Mavericks pleased with overflow at center - DMN - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

zanahale · 08-25-2004, 10:36 PM

Mavericks pleased with overflow at center

Trade for Dampier puts Dallas in a position of strength

10:11 PM CDT on Wednesday, August 25, 2004

By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News

The logjam at center for the Mavericks is unprecedented. It's also not a big concern to the basketball staff. In fact, for a team that has been searching for functional centers through most of its existence, it's a blessing.

Newly acquired Erick Dampier will earn the bulk of the playing time. Calvin Booth, Shawn Bradley and rookie D.J. Mbenga will divvy up what's left.

Pavel Podkolzin probably will need a year to get acclimated to the NBA before he is ready to contribute. But since he has signed a contract, he'll be on the 15-man roster. As for Evan Eschmeyer, the health of his knee will be the determining factor for whether he plays or sits on the injured list.

But even if shuffling those six players becomes a chore, it is one the Mavericks will gladly accept.

"No disrespect to anyone who has played center in the past for us, but for shot-blocking, rebounding, scoring and toughness, we've got most of those components in one player now with Erick," says Donnie Nelson, president of basketball operations. "He's the closest thing we've ever had to a total center package.

"Overnight, we've gone from center being probably our weakest area to having an abundance there."

The Mavericks will have 18 players with guaranteed contracts when Avery Johnson signs as a player-coach later in the week. Newly acquired guard Steve Logan is not under contract yet. Still, at least three players will have to be jettisoned before the season begins. It's not as difficult as it sounds.

Jon Stefansson, the guard who never played last season, probably is headed to Europe or the developmental league for a year of seasoning. His contract is such that it won't cost the Mavericks much to send him to the minors. Tariq Abdul-Wahad could be cut and, since insurance is paying 80 percent of his contract, it would not be a big financial hit for owner Mark Cuban.

That means a low-dollar player such as Dan Dickau ($893,000) could be waived, and the Mavericks would be at 15 players.

What the overload of players will do, however, is dissuade any NBA hopefuls of joining the Mavericks for training camp. There simply aren't going to be any spots available for "training camp fodder" to surprise the team. In other words, there will be no undrafted gems such as Marquis Daniels was last season.

fin4life · 08-25-2004, 10:44 PM

I would be extreamly pleased if Cuban decided to buy-out TAW. That would make this summer an A+. Sending Jon to Europe sounds good to me also. I dont want to cut Dickau though... I would rather keep him unless we had no choice. Even then I would trade him for a second rounder.... I am sure he could fetch that.

V2M · 08-25-2004, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by: zanahale
Mavericks pleased with overflow at center

What the overload of players will do, however, is dissuade any NBA hopefuls of joining the Mavericks for training camp. There simply aren't going to be any spots available for "training camp fodder" to surprise the team. In other words, there will be no undrafted gems such as Marquis Daniels was last season.

We already got our undrafted gem in DJ MBenga.

Dirkenstien · 08-25-2004, 10:56 PM

cutting TAW and sending Steffanson to Europe sounds as though it would be a good start towards trimming our roster although I dont tend to agree that simply cutting Dickau is a feasible option considering that surely there is some team out there (Houston, Miami, San Antonio, Charlotte) that wouldn't mind compensating for his services with at least a future 2nd round pick

Max Power · 08-25-2004, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Tariq Abdul-Wahad could be cut and, since insurance is paying 80 percent of his contract, it would not be a big financial hit for owner Mark Cuban.

How does cutting TAW translate in insurance money for Cuban? Cuban only gets money if TAW doesn't play not if TAW if off the team.

EricaLubarsky · 08-25-2004, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by: Max Power

Quote:

Tariq Abdul-Wahad could be cut and, since insurance is paying 80 percent of his contract, it would not be a big financial hit for owner Mark Cuban.

How does cutting TAW translate in insurance money for Cuban? Cuban only gets money if TAW doesn't play not if TAW if off the team.

It may make a good bargaining tool, but you are completely right that either Cuban buys TAW OR he gets insurance money.

GP · 08-26-2004, 12:01 AM

Don't they have to prove that TAW is actually injured. I seriously doubt that insurance would pay if they cut him and he showed up playing ball in Europe. I believe that is called insurance Fraud. They just need to buy him out and write it off as learning a valuable lesson. If he actually is still unable to play due to injury then they should have some recourse.

Maybe they are getting a clue about the roster situation. No need to be the Blazers south. A team only needs 10 players that are good enough to play. Spots 11 - 15 should be taken up by cheap developing talent like Podkolzine and Mbenga that may have a future with some good coaching. These players need to be good enough to play short term in an emergency situation and healthy enough to use in practice.

Pongo · 08-26-2004, 05:15 AM

Can anyone tell me something about Steve Logan?
I read his player profile and it seems that he isn't bad at all... but then again, those sites tend to be too optimistic

Blonde Bomber · 08-26-2004, 07:42 AM

I would rather cut Evan and keep the cheap Dickau on the roster. We know that Evan has a big bag of nothing but Dan is still young enough to hope that he finally finds a nich in the NBA. Also, would like to find a spot for Logan. I wish we had a developmental squad like the NFL has and have a seperate 5 man roster to stash away young players....then we could put Dickau,Logan,and PPod on it.

SeriousSummer · 08-26-2004, 09:52 AM

You might not be able to cut Esch or TAW and still collect the insurance money, but I would guess it would be feasible to work a deal with the insurance company. Say, for example, you have a player at a $10 million per year salary that you intend to keep on the IR all year forcing the insurance company to pay $8 million. But you'd like to cut him for the roster spot. You make a deal with the insurance company to pay you $6 million to be released from its insurance obligation. Then you cut the player.

You still owe him $10 million, so it's cost you $2 million to open up the roster spot (the $8 million the insurance company would have paid less the $6 million you got from them to get out of their obligation).

Of course these are all hypothetical numbers, but I don't see why you couldn't try to negotiate a deal of this type.