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ESPNDallas.com will estimate the market value for each of the Mavericks' eight free agents and examine their worth to the Mavs in a once-per-day series.

Darren Collison

Darren Collison has made it clear he considers himself a starting point guard. The Mavericks have made it clear they see him as an off-the-bench sparkplug.

That difference of opinion doesn’t necessarily ruin any chances of Collison returning to Dallas, particularly if the rest of the NBA agrees with the Mavs’ evaluation of him.

“We’ll see,” Collison said. “I’m not going to say no because I definitely experienced it and I’m capable of playing off the bench. At the same time, I just know who I am as a person and as a player. I know I’m capable of playing for any team as a starter.”

If Collison gets paid starter money, it won’t be from the Mavs, whose top offseason priority is upgrading at point guard.

Nevertheless, coach Rick Carlisle called Collison “definitely a guy going forward who is one of the pieces of the puzzle here, potentially.” The Mavs appreciated Collison’s positive attitude while he dealt with being demoted behind geezer point guards Derek Fisher and Mike James. They’re also enamored with the speed and quickness that can make Collison a threat, especially against second units.

There could be a place for Collison in Dallas. It’d be coming off the bench, preferably behind a starting point guard who has proven capable of closing games.

Ranking among the league’s best backup point guards isn’t Collison’s goal. It’s just his reality as he enters free agency after finishing up his rookie contract.

2012-13 stats: Averaged 12.0 points, 5.1 assists, 2.7 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 2.1 turnovers while shooting 47.1 percent from the floor and 35.3 percent from 3-point range in 29.3 minutes per game.

Age: 25

Comps:

J.J. Barea – Averaged 11.3 points, 4.0 assists, 2.8 rebounds, 0.4 steals and 2.0 turnovers while shooting 41.7 percent from the floor and 34.6 percent from 3-point range in 23.1 minutes per game. Signed a four-year, $18 million deal in 2011.

Luke Ridnour – Averaged 11.5 points, 3.8 assists, 2.5 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 1.6 turnovers while shooting 45.3 percent from the floor and 31.1 percent from 3-point range in 30.2 minutes per game. Signed a four-year, $16 million deal in 2010.

Nate Robinson – Averaged 13.1 points, 4.4 assists, 2.2 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 1.8 turnovers while shooting 43.3 percent from the floor and 40.5 percent from 3-point range in 25.4 minutes per game. Played this season on a one-year, $1.15 million deal (veteran minimum).

PODCAST
Rick Carlisle joins Chuck Cooperstein and Tim MacMahon to discuss the Mavericks' disappointing season and what needs to happen for them to get back to the playoffs. Listen

Jerryd Bayless – Averaged 8.7 points, 3.3 assists, 2.2 rebounds, 0.7 steals and 1.5 turnovers while shooting 41.9 percent from the floor and 35.3 percent from 3-point range in 22.1 minutes per game. Signed two-year, $6.14 million deal (taxpayer exception) last offseason.

Isaiah Thomas – Averaged 13.9 points, 4.0 assists, 2.0 rebounds, 0.8 steals and 1.8 turnovers while shooting 44.0 percent from the floor and 35.8 percent from 3-point range in 26.9 minutes per game. Entering final year of rookie contract that pays him the league minimum salary ($884,293 next season).

Estimated contract: Collison should be one of the NBA’s best-paid backup point guards. Figure he gets a four-year deal in the $15 million range.

The Mavericks aren’t in the playoffs for the first time since 2000, so we have to find something to fill the time this spring. Might as well keep up with the players from the Mavs’ title team who are scattered throughout the postseason. We’ll have daily updates as long as Mavs championship alums are still alive in the playoffs.

Caron Butler: Butler was a role player during the Clippers’ thrilling win over the Grizzlies. He scored nine points on 4-of-6 shooting and grabbed one rebound in 21 minutes. He watched from the bench as Chris Paul carried the Clippers during crunch time.

ESPNDallas.com will estimate the market value for each of the Mavericks' eight free agents and examine their worth to the Mavs in a once-per-day series.

Elton Brand

Elton Brand feels like he has a lot of unfinished business after his only season in Dallas.

“I’d like to be back,” Brand said. “Like I said, .500 for this organization is definitely a failure. I don’t want to be a part of that and leave a bad taste. I definitely want to be here on a winning team and try to rectify what happened this season, if possible.”

Brand held up his end of the bargain as a $2.1 million amnesty waiver claim. His numbers were career lows, but Brand was a consummate professional who accepted a part-time role, provided a physical presence and an excellent influence in the locker room.

It’d certainly be understandable if Brand decided to chase a championship ring with a contender that could use a quality backup big, but he says his preference is to return to the Mavs.

The Dallas decision-makers have tremendous respect for Brand, but the Mavs’ level of interest in him could depend on several other factors. For instance, if they re-sign Brandan Wright and acquire a starting center, the Mavs might be better off utilizing their remaining cap space/exceptions to address other areas.

2012-13 stats: Averaged 7.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.0 assists while shooting 47.3 percent from the floor in 21.2 minutes per game.

Age: 34

Comps:

Kendrick Perkins – Averaged 4.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.1 blocks and 1.4 assists while shooting 45.7 percent from the floor in 25.1 minutes per game. Signed five-year, $40.25 million deal in 2011.

Jason Maxiell – Averaged 6.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 0.8 assists while shooting 44.6 percent from the floor in 24.8 minutes per game. Four-year, $20 million deal expires this offseason.

Samuel Dalembert – Averaged 6.7 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.1 blocks and 0.4 assists while shooting 54.2 percent from the floor in 16.3 minutes per game. Two-year, $13.7 million deal expires this offseason.

PODCAST
Rick Carlisle joins Chuck Cooperstein and Tim MacMahon to discuss the Mavericks' disappointing season and what needs to happen for them to get back to the playoffs. Listen

Jermaine O'Neal – Averaged 8.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 0.8 assists while shooting 48.2 percent from the floor in 18.7 minutes per game. Signed one-year deal for veteran’s minimum of $1.35 million in 2012.

Zaza Pachulia – Averaged 5.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 0.2 blocks and 1.5 assists while shooting 47.3 percent from the floor in 21.8 minutes per game. Four-year, $19 million deal expires this offseason.

Estimated contract: Brand has made more than $145 million during his career, so it’s not as if he needs to go to the highest bidder. For a contender, he could be a fit for the taxpayer midlevel exception ($3.18 million salary next season). Maybe the Mavs could convince him to accept the bi-annual exception ($2.016 million).

The Mavericks aren’t in the playoffs for the first time since 2000, so we have to find something to fill the time this spring. Might as well keep up with the players from the Mavs’ title team who are scattered throughout the postseason. We’ll have daily updates as long as Mavs championship alums are still alive in the playoffs.

DeShawn Stevenson: Stevenson had six points, four rebounds and an assist in 25 minutes off the bench in the Hawks’ loss to the Pacers. He busted out the 3 monocle twice, knocking down both of his shot attempts. His most memorable plays, however, were a couple of hard fouls.

Ian Mahinmi: DNP-CD.

ESPNDallas.com will estimate the market value for each of the Mavericks' eight free agents and examine their worth to the Mavs in a once-per-day series.

Rodrigue Beaubois

Remember after Rodrigue Beaubois' rookie year, when there was such strong hope that he could be part of the Mavericks’ foundation for years to come?

That, unfortunately, was the peak of the slight combo guard’s career.

Beaubois had more than his share of bad breaks. He fractured his foot while practicing with the French national team the summer after his rookie year, an injury that required two surgeries to fix and essentially wiped out his second season. His Mavs tenure most likely ended when he broke his hand in mid-March.

There were flashes of brilliance the last few seasons, but Beaubois mostly floated around the fringe of the Mavs’ rotation when he was healthy enough to play. He struggled to handle the mental responsibilities of playing primarily point guard and never was nearly as efficient scoring as he was as a rookie, when he played mostly shooting guard alongside Jason Kidd.

Beaubois never developed the type of toughness required to earn coach Rick Carlisle’s trust. His lack of development was a major disappointment in Dallas, where draft picks have rarely become contributors over the last decade.

Maybe Beaubois can benefit from a change of scenery. It’s probably in everybody’s best interest if he moves on from the Mavs.

2012-13 stats: Averaged 4.0 points, 1.9 assists, 1.3 rebounds in 12.2 minutes per game. Shot 36.9 percent from the floor and 29.2 from 3-point range in 45 games.

Age: 25

Comps:

John Lucas – Averaged 5.3 points, 1.7 assists and 1.0 rebounds in 13.1 minutes per game for Raptors, shooting 38.6 percetn from the floor and 37.7 percent from 3-point range. Made $1.5 million last season with a team option to pay him $1.57 million next season.

Patty Mills – Averaged 5.1 points, 1.1 assists and 0.9 rebounds in 11.3 minutes per game for the Spurs, shooting 46.9 percent from the floor and 40 percent from 3-point range. Paid $1.09 million this season with a team option for $1.13 million next season.

Darius Morris – Averaged 4.0 points, 1.6 assists and 1.2 rebounds in 14.2 minutes per game for the Lakers, shooting 38.8 percent from the floor and 36.4 percent from 3-point range. Made $962,195 in second season of rookie contract.

Nando de Colo – Averaged 3.8 points, 1.9 assists and 1.9 rebounds as a 25-year-old rookie for the Spurs, playing 12.6 minutes per game and shooting 43.6 percent from the floor and 37.8 percent from 3-point range. Has two-year, $2.86 million deal.

Jamaal Tinsley – Averaged 3.5 points, 4.4 assists and 1.7 rebounds in 18.5 minutes per game for Jazz, shooting 36.8 percent from the floor. Played on one-year deal for $1.35 million (10-plus-year veteran’s minimum).

Estimated contract: A short-term deal for the veteran’s minimum, which will be $1.03 million for a fifth-year player.

The Mavericks aren’t in the playoffs for the first time since 2000, so we have to find something to fill the time this spring. Might as well keep up with the players from the Mavs’ title team who are scattered throughout the postseason. We’ll have daily updates as long as Mavs championship alums are still alive in the playoffs.

Jason Kidd: This was classic late-career Kidd. He didn’t post a spectacular line (eight points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals in 35 minutes), but he was a significant force during closing time in the Knicks’ win over Boston.

All three of his steals came in the final five minutes. On the first steal, the 40-year-old Kidd deflected a pass and outhustled 26-year-old Jeff Green by diving for a loose ball to spark a fast break. With 2:20 remaining and New York up five, Kidd diagnosed a play that’s a Celtics staple and helped from the weak side to strip Green under the basket. Kidd’s strip of Kevin Garnett on a mismatched post-up in the final minute essentially sealed the win.

“He beats everyone with his brain,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said at his postgame press conference. “If you think quicker than a guy can move, you’re still quicker. That’s why he’s there first, because he thought what the guy was going to do before he did it. He’s just a valuable player to have on a basketball team.”

Tyson Chandler: The fiery big man was a nonfactor in Game 1 against the Celtics after missing 16 of the Knicks’ final 20 regular-season games due to a neck injury. He had five rebounds and one steal in 20 scoreless minutes, and the Knicks opted to play Kenyon Martin at center instead of Chandler in crunch time.

"I knew I would be rusty. I knew I would be a little winded. I knew at some point my legs would get the best of me," Chandler said, according to ESPNNewYork.com. "I just wanted to be out there with my team."

Chandler said his neck didn’t bother him. He acknowledged that conditioning was a factor.

“I should obviously be much better in Game 2,” he said.

Jason Terry: For the first time in his career, Terry failed to score a point in a playoff game.

JET was 0-of-5 from the floor in 20 minutes. His only contributions to the Celtics were three rebounds and one steal. Meanwhile, Boston’s bench was outscored by a 33-4 margin.

"You don't get too high or down too low," Terry said, according to ESPNBoston.com. "It's a long series. If I bet on myself, I know how this is going to end up. I'm going to keep grinding, do the things necessary to win."

Corey Brewer: Brewer scored 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting in 21 minutes during Denver’s Game 1 win over the Warriors. He didn’t have any rebounds, assists, steals or blocks.

Caron Butler: Butler, who was sidelined by a serious knee injury during the Mavs’ title run, had a terrific Game 1 to help the Clippers blow out the Grizzlies. Butler scored 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting, grabbed seven rebounds and had a block and a steal in 24 minutes.

The Mavericks will explore all potential avenues of improving the talent on their roster, but upgrading at point guard is the top priority.

While Darren Collison confidently declared Thursday that he believes he could start for any team in the league, the Dallas decision-makers clearly don’t share that opinion. After all, they opted to start Derek Fisher and Mike James over Collison in a season that president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson described as a “point guard odyssey.”

PODCAST
Donnie Nelson joins Chuck Cooperstein and Tim MacMahon to discuss the Mavericks' season and the importance of this summer. Listen

The Mavs might welcome Collison back as a backup, depending on the price. They’ll search this summer for a long-term starting solution at a spot that coach Rick Carlisle calls “the most important position in the league.”

“We’ve been spoiled with Jason Kidd and Stevie Nash before,” Nelson said during a Thursday appearance on ESPN Dallas 103.3’s Galloway and Company. “I think the quarterback position is just a really, really important one. I’d say that that’s up there.

“That’s no disrespect for anyone. Darren Collison did a terrific job with a tough situation, and we’d certainly be open to the conversation of him coming back, but (upgrading point guard) has got to be in my mind first and foremost.”

The pie-in-the-sky scenario: Sign Chris Paul. Of course, the odds of him ditching a talented, young Clippers team to come to Dallas to play with a mid-30s core are awfully slim. As Mark Cuban recently said, he’ll be rooting for teams with free agents the Mavs might target to lose early in the playoffs. Would Paul consider leaving the Clippers if they flame out in the first round?

PODCAST
Rick Carlisle joins Chuck Cooperstein and Tim MacMahon to discuss the Mavericks' disappointing season and what needs to happen for them to get back to the playoffs. Listen

Paul will be the perfect fit, but the Mavs must be prepared to find their point guard of the future somewhere else. They might be able to draft next season’s backup with the 13th overall pick, assuming they don’t get amazing lottery luck, but a team determined to drastically improve its basketball IQ isn’t going to hand the reins to a rookie to run the show for 30-plus minutes a night.

It’s time for the Mavs to find a proven veteran point guard to fill Kidd’s shoes.

“I don’t know exactly what style, but the guy’s going to have to be able to score,” Carlisle said on Galloway and Company. “The guy’s going to have to be able to come off screens and hit shots, because when you’re come off screens from Dirk, you’re going to be open because of the way guys play him.”

A quick look at some of the other potential long-term upgrades available in free agency:

Jose Calderon: The Mavs have been involved in trade discussions about Calderon, as recently as midseason, when he got dealt from Toronto to Detroit in the three-way Rudy Gay deal. Calderon, who turns 32 in September, is a pass-first point guard who is a very efficient offensive player. He has career averages of 7.2 assists and 1.7 turnovers per game and is an excellent shooter (.483 FG, .399 3s, .877 FT). His flaws: He doesn’t penetrate well and is a poor defender, especially against speedy point guards.

Monta Ellis: The 27-year-old is not really a point guard. He’s a scorer (career 19.4 ppg) who sometimes plays point guard. He’s dangerous off the dribble and trouble in transition, but Ellis jacks up a lot of long jumpers and doesn’t make very many. He attempted 328 3s this season despite hitting only 28.7 percent, the lowest of any player with at least 200 tries. The idea of Ellis running pick-and-pops with Dirk Nowitzki is intriguing, but can a guard who has never averaged more than six assists per game in a season be counted on to consistently deliver Dirk the ball in prime scoring situations? And Ellis doesn’t exactly have a great defensive rep, either, despite his high steals totals.

Jarrett Jack: Jack, who turns 30 in October, is coming off his best season, averaging 12.9 points and 5.6 assists as the sixth man for a playoff team with Golden State. He’s an excellent midrange shooter and very effective hitting floaters off the dribble. He has a low turnover rate, the kind of strength and toughness Carlisle wants in a point guard and hit a lot of clutch shots for the Warriors this season. But Jack is really a combo guard who has never averaged more than 6.3 assists per season and struggles defensively against quick point guards. Like Kidd, he’s actually better defending shooting guards.

Brandon Jennings: Can the former lottery pick flourish under Carlisle’s coaching? Would it be worth offering enough to the restricted free agent for Milwaukee not to match? The 23-year-old Jennings, who has butted heads with his Bucks coaches, is on the record saying he’d love to play with Dirk and for Cuban and Carlisle in Dallas. His shooting percentage might soar in that situation, but the fact that it’s 39.4 percent for his career is a red flag. So is his slender frame (6-foot-1, 169 pounds). Oh, and so is the fact the Bucks have occasionally benched him during crunch time down the stretch this season. But Jennings (17.5 ppg, 6.5 apg this season) has shown enough flashes of brilliance to at least make him intriguing.

Jeff Teague: He’s a restricted free agent on a playoff team that has a ton of cap space, so the Mavs would have to overpay to get Teague. The four-year veteran is a quality young point guard, averaging 14.6 points and 7.2 assists this season, but it’s difficult to envision the Mavs throwing a ton of money at him.

Mo Williams: The 30-year-old Williams is best suited as a scoring sixth man, not a starting point guard. He’s a good spot-up 3-point shooter and knocks down a lot of midrange jumpers off pick-and-rolls, but he’s never been more than an average driver or distributor. Plus, Williams has major durability issues, having missed at least a dozen games in seven of the last eight seasons, including 36 with the Jazz last season, when he averaged 12.9 points and 6.2 assists.

There are, of course, other ways for the Mavs to acquire point guards. Hey, maybe Cuban can come up with some kind of multi-team deal that lands Rajon Rondo in Dallas.

DALLAS – Dirk Nowitzki has made it clear that he can’t stomach the thought of finishing his career fighting just to make the playoffs.

That doesn’t mean he’s pondering ever putting on another NBA franchise’s uniform. He’s simply pointing out the importance of the front office making major roster upgrades this summer to give the Mavericks a chance to compete for championships again.

PODCAST
Rick Carlisle joins Chuck Cooperstein and Tim MacMahon to discuss the Mavericks' disappointing season and what needs to happen for them to get back to the playoffs. Listen

“Honestly, I can’t really see myself going anywhere else but here,” Nowitzki said at the beginning of his first playoff-free offseason since 2000. “Really, the pressure is on Mark (Cuban) and Donnie (Nelson) to get this franchise back to where it belongs, and they know that. Then we’re all good, everything’s fine.

“I mean, I belong to this city. That’s just the bottom line. I could never see myself playing for another franchise, putting another jersey on. That would be probably the hardest thing I’d have to do in my life. I want to stay here, but I also want to play at a high level with a good team that we can be proud of and represent this city and this franchise.”

Nowitzki, who intends to sign a two- or three-year deal when his current contract expires after next season, is willing to do anything he can to help the Mavs recruit free agents this summer.

Unlike most summers, he’ll be in Dallas instead of his native Germany the majority of the time. That’s largely because his wife, Jessica, is expecting the couple’s first child. However, Nowitzki said he planned to be in Dallas at the beginning of July for professional reasons anyway.

“It’s a big summer,” Nowitzki said. “I would have probably been here in July regardless to knock on Cuban’s bunker suite every other day and see what he’s got cooking.”

The ever optimistic Cuban recently noted that Nowitzki’s wife is much more attractive than him, so the future Hall of Famer must have some persuasive skills. Those will be tested in early July, with Nowitzki still holding out hope that he can help talk Chris Paul and/or Dwight Howard into leaving Los Angeles for Dallas – or at least help recruit more realistic talent upgrades.

“I can try, but I’m really not the most positive person,” Nowitzki said. “I guess that’s a German thing.”

Nowitzki can confidently talk in glowing terms about his experiences living in Dallas and playing for Cuban, Nelson and coach Rick Carlisle. Those three men would be a major part of Nowitzki’s basketball sales pitch.

“We have a great owner and a great GM in place. We have a great coach in place that coached us to win the championship,” Nowitzki said. “We’ve got a couple of veterans (Shawn Marion and Vince Carter) still under contract. We’ve got some veteran leadership already, and then we’ve got a lot of roster space.

“We’ve got some cap space and we can get some players in here that can help. I think all those three experienced guys, they’ve still got something left in the tank. Come on in, we’ll see how far we can ride it out.”

Nowitzki plans to ride it out in Dallas until he retires, which is at least three years away.

DALLAS – Let’s take a quick look at the Mavericks’ financial forecast this summer, with an assist from renowned salary cap expert Larry Coon.

The Mavs have the following eight seven players under contract next season:

Dirk Nowitzki ($22,721,381)

Shawn Marion ($9,316,796)

O.J. Mayo ($4,200,900)

UPDATE: Mayo decided not to exercise his player option for next season.

Vince Carter ($3,180,000)

Jared Cunningham ($1,208,400)

Jae Crowder ($788,872)

Bernard James ($788,872)

Josh Akognon ($788,872)

Marion has an early termination option, which was news to him and is extremely unlikely to be exercised. Mayo has a player option and said he intends to meet with his agent, Rob Pelinka, and Mavs owner Mark Cuban in the near future to begin his decision-making process. The salaries for James and Akognon are non-guaranteed.

PODCAST
Donnie Nelson joins Chuck Cooperstein and Tim MacMahon to discuss the Mavericks' season and the importance of this summer. Listen

Those eight salaries add up to $42,994,093. Coon is projecting next season’s salary cap to be in the range of $58.5 million to $60 million. Assuming lottery luck doesn’t shine on the Mavs and they end up with the 13th overall pick, they’d have a cap hold of $1,655,300, as well as a charge of $490,180 for each vacant spot up to 12 on the roster.

If Mayo had exercised his option to return, according to Coon’s calculations, the Mavs would have had between $13.0 million and $14.5 million if they deemed James and Akognon expendable and renounced the rights to all of their free agents. Those two rookies with non-guaranteed salaries essentially cost the Mavs $298,692 apiece against the cap (the difference between their salaries and the roster charges for a vacant spot).

With Mayo opting out, the Mavs will have between $17.2 million and $18.7 million in cap space, minus James and Akognon. The Mavs could add to that number by making salary-dump deals or using the stretch provision on contracts signed under the new collective bargaining agreement.

The Mavs would also have various exceptions available, as Coon details on his website, the go-to place for caponomics questions.

“We’re going to be opportunistic and try to improve the team,” Cuban said. “I don’t see us just signing just one-year deals anymore. I think we want to grab onto some people to be part of a longer-term solution and see what happens.

“We’re not going to make a financial commitment just to say we made a financial commitment and say that we did. If there’s nobody there to sign that helps us, we won’t sign anybody and we’ll tell everybody exactly why we did what we did and deal with the consequences.

“But we think there will at least be some guys that we think can help us. We’ll see who they are and we’ll see what we can do.”

DALLAS -- The Dallas Mavericks do not celebrate mediocrity.

OK, maybe they enjoyed shaving a few days ago.

But a franchise that popped champagne in Miami’s Club Liv a couple summers ago in celebration of an NBA championship doesn’t get giddy about going .500.

Granted, a 41-41 record is a fairly impressive accomplishment given that the Mavs were 10 games below in mid-January. They can be proud about putting up enough of a fight to be on the fringe of the playoff picture until the final week of the regular season. And at least they didn’t have their first losing season since 1999-2000, finishing even after a 99-87 win over the New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans in Wednesday’s finale.

“Those are all good things, but I’m not gonna try to blow sunshine up your butt and try to tell you that we’re happy to be .500,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said, putting things in perspective in typically colorful fashion. “That’s just not how things go here.”

Who knows how things are going to go this summer in Dallas?

This much is clear: Major changes are coming for the Mavs. Owner Mark Cuban and president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson can’t miss again this summer.

PODCAST
Rick Carlisle joins Chuck Cooperstein and Tim MacMahon to discuss the Mavericks' disappointing season and what needs to happen for them to get back to the playoffs. Listen

“We’re going to do everything possible to get back to where we need to be,” Cuban said before Wednesday’s win.

Eight or nine players from the Mavs’ final roster will be free agents, depending on whether O.J. Mayo exercises his option to return for a $4.2 million salary or tests the market for the second straight summer. Almost to a man, they say they’d like to be back in Dallas, but that’s not the way the business works.

The Mavs, depending on Mayo’s decision and the salary cap figure the NBA sets, will have somewhere between $13 million and $18.7 million in spending money this summer -- unless they create more space with salary-dump deals. They need significant upgrades to have a serious chance of competing at the level they had become accustomed to over the previous dozen seasons.

“I’ve been saying it all season long: It’s a big summer for us,” said Dirk Nowitzki, who is the only player guaranteed to return to Dallas next season. “We’ll see what Mark and Donnie can come up with. They’re always geniuses at making stuff happen. We need a big summer, obviously, to compete again for the championship and not for the eighth seed.”

It’s especially not the way the business works for a franchise embarrassed by being average and determined to get on the fast track back to contender status.

Carlisle, Cuban and Nelson are embracing the challenge of attempting to buck the odds with a quick rebuild. Nowitzki has committed to do whatever he can to aid the recruiting process.

Average is acceptable in some NBA cities. It’s a disaster in Dallas.

“You just get fired up to go to work and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Cuban said. “You can’t dwell, you can’t get mad. I’ve already broken up with this season, probably a game too early. I’ve already started the seven steps of recovery. I’ve been mad, and I’ll move forward."

“After tonight, it’s time to start looking forward to dating a new season," he said. "It’s been tough. It was definitely the date from hell.”

This is as far as the Mavs have been from guzzling bubbly in a long time. There’s no buzz, just a sick feeling in their stomachs.

The fact that the New Orleans Hornets are horrible helped the Dallas Mavericks’ cause.

The Mavs actually had a little motivation, too, wanting to at least finish .500.

Point guard Darren Collison, perhaps playing his final game for the Mavs, lit up his former team for a game-high 25 points, his second-highest point total of the season. Collison was 10-of-15 from the floor in 29 minutes off the bench.

Dirk Nowitzki added 16 points and nine rebounds before sitting out the fourth quarter. Shawn Marion had 15 points and seven rebounds and exited to a nice ovation with a few minutes remaining.

Eric Gordon led New Orleans with 17 points, but he was 4-of-17 from the floor and committed four turnovers. The Hornets shot just 36.9 percent.

What it means: The Mavs avoided having a losing season for the first time since 1999-2000. They finished 41-41. The Hornets, who will now be known as the Pelicans, went 27-55.

Play of the game: Nowitzki knocked down one of his trademark one-legged fadeaways at the third-quarter buzzer to stretch the Mavs’ lead to double digits for the first time in the game. It was a vintage Nowitzki move, creating the shot off the dribble and launching the 16-footer over the outstretched arm of New Orleans 7-footer Robin Lopez.

Stat of the night: Hornets small forward Al-Farouq Aminu had a 14-8 rebounding advantage over the Mavericks in the first quarter. Aminu, who averages 7.5 rebounds per game, set a franchise record for rebounds in a quarter. He finished the game with a career-high 20 rebounds.

DALLAS -- O.J. Mayo's role for the final game didn't change. Neither has Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle's belief in the 25-year-old shooting guard despite the coach's emotional postgame criticism of Mayo after Monday's loss to Memphis.

Mayo started the season finale against the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday, just like he had the Mavs' other 81 games this season.

"He'll come out of this a much better and more experienced player," Carlisle told ESPN Dallas 103.3's Chuck Cooperstein in a pregame interview. "My feelings about him haven't changed."

Carlisle's on-the-record opinion about Mayo is that he can be a starter on a contender.

That was the Mavs' hope when they signed Mayo last summer to a contract that includes a $4.2 million player option for next season. Mayo has averaged 15.4 point and 4.4 assists while leading the Mavs in minutes during his up-and-down season.

Mayo also led the Mavs in tough love received by Carlisle, whose ability to develop players was one of the primary reasons Mayo signed with the Mavs.

The amount of time Carlisle invested in Mayo was one of the primary reasons the coach was so bluntly honest about his disappointment Monday night. Carlisle called the criticism -- which featured him saying Mayo "failed to compete" against his former team -- "a little out of character for me."

"I've spent so much time with him, I really feel like a Little League parent," Carlisle said. "So when there's an opportunity for him to step up, I really want to see him do well."

Mayo said earlier in the day he was not aware of Carlisle’s criticism of him following Monday’s game.

"Well, I don’t blame him," Mayo said after Wednesday’s shootaround when apprised of Carlisle’s comments.

The Dallas Mavericks will have to find ways to improve after missing out on the playoffs for the first time since 2000. They'll look at free agents. They'll add someone in the draft.

But who, besides Dirk Nowitzki, is the most important player for the Mavs to keep?

Is it Brandan Wright, who continued to get better as the season went along? Maybe it's Vince Carter, who arguably was the Mavs' MVP this season. Perhaps it's someone else.

Vote here for who you want to keep and let us know why.

Shooting guard O.J. Mayo, the subject of coach Rick Carlisle’s public wrath after Monday’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, wants to return to Dallas next season.

“Yeah, I’d like to be back here,” Mayo told reporters after Wednesday’s final shootaround of the season.

Mayo, however, said he has yet to consider whether he will exercise the player option for the second season in the contract he signed with the Mavericks last season. Mayo can opt to make a $4.2 million salary from the Mavs next season, or he can decide to test the free agency market for the second consecutive summer, perhaps signing a long-term deal with Dallas.

“I haven’t really sat down and talked to Cuban about it or my agent,” said Mayo, who has averaged 15.4 points and 4.4 assists while playing a team-high 35.6 minutes per game this season. “I think I’ll probably take a week or so off after this season and get together and meet.”

Midway through the season, it appeared that it’d be an easy decision for Mayo to test the market again. He averaged 17.9 points per game while shooting career-best percentages before the All-Star break.

But Mayo’s production has dipped drastically in the second half of the season. He’s averaging only 9.0 points per game on 38.9 percent shooting in eight April games.

Carlisle, who has made Mayo somewhat of a pet project since last summer, sounded like a disappointed parent when he called out Mayo for failing to compete in Monday’s loss. Carlisle called a timeout midway through the fourth quarter specifically to bench Mayo, who had two points and four turnovers in the loss.

Mayo claimed Wednesday that he hadn’t heard about Carlisle’s postgame criticism, which dominated the media discussion about the Mavs over the last 36 hours.

"Well, I don’t blame him," Mayo said when informed of Carlisle’s comments.

Carlisle kept his comments about Mayo brief after the final shootaround of the season: "He's ready to go. He's ready to go."

The Dallas Mavericks aren't going to the playoffs. They won't finish with a winning record. So what do they need to do to get the franchise headed back in the right direction?

Dirk Nowitzki has shown he still has what it takes to one of the best players in the league on any given night, but he could use some help. As ESPN Dallas' Jean Jacques-Taylor writes:

To make the most of Dirk's golden years, the Mavs must get him some legitimate help instead of relying on this silly notion that he can be an elite player for another two or three seasons. They must make Dirk the second-best player on this team, which was the plan going into last season.

You can read the rest of his take on Dirk here.

So what would you do if you were the Mavs' shoes? Realistically, who would you like to see them bring in?