the summer league. China sent 2 notes to the Mavs indicating that Wang had yet to return and Dallas responded that they had not had contact with Wang since the end of the season - his decision to stay in the US was independent of the Mavs (Wang is a free agent). Wang says that he has talked with China and that he still plans to join the Chinese team when it comes to the US prior to the World Championship tournament in mid-August. Don Nelson mentioned that Wang will be participating on Golden State's summer team (as a free agent, he doesn't have to be on Dallas' team). [Though I think it's good both in the attitude of Wang recognizing the need to work on his game and the additional work that Wang is going to get on his game with staying here for the summer leagues, I don't think I'd want to tick off China.] Last report was that Wang is in the LA area working out. Denver talk Denver has an open coaching position and both Donn Nelson and Del Harris are expected to interview for the position at some point (neither has yet). Reportedly Eddie Jordan (NJ assistant) is the front runner for the job. I don't think either Nelson or Harris would take the job if offered as Denver is such a mess and it will be a few years before the franchise might start looking good again (and whoever is hired now probably won't survive those years). Summer league talk Dallas will again be sending a team to the Summer Pro League in Long Beach and the Rocky Mountain Revue League in Salt Lake City. The rosters for the team has not yet been formed (and the following schedules are subject to change). Dallas schedule for the Summer Pro League (all times Central) July 9 vs LA Lakers 2:45 pm July 10 vs LA Clippers 7:15 pm July 12 vs Memphis 5:00 pm July 13 vs Golden State 7:15 pm July 15 vs Houston 9:30 pm July 16 vs Miami 9:30 pm Dallas schedule for the Rocky Mountain Revue (all times Central) July 19 vs Chicago 10:00 pm July 21 vs Toronto 9:00 pm July 23 vs Phoenix 9:00 pm July 24 vs Portland 7:00 pm July 25 vs Cleveland 9:00 pm on ESPN July 27 vs Utah 9:00 pm Injury talk Dirk Nowitzki underwent successful surgery at the end of May on his left ankle to remove 4 bone spurs. His recovery time was expected to be 4 to 6 weeks. He still hopes to play for Germany in the World Championship tournament in late August, but will have to get doctor's approval to play in the tournament. Adrain Griffin underwent successful surgery on his back in late May to remove a herniated disc. His recovery time was expected to be at least 6 weeks. Eduardo Najera had a cast placed on his fractured right thumb in mid-May. The injury is likely healed by now (haven't heard anything since and the cast was to be on for only 10 to 14 days). Nick Van Exel elected not to under surgery on his left elbow that had been bothering him much of the season. He opted to undergo a conservative rest therapy to try to heal the problems he has had with the elbow. Awards talk Avery Johnson (18 votes) and Steve Nash (16 votes) were selected to the All-Interview 2nd team. Sneak peak at the Mavs' practice court (though Jodie Valade stole my thunder by also mentioning it in an article) The Old #7 Club in the AAC was where the Mavs held the media draft party and the 1st floor of the club over looks the team's practice court. There were a number of banner signs high on the walls of the court, such as "The season starts now" and another emphasizing defense, but the largest banner was at center court and read: 2002 Western Conference Semi-Finals Dallas Mavericks vs Sacramento Kings Sacramento Kings: 207 field goals with 115 layups and dunks! [in larger letters] patricia