Category: Dallas Mavericks Blog

Chandler Parsons still out Saturday vs Nets

Here’s the Dallas Morning News reporting on a key Maverick:

Chandler Parsons will miss his fourth consecutive game Saturday when the Dallas Mavericks play Brooklyn, coach Rick Carlisle said Friday.

“Parsons is doing much better, but he’s not going to play (Saturday),” Carlisle said. “He’s out of the boot. He’s doing some shooting and light movement stuff, but he’s not ready yet.”

Parsons suffered a sprained left ankle on Feb. 20.

Rondo says he will leave frustration in the past

Here’s the Dallas Morning News reporting on Mavericks point guard Rajon Rondo, who has had a chip on his shoulder for a long time and isn’t going to change anytime soon. Though, that same chip has helped him succeed at the highest levels, including winning an NBA championship. The Mavs know this. Anyway, here’s the report.

Rajon Rondo said Friday he had some built-up frustrations with coach Rick Carlisle that led to their heated exchange on Tuesday and subsequent suspension of Rondo, and that conversations with many members of the organization since have helped put everybody on the same page.

In his first interview since the confrontation with Carlisle against Toronto, the Dallas Mavericks’ point guard measured his words carefully, but said he’s as gung-ho as ever about this team’s potential and plans to be a leader in the stretch run and playoffs.

“Definitely, he had some frustrations with me and vice-versa,” Rondo said. “So communication is definitely key in this situation. We’ve had a couple talks since then and we’re going to move forward.”

“The most important thing is communication with coach.”

Rick Carlisle addresses Rajon Rondo communication issue

Here’s the Fort Worth Star-Telegram blog with an update on the disagreement between Carlisle and Rondo:

Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle addressed the media prior to Wednesday’s game in Atlanta to try and explain how him and point guard Rajon Rondo got in a heated profanity-laced exchange during Tuesday’s game against the Toronto Raptors.

The incident led to the Mavs suspended Rondo for one game without pay. But Carlisle said Rondo, who will sit out tonight’s game in Atlanta, will practice with the team Friday and be in the starting lineup when the Mavs entertain Brooklyn on Saturday.

“The incident last night was born in large part from poor communication between him and I, and that’s on both of us,’’ Carlisle said. “We had a long talk about the situation today and we both agreed that we need to communicate more frequently and we need to work on the solution for making his stint as a Dallas Mavericks the most successful one possible.”

Let’s get this right out of the way. Players sometimes disagree with each other. Players and coaches often do the same. Sometimes it’s a lingering problem but quite often it’s nothing to be alarmed about. That said, here’s ESPN Dallas reporting on Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle and relatively new Mavs point guard Rajon Rondo:

Carlisle predictably wasn’t in much of a mood to chat about Rondo after Tuesday night’s 99-92 win over the Toronto Raptors. Nor was Rondo, at least to the media.

But Carlisle and Rondo had plenty to say to each other during a tense timeout with 8:10 remaining in the third quarter. The stubborn coach and headstrong point guard exchanged a lot of expletives as they shouted at each other in a dispute stemming from Rondo’s desire to have more play-calling responsibilities.

“Well, it’s an emotional game and we had a difference of opinion,” Carlisle said. “There was an exchange, and then, in my mind, it was over.”

Well, it apparently lasted at least the rest of the game. The evidence: Rondo rode the pine for the final 20:10, a span in which reserve guards Devin Harris and J.J. Barea played key roles in the Mavs’ rally from a nine-point deficit.

Mavs did not want to rush Amare Stoudemire into action

Health has been an issue with Amar’e Stoudemire. His new team, the Dallas Mavericks, are fully aware of this, and saw no reason to rush him out onto the court. But he should made his debut soon, possibly as early as tomorrow. Here’s the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporting:

Rick Carlisle wanted to clear up some things in regard to Amar’e Stoudemire and the reason he has yet to play in a game for the Dallas Mavericks.

“He’s not unhealthy,’’ the Mavericks coach said Friday. “We’re making sure that he’s ready to play for the Mavericks is what we’re doing.’’

The Mavs signed Stoudemire to a free-agent contract on Wednesday for the rest of the season at the prorated salary of $485,670.

He sat out Thursday’s game against Oklahoma City and Friday’s game against Houston. The 6-foot-10 center/forward appears likely to play his first game with the Mavs on Sunday against Charlotte.

Here’s the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporting on Mavs point guard Rajon Rondo and his probable soon-to-be teammate Amar’e Stouemire, who was waived by the Knicks. Once Stoudemire clears waivers he will reportedly sign with Dallas:

Point guard Rajon Rondo did say he and Stoudemire have a close connection which will finally be realized whenever Stoudemire puts his signature on the Mavs’ contract.

“Stoudemire and I have always talked throughout the years of playing against each other,’’ Rondo said. “We wanted to become teammates, and hopefully it will come true soon.

“But him as a player, I think he’s still a dominant big in our game. He’s very powerful, he can finish at the rim.’’

Rondo also thinks Stoudemire will be extremely motivated after he left a New York Knick team that’s the worst in the NBA at 10-43, to join a Mavs team that’s 36-19 and seeded fifth in the Western Conference.

The Dallas Mavericks are 36-19, which is the 7th best record in the NBA this season. But they’re just 4-6 in their division, and a modest 18-14 against other Western conference teams. In other words, the Eastern conference has provided a nice assist to their win-loss record. Here’s the Dallas Morning News reporting:

Key numbers for the Mavericks at the All-Star break include 3-12, their record against the other seven playoff teams in the Western Conference.

For those who don’t think that’s important because the Mavericks went 3-10 after Jan. 1 in 2011 against the other West playoff teams, then marched through the postseason to the NBA title, remember that lightning has a difficult time striking twice in the same place.

So as the Mavericks look at their state of the union, they know the reality of their situation. They can’t assume that things will change against the best teams in the West when the stakes rise.

They need to prove it.

“You’d probably take it, but we’re not happy with it, which I think is a good sign,” Chandler Parsons said of the Mavericks’ 36-19 record at the break. “We’re not content with where we are right now. We want to be better. We want to be a top-tier team, and to do that, we have to start beating these elite teams.”

Here’s the Dallas Morning News quoting a Mark Cuban interview from KRLD-FM 105.3:

What’s your reaction to the Charles Barkley analytics debate?

Mark Cuban: He’s half right; the Mavs have been using analytics since the day I bought the team. The fun story behind that is I took graduate level statistics at Indiana University, and after I graduated, never thought about it again, and then after I had bought the team, I’m watching Jeopardy and who should be on but my old stats prof. And then a month later, we’re in Indiana playing against the Pacers, and who should be in the stands screaming “Hi” to me, my stats prof, Wayne Winston. I met with him and pretty much hired him then. We started using advanced plus/minus to help us, and it started to help us quite a bit…it eventually helped us come back from a 2-0 deficit in the playoffs against Houston, based on what the numbers said. Putting JJ (Barea) in the mix in the championship run had a lot to do with analytics. What happens is when a couple teams are using it, you have an advantage, but now that everyone is using it, that advantage is pretty much gone, and that’s where analytics has gotten to now.