Scott Williams might be a Mav soon? writes marc stein

[Jamisonite]

The Dallas Mavericks want Scott Williams. Scott Williams wants to play for the Dallas Mavericks.


The next few days should determine whether the Mavericks and Williams get what they want.


With the Phoenix Suns putting all their focus on young players, Suns management is prepared to waive the veteran power forward so Williams, 35, can join a contender in the West. According to league sources, Williams wants to be waived as long as he ends up with the Mavericks.



Williams


The snag is that Williams has no guarantee Dallas would be the only team that claims him, and salary-cap complications prevent Phoenix from trading him to the Mavericks. Forty-eight hours after being waived, Williams' rights would be awarded to the claiming team with the worst record.


League sources told ESPN.com that Williams' agent, Arn Tellem, is "working to ensure that other teams don't claim him" before Williams is released, which could happen as soon as Wednesday. Williams has said that if he can't choose the team that claims him, he'd prefer to finish the season on the Suns' bench. Phoenix has already offered Williams a spot as an assistant coach, and Williams has made it clear that he hopes to make Phoenix his permanent base when he's done playing.


Dallas, though, believes that Williams, who turns 36 in March, has something to offer in the short term. The 6-foot-10, 260-pounder was part of three championship teams in Chicago and appeals to the Mavericks as a banger off the bench -- and as a locker-room presence. As much as Dallas has missed the fiery leadership of Nick Van Exel, it has missed the behind-closed-doors prodding of Avery Johnson just as much.


Before sending Van Exel and Johnson to Golden State as part of the Antawn Jamison trade, Dallas had hoped to groom Johnson as Don Nelson's down-the-road replacement as head coach. Although Johnson rarely played for the Mavericks, he ran several players-only practices and routinely pulled star players such as Dirk Nowitzki aside to counsel them.


It's doubtful Williams' role would be that broad, especially since he'd be joining the Mavericks halfway through the season, but Nelson could always use an extra sage on his bench as well as the added size. Shawn Bradley is starting to work his way back into Nelson's rotation, but Nowitzki has been forced to log more minutes at center than Dallas had hoped because of Bradley's and Danny Fortson's injuries and ineffectiveness.


Dallas has held one roster spot open all season for Arvydas Sabonis. After two failed attempts to convince Sabonis, who's playing in Europe, to return to the NBA one last time, the Mavericks see Williams as an attractive -- and unexpected -- alternative. Had the Suns not struggled early, leading to the firing of coach Frank Johnson and then the trade of franchise point guard Stephon Marbury, they wouldn't have considered waiving Williams. He can still be productive. He has played in only 16 games so far this season but averaged 7.3 points and 4.5 rebounds in 16.7 minutes per game.


It's inevitable that the Mavericks also will continue to be linked in trade speculation with Portland's Rasheed Wallace, after the teams' recent discussions and with the Feb. 19 trading deadline still three weeks away.

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here. Also, click here to send a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.

[LRB]

There's already a thread on this. See Scott Williams.