I know we were all really pissed off at Orlando for keeping Gortat., but we have to admit that if it was Donnie who had pulled the same move we would have loved it. So I didn't want to say Otis Smith was some lying jerk who broke some NBA GM unwritten law. Well, until I saw the quote that many of you have already read by now.
I know Gortat stated that he might not be happy trying to find minutes in Orlando. What are your thoughts on that? Is that something you're going to speak with him?
"Rough life, isn't it. It's tough all over, isn't it. "
Hey Otis Smith, you're a jerk!
Seriously though, that really sucked for Mavs fans. And while it was highly unlikely Gortat was really going to be the difference between a championship and just another year in the postseason, the best case scenario with Gortat far surpassed anything another attainable free agent could have offered. It's why I don't expect the Mavs to make another big move involving the MLE this offseason. Finding a way to use it just because you have it can come back to haunt you. Instead, I'm just anticipating a small move that includes moving Buckner or Humphries for a somewhat similar bench level player.
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Before the Gortat fiasco, Sefko casually dropped this line over at the DMN blog.
We also know that Ryan Hollins, Shawne Williams and Gerald Green are likely to move on.
Wait, we know that restricted free agent Ryan Hollins is likely to move on? Really? That's not worth discussing in a little more detail. The 24 year old athletic 7 footer who helped turn around a couple of games last year, including in the postseason, isn't worth considering hanging on to? I can't say for sure, but I bet I speak for most Mavs fans when I say that if newly acquired Nathan Jawai were to make this team over Ryan Hollins I'd be pretty pissed off about it.
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I think the Quinton Ross signing is underrated. It's the type of player Dallas should have been looking to fill their roster with the last few years instead of guys like Greg Buckner, Devean George, and Eddie Jones. I think Von Wafer, who Mike Fisher made a case for, could also be a step in the right direction -- in terms of valuing actual ability over experience.
Speaking of Buckner and George, will one of those two guys ever not be on the Mavs roster? Hopefully so, since Buckner has a very tradeable partially guaranteed contract.
...with Buckner's contract they [Dallas] can take back up to $5.1 million in salary and the other team can erase it by paying only $1 million this season, instantly saving them $4.1 million off their payroll and salary cap.
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Second round pick Ahamd Nivins has had great start to summer league action and has opened a few eyes. I'm about to start drinking the kool-aid. Here are two rookies college stats from last season.
| MPG | PPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | BPG | TO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 39.3 | 19.2 | 61.2% | 78.7% | 11.8 | 1.8 | 2.7 |
| B | 27.3 | 15.7 | 59.3% | 60.5% | 12.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 |
Player A is Ahmad Nivins, and player B is Spurs highly praised secound pick Dejaun Blair. And while I'm not trying to say Nivins is should have been regarded as the same level of prospect as Blair, it illustrates that Nivins put up some seriously competitive numbers while he was in school.
It also got me thinking about DeJuan Blair. People saw an undersized guy who put up crazy rebound numbers in school and started throwing out Paul Millsap comparisons like crazy. And those comps could turn out to be accurate, but it ignores that Blair is even smaller than Millsap, weighs almost 280 lbs., and has already had two knee surgeries. In reality, I don't think he's really that much more likely than Ahmad Nivins to be a Millsap level success or to be another player like PJ Tucker who couldn't overcome his lack of size to play the same style that made his so succesfull in college.