Jeff Caplan has a good article on what an important season this is for Maurice Ager, and what he's doing to prepare himself for it.
The Mavs' coaching staff is working with Ager to improve his shot selection and decision-making, such as knowing when to take the jumper or when to drive inside or when to find the open man.
Ager has also put on weight at Johnson's request, Ager said. He's up to 212 from 205 last season and plans to add a couple more pounds to help him against some of the league's bigger two guards.
Johnson said Ager started to show gradual improvement during practices in the latter stages of last season.
"I saw some maturity and growth in practice, and he got me to a level there where I could trust, maybe, putting him in the game some," Johnson said. "This Summer League is critical for him because I'd like him to get in the position where he can compete for some minutes in our rotation."
I think Avery would love for Ager to show that he's capable of starting in the Mavs backcourt this season, but it's not something that seems very likely to me.Ager has also put on weight at Johnson's request, Ager said. He's up to 212 from 205 last season and plans to add a couple more pounds to help him against some of the league's bigger two guards.
Johnson said Ager started to show gradual improvement during practices in the latter stages of last season.
"I saw some maturity and growth in practice, and he got me to a level there where I could trust, maybe, putting him in the game some," Johnson said. "This Summer League is critical for him because I'd like him to get in the position where he can compete for some minutes in our rotation."
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Sefko writes about the Mavs free agency plans now that Stack and George have re-signed. He lists Matt Barnes, James Posey, Morris Peterson, Mickael Peitrus, and Sasha Pavlovic as possibilites, but adds that the Mavs aren't looking to give someone the full 5.36 million dollar mid-level exception.
It should be noted that any additional signing would require an open spot on the Roster, which is currently full at 15. Pops Mensah-Bonsu is the most likely to be let go should that arise. Reyshawn Terry is also a possibility -- Barea isn't going anywhere.
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Bill Ingram talked to Avery Johnson about the summer league and it made for a good article. It focuses on Ager and Diop.
"Summer league is a high priority because now you're able to implement what we work on during the offseason when no summer league is going on. Diop and Mo Ager have had a chance to work on a lot of different areas of their games before we got to summer league; now we need to see how it carries over into games and playing against some other competition where other guys are trying to play well and prove to their coaches that they're capable."
-------------------Ingram also has article on Nick Fazekas.
"He'll have an opportunity to see if he can fill a void," Avery intimated. "I think behind Dirk there's always been a need to have somebody consistently come in there and play well for us. We've tried for two years and we haven't had a lot of success in terms of having a great level of consistency. So we'll see. He'll have a chance to compete for some minutes there and that's what the summer league is about."
Fazekas has definitely struggled so far -- not that three summer league games mean anything.