"The deal is done," Stackhouse said. "I'm happy to be staying put. [Mavs owner] Mark [Cuban] and the organization stepped up for me and I'm really proud of that. Now we need to get a ring."
The Mavs really had no other choice. When you're over the salary cap and one of your players who is worth more than the MLE becomes an unrestricted free agent you have to resign them because it will be almost impossible to replace their value. That's why you are hearing today that resigning Stackhouse was the Mavs top priority. And oh yeah, he's pretty important to the team too, unless you think Maurice Ager can step in and put up 12ppg, 2.2rpg, and 2.8apg while shooting 43% from the field and 38% from 3. The only player on the market who I think could possibly replace Stackhouse's production is Mickael Pietrus, but he's a worse passer and free throw shooter.Don't forget the intangible stuff, leadership, toughness etc...
"He's our leader in the locker room," Terry said. "He's coming off of one of his best years as our sixth man and it's going to be great having him back. He's huge for us."
I have no idea what impact, if any, all of that really has on wins or losses, or if it could have just been replaced by any other veteran, or by bringing back Darrell Armstrong in some capacity, but I'm kind of glad Stack will still be here -- just in case...We won't hear the full details of the contract until after it's signed, but it's definitely for three years and a little over the MLE (approx 6 mil). It should come to somewhere between 21 and 24 million over the three years. Jason Kapono recently got a 4 year deal for the full MLE, so the annual salary looks on scale next to that. I'm also glad to see it's a three year deal. While a Two year deal would have been great, I wouldn't have expected Stackhouse to agree to one unless he has retirement plans. This three year deal will end when Stackhouse is 35, which seems a lot younger than the 36 a four year deal would have taken him to. So three years I can live with, even though we all anticipate his legs weakening as the years go on.
I can't wait to start seeing Devin and Stackhouse run that backdoor cut alley-oop at the end of quarters again next season. And hopefully he has more games like this than this.
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Gil LeBreton praises the signing, calling it a "no-brainer".
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The Tulsa 66ers are the new D-League affiliate of the Mavs.
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There are some Mavs dancers in the Philippines right now and this article has some quotes from the unofficial Mavs Dancer of Mavs Moneyball -- Mallory Mills.
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The Vegas Summer League starts today, and the game will be televised. Sefko quickly preview it at the bottom of his Stackhouse article.