Stein's take

[Hoopsmeister]

From ESPN's What to do in the Midwest this offseason


Dallas Mavericks

Just read the sign. If Mavericks players aren't sure what has to change next season, it's literally there for them now in black and white. A new poster hanging in a prominent spot on the club's underground practice floor at American Airlines Center recounts the most gory details of Dallas' second-round crash against Sacramento: "207 FIELD GOALS WITH 115 LAYUPS AND DUNKS!" For emphasis, the last four words -- addressing those 115 layups and dunks, an average of 23 per game in the 4-1 series defeat -- are in bigger block letters than the rest. The sign alone, of course, isn't going to change anything, but it's a start, mainly because there aren't a slew of defensive stoppers just waiting to be signed by Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. A teamwide dedication to defensive improvement has to develop internally if Dallas intends to join Sacramento as a real threat to the Lakers.

Re-sign Raef LaFrentz and Eduardo Najera. The Mavericks have unofficially severed ties with Wang Zhizhi, their 7-foot free agent, until Wang resurfaces in the good graces of China's basketball authorities. The in-house priorities are retaining LaFrentz and Najera, two restricted free agents who figure to return without a hitch. Cuban and coach/GM Don Nelson want to keep their core together and keep adding to it after swinging blockbuster trades the past two Februarys. So they plan to sign LaFrentz to a healthy deal in the $60 million range and let him grow with the rest of the group. Dallas doesn't want to lose the gritty Najera, either, and will careen further into luxury-tax territory to keep him, too.

See what they can scrounge from a pretty barren marketplace. Danny Manning has already been waived and Johnny Newman will almost certainly not be invited back. Free-agent swingman Greg Buckner might also have to relocate, with Tariq Abdul-Wahad scheduled to return from a lengthy injury absence to join Najera and Adrian Griffin in the scrum for small-forward minutes. If Buckner goes, too, that's potentially three roster openings for Cuban and Nelson to offer to the power forwards who are out there -- in a summer where the Mavericks' salary-cap exceptions should have some good buying power, with actual cap space almost non-existent. Keon Clark? Charles Oakley? Knowing Cuban and Nelson, they will explore every option, trades included. Just remember that Cuban especially prefers to have the last shot at a player he likes, which is why none of 2002's free agents was taking a call from the Mavericks at 12:01 a.m. Monday.