Monta To Sign With Pacers

The Mavericks have lost another one of their free agents but this one was totally expected. Monta Ellis has agreed to a 4 year, 44 million dollar deal with the Indiana Pacers according to ESPN. The contract has a player option after year three. Ellis opted out of the final year of his contract with the Mavs to become a free agent. Monta averaged 19.0 points and 4.9 assists in his two years in Dallas and last year became the first Mav besides Dirk to lead the team in scoring since Michael Finley in 1999-2000. A sign and trade of Monta for Roy Hibbert could become a possibilty if the Mavericks strike out on DeAndre Jordan.

Chandler To Sign With Suns

The Mavericks fallback plan at center won't be falling back to them.Tyson Chandler has agreed to a 4 year, $52 million deal with the Phoenix Suns. This is the second time Chandler has left the Mavs in free agency after one year. He signed a 4 year deal with the Knicks in 2011, but was reacquired in a trade last summer. Chandler averaged 10.3 points and 11.5 rebounds in 75 games last year. It has now become even more imperative that the Mavs sign DeAndre Jordan, who met with the team officials both last night and this morning.

Aminu To Sign With Blazers

It's less than an hour into free agency and already the Mavericks have lost a key contributor from last year's team. Al-Farouq Aminu has agreed to a 4 year, $30 million deal with the Portland Trail Blazers. The Mavs had hoped to bring Aminu back but with free agency just starting there is no way they could have matched that offer. Aminu joins a Portland team that appears to be in rebuilding mode with the seemingly imminent loss of LaMarcus Aldridge in free agency. Aminu averaged 5.6 points and 4.6 rebounds and played strong defense in his lone season in Dallas.

Mavericks Free Agent Targets

With plenty of cap space to spend the Mavericks will be active players once free agency begins on Wednesday. He are the names that should be of most interest to the Mavs, who currently have only 4 players under contract (Dirk, Parsons, Harris, Felton). Note: Free agents who played for the Mavs last season such as Tyson Chandler, Monta Ellis and Al-Farouq Aminu are not included.

Big Men

DeAndre Jordan (26), LA Clippers
The Houston native who led the league in rebounds and field goal percentage last season, will be the Mavs' top free agent target. It is a mutual interest as the Mavs are reportedly the only team Jordan would leave the Clippers for. Chandler Parsons who shares an agent with Jordan is already selling the big man on Dallas. Jordan would give the Mavs a young building block to pair with Parsons in the team's post-Dirk era.

LaMarcus Aldridge (29), Portland
The Seagoville product coming home would be a great story but it appears Aldridge prefers San Antonio and now maybe the Lakers to a Dallas homecoming. In the unlikely case the Mavs were forced to choose between him and Jordan, I'd go with Jordan but obviously signing either would be a major coup for the franchise.

Robin Lopez (27), Portland or Omer Asik (28), New Orleans
These two would only be options if the Mavs strike out on  Jordan  and cannot re-sign Tyson Chandler. Both are starting centers in the league with Lopez being solid on both ends  while Asik is a defense only player.

Wings

Danny Green (28), San Antonio
Green is an ideal 3 and D player the Mavs now crave for the two guard spot, sort of an anti-Monta. With the Spurs possibly needing cap room to sign Aldridge, Green might become very available. With Parsons taking an expanded offensive role, playmaking will be less of need from the 2 than shooting, making Green a perfect fit.

Wesley Matthews (28), Portland
Matthews is another 2 guard in the 3 and D mold with one major drawback, the torn achilles he suffered in a game against the Mavs on March 5. Matthews hopes to make an early season return but the track record for guys coming back from that injury isn't the greatest. Still, Matthews when healthy is a heck of a player on both ends of the court and might be worth the risk.

Khris Middleton (23), Milwaukee
Middleton is yet another 3 and D guy who unlike Green and Matthews is a restricted free agent, meaning the Bucks can match any offer he receives. Still, a team like the Mavs could test how much the Bucks are willing to pay the former Aggie who is coming off a breakout season for the surprising Bucks.

Point Guards

Mo Williams (32), Charlotte
Williams, a Dallas resident, almost signed with the Mavs last offseason before the team opted to sign Jameer Nelson instead. Williams, is a gifted scorer who scored 52 points in a game last season. He is probably the best of the cheap point guard options the Mavs will look at, with the hope being that he will produce more than Nelson did last season.

Jeremy Lin (26), LA Lakers
The former Mavericks Summer Leaguer is another intriguing cheap point guard option who could excel in the Mavericks pick-and-roll heavy offense. While never duplicating his "Linsanity" heights, Lin has been a solid contributor the last few years for both Houston and the Lakers.

Patrick Beverley (26), Houston
If the Mavs wanted to go a bit more pricey on a point guard, the defensive specialist Beverley would be a good option. Beverley missed last year's playoffs with a wrist injury and is offensively limited but is considered one of the top defenders at his position thanks his pestering ability on the ball.

Mavericks Draft Grades

ESPN.com (Chad Ford): B
"Head coach Rick Carlisle was looking for more shooting, preferably from a player who could contribute now. They may have found their man in Anderson. He shot 45 percent from three as a junior at UVA, has a terrific NBA-ready body, is a hard worker and a tough defender. But is he a great shooter? During his first two years at UVA he shot about 30 percent from downtown. Was this year just an aberration? If it wasn't, the Mavs got tremendous value at 21."

SI.com (Chris Mannix): B
"Anderson is an interesting pick here. On one hand, he is an NBA defender right away. He’s big, physical and was a linchpin of Virginia’s stingy defense last season. Anderson shot the ball well statistically, but there are lingering concerns about his consistency. Still, Rick Carlisle loves intelligent players who know how to fit into a system and Anderson played in arguably the most precision-based system in college basketball last season. Clearly, Dallas was not enamored with any of the point guard prospects here."

Yahoo Sports (Kelly Dwyer): B+
"Anderson developed rapidly in his junior year at Virginia, nailing a ridiculous amount of threes while playing his way into the first round. If he can keep up his knockout outside shooting, he’ll have a lasting role in this league. Even if the pro game limits Anderson’s ability to carry over bits of the all-around 3-and-D game he featured as a Cavalier in his third season, if the jumpers are falling he’ll be worth the selection. If his ceiling is the new Hubert Davis, so what? That’s where the NBA is at right now."

CBS Sports.com (Sam Vecenie): B+
"The Mavericks got a pretty good wing in Anderson that has very high upside as a role player. He's already got an NBA frame at a chiseled 6-6, 230 pounds with a 6-11 wingspan. Anderson is also already an NBA level athlete, as his 43-inch vertical leap shows. This guy is just explosive and really a high motor defensive player. The key to him being a great role player or just a rotation guy will be the shot. He knocked down 45 percent of his 3s this season after struggling there the last two years. If the mechanics he showed this year are legitimate, then he's got a shot to make a ton of money and be very successful in Dallas. If his mechanics are more like the first two years of his career and what they looked like at the combine after he returned from his broken finger, he's probably just a guy. Overall though, definitely a good value at No. 21."

SB Nation (Kevin O' Connor): A
"Anderson could be the steal of the draft. He is a very good defender with the size to defend multiple positions, and he could grow into an elite stopper once his fundamentals improve. His motor is incredible, but his work ethic is even better. That's why he improved significantly as a three-point shooter this past season at Virginia by revising his mechanics. This bodes well for his ability to develop as a ball handler, his prominent weakness."


USA Today (Scott Gleeson): B
"Justin Anderson (No. 21) made huge strides at Virginia and seems to be getting even better. At 6-6, he's a wing capable of playing solid defense and knocking down open shots, which is exactly what Dallas needs. Satnam Singh (No. 52) is the first India native to get drafted."

Mavericks Draft Recap

Going to in this offseason needing to acquire more shooting and improve defensively the Mavericks drafted a player with the 21st pick who can help in both areas.
Justin Anderson is a 6-6 small forward from Virginia who is known for playing lockdown defense as well as shooting 45% on threes as a junior, an immense improvement from his first two years in college. Anderson, was a second team All-ACC selection despite missing the last eight games of the regular season with a fractured finger. Anderson averaged 12.2 and 4 rebounds in 27.8 minutes per game. He was ACC Sixth Man of the Year as a sophmore. Virginia was ACC Champions his last two seasons.
I expect Anderson to become a rotation player as a rookie seeing backup minutes at both the 2 and 3.
With the 52th overall pick in the second round the Mavs took 7-2 center Satnam Singh Bhamara, the first native of India to be selected in the NBA Draft. Singh played for IMG Academy in Florida this past season. Expect to see him playing for the Texas Legends.

Quotes from Rick Carlisle on Anderson

"So we’re really happy we got a chance to draft Justin Anderson from the 2015 NCAA College World Series champion Virginia Cavaliers. Justin is a unique kid. He’s a 3-year guy. He’s gotten better each year. He is very physically strong. We feel he’s a wing player that could either play the 2 or the 3. We believe that he’s got an NBA body. He’s one of the strongest kids in the draft, positionally. He’s in a good position coming here. We have to fill roster spots. We need to get younger. And so he makes a lot of sense to us and we need to improve our defense. We feel he’s a solid defender and he’s a guy whose shooting has gotten better each of the last three years. He shot 45-percent from 3 this past season. We spent quite a bit of time with him. We interviewed him in Chicago. We watched his workout there. And then he was in here two or three weeks ago for a workout and we got a chance to spend more time with him. He’s a terrific kid and he’ll represent this franchise well."

Mocking The Draft: The Final Mocks

With the draft hours away, there appears to be no consensus across the internet on who the Mavericks will take with the 21st pick.

ESPN.com
Montrezl Harrell, PF, Louisville
"The Mavs loved his workout. He's tough and gives them physicality in the paint. Of the players left on the board, Harrell is arguably the best prospect. He lacks great size, but has great length and elite athleticism. If he can stay in his lane and just focus on being an elite rebounder and defender instead of shooting 3s, he'll be very useful in the NBA. He just won't be a star."

NBA.com
Delon Wright, PG, Utah
"Wright shouldn't be viewed as a potential starter just yet, but he would be a pretty good start. He's not a great shooter, but he gets into opponents on defense, and he has the size (6-foot-5 1/2) to be able to guard both guard positions. He's a willing, able passer, which would be the kind of point guard Rick Carlisle wants on a team with as many scorers as the Mavs. He's smart and tough and knows the NBA game and his brother, Dorell Wright of the Portland Trail Blazers, has been in the league for a decade. Man, I'm starting to talk myself into thinking Wright maybe could be a starter in Dallas next season."

SI.com
Jerian Grant, PG, Notre Dame
"The Mavericks are point guard shopping (again) and Grant is one of the best prospects at the position. The Notre Dame product has great size for his position and plays with a lot of confidence. He's on the older side but the Mavericks need someone who can contribute sooner rather than later."

CBSports.com
Rashad Vaughn, SG, UNLV
"I think this would probably be a bit of a reach for Vaughn, but the Mavericks will probably want to go high-upside here given the absolute just lack of players on their roster. Vaughn makes sense from that perspective, as he could end up becoming a pretty terrific scorer after some coaching, as he's among the youngest players in the draft."

DraftExpress
Delon Wright, PG, Utah

NBADraft.net
Jerian Grant, PG, Notre Dame