Dallas Mavericks Blog – Page 49 – NBA Blog

J.J. Barea would happily return to Mavs in the future

What the Dallas Mavericks will do in future offseasons remains a mystery especially with Mark Cuban running the show.

While the Mavericks appear to be building for the future at point guard with Shane Larkin, a reunion with J.J. Barea is not out of the question. Dallas did show some interest this offseason, and Barea said he wouldn’t mind returning in the near future.

“It’s a great relationship with Mark Cuban. If they want to bring me back to Dallas, I am very [good] with it,” he told ESPN.com.

Reported by the Dallas Morning News staff

Mavericks: A glance at Devin Harris

Devin Harris

Older but presumably wiser

Devin Harris: Signed to a guaranteed one-year, $884,293 contract.

Much like DeJuan Blair, the Mavs were able to take advantage of acquiring Harris as a veteran minimum signing. Harris is actually being paid $1,272,797, the salary for a nine-year veteran, but the league is paying the remaining amount over the $884,293 total due to the collective bargaining agreement.

Harris comes back to Dallas slightly more polished on offense and more versatile on defense. His progression in Atlanta, where he played alongside point guard Jeff Teague, provided some unique flexibility as he defended the shooting guard position with moderate success.

Reported by Bryan Gutierrez of ESPN Dallas

Mavs are testing GPS-tracking devices for players

The Mavericks are among eight NBA teams to commission the services of GPS tracking devices from the Australian company Catapult Sports, which hails itself as the leader in “athlete analytics.” The devices track player movements and body vitals and are designed to optimize training efficiency and mitigate injury risks.

“We just want to be able to get smarter about our players and how to train them and how to put them in a position to succeed,” said Mavs owner Mark Cuban. “So that’s just one component of a lot of different things that we’re doing.”

Athletes wear a cell-phone sized device on the inside of their jerseys between their shoulders, and it records their every movement in all directions as well as their heart rate. This gives coaches what Catapult’s Gary McCoy describes as a “dashboard” for players’ bodies.

Reported by SportsDayDFW.com

TMZ releases alarming report on Lamar Odom

TMZ are one of the world’s leading kings of gossip. They have extremely good sources, and a long period of time have proven themselves to be right far more often than they are wrong.

That said, we at InsideHoops.com hope that the following report about Lamar Odom is inaccurate:

The marriage of Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom is in crisis, and TMZ has learned … the core reason is hardcore drug abuse.

Multiple sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ … Lamar has had a problem for 2 years. It got so bad, last August Khloe pressured Lamar to go to rehab. Lamar went to a facility in San Diego, but he was so resistant Khloe hired private investigators to secretly stand guard at the rehab place to make sure he didn’t leave. The P.I.s stood guard 24/7.

Our sources say Lamar constantly threatened to leave and Khloe made several visits to prevail upon him to stay. We’re told after 3 weeks, Lamar left for good.

Reported by TMZ.com

We wish the best for Odom, and will keep an eye on this story if anything additional develops.

DeJuan Blair says Spurs should have given him more NBA Finals minutes

DeJuan Blair says Spurs should have given him more Finals minutes

Former Spur DeJuan Blair has already poured some gasoline on the Mavs’ rivalry with his old team.

When asked about getting back to the NBA Finals, Blair told NBA.com, “Of course I want to get back. I don’t think we’ve [Spurs] would have came up short if I would’ve played but, hey, keep that out there.”

Blair only played four minutes in Game 4 and six minutes in Game 5 of the Finals—both blowouts.

This is not the first time Blair has complained about playing time, though, something Coach Rick Carlisle surely won’t tolerate.

Reported by SportsDayDFW

Dallas Mavericks sign DeJuan Blair

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have signed free agent forward/center DeJuan Blair.

We at InsideHoops.com were always impressed by Blair when he was given minutes by the Spurs. He showed flashes of extremely solid talent, and seems like a good signing for the Mavs.

Blair (6-7, 270) is a four-year veteran who was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs in the second round (37th overall pick) of the 2009 NBA Draft. He has averaged 7.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 18.9 minutes in 288 career games (166 starts) with San Antonio.

As a rookie, Blair played in all 82 games and garnered All-Rookie Second Team honors. He emerged as the Spurs’ starting center in just his second season. From 2010-2012, Blair started 127 of the 145 games in which he suited up for San Antonio and averaged 8.9 points and 6.3 rebounds over that two-year span.

Blair boasts two career 20-point/20-rebounds games. One of which came at the expense of the Mavericks on April 14, 2010 when Blair finished with 27 points and 23 rebounds.

The Pittsburgh native attended and played his collegiate basketball at the University of Pittsburgh. He was a two-year starter for the Panthers before entering the NBA Draft following his sophomore season. As a sophomore, Blair was Co-Big East Player of the Year and named consensus All-American by both Associated Press and The Sporting News.

Dallas Mavericks expected to add DeJuan Blair

The Mavericks envision DeJuan Blair as a better-fitting version of Elton Brand.

Like Brand last season, the Mavs will count on the 6-foot-7, 265-pound Blair to provide a healthy dose of toughness as a vertically-challenged, wide-bodied banger who will play the vast majority of his minutes at center. They believe Blair, who averaged 7.8 points and 5.8 rebounds in 18.9 minutes per game during his four seasons in San Antonio, addresses a glaring need for some nastiness on the roster.

They also think the 24-year-old Blair, who is on the verge of signing with Dallas, fits better with the Mavs’ personnel on the offensive end than the 34-year-old Brand did. The reasoning: Blair is a roller; Brand is a popper.

Reported by Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas

Dallas Mavericks sign first round draft pick Shane Larkin

The Dallas Mavericks announced today they have signed 18th overall pick Shane Larkin, who is currently injured.

All players drafted in the first round are guaranteed to receive a contract. This signing was expected and is standard.

The Mavericks acquired the draft rights to Larkin from the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Jared Cunningham, the draft rights to 44th overall pick Mike Muscala and the draft rights to 16th overall pick Lucas Nogueira, which were acquired along with two 2014 second round picks from Boston in exchange for the draft rights to the 13th overall pick Kelly Olynyk.

Larkin (5-11, 176) led the Miami Hurricanes to the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season and postseason championships last season en route to being named the ACC Player of the Year, ACC Tournament MVP, Lute Olsen National Player of the Year and Second Team All-American by Associated Press.

The sophomore point guard averaged 14.5 points, 4.6 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 2.0 steals in 36 games. He led his team in points, assists and steals while placing in the ACC’s Top 10 in assists, steals, minutes and three-point field goals.

Larkin did not participate with the Mavericks at the Las Vegas Summer League after sustaining an injury to his right ankle in practice. Larkin underwent ankle surgery on July 16. The recovery time is approximately three months.

Dallas Mavericks sign guard Wayne Ellington

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have signed free agent guard Wayne Ellington.

According to ESPN Dallas, “Ellington signed a two-year deal worth $5.3 million. The Mavs used the “room” exception to sign him.”

Ellington (6-4, 200) is a four-year veteran shooting guard with career averages 6.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 19.5 minutes in 267 games (34 starts) with Minnesota, Memphis and Cleveland. He provides backcourt depth for the Mavs, who recently signed scoring guard Monta Ellis.

On January 22, 2013 Ellington was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, along with Marreese Speights, in exchange for Josh Selby and future first round draft pick. Once in Cleveland, Ellington put up career numbers averaging 10.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 25.9 minutes in 38 games (17 starts) with the Cavaliers.

The Wynnewood, Pa., native, was a standout at the University of North Carolina. As a junior, Ellington won a National Championship with the Tarheels and was named the 2009 Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. He was drafted in the first round (28th overall) by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2009 NBA Draft.

Center Bernard James is back with the Dallas Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have re-signed center Bernard James.

James (6-10, 240) was originally waived by the Mavericks on July 19, 2013 and cleared waivers on July 21, 2013. He played in 46 games (11 starts) last season in his rookie year. He averaged 2.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 9.9 minutes per contest.

The former Florida State Seminole was the 33rd overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. The Mavericks acquired James’ draft rights, along with the draft rights to 24th overall pick Jared Cunningham and 34th overall pick Jae Crowder from the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for guard Kelenna Azubuike and the draft rights to 17th overall pick Tyler Zeller.

The Savannah, Ga., native is a former Staff Sergeant who served six years in the Air Force including three tours to Iraq, Afghanistan and Qatar. In his senior season at Florida State, James averaged 10.8 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.3 blocks while being named to the Atlantic Coast Conference All-Defensive team. James also won the Most Courageous Award by the United States Basketball Writers of America.