Dirk Nowitzki puts trust in Dallas Mavericks front office – NBA Update
Reigning NBA Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki is confident that the Dallas Mavericks front office will make the best decision regarding the club’s many free agents.
The Mavericks won the NBA World Championship for the first time in their history last season but their prospects of a successful defence have been marred by the fact that six of their players are free agents and the Mavs are not
making that much of an effort to retain them.
Dallas have always spent lavishly, thanks to backing from billionaire owner Mark Cuban, but with a new, stricter Collective Bargaining Agreement and an attractive free agent class for 2012 beckoning, that doesn’t seem to be the
case this season.
"I guess I didn't take less enough," Nowitzki said with a chuckle, while talking to reporters. "I still got a decent deal out of it so maybe it wasn't enough cutback."
Dirk got around $16 million less than the maximum allowed when signing a new deal with the Mavericks last summer. His sacrifice allowed for Dallas to go out and spend on a number of other options that helped the franchise win a
championship.
Now, they apparently want to save some salary cap room for the next free agency, when potentially the likes of super stars Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and Deron Williams could be up for grabs. This means that key players like small
forward Caron Butler, backup point guard Jose Barea and centre Tyson Chandler could all be cut loose.
Nowitzki has said earlier that he wanted the group to be kept together by Dallas, but he acknowledges now that the situation is much more complicated than at first realized. Therefore, he is trusting the judgement of owner Cuban
and President of Basketball Operations, Donnie Nelson.
"We'll just have to wait and see what decision they make," Nowitzki said. "I really don't know what the right one is. Do we sign Tyson for whatever, four years and then don't know what's next for the next couple years, or do you
not sign him and keep some cap space for the first time I remember being Mav? I don't even remember having cap space once.”
The Mavericks have become notorious in the Cuban era for overspending. In fact, they have never had any cap space since he took over the club, meaning that time and again they missed out on some quality free agents.
Cuban now seems to be willing to change that, and the lure of a Dwight Howard or a Chris Paul has a lot to do with his newfound conservative attitude. However, securing some cap space for next year while putting out a competitive
team this time around will be a hard balancing act for Cuban and his front office.
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