It's been a while since I wrote a full Mavs News article, but I've been pretty disgusted with the whole lockout thing, especially since real games started being lost. As you have heard, the league and the players have reached an agreement and the lawyers are currently working on writing everything down. Once the lawyers get done with the documentation, the new collective bargaining agreement will be signed and the lockout will officially end. The plan is for training camp to open January 18 and the season to start Friday February 5th. The season will consist of 52 games with 25 home games and 25 road games. They are currently working on creating a new schedule and it is expected to be released some time next week (I'll send out the Mavs schedule as soon as I find out about it). There will also be two exhibition games during the training camps - one home and one road. The admission to the exhibition games will be free; it will be up to the individual teams how the tickets will be distributed. The Mavs are also planning on having some free autograph sessions and at least one open practice - again, I'll pass on info when I hear about it. Now we can actually talk about basketball. The good news for the Mavs is that they are pretty set roster wise. There are 10 players under contract, Dirk Nowitzki is coming, and Kurt Thomas is expected to be signed to a 1 year contract. The Mavs, as usual, have no room under the salary cap - the 10 contracts add up to $29.8 million and Dirk's $1.4 million (or whatever it exactly is - the #9 pick last year earned $1.36 million) counts against the cap even though he is not signed yet and the cap is around $30 million. Thomas can be re-signed without regard to the cap. The new CBA includes an average exception ($1,750,000 for 98-99 - can be split on more than one player) and a median exception ($1 million, but this exception can only be used every other year). So, if the Mavs are unable to re-sign Thomas, make a trade of a player for a pick, and/or a serious injury occurs, the Mavs do have an ability to sign a decent free agent. The 10 players under contract are: Player Pos Ht Wt B-day 98-99 Salary Shawn Bradley ......... C 7-6 263 3/22/72 $6,570,000 Michael Finley ........ G-F 6-7 215 3/6/73 $6,000,000 A.C. Green ............ F 6-9 225 10/4/63 $5,095,000 Robert Pack ........... G 6-2 190 2/3/69 $3,780,000 Khalid Reeves ......... G 6-3 201 7/15/72 $2,002,000 Erick Strickland ...... G 6-3 210 11/25/73 $1,920,000 Samaki Walker ......... F 6-9 258 2/25/76 $1,620,000 Steve Nash ............ G 6-3 195 2/7/74 $1,191,000 Chris Anstey .......... C 7-0 249 1/1/75 $985,000 Hubert Davis .......... G 6-5 183 5/17/70 $645,000 The Mavs' free agents are: Player Pos Ht Wt B-day 97-98 Salary Cedric Ceballos ....... F 6-7 220 8/2/69 [$2,605,000] Kurt Thomas ........... F 6-9 230 10/4/72 [$1,398,960] Shawn Respert ......... G 6-2 195 2/6/72 [$272,250] Eric Riley ............ C 7-0 245 6/2/70 [$272,250] Ace Custis ............ F 6-9 211 5/24/74 [$242,000] Riley and Respert will likely not be back. Nelson has said that the Mavs are not even going to talk with Ceballos as it was clear from discussions before the lockout that they would not be able to work anything out. Ceballos wants a long 5-6 year contract with big money and the Mavs are only interested in offering him a short 1 or 2 year contract with reasonable money. And Nelson wants Nowitzki to get a large number of minutes at small forward. Unless Ceballos fails to find another team to offer him the kind of contract he wants (and there are a couple of teams interested in him), he will not be back. Custis and 2nd round draft pick Ansu Sesay will likely receive invites to the training camp, but will have to win a roster spot. If the unlikely happens and the Mavs are unable to re-sign Thomas (the Mavs and Thomas talked before the lockout and felt they had a reasonable for both sides 1 year contract agreement, but that was sometime ago) the Mavs will look to use one of the two exceptions they have available and sign a free agent big man. Former Mavs and local residents Sam Perkins and Popeye Jones are being talked about in the media as possibilities. [But, Perkins is more likely to go a contender (and there is interest from contenders) and talk before the lockout was that Boston was interested in retaining Popeye.] Another option for the Mavs is to make a trade. Nelson mentioned that the team does have a glut at guard. If any team wants Khalid Reeves or Robert Pack, make the Mavs an offer. Dirk Nowitzki received his work visa the other day and is expected to be in Dallas early next week - if not this weekend. He has continued to play well in Germany and still leads the league in scoring and is in the top five in rebounding. He had 34 points in the last game on the 3rd. Nelson is still in love with Dirk. Nelson has been singing his praises in the media the past few days. The other day I heard Nelson on the radio and he talked about Dirk for a few minutes - great shooting touch, he'd be disappointed if Dirk didn't win Rookie of the Year, etc - but had me laughing when he concluded, "... but defensively he's a sieve." Nelson also went over his prospective lineup. He did clarify afterwards that the players could change his mind in training camp. Position Starting line-up 1st off the bench point guard Nash Pack/Reeves shooting guard Finley Davis small forward Nowitzki (Finley) power forward Thomas Walker center Green Bradley For backup point guard, he said which ever of Pack and Reeves wins the position in training camp. For starting power forward, he said with Thomas' injury history, he wanted Thomas to be warm at the beginning instead of sitting on the bench. For center, he said that he really likes bringing Bradley in off the bench and that Bradley tends to perform better that way. Strickland was mentioned earlier in the conversation as a player who can play point and shooting guard, but I don't know if his not being mentioned during the lineup discussion was intentional or Strick just slipped Nelson's mind at that particular time. Nelson said that he wants to bring Anstey along slowly and that Anstey would get most of his minutes next season when Green is gone (this was also the point where Nelson emphasized that the players could change his mind in training camp). Nelson likes to have a rotation of about 10 players. Another bit of good news came with the new CBA. There will be some sort of signing window for players in the 3rd year of their rookie contract to sign contract extensions with their team (it's not cap limited, but there is a maximum of $9 million per season). They are working on the details for this signing window. If you recall, the Mavs used this option (which in the past expired at the beginning of October) to sign Finley to a long term contract. Look for the Mavs to try to lockup Steve Nash. They may also try to sign Samaki Walker. Older news since the beginning of November: 11/3 Original Mavs hiree Kevin Sullivan resigned as vice president of communications in order to join Dallas 2012 - the group trying to bring the 2012 Olympics to DFW. He was the committee's first hire and is in charge of communications and a variety of other areas. Sully, one of the best in the business, will be sorely missed. It was a friendly departure (not forced or bitter) and, as usual, he had nothing but good thing to say about the Mavs. He joined the team in 1980 as a public relations assistant. Tony Fay (Director of Media Services) has assumed Sully's responsibilities. 12/9 Former Mav update: The New York Liberty of the WNBA named Richie Adubato has head coach. Adubato was an assistant coach for Dallas from 86-87 to early in the 89-90 season when he replaced fired John MacLeod as the head coach 11 games into the season. His Mavs' head coaching career ended when he was fired 29 games into the 92-93 season. 12/22 Former Mav update: former Mavs head coach Jim Cleamons is again out of a job. Cleamons had been hired last summer as head coach for the Chicago Condors in the ABL and the ABL declared bankruptcy. patricia