Well, the preseason has ended and Dallas opens the 2009-2010 regular season on Tuesday and I thought it was about time I got off my duff and wrote about what's gone one with the Mavs since the draft. Dallas got involved in free agency early with reaching a contract agreement with Quinton Ross and then signing him on July 8, the first day free agents could be signed. Ross is a solid role player with a reputation for defense. As seen in the preseason games, the team does like him and he will be part of Dallas' regular rotation (though not in big minutes). If you haven't heard of Ross before, that's because he's spent his NBA career in the waste lands of Memphis (last season) and the Clippers (4 seasons). He can play both shooting guard and small forward. Ross is a native of Dallas and played at SMU. Dallas then reached a contract agreement with restricted free agent Marcin Gortat at 5 years, $34 million. But Orlando decided that they wanted to keep Gortat (a big center) and matched the offer. I was actually glad as I don't think much of Gortat and thought Dallas would be overpaying for a non-starting center, especially at 5 years long. I could be wrong, but I think this non-deal worked out for the best for Dallas (especially since they probably would not have gone after Drew Gooden if they had Gortat). Orlando did hurt Dallas by signing Mavs free agent Brandon Bass (signed the day after Dallas made the offer to Gortat). But Dallas wasn't going to spend big money on Bass and had pretty much accepted that they would lose him to another team. Bass got a nice deal at 4 years, $18 million and should make a good addition to Orlando (heck, he already won one preseason game for them (though just a preseason game) as he took over at the end of the Dallas-Orlando game and scored 5 points to give Orlando the lead near the end of the game). He is a good young player (and I'm still amazed that New Orleans gave up on him) and I wish him the best. Dallas also lost free agent Ryan Hollins to Minnesota, but he didn't seem to be part of the Mavs 09-10 plans (he was a restricted free agent, so Dallas could have matched the 3 year, $7 million offer but elected not to match). The Mavs also wasted no time in locking up free agent Jason Kidd to a new contract - 3 years, $25 million, signed on July 11. Even as a non-fan of the Kidd-Devin Harris trade, this was a key element in Dallas' summer transactions as the Mavs simply would not have a starting point guard without keeping Kidd. The Mavs also kept James Singleton as he signed Dallas' 1 year, $1.03 million qualifying offer. I got the impression that he would have liked to go elsewhere where he would have the chance for more playing time, but that no one made him an offer (he signed on September 14). And the big move of the summer: Dallas traded for Shawn Marion - the Mavs didn't have to give up much or anything that was a key part of their 09-10 plans and even got another nice piece back in the trade. It was a complicated 4-team traded of: Dallas traded away Jerry Stackhouse, Antoine Wright, Devean George, and cash (to Memphis) and received Shawn Marion, Greg Buckner, Kris Humphries, and Nathan Jawai; Toronto traded away Shawn Marion, Kris Humphries, Nathan Jawai, a 2016 2nd round draft pick, and cash (to Orlando) and received Hedo Turkoglu, Antoine Wright, and Devean George; Orlando traded away Hedo Turkoglu and received cash; Memphis traded away Greg Buckner and received Jerry Stackhouse, a 2016 2nd round draft pick, and cash. In a sign-and-trade, Marion was first signed to a new 5 year, $38 million contract and Turkoglu was first signed to a new 5 year, $53 million contract. The key element from Dallas' end was Jerry Stackhouse, or more specifically, Stack's contract - only $2 million of his 09-10 $7 million salary was guaranteed and he has been released by Memphis, so they saved a lot of money. Antoine Wright is a nice role player, but easily replaced. The inclusion of Devean George had to give a smile to some as he had nuked Dallas' first attempt to trade for Kidd, but this time did not have approval rights. George had elected at the end of June not to opt-out of his contract (thus remaining signed for 09-10) and, not being in a one-year contract, Dallas could trade him at will. Only $1 million of Greg Buckner's $4 million 09-10 salary was guaranteed. Dallas did shop him a little bit, but elected to release him on September 14, saving Mark Cuban $6 million (including the dollar-for-dollar luxury tax fee) - not surprising with the economy and as the team at that time had 17 players under guaranteed contract. Nathan Jawai is a big body that hasn't shown anything in the NBA. The Mavs seemed to be underwhelmed by his training camp and he even struggled to get playing time in meaningless preseason games. The Mavs were happy to move him (and his salary) on to Minnesota in a trade for a "future" 2nd round draft pick (the pick is protected through #55 for 2010 - and no one expects Minnesota's 2nd rounder to be that low) on October 20. So that puts Dallas at 15 guaranteed contracts going into the regular season (more on that later). Kris Humphries is a solid, hard-nose role player and is fitting nicely with the team (easily replacing Wright's role). I've liked his play since his time in Utah (where I was really surprised when he was traded as he seemed like a perfect Jerry Sloan type player) - he played 2 years with Utah and the last 3 in the waste lands of Toronto. He can play defense, get the scrappy rebound, and hit the mid-range jumper and makes a nice backup of the power forward position. He also won't back down from anyone and I expect he'll be ejected from a couple of games this season for over-the-line scuffles. I get the impression that he has surprised and impressed the Mavs staff and players as I've heard a number of complementary comments from them about Humphries. And, of course, the keystone of the trade was getting Shawn Marion. Though I wasn't against the trade considering how little Dallas gave up, I had to say I had questions about it as I didn't know which Shawn Marion Dallas would be getting - would it be the tricky and productive solid player from Phoenix or the fish-out-of-water and injury prone player with Miami and Toronto? It is looking to be like the Phoenix player, but injuries are still a concern. In the games Marion has played, he's looked great - doing his usual work of getting buckets inside and working for rebounds; most of his points don't come from plays set for him. He's also putting smiles on Mavs' fans faces with a number of converted alley-oops. His attitude is right as he is unquestionably happy to be in Dallas and it's shown in his play. But he did tweak his calf during the Blue-White scrimmage and has missed a couple of preseason games due to the injury. Dallas signed free agent Tim Thomas to a 1 year, minimum contract on July 28. Thomas is a shooter. Don't know how he'll fit in with the team (and I have questions there) as he hurt his knee in a pick-up game and ended up undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on September 22 to repair torn cartilage. He has missed all of training camp and preseason and I don't know how long he'll be out. And the Mavs signed Drew Gooden to a 1 year, $4.5 million contract on July 30. Gooden will split center minutes with Erick Dampier (look for Damp to still start most games) and gives Dallas a solid combo at center. Gooden can also play power forward and is a nice addition to the team. [And I'll repeat that it was a blessing that Orlando matched Dallas' offer to Gortat - Dallas used their midlevel exception to make the offer and the midlevel exception is what they used to sign Gooden. I'd much rather have Gooden over Gortat.] Dallas signed 1st round draft pick Rodrigue Beaubois to a rookie contract early in July. 2nd round draft pick Ahmad Nivins signed with Manresa of Spain for the 09-10 season (the other 2nd round draft pick, Nick Calathes, had already signed with a team in Greece - Dallas retains the rights to both 2nd round picks). Although promising, I don't see Beaubois being part of Dallas' rotation. He is young and has a lot of learning to do and Dallas (a playoff contender) simply can't afford rookie mistakes with their goals in mind. I expect Beaubois will spend time in the NBADL, where he can get needed playing time. He is explosive and had me chuckling early in the preseason when he got the ball on the wing and blew by 3 unexpecting Washington defenders for an easy layup. He had a nice outing in that game, but followed it up with 2 duds. Dallas signed Jake Voskuhl to a non-guaranteed contract prior to training camp and the 15th roster spot came down to him and the not-present Shawne Williams (especially once they traded Jawai away). The Mavs liked Voskuhl and his experience, but Williams had the guaranteed contract and the Mavs elected to keep that tradeable asset instead of Voskuhl (who would have cost an extra $855,189 and luxury tax doubled) and released Voskuhl on October 22. The Mavs foolishly (I said it at the time) picked up their 4th year option (09-10) for Williams last year and have since regretted it. He cause problems with the team last season (think it was February; no official word, but rumor was drug related) and the team told him to go home and not come back. As I said, his $2.4 million contract is an asset in that it can be included in a trade to make dollars work or if a team is looking to get rid of a longer contract and get back an expiring contract (and even if Dallas had released him, they'd still have to pay him). Josh Howard, who underwent ankle and wrist surgery in May, sat all of training camp and preseason as the team is bringing him back slow. He did participate in non-contact drills the past week and more drills recently, but hasn't (that I've heard) gone through a full practice. It's not known if he'll be available to play on Tuesday or if they'll keep him out a couple of games [I'd say he'll play, but I have a history of being wrong when predicting when Howard would play]. Rick Carlisle promoted Darrell Armstrong to a bench assistant (so he is one of the 3 assistants that sits on the bench during games [league maximum], instead of behind the bench). Armstrong replaced the departed Mario Elie (now an assistant with Sacramento) as a bench assistant. So that gives Dallas an opening day roster of Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Jason Kidd, Erick Dampier, Shawn Marion, Jason Terry, Drew Gooden, J.J. Barea, Quinton Ross, Kris Humphries, Matt Carroll, Tim Thomas, James Singleton, Rodrigue Beaubois, and (not with team) Shawne Williams. It should be an interesting and fun season. patricia Go Mavs!