Mavericks scrimmage recap: 4 starters sit out, young players impress

... and we're back.

Today, the Mavericks faced the Mavericks on the floor of the American Airlines Center in their annual Fan Jam scrimmage. The Blue Team beat the White Team 42-32, although four out of the Mavericks' first starters didn't play.

In total, six Mavericks sat out: Dirk Nowitzki, Chandler Parsons, Wesley Matthews, Deron Williams, Dwight Powell and JaVale McGee. Dirk's workload leading up to the season will be miniscule, explaining his absence. (It's worth noting, though, that Dirk did play in last year's scrimmage.) Williams and Powell both should be cleared for contact in the coming week or two while Parsons and Matthews are both working to be ready on the Mavericks' opening day on Oct. 28.

Interestingly, Matthews participated in most of the Mavericks' pre-scrimmage warm-up exercises, including a full-court shooting drill that involved running and shooting, while Parsons sat them out. It was certainly a smaller and less star-studded scrimmage than most fans would have hoped, but the free event still gave a taste for the coming season.

Here's how the teams were broken down.

Here's the fan jam rosters pic.twitter.com/CnhSbtDOgb

— Tim Cato (@tim_cato) October 4, 2015

Rick Carlisle hopped on the mic before the scrimmage for a bit of banter, mostly focused on making fun of Parsons. He called him "gorgeous" and "The Beautiful One" before asking if his post-game suits were going to get even tighter this season. Parsons emphatically said yes, but that's obvious bogus, since men's fashion is trending slightly baggier this year and Parsons rarely wears suits after games anyway.

Dirk and Deron Williams got the biggest ovations.

Dallas loves Dirk https://t.co/EFtqYFe266

— Tim Cato (@tim_cato) October 4, 2015

The scrimmage was fine. I can't even pretend like there's much of anything we can learn from it, so let me just mention a few interesting things I noticed.

• Jeremy Evans took two three-pointers, making one. While Evans never shot threes in Utah, Rick Carlisle has said he has played at small forward throughout training camp (in addition to the four and the five). For Evans to do that during a game, he would really need to stretch the floor.
• Justin Anderson showed great vision picking up Evans behind the defense for a quick alley oop. I'd love to see that duo get at it this season.
• John Jenkins had a couple of smart drives to the rim. I'm iffy on him having a role after seeing Dahntay Jones and Wayne Ellington wither away on the bench, but early on, the Mavericks may not have another option. I think he'll do well with those minutes.
• The Mavericks ran an elevator play for Jamil Wilson, which is the funniest sentence I think I'll type today.
• Charlie Villanueva easily took the most shots. Not sure if he finished with the most points, though.