[spreedom]

Zach Lowe wrote a pre-free agency article (linked below) that included this blurb about the Mavs:

Dallas dreams of luring both Mike Conley and Hassan Whiteside on max deals, per ESPN BlackBerry maven Marc Stein, but absent a series of salary-sloughing trades, the Mavericks can't open up the requisite $49 million in room with Chandler Parsons' cap hold sitting on the books. Rumors have already burbled that the Mavs don't want to offer Parsons a max after his knee issues, and that Parsons could seek his payday elsewhere.

The Mavs have whiffed on every big-name free agent since they let Tyson Chandler walk, and they will have a ton of competition for Whiteside and Conley; the Grizzlies are almost as confident about re-signing Conley as they were with Marc Gasol last offseason.

The Mavericks can keep Parsons' Bird rights as they negotiate with bigger fish to hedge against the nightmare scenario of losing out on everyone, though Parsons can torpedo that by signing someplace else right away. Teams are terrified about Parsons' knees and crow they will hold firm at a number below his max. But Parsons is eligible only for the lowest-tier max deal, starting at about $22 million, and a GM on thin ice with chambered cash might bite that bullet -- especially if he can persuade Parsons to take a shorter deal.

Parsons might want to lock in as much moola as possible now; he knows his knees better than anyone, and the uncertainty of a revised collective bargaining deal looms.

Regardless: Dallas again faces serious downside on the treadmill of mediocrity. Dirk Nowitzki doesn't want to leave, but he's also tired of losing in the first round.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/16...flying-shelves