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While acquiring a third-string center isn't all that sexy, it is pretty important for a basketball team. I mean, who knows when your third-string center will be counted on in the biggest game in franchise history and make a key play at the end of the third quarter?
Point is: third centers aren't season-changing but are an important cog for the full 82-game grind nonetheless. So it makes sense that the Mavericks are one of the three teams that are interested in Joel Przybilla, according to his agent and Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com (via Pro Basketball Talk):
According to his agent, Bill Duffy, the Portland Trail Blazers, Dallas Mavericks, and the Milwaukee Bucks are the three teams that have shown the highest level of interest in signing the free agent center.
Przybilla will meet with Bucks management this week, according to Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times.
If the Mavericks aren't sold on second round pick Bernard James, or would rather keep him getting extended playing time for the Legends in the D-League, Przybilla would be a nice, low-risk third center.
Przybilla hasn't played anything close to a full season since the 2008-2009 season, where he averaged 5.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. Despite constant injuries and surgeries, Przybilla has always maintained an elite skill: defensive rebounding.
His lowest defensive rebound percentage in the last eight years was 19.7 percent back in 2006-2007. Last season, in only 16.6 minutes per game, he averaged 5.1 rebounds per game and over four defensive rebounds per game. That turns into 11.1 rebounds per game over 36 minutes.
Przybilla might not be able to score, has slow feet due to injuries and can't protect the rim like he used to, but the man can rebound like hell. For a third-center, especially on a team that has struggled in rebounding recently like the Mavericks, that could be a great thing for the veteran's minimum.