No Matt??? No keon???? Interesting Article......

[Dirk77]

Mavs Gossip
Educated Guesses About Mavs Issues

By Mike Fisher – DallasBasketball.com
In question-and-answer style, let’s sort through some of the information and misinformation that serves as the spokes on the Mavs’ summer gossip wheel.
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With, surprisingly, the otherwise innocuous Greg Buckner as the hub of that wheel.
What’s the holdup with Buckner’s six-year, $18-million move to Philly?
There is indeed talk of a three-way deal, instigated by the Sixers, who, as one league exec put it, “wants to have their cake and eat it, too.’’ Philly wants to give value back to Dallas in a sign-and-trade, in which case the Sixers would also retain their $4.5 mil exception (to pursue either Keon Clark or Rodney Rogers).
What does Dallas want out of the deal?
Let’s all quit pretending we know, because the Mavs themselves don’t know yet. They will not take on salary just because Mark Cuban’s wallet says they can. They are perusing the Sixers roster to see if there is a fit.
How about Matt Harpring?
The problem there is that he is Buckner-like. Oh, he can shoot it like Buck cannot, but the Mavs see no need for another player in the Griffin/Abdul-Wahad/Najera mold. So no, the Mavs don’t seem to like Harpring enough to take him on just so they can say they got something for Buck.
How about those Marcus Fizer rumors?
Completely bogus. Maybe Chicago wants to get involved because of Jerry Krause’s affinity for Harpring. But Dallas has no affinity for Fizer, who is not comfortable as an open-court player, does not play well without the ball, and is not a fit. No to Marcus Fizer.
Is Utah’s Bryon Russell in the three-way mixmaster?
Cuban concedes that he has spoken with Russell’s agent, so he remains a possibility. But others in the Mavs organization completely poo-poo the Russell talk, and they do it with this convincing, one-size-fits-all line: If Dallas was hot for Harpring, Fizer or Russell, and was linking into a six-year, $18-mil three-way to do it, why wouldn’t Dallas simply spent its six-year, $18-mil commitment on the likeable known commodity named Greg Buckner? Hmmm.
So Buckner might go without compensation back?
Certainly. Again, just because Cuban has money doesn’t mean he has to blow it. Philly is the team doing the wheeling and dealing here, and the Mavs can simply sit back and wait for a win-win situation to fall into their laps.
OK, one more stab at the Sixers connection: How about just-signed rookie Sam Clancy?
He’s the Pac-10 Player of the Year, he’s signed at not much more than $349,458 for his rookie season. He’s a 6-7, 240-pound second-round bull. And no, he’s not what the Mavs are looking for.
Speaking of Eduardo Najera, why isn’t that done yet?
Those involved acknowledge that the talks have “hit a few snags,’’ but there is no pissing match yet – and we don’t think there will be.
A name like Keon Clark – if he’s available to Philly for 4.5, is he available here for the same?
Yes, but surprisingly, Mavs officials don’t exactly rave about Clark. His goofy attitude is well-documented, but that’s not as much a concern as the fact that the Dallas talent people believe that his salary would be lopsided considering the number of minutes he’d get. There are probably guys who will be sitting on the free-agent shelves weeks from now who are no-brainers considering the 4.5 price tag; the Mavs don’t consider Clark to be one of those.
How credible is the Arvydas Sabonis talk and the Charles Oakley talk recently generated by DallasBasketball.com?
Let’s say we’re batting .500. Sabonis and Donnie Nelson have not spoken recently, but Donnie assumes that if Sabonis does return to the NBA, that Portland will make certain he’s a Blazer. Another Mavs source suggests we probably read too much into the fact that Oakley is a Michael Finley crony (Oakley recently played in Finley’s charity golf tournament, as did a bunch of the Chicagoland fellas), and that we read to little into the fact that Oakley is not near the player he once was.
Just how good is Mladen Sekularac?
Well, so far, more than a Sasha Danilovic type. That’s how the Mavs’ second-round rookie was once billed. Except Danilovic means a 6-5 shooter, and in the Summer League, Sekularac looks like a 6-8 player. In his four games in the Summer League, the Yugoslavian star averaged 13 points per game in just 25.5 minutes. Donnie Nelson says, “He’s more than just a scorer. His basketball IQ is way higher than I ever thought.’’ Take this one slow, though; despite reports that his performance in the summer would determine whether he makes the big club in the fall, the truth is Sekularac has two years remaining on his commitment back home. The Mavs will make a determination of how and whether to get him out of that commitment by the end of July.
Speaking of foreigners and commitments, what’s the latest on Wang Zhizhi?
Outside of our belief that he’ll somehow end up back in a Dallas uniform, we tend to reserve comment on everything from him finding a new agent to “defection’’ talk. Get the story wrong, we fear, and next thing you know, somebody’s getting run over by a tank.
How’s the infamous Nick Van Exel-to-the-Knicks swap going?
Still infamous – and still fradulent. As recently as Saturday evening, we spoke to more Mavs people who say this rumor is, to quote one, “absolute hogwash.’’ Outsiders continue to write about “how the talks have broken off’’ and “how the talks have hit a snag’’ and “how Dallas upped the ante.’’ There is no breaking, there is no snag, there is no ante. Because as of 4:36 p.m. Dallas time on Saturday, there have never been Van Exel-to-New York conversations. Never. A “Kurt Thomas-type’’ is still a goal. Patience, kids.
How does the news of Eddie Jordan’s decision to remain a Nets assistant affect Del Harris?
Says a source close to the Nuggets’ search for a head coach: “It puts Del in the catbird seat.’’

[scooterj5]

Interesting stuff, especially about Clark, I really thought Nelly would love to get him with the 4.5 exception.

[Dirk77]

I hope he's bluffing on not wanting Keon.

[Drbio]

I would think that with Nellie's track record, you could bank on him bluffing about Keon............and anyone else for that matter.

[Nellie]

This article is actualy encouraging when you consider the amount of smoke blown. "Not interested" is Nellie code for "I am working on it."