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DALLAS – Rick Carlisle probably can’t make it through dinner with his wife and daughter without discussing the Dallas Mavericks’ need to improve defensively this season.

Without prompting, Carlisle brought up defense seconds into his press conference at media day. It was the sole focus of the Mavs’ opening practice of training camp. He readily admits that it’s an obsession for him.

“I just look at the roster and I just know that has to be our emphasis,” Carlisle said. “We’re going to work hard on our offense, but our major emphasis has got to be the defensive end.”

There’s no point in dancing around the issue. The Mavs, who tied for 18th in the NBA in defensive efficiency last season (107.1 points allowed per 100 possessions), must allow significantly fewer points to have a prayer of being a playoff factor.

The challenge for Carlisle’s Mavs: Accomplish that mission with a starting lineup that is flawed at that end of the floor.

Dirk Nowitzki has never been shy about acknowledging that his athletic limitations make individual defense difficult for him. That’s also the case for point guard Jose Calderon. Monta Ellis usually ranks among the league leaders in steals, but he’s been a high-risk, high-reward defender whose size (6-foot-3, 185 pounds) puts him at a significant disadvantage against most shooting guards.

“We’ve all got to pick up the slack for them,” said Shawn Marion, the one player on the roster who has earned a reputation for being a defensive stopper. “It’s a team effort. We’ve got to collectively help each other.”

That’s what made signing Samuel Dalembert, the last real interior defensive presence available in free agency, so important this summer. He understands that he’s being paid primarily to rebound and help mask the defensive flaws of other Mavs.

“That’s the piece the team needs,” said Dalembert, who has career averages of 8.1 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game as a part-time player. “I watched them last year. They have no problem scoring, but defensive-wise, they want to be back where they were three years ago. That’s our focus. That’s our goal.

“You’re not going to try to make a guy who has not been a defensive player a defensive player overnight, but what you can do is you can make them feel comfortable. Give me your best and if you get beat, I’ve got your back. That’s the key.”

The Mavs are counting on Dalembert to be the anchor of the defense, but it’s unrealistic to expect him to clean up messes on a consistent basis. That’s why “collectively” is a buzzword in Mavs camp.

"On paper, we don’t have a group of guys that look like individual defensive stoppers," Carlisle said. "I mean, Shawn Marion is still one of the best guys in the game. Vince [Carter] has good analytic numbers on defense. Dirk is better than you think he is on defense. But we don’t have any first- or second-team all-defensive guys on our team, so we have to do it collectively."

Carlisle repeatedly cites what he considers the Mavs’ most troubling defensive stat from last season: They allowed the second most made free throws in the NBA. It’s proof that they were a poor perimeter defensive team that couldn’t stop teams from attacking off the dribble without fouling.

That’s one facet of defense that Carlisle will hammer during camp and continue harping on all season. Another is 1-on-1 defense. Transition defense – and not giving up good looks on 3s early in the shot clock – is another.

It’s about understanding the concepts of the Mavs’ defensive scheme, which was good enough to win a title in 2011, and accepting the sacrifices necessary to make the whole more than the sum of the parts.

“It starts with an attitude and an understanding of how important it is,” Carlisle said. “I’ve got to make sure guys know how important it is. That’s the starting point.”

DALLAS -- For Monta Ellis, “efficient” might as well be a four-letter word.

He’s become a sort of analytics antihero the past couple seasons, a model of scoring inefficiency. Frankly, Ellis is sick and tired of hearing about it, which he made clear by shaking his head and chuckling when the subject was broached during the Dallas Mavericks’ media day Monday.

“I’m going to get criticized for what I do anyway,” Ellis said. “The only thing I can do is laugh it off because there’s a lot of guys that take a lot of bad shots in this league. A lot of bad shots. Don’t nobody want to talk about them, but everybody talks about shots that Monta take[s]. The only thing I’m going to do is take the punches and prove everybody wrong.”

PODCAST
Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle joins Fitzsimmons and Durrett at Mavericks media day to discuss his expectations for the upcoming season. Listen

There are a lot of guys in the NBA who take bad shots, but precious few put up more bricks than Ellis did in his final season with the Milwaukee Bucks, which explains why he settled for signing a three-year, $25 million deal with the Mavs that was far shy of his asking price when free agency opened.

Only former Bucks backcourt partner Brandon Jennings had a lower field goal percentage than Ellis (41.6) among players who averaged at least 15 points per game. Ellis’ 3-point percentage (28.7) was the lowest among qualifiers. And, according to ESPN Stats & Information, Ellis had the worst field goal percentage on off-the-dribble jumpers (32.3) among players who launched at least 250 of those shots.

If that continues this season, Ellis will be a terrible investment for the Mavs. But his contract could end up being a bargain if Ellis, whom Dirk Nowitzki excitedly describes as the most explosive teammate he’s ever had, is willing to do what it takes to drastically improve his scoring efficiency.

“What I’m saying is, I’m going to play Monta basketball,” said Ellis, who has a career average of 19.4 points per game on a respectable 45.6 percent shooting from the floor. “If y’all want to criticize, criticize.”

Asked to clarify what exactly “Monta basketball” is, Ellis exhibits that he gets it, as much as he disdains the discussion.

“Getting out, running, taking the shots that’s appropriate and attack the basket more,” Ellis said. “I think over the past few years I got to a point where I was settling for jump shots. At first, I attacked the basket, never was the high-end guy to shoot 3s. I think I put a lot more 3s into my game, so I’m going to get back to attacking the basket, getting out there and being a one-man fast break and bring pace to this team.”

Count on coach Rick Carlisle hammering that mentality into Ellis’ head.

Carlisle spent time this summer working with Ellis on his jumper and making adjustments regarding balance and mechanics, but the Mavs don’t want Ellis launching a bunch from long distance. They definitely don’t want Ellis to average four 3-point attempts per game, as he did last season, especially if many of them are contested and/or off the dribble.

Ellis has proven he’s capable of lighting it up without exhibiting the shot discretion of a lovesick sailor. In 2007-08, Ellis shot 53.1 percent from the floor while averaging 20.2 points per game for the Golden State Warriors, attempting less than one 3-pointer per game. Not coincidentally, the burden of the scoring load didn’t fall on Ellis’ shoulders that season, when Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson also averaged more than 20 points for the 48-win Warriors.

The Mavs want Ellis to do what he does best: attack the basket. They believe he’ll have ample opportunities to do so while playing with Nowitzki, the sweetest shooting 7-footer of all time, and Jose Calderon, a pass-first point guard who led the league in 3-point percentage last season.

“We’ve got to put him in the right situations and positions,” Carlisle said. “That’s going to give Monta opportunities to find space. When you get him moving toward the rim with space, he’s a great finisher. He can get to the free throw line, and he’s an underrated assist guy. I think all that works.”

If it works as well as the Mavs hope, the word “efficient” might not sound so offensive to Ellis.

The NBA is about competition on the floor, but it’s also about dollars and cents. Teams now must find players that can outperform deals they’re signed to and use them as assets on the floor or as assets to flip in order to acquire a game-changing piece. ESPNDallas.com will grade how the Dallas Mavericks fared in terms of contracts of their new acquisitions.

Monta Ellis: Signed to a three-year, $25.08 million contract. Ellis will be paid $8 million in 2013-14. The final year of his deal is a player option.

Ellis declined a player option that would have paid him $11 million to stay in Milwaukee next season. He also turned down a three-year, $36 million extension
offer from the Bucks. He settled for a significantly lower offer from the Mavs.

Dallas was looking for an opportunity, someone to slip through the cracks in free agency. Like last year in O.J. Mayo, they found someone who slipped in Ellis.

There is a radical sense of the unknown when it comes to how Ellis will mesh with Dirk Nowitzki and Rick Carlisle. That will easily be the most fascinating thing to watch over the course of the season. If he can work off Nowitzki in the two-man game, they could be a very deadly combination. If they don’t work out, it will be very disjointed but still has the chance to be relatively potent on offense just based off of talent.

As for his defense, offense could be the best form of defense. Being able to get back after a made basket and getting back into position would certainly help versus having to defend in transition.

Mayo is making relatively the same amount of money (three years, $24 million) in Milwaukee. With Ellis being two years older and having three more years of experience over Mayo, the Mavs are getting more bang for their buck.

Grade: A-

The Dallas Mavericks' mission for the last two years has been to make Dirk Nowitzki the second-best player on their roster. After missing out on the top free agents, the Mavs have again reloaded their roster with hopes that they found the next-best thing: a surefire sidekick.

"I'm actually coming to be Dirk's sidekick," new guard Monta Ellis said at the team's introductory press conference Thursday afternoon.

Ellis, 27, chuckled when asked if he is ready to step up and have Nowitzki as his sidekick.

The guard spent a season and a half in Milwaukee, and it seemed like he never could click with his new teammates as he did when he was with the Golden State Warriors. Ellis said he had to do "60 percent of everything" with his previous teams. Now with the Mavs, he's hoping he can just be a piece to the puzzle, alongside Nowitzki.

"It's a great opportunity," Ellis continued. "It's a new beginning. I'm looking forward to it."

Mavs coach Rick Carlisle echoed a statement he made to ESPNDallas.com's Tim MacMahon earlier this summer when he said that he's probably the fastest player that has ever put on a uniform in Mavs history. And he's looking forward to what Ellis can bring as a running mate with Nowitzki.

"He's a very good play-maker," Carlisle said of Ellis. "When you play with a guy like Dirk, there's going to be more space on the floor, which is going to help Monta. His speed is going to compliment Dirk well and he's going to compliment the rest of our team."

The Mavs will need just about every single one of the new players introduced on Thursday to be a contributor and take the pressure off Nowitzki, but the brunt of the responsibility will fall on Ellis' shoulders as the Mavs attempt to once again become a legitimate playoff contender.

Dallas needs Ellis to deliver with his ability to get to the rim and play off the pick-and-roll. They have seen what J.J. Barea can do to an opposing defense when he works in that setting. Unfortunately, they also saw what can happen when someone like Darren Collison tries to work off the same situations. The hope is that Ellis' ability to be an offensive catalyst will bring that added dynamic to the team's "flow" offense that they've missed for quite some time. Based on what he's heard through communication with his coach, Ellis likes the potential that can come within the offense.

"I think the system that coach has is a great one for me," Ellis said.

With the proper direction, the hope is that the system allows the dynamic guard to get back to his days in Golden State where he averaged well over 20 points per game, while looking to reign in his shot attempts as he took the fourth-highest amount of shots last season. Out of the top 10 volume shooters in the league, Ellis' shooting percentage (.416) was the worst.

Many analysts assume the cast of characters the Mavs have brought on board are mainly a group of guys who have been written off, thrown under the bus and left for basketball purgatory. Naysayers or not, the new shooting guard is looking ahead with optimism.

"It's a great organization and a great team that we have," Ellis added. "I'm very excited and I always dreamed of playing with an organization as good as Dallas, so to be here and play with a Hall of Famer like Dirk makes everything easier and much smoother. Hopefully we can get back to Dallas Mavericks basketball and competing the way we should."

Whether he's the main man or riding in the sidecar along with Nowitzki, Ellis will have to do what he can do best: Score.

Shooting guard Wayne Ellington’s deal with the Mavericks is officially done.

Ellington signed a two-year deal worth $5.3 million. The Mavs used the “room” exception to sign him.

The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Ellington has averaged 6.9 points and 2.0 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game during his four-year NBA career with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Memphis Grizzlies and Cleveland Cavaliers. After being traded from Memphis to Cleveland last season, he averaged 10.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 25.9 minutes while playing 38 games for the Cavs.

Ellington is expected to back up fellow free-agent addition Monta Ellis for the Mavs.

The Mavericks made center Bernard James' contract official.

James re-signed for the veteran's minimum. He was waived last week as the Mavs cleared as much cap space as possible to make room for the signings of center Samuel Dalembert and guard Monta Ellis.

The 6-foot-10, 240-pound James, who averaged 2.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 9.9 minutes per game as a rookie, will be the Mavs' third-string center again. He'll back up Dalembert and Brandan Wright.

Monta Ellis didn't get the money he wanted in free agency, but he can test the market again in two years if he desires.

Ellis' contract includes a player option for the third season, according to ShamSports.com, an invaluable resource for NBA contractual and salary-cap details.

The deal is worth a total of $25.08 million over three years. Ellis will be paid $8 million in 2013-14, $8.36 million in 2014-15 and has the option of being paid $8.72 million in 2015-16.

Ellis declined a player option that would have paid him $11 million to stay in Milwaukee next season. He also turned down a three-year, $36 million extension offer from the Bucks. He was hoping to land a four-year, $40 million deal in free agency but settled for a significantly lower offer from Dallas.

Center Samuel Dalembert's two-year deal, $7.57 million deal is partially guaranteed for the second season. Dalembert will make $3.7 million in 2013-14 and is guaranteed $1.8 million of his $3.87 million salary in 2014-15.

Monta Ellis at least addresses the Mavericks’ desperate need for speed.

PODCAST
Mark Cuban joins Galloway and Company to discuss the Mavericks' new GM Gersson Rosas and much more. Listen

“Possibly the fastest player ever to wear a Mavs uniform,” coach Rick Carlisle said via text message. “Scores, makes plays and is great in transition. We consider him a unique talent and look forward to integrating him into our team.”

Dirk Nowitzki has never played with a guard as good at getting to the rim as Ellis, who has a career average of 19.4 points per game. Ellis has never had a teammate who draws defenses the way Nowitzki does, which should create a lot of space for Ellis to do what he does best.

And the Mavs expect both of their top scoring threats to benefit greatly from playing with pass-first point guard Jose Calderon.

The key for Ellis, who made his three-year, $25 million deal official Tuesday, will be becoming much more efficient than he was the last season and a half with the Milwaukee Bucks. His shooting percentages plummeted to 41.6 from the floor and 28.7 from 3-point range last season, the latter the lowest among league qualifiers.

Ellis’ shot selection needs to improve, and the Mavs believe they can help put him in situations where he can get good looks on a consistent basis.

They also think they can help him improve his jumper, with Carlisle intending to spend a lot of time working with Ellis on an individual basis, much like he did last year with O.J. Mayo. Mayo shot a career-best 40.7 percent from 3-point range during his lone season in Dallas.

Ellis’ best 3-point shooting season came in 2010-11, when he hit 36.1 percent of his long-distance attempts. That’d be a bonus if he hit at that clip for the Mavs, who signed Ellis primarily for his ability to get to the bucket.

Second-year center Bernard James cleared waivers and is expected to re-sign with the Mavs, sources told ESPN.com's Marc Stein.

The Mavs didn't want to waive James, but they needed every possible dollar of salary-cap space as they prepare to finalize a three-year deal for more than $25 million with Monta Ellis. Waiving James, who had a nonguaranteed contract, created almost $300,000 of cap space.

The Mavs have an agreement in principle to re-sign the 6-foot-10, 240-pound James to a minimum-salary contract after making the Ellis deal official. James, who played in 46 games as a rookie, would back up Samuel Dalembert and Brandan Wright. The Mavs have early Bird rights for Wright, meaning they can exceed the cap to re-sign him, and his return is a virtual certainty.

The Mavericks waived guard Josh Akognon, sources told ESPN.com’s Marc Stein, with the Dallas summer league team’s leading scorer getting caught in the same salary-cap crunch as center Bernard James.

Waiving Akognon and James, who had nonguaranteed contracts, created almost $600,000 in cap space necessary to finalize the deal for shooting guard Monta Ellis.

The Mavs have interest in bringing the 5-foot-11 Akognon, who finished last season in Dallas on a 10-day deal, to training camp again if he clears waivers. Akognon is expected to explore other NBA options and will have lucrative offers to return to China, where he led the league in scoring the past two seasons.

PODCAST
Fitzsimmons and Durrett discuss Mark Cuban's comments from Las Vegas about the Mavericks' offseason, how he sees the team without Dwight Howard and more. Listen

The Mavericks didn't accomplish their ultimate mission of adding a superstar, but they did accomplish a significant goal this summer.

They got better. Maybe good enough to get back into the playoffs in a loaded Western Conference.

The Mavs, assuming all the deals they've agreed become official soon, made upgrades almost across the board after Dwight Howard decided to head to Houston. A position-by-position look:

POINT GUARD: The Mavs believe Jose Calderon will solve a lot of their problems from last season, particularly regarding late-game basketball IQ woes.

Darren Collison is a nice sparkplug backup, but he never earned coach Rick Carlisle's trust to run the offense, especially in clutch situations, as evidenced by the Mavs recruiting geezer point guards Derek Fisher and Mike James out of their rocking chairs during the season.

Calderon, who has career averages of 7.2 assists and 1.7 turnovers per game, can be counted on to get the ball where it needs to go. He's not a creator, but Calderon is a phenomenal spot-up shooter, leading the NBA in 3-point percentage (.461) last season. The Mavs gave Calderon a four-year, $29 million deal to make the offense run much smoother.

The 31-year-old Calderon comes with defensive deficiencies due to his limited athleticism, but the Mavs' point guards weren’t exactly Gary Payton in his prime on that end of the floor last season. That’s a problem the Mavs didn't fix, not one that was created this summer.

Devin Harris, who is likely to sign a one-year, minimum-salary deal after recovering from a dislocated toe that caused his three-year, $9 million offer to be pulled, would give the Mavs a proven, versatile veteran backup with some pedigree as a defensive stopper. Harris isn't the blur the Mavs used as bait to get Jason Kidd, but when healthy, he's a solid third guard who can play both backcourt positions.

Rookies Shane Larkin and Gal Mekel are a couple of intriguing prospects who will have to earn every minute of playing time this season unless they drive down the tollway to Frisco. They're different players -- Larkin is an explosive athlete who can create off the dribble and shoot from deep; Mekel is a savvy distributor -- but both have potential to be factors as pick-and-roll facilitators.

SHOOTING GUARD: Monta Ellis is better than O.J. Mayo.

How much better? That depends on how coachable an eight-year veteran with a career average of 19.4 points per game will be in Dallas.

Ellis' shot selection in Milwaukee the last season and a half was simply awful, making him an extremely inefficient scorer. If the Mavs can convince him to eliminate long pull-up jumpers from his diet, they'll have no regrets about the three-year, $25 million deal they offered him only after discovering Harris' dislocated toe.

The upside with Ellis: He’s the most dynamically athletic guard to ever be paired with Dirk Nowitzki. He's a tremendous penetrator who is a good finisher when he gets to the rim and willing passer when help defense comes. He's a one-man fast break waiting to happen. And he’s capable of taking over games for stretches with scoring flurries.

Ellis gets a lot of steals, but he’ll never be confused for an All-Defense candidate. Frankly, he's a concern at that end of the floor, not that he's a downgrade from Mayo.

Wayne Ellington, who will sign a two-year deal for $5.3 million, will give the Mavs a perimeter threat (.382 on 3s for his career) off the pine and isn't a poor defender.

Second-round pick Ricky Ledo, who didn’t play a minute of college basketball due to academic issues, is a raw project with starter potential who should be a featured attraction in Frisco this season.

SMALL FORWARD: The Mavs didn’t make any upgrades at small forward this summer, but it was a position of strength last season. The hope is that Father Time doesn’t tackle Shawn Marion or Vince Carter this season.

It helps that Carlisle can keep their minutes manageable, although it appears that Marion will have to continue to play a lot of power forward when Nowitzki rests.

It'd be nice if Jae Crowder can make a jump after a solid rookie season, especially by second-round standards. His 3-point shooting in summer league has been a disappointment, but Crowder is at least a tough, rugged body to bring off the bench.

POWER FORWARD: If Nowitzki's knees don't act up, this position might be the Mavs' most improved next season. He missed the first third of the season and took several weeks to work his way back into form last year.

The 35-year-old Nowitzki is no longer capable of carrying a contender -- hence the failed plan to acquire a superstar -- but it's not a stretch to think he can get back to the All-Star game after his 11-year streak was snapped. He averaged 18.9 points and 7.7 rebounds while shooting 50.5 percent from the floor after the break last season, the kind of production that can be expected of him at this point of his career.

CENTER: Until recently, if Samuel Dalembert was mentioned in the same sentence as Howard, it was something along the lines of, "Howard dominated Dalembert." But this isn't about a no-contest Howard-Dalembert comparison. It's about whether Dalembert is an upgrade over Chris Kaman.

There's no doubt that Dalembert is a better fit in Dallas than Kaman, as detailed here earlier this week.

The Mavs will also bring back Brandan Wright, barring an unforeseen development in his contract negotiations, and hope he can build off his outstanding finish of last season.

Elton Brand's physical presence and veteran savvy might be missed, but the Mavs should be better at center if Dalembert and Wright can stay healthy, whether or not injury-riddled former No. 1 overall pick Greg Oden is added to the roster.

This summer wasn't the spectacular success the Mavs hoped for, but it was good enough to give them a chance to get back into the playoffs.

This spin won't serve Mark Cuban well.

His claim that the Dallas Mavericks are "in a better spot" than they would have been if they had signed Dwight Howard isn't what fans want to hear. Especially not after they heard essentially the same thing last summer after the Mavs missed out on Deron Williams.

If that's the case, what was the point of stripping down the 2011 title team?

PODCAST
Fitzsimmons and Durrett discuss Mark Cuban's comments from Las Vegas about the Mavericks' offseason, how he sees the team without Dwight Howard and more. Listen

Hindsight proved otherwise, but I'll stick to my guns that Cuban's decision to create financial flexibility at the expense of keeping the aging 2011 championship roster intact was worth the risk due to the potential reward. The Mavs needed to make mid-30s Dirk Nowitzki their second-best player to have a realistic chance at another championship run, given all the gray hairs of Dirk's supporting cast.

What went wrong? The circumstances changed after Tyson Chandler & Co. turned down one-year offers to stay in Dallas and got paid good money to go elsewhere. And give the competition credit for making their situations more attractive.

The Mavs hoped Chris Paul would be looking to escape New Orleans last summer. Instead, he got traded to the Los Angeles Clippers soon after Cuban made his difficult, CBA-influenced decisions. The Mavs prayed Paul would consider them this summer, but the Clippers pried open Donald Sterling's wallet to replace Vinny Del Negro with Doc Rivers, prompting CP3 to inform potential suitors that they need not even bother with a recruiting pitch.

The Mavs hoped Howard would be looking to escape Orlando last summer. Instead, he pulled an all-time waffle and made a last-minute decision to not opt out of the last season of his contract with the Magic. He regretted that enough to force a trade, landing with the Los Angeles Lakers for a "nightmare" season. That would have played right into the Mavs' hands had the Houston Rockets not done such a phenomenal job accumulating and deploying assets over the last couple of years, leading Howard to head down I-45 to team up with James Harden.

The Mavs hoped Williams would be looking to escape the Nets last summer, although he was always Plan C. The Nets made the bold, expensive move of trading for Joe Johnson, convincing Williams that he had a better chance of competing in Brooklyn than Dallas. Cuban, who had reservations about Williams all along, helped the Nets' cause by not joining the Mavs' contingent for face-to-face meetings with the All-Star point guard.

The truth of the matter is that Paul, Howard and Williams all made the right basketball decision. They all picked teams that are in a better position to contend than Dallas would have been if one of those superstars had signed with the Mavs.

In a roundabout way, Cuban acknowledges that with his annual statement that the Mavs are better off for having failed to hook the big fish. Of course, that's also acknowledging a fatal flaw with the original big-picture plan.

It's a stretch of the truth, to say the least, to claim that the Mavs benefited from those big fish picking other ponds. This is a superstar-driven league, and Dallas desperately needs to find a way to add another to give Dirk a chance to compete for a second championship in his golden years.

The Mavs certainly weren't better off without Williams last season, when a gimpy Dirk and a bunch of one-and-done temporary teammates limped to a .500 finish, snapping a 12-year playoff streak. With Williams on board, the Mavs could have easily added Samuel Dalembert as a stopgap, rim-protecting center this summer by using their midlevel exception.

Would that make the Mavs a championship-caliber team? Doubtful. But having Williams here would make the Mavs more competitive now and more attractive to free agents next summer, when the Mavs would have still had ample cap space.

This has been a better summer for the Mavs, for sure. They added a pair of potential foundation pieces for the future in guards Jose Calderon and Monta Ellis, plus Dalembert.

But just imagine the reaction if Cuban called Rockets general manager Daryl Morey and offered Calderon, Ellis and Dalembert for Howard. Or made the same calls to L.A. or Brooklyn to try to pry away Paul or Williams.

It'd be hilarious laughter and a quick hang-up.

You can make the case that the Mavs have recovered well after missing out on all the big fish, but nobody in their rational mind would believe that the Mavs are better off in the short or long term for not having successfully recruited a superstar.

Not even Cuban, no matter what he says.

Mark Cuban took a few minutes out of watching Wednesday's Las Vegas Summer League action to give ESPNDallas.com a state-of-the-Mavs update.

The transcript of Cuban's comments:

On where talks are with Devin Harris:

Mark Cuban: “I think we’ve got something worked out. We just restructured the deal. When we have something to announce, we’ll announce it. ... I think we'll get him back, but I don't want to jinx us. We'll let him rehab with us and all that kind of stuff."

PODCAST
Fitzsimmons and Durrett discuss Mark Cuban's comments from Las Vegas about the Mavericks' offseason, how he sees the team without Dwight Howard and more. Listen

On Samuel Dalembert coming to Dallas:

“It’s not signed ... but it’s agreed upon. He’ll bring shot-blocking and rebounding to the team.”

On the situation with Bernard James and the extension of the deadline date to guarantee his contract:

"I can’t go into all of the details, but you get the gist of it."

On where things are in regard to acquiring Monta Ellis:

"It’s all agreed to. When you’re using cap room, you’ve got to stagger when you have everything signed to maximize your cap room."

On the Mavs' results in free agency:

"Obviously, we didn’t get Dwight. We took a chance and it didn’t happen. I think we put together a really good team. It sticks within the culture we’ve tried to define. We’ve dealt with some of the weakness we had from last year. Hopefully, if we stay healthy, good things will happen."

On where things are now with the two-year plan:

"I think we’ve put ourselves in a spot where we’re in a better spot than we were at if we got just the one max-out deal. I think it’d be better shorter term and longer-term. I don’t want to make that sound the wrong way. I think we’ll be better this year because we added five good players or more."

On adjusting on the fly this offseason:

"You guys like to make a big deal about it. Obviously, we were disappointed we didn’t get Dwight, but we pretty much got everything else we wanted to get and then some. Much more. We never thought we’d be able to get Monta. It turned into a good summer. Now, the key is to get everybody playing together, get everyone healthy, keep them healthy and go."

On what Jose Calderon will bring to the team:

"We just have a great compliment of people. He’s great in the pick-and-roll, which will be great for Dirk [Nowitzki] a whole bunch. He’s a pass-first point guard, which will help with Monta. It’ll help with Sam, Vince [Carter] and Shawn [Marion]. We’re going to have guys who can get Shawn the ball, which we couldn’t do last year. Vince won’t have to work as hard as he did last year. We can block shots between Sam and Brandan [Wright]. I think we’ll be in good shape."

Question: I guess that means things are still going well with bringing Brandan Wright back?

"Yes."

Q: How tough was it to see Shane Larkin go down and have to miss the entire Las Vegas Summer League?

"It was the last play of practice, which was the worst part. Fortunately, it happened early enough that he’ll be back in time for the regular season. He just landed wrong when he went up for a bucket."

Q: Gal Mekel has drawn some buzz. What have you seen from him?

"Gal has played really well. He’s the type of player where the the better players that are around him, the better he is. I think he’s going to get better and better. He’s a smart kid. He’s a leader. He has to improve his shot, but he knows how to play."

On Josh Akognon’s performance in the summer league:

"He’s still on the roster. Like everybody else, he’s got to earn his spot. He’s still there."

Q: Is there anyone else on the summer roster who could be brought to training camp?

"Ricky [Ledo] will obviously be there. Ricky has shown some good things, but he’s got to get used to playing basketball again."

Q: What are you looking at next in free agency?

"We’re just getting ready for training camp and getting everyone going."

Q: Is the trade market still something you could look into pursuing?

"We’re open. Given that all of these are new signings, it’s going to be tough for us to do a trade. We can do anything until December. We didn’t sign these guys to trade them. We signed them to keep them. Our goal is to have everyone here, play together and move on. We still have a lot cap room for next year, so we’ll see."

“Monta Ellis have it all.”

That came straight out of Monta Ellis’ mouth, delivered as the conclusion of a classic sound bite during an interview with Fox Sports Wisconsin last season, in which he declared that he was on the same level with Dwyane Wade. Well, other than wins and championships.

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It’s grammatically incorrect and hilariously inaccurate.

The grammar can be forgiven. After all, it’s not like Ellis is a millionaire because he got good grades at Lanier High in Jackson, Miss., before jumping straight to the NBA. The problem is that Ellis actually believes what he says, which explains why he’s become the modern-day model for NBA inefficiency.

Monta Ellis definitely does not have it all. If the Mavs can get him to realize that, the three-year deal in the $25 million range might be money well spent.

Step one is to get Ellis to stop taking long, pull-up jumpers. For Ellis, those shots are like sweets for a fat kid. The Mavs can’t let Ellis keep reaching into the cookie jar.

The problem is Ellis launches a lot of those looks and doesn’t make very many. According to ESPN Stats and Information, he shot the lowest percentage on off-the-dribble jumpers in the league last season among players who took at least 250 of them, hitting a paltry 32.3 percent.

On a related note, Ellis also ranked last in the league among qualifiers in 3-point percentage (28.7 percent). Yet Ellis hoisted 328 of them, four per game.

No wonder Ellis shot just 41.6 percent from the floor last season, the second-lowest among players who averaged at least 15 points per game.

Ellis hasn’t always been so inefficient, but it’s a trend that has taken a drastic downturn in the last few seasons. He was actually once an extreme high-efficiency scorer, averaging 20.2 points on 53.1 percent shooting as a 22-year-old in 2007-08, when he attempted less than one 3-pointer per game.

The Mavs need to get Ellis to play to his strengths again, which means making him understand his limitations. Open spot-up 3s are acceptable, but other than that, his shots should come almost solely from attacking the basket off drives and in transition.

The hope from the Dallas front office, which reached for Ellis after all the other impact free agents were off the board and Devin Harris’ dislocated toe was discovered, is that the personnel here is uniquely suited to put Ellis in position to succeed.

Jose Calderon will be the first pass-first point guard to be paired with Ellis during the eight-year veteran’s NBA career. Dirk Nowitzki will be the biggest offensive threat to play with Ellis. And Rick Carlisle is the most creative offensive coach to work with Ellis.

That means that Ellis should be able to get a lot of high-quality looks. The Mavs need Ellis, a career 19.2-point-per-game scorer, to put up numbers, but not as a volume scorer. He should have space to do what he does best, especially when he’s on the floor with three guys who were 40-plus-percent 3-point shooters last season (Calderon, Nowitzki and Vince Carter).

None of that matters if Ellis thinks it’s a good idea to jack up contested 3s and 20-footers off the bounce.

Less is more with Monta Ellis, who can’t have it all if he’s going to help the Mavs win.

So much for the Mavericks’ glut of guards.

On the day Dallas reached a deal Monta Ellis, the Mavs lost two of their other offseason backcourt additions.

Rookie first-round pick Shane Larkin suffered a broken ankle during a summer league practice and could be sidelined into training camp. The three-year, $9 million deal with Devin Harris is off due to a dislocated toe that requires surgery, a development unexpectedly revealed during Harris’ physical, ESPN.com’s Marc Stein reported.

It turns out that Ellis fills a glaring need.

Harris, who might be able to play by the beginning of the regular season, might still sign for the Mavs. However, the cap space that was committed to his contract is now earmarked for a starting center with Samuel Dalembert the top target considering the price range.