# Donnie Nelson will need to be creative with Dallas Mavericks' roster



## t1no (Jul 10, 2005)

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...ll/mavs/stories/061608dnspomoore.345dacb.html

*Donnie Nelson will need to be creative with Dallas Mavericks' roster*

Everyone seems to be talking about change these days.

John McCain. Barack Obama.

Donnie Nelson.

Nelson's charge isn't to come up with a slogan that looks good on a T-shirt or banner. It's to find a way, with precious little to spend, to improve a roster that has plenty of openings.

The Mavericks could have up to eight spots available by the end of the month. Nelson, the team's president of basketball operations, must figure out how to fill the roster even though the club has no first-round pick and is so far over the salary cap its options are limited.

"I think creative is the operative word," Nelson said.

The Mavericks have eight players under contract. If veteran guard Eddie Jones retires or opts out of the final year of his contract, only seven players will be signed for next season.

The Mavericks expect Jones to inform them of his decision by July 1.

"We truly don't know," Nelson said of the likelihood Jones will return. "He's not the kind of guy who is just going to show up and collect a paycheck. If he returns, he wants to be a part; be a significant part."

The draft is the first place the Mavericks will turn to fill out their roster. A team can sign its draft pick no matter how far over the cap it is.

The problem is, the team's first-round pick resides in New Jersey as part of the Jason Kidd trade. The Mavericks won't select until late in the second round, at No. 51. The draft is deep, but not that deep.

The Mavericks could buy their way into the first round, but it would cost owner Mark Cuban anywhere from $300,000 to $3 million. Two of the team's second-round picks from last season, Reyshawn Terry and Renaldas Seibutis, have returned from Europe and will be given a chance to make the club.

Next is free agency. The club used its bi-annual exception last off-season to sign Jones. The mid-level exception is the only significant slot available. That's projected to be in the range of $5.5 to $5.7 million.

"We can't miss on that, whether we use it to get one or two players," Nelson said. "We're in the search for the next Raja Bell, Adrian Griffin or Brandon Bass. Those guys are potentially out there.

"We've got to get lucky and pick up a guy like we did with Brandon."

The only other avenues open to the Mavericks – outside of trades – are to re-sign their own free agents or to supplement the roster with minimum-salary players.

The phrase "rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic" comes to mind.

Seven players on the Mavericks roster become free agents at the end of the month. Devean George, Antoine Wright and J.J. Barea are the most likely candidates out of that group to return. That would still leave up to one-third of the roster in limbo if the club decides to carry 15 players into next season.

"We're going to exhaust every option," Nelson said.

A Mavericks team that suffers from one-and-done playoff syndrome needs to exhaust every option. No matter how limited those options appear.

"Again," Nelson said, "we've got to get creative."

And a little lucky. 

*The Mavericks have eight players under contract entering next season, and seven who are scheduled to become free agents. The 2008-09 salary cap is expected to be around $58 million.*
UNDER CONTRACT
Jason Kidd $21.37 million
Dirk Nowitzki $18.07 million
Erick Dampier $11.55 million
Josh Howard $10.44 million
Jason Terry $9.19 million
Jerry Stackhouse $7 million
Eddie Jones* $1.97 million
Brandon Bass $826,269
Total $80.446 million
*Jones can opt out of his contract
FREE AGENTS
J.J. Barea restricted
Devean George unrestricted
Juwan Howard unrestricted
Tyronn Lue unrestricted
Malik Allen unrestricted
Jamaal Magloire unrestricted
Antoine Wright unrestricted


----------



## nbanoitall (May 21, 2004)

Donnie has a ton of work on his hands. Earlier on this season I figured Marcus Camby might get traded to the Mavs (over the summer)... and Jason Terry wouldn't be bad but that Harris trade was a bad deal. your first rounder is gone... which I would have liked for denver. now the only deal that works for camby is terry, bass, and the 2nd rounder.
will be interesting to see where camby goes


----------



## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

One thing is for sure, the roster will look completely different than it did in Game 5 against the Hornets.


----------



## LionOfJudah (May 27, 2003)

croco said:


> One thing is for sure, the roster will look completely different than it did in Game 5 against the Hornets.


I don't know, I have the feeling the Mavs let the dust settle from the Kidd trade and coaching change before making any major moves. Call it the Carlisle/Kidd test drive if you will.


----------



## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

stevemc said:


> I don't know, I have the feeling the Mavs let the dust settle from the Kidd trade and coaching change before making any major moves. Call it the Carlisle/Kidd test drive if you will.


Kidd and Dirk are not gonna be traded, but I think everyone else is up for grabs. We have seven players under contract right now, there are a lot of holes to fill.


----------



## LionOfJudah (May 27, 2003)

croco said:


> Kidd and Dirk are not gonna be traded, but I think everyone else is up for grabs. We have seven players under contract right now, there are a lot of holes to fill.


You're saying in the off season Kidd won't be traded? I'll agree with that, but to say he's not up for grabs once the tanking teams start having fire sales close to the trade deadline we would be kidding ourselves.


----------



## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

stevemc said:


> You're saying in the off season Kidd won't be traded? I'll agree with that, but to say he's not up for grabs once the tanking teams start having fire sales close to the trade deadline we would be kidding ourselves.


Yeah, I forgot to include offseason. I'm pretty sure they will be looking to move Kidd once the trade deadline is nearing.


----------



## VeN (May 10, 2005)

croco said:


> Yeah, I forgot to include offseason. I'm pretty sure they will be looking to move Kidd once the trade deadline is nearing.


If we move Kidd, who will run point? Who can we get that can do the job right?


----------



## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

VeN said:


> If we move Kidd, who will run point? Who can we get that can do the job right?


I'm not concerned about that, we need to get a backup point guard in the offseason anyway.


----------



## LionOfJudah (May 27, 2003)

croco said:


> I'm not concerned about that, we need to get a backup point guard in the offseason anyway.


It's almost scary as many needs we have with only 7 players under contract going into next year. We'd almost be better served waiting for the fire sale and trading Kidd than moving any other player this side of 30. Regardless, we have to trade Kidd this coming year. Otherwise theres a good chance we'll have nothing to show from the 2nd worst trade of the 07-08 season. Even if we have the best record in the West, do we really want to take the loss? I guess we'd have cap space but that doesn't always translate into landing great players.


----------



## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

I don't even know in what kind of shape Kidd will be in next year. He has already declined rapidly over the past few years, the last season could have been his last productive, who knows. We just aren't in good shape right now.


----------



## LionOfJudah (May 27, 2003)

croco said:


> I don't even know in what kind of shape Kidd will be in next year. He has already declined rapidly over the past few years, the last season could have been his last productive, who knows. We just aren't in good shape right now.


We should throw together a trade history time line since we're talking about ifs and buts right now. Then we can really be sour over the talent we've shipped out to end up where we're at.

What comes to mind is that the Jamison trade netted us Stackhouse and Kidd. Which is awesome if it's 1998 again. :sigh:


----------



## BullsBaller (Oct 6, 2002)

Trading that $20 million of Kidds' along with a couple other higher end contracts might be Nelson's only option to get enough *quality* players for your 15 man roster next season. I mean your payroll at around $105 million is higher than even the Knicks and you have about a -50 mill cap. You might not want to trade Kidd, neither would I despite him only having maybe 2 years left, but Nelson probably will have to just to get enough butts on your bench to at least compete.


----------

