Tim Thomas who signed with the Mavericks this summer that would have given us some outside presence has been sidelined indefinitely after injuring himself during a workout this summer at home. He underwent knee surgery this week and will be out.
That’s a bummer. So does this mean Greg Ostertag is coming aboard? We’ll wait and see.
The Mavericks signed Singleton to a year contract worth 1 million. Buckner was released, which was anticipated as Singleton is the 17th contract signed by the Mavericks for the next roster year. NBA limits the roster to 15 active players currently.
Other news is that Tim Thomas was injured in an off season pick up game. Hopefully this is not a serious injury that puts him out for some of the season or all of it. There are talks and rumors that Greg Ostertag would love to come out of retirement to play for the Mavericks. Ostertag is a native of the area, out of Duncanville. He was stated in saying he would love to end his career with the Mavericks as they were his team growing up and still are.
Some more truth and rumors floating around Fannation is that the Mavericks are interested in Boozer.
I’m not sure how this would work out without them dealing with a 3rd team with existing players to involve a multiteam trade and deal.
Perhaps Josh Howard could be one of the players being dealt, along with maybe Stephen Jackson that’s been rumored as well. I don’t see them dealing Marion and some of the other players recently acquired.
A source from Fannation truth and rumors indicates Nellie is in discussions of trading Stephen Jackson to the Mavericks to save some salary cap.
I don’t know about anyone else but throw in a few contract players we don’t necessarily need and that would be a welcome addition to the Mavericks by putting them back into a contention for a title once again.
We could even dump Dampier on them and still be contenders in the West.
Jackson not only plays good defense but he averaged over 20 PPG for the Warriors the past two seasons.
ESPN has an article on the best newcomers in the offseason, ranking the Mavericks acquirement of Shawn Marion at 5th, which is tied with 4 other players.
The top pick is Richard Jefferson who was acquired by the Spurs, which I could actually agree with. The second pick is Shaq, which I don’t agree with and I don’t think he’s going to help the Cavs win a championship, he’s just along for the ride if they do make it that far.
Tied for 3rd is Ron Artest and Vince Carter. The other players who are tied with Shawn Marion are Andre Miller, Rasheed Wallace and Hedo Turkoglu.
So there’s been a lot of happenings around Mavland. Lots of player transactions which resulted in a lot of familiar faces sticking around but a lot of new faces we’ll be seeing this coming season.
With the Mavericks already over the grand old luxury tax imposed by the NBA, Stackhouse, George and Bass are just a few of the familiar faces no longer with the team. The newcomers are Shawn Marion, Drew Gooden and Tim Thomas, along with Rodrigue Beaubois, Ahmad Nivins (still unsigned) and Nick Calathes (still unsigned) who were all draft picks.
Gerald Green, Ryan Hollins and James Singleton are all free agents. I honestly hope the Mavs can keep Hollins around, the others really wouldn’t make an impact to the team.
As for the starting lineup, we can probably count that it will be Kidd, Marion, Howard, Nowitzki and Dampier. Jason Terry will continue to come out as the 6th man and Drew Gooden will be a versatile player who can back up Nowitzki and Dampier.
Tim Thomas being a 3 point specialist could come off the bench in hopes to get some easy baskets in little time, as he averaged close to 8 points a game in 20 minutes on average playtime each game.
Little Jose will continue coming off the bench and maybe get some more starts as well to back up Kidd. Hopefully Kidd can continue to mentor Barea to possibly take over the PG role while Kidd deeparts from his playing days in the NBA in the next few years that he has left.
Overall I believe the players we picked up makes the Mavericks a better team than last year and even the year before. If Gooden stays healthy along with Josh Howard staying healthy and Tim Thomas can put up some decent numbers, I can see this team being a threat to the Denver Nuggets and maybe rebounding to be a contender in the tight Western Conference. I’m not even so worried about Denver any longer, everyone should realize that the Lakers just got better picking up Artest and retaining Odom, so that’s the team to beat this year.
The Mavericks signed 12 year veteran forward Tim Thomas. He averaged close to 8 points a game last year only playing 20 minutes a game. A 3 point specialist is Thomas’s skill to help bolst the Mavericks back into the 3 point game they need. He had a 41% from beyond the arc last season. He’s a career 37% three point shooter, making 946 in 806 career games.
I’d imagine Thomas can be that goto guy off the bench to help in games we are trailing to throw up some 3 pointers.
Now with the Mavericks acquiring Marion and Gooden, the idea of adding more guys like Tim Thomas to help off the bench is starting to look good for the Mavericks.
I vision our new starting lineup will consist of Kidd, Howard, Nowitzki, Marion and Dampier with Gooden backing up Dampier. Terry will continue to play the 6th man role and Little Jose will continue to backup Kidd while Kidd molds him into a better PG. Then we’ll likely have Hollins continue to be scuplted and molded and players like Tim Thomas that can come off the bench to do what’s needed to win games.