Category: Dallas Mavericks Blog

Dallas Mavericks fans will have to wait another night to see how well point guard Jose Calderon and shooting guard Monta Ellis work together.

The Mavs spent nearly $60 million over the summer in signing Calderon and Ellis. While Ellis was able to flourish in Friday’s Blue-White scrimmage at American Airlines Center — the Blue prevailed 31-15 — Calderon didn’t play because of a sore left hamstring.

Calderon has been limited the past three days. Coach Rick Carlisle hopes to have Calderon back for Sunday morning’s practice, a day before the Mavs open preseason play at home at 7:30 p.m. Monday against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Reported by Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

From the looks of the calendar, Vince Carter is in the twilight of his NBA career.

But don’t ask the Dallas Mavericks’ small forward if he’s thought about retiring and hanging up his high-flying sneakers. Although he is in the last year of his contract, Carter, who turns 37 on Jan. 26, doesn’t have a timetable for ending his career.

“I don’t want to do that to myself,” Carter said after Thursday morning’s practice. “I don’t want to limit myself. I think doing that you’ll start thinking about [retirement] as the season goes on. I’ll just let the body pretty much dictate how I’m feeling in the end.”

Carter acknowledged that his body is telling him that he’s got a few more years left to play. Especially after he averaged a solid 13.4 points — mostly off the bench — in just 26 minutes per game last season.

Reported by Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

At 35, Marion’s career clearly isn’t done. He’s still a productive member of the Mavericks. He’s their best defensive player and can still overmatch players 15 years younger than him when it comes to making athletic moves at both ends of the court. And he’s smarter than he’s ever been, too.

He steers clear of talking about free agency, as most players do.

“I’m not thinking about that,” he said. “I’m looking at this right here and now. Tomorrow’s not promised to anybody. I’m glad I wake up every morning and get out of the bed. I don’t take this for granted.”

Marion will make a shade over $9 million this season, the last in a five-year contract he signed before the 2009-10 season. In his career, he’s been paid handsomely. And last season, the 6-7 do-everything forward hinted that he is no lock to return for a 16th season.

Reported by Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News

For Monta Ellis, “efficient” might as well be a four-letter word.

He’s become a sort of analytics antihero the past couple seasons, a model of scoring inefficiency. Frankly, Ellis is sick and tired of hearing about it, which he made clear by shaking his head and chuckling when the subject was broached during the Dallas Mavericks’ media day Monday.

“I’m going to get criticized for what I do anyway,” Ellis said. “The only thing I can do is laugh it off because there’s a lot of guys that take a lot of bad shots in this league. A lot of bad shots. Don’t nobody want to talk about them, but everybody talks about shots that Monta take[s]. The only thing I’m going to do is take the punches and prove everybody wrong.”

There are a lot of guys in the NBA who take bad shots, but precious few put up more bricks than Ellis did in his final season with the Milwaukee Bucks, which explains why he settled for signing a three-year, $25 million deal with the Mavs that was far shy of his asking price when free agency opened.

Reported by Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas

Jae Crowder said at Mavericks media day on Monday that he’s 15 pounds lighter. A small of that portion might have to do with his hair.

Crowder shortened his dreadlocked pony tail on Sunday, cutting off what he estimates was an inch and a half of hair. It’s an annual tradition. Just before basketball season every year, he trims the nest.

“During the summer I just let it go, I don’t cut it at all,” Crowder said. “But during the season I keep it cut. This summer it got down to the middle of my back.”

Reported by Michael Florek of SportsDayDFW

The Dallas Mavericks on Monday signed forward Renaldo Balkman. We assume it’s a non-guaranteed contract that merely brings Balkman to training camp.

Balkman (6-8, 208) was selected by the New York Knicks with the 20th overall selection in the 2006 NBA Draft. He holds career averages of 4.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 13.9 minutes in 221 career games with New York and Denver.

The Staten Island, N.Y., native is a Puerto Rican-American who most recently played professionally for Brujos de Guayama in Puerto Rico. Balkman played collegiately at South Carolina where he was named to the Southeastern Conference All-Tournament Team and National Invitation Tournament (NIT) Most Valuable Player in his final season with the Gamecocks.

With the signing, the Mavericks’ current roster stands at 20 players.

Former New York Knicks draftee Renaldo Balkman is considering joining the Mavericks as the final member of their training camp roster.

The Mavericks were hoping to bring in active defensive-minded bodies to fill out their camp roster and Balkman would fit that need.

The 6-8 Balkman was the 20th overall pick in the 2006 draft by the Knicks. In six NBA seasons, he has averaged 4 points and 3.5 rebounds in limited playing time. He was traded to the Denver Nuggets in 2008 then traded back to the Knicks in 2011 as part of the Carmelo Anthony deal.

Reported by Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News (Blog)