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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.”

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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.

DALLAS – There are no guarantees with 35-year-old knees that have logged more than 45,000 NBA minutes and many, many more in international ball.

That being said, Dirk Nowitzki has done everything in his power to prevent knee problems from sabotaging his statistics for a third consecutive season.

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

Dirk’s decline since the Dallas Mavericks’ 2011 title run has been well chronicled. He admittedly wasn’t adequately prepared for the end of the lockout and hectic schedule that ensued, leading to knee soreness and swelling and needing an early-season sabbatical to work his way into shape by his Hall of Fame standards. After a summer of hard work, Nowitzki was surprised by swelling in his knee last preseason, then missed the first two months of the regular season while recovering from arthroscopic surgery.

Now he’s coming off his two least productive seasons since establishing himself as an NBA superstar. Not coincidentally, the Mavs don’t have a playoff win over the last two years.

All that made for an extraordinarily determined Dirk during an extremely long offseason in Dallas, which missed the playoffs for the first time in a dozen years.

“I feel good now,” Nowitzki said during Monday’s media day on the eve of training camp. “Going into camp, I did a lot of work. I started working out in May, probably the earliest for a long, long time. Hopefully I’ll feel good going into the season and I can stay injury-free.

“But I feel now better than I have at any point last year, so I think that’s very encouraging to myself, it’s very important also from a mental standpoint and hopefully I can show it.”

Added coach Rick Carlisle: “He’s a guy that has such love and respect for the game and such pride in his own performance and taking responsibility in winning and losing for this franchise. He knows how important his health is to his game and our game and all of us and all of our fans. This is serious business. His effort has completely matched up with the level of importance.”

The Mavs failed in their two-year quest to make Nowitzki the second-best player on the roster, settling for signing Monta Ellis, Jose Calderon and other complementary players after failing to hook big fish Dwight Howard and Chris Paul in free agency.

But the biggest misconception about the under-the-radar Mavs, according to owner Mark Cuban, is that they no longer have a superstar. He’s convinced that Nowitzki, who had an 11-season All-Star streak snapped last season, can return to elite form in 2013-14, pointing to the late-career success as historically great power forwards such as Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Karl Malone as proof of the possibility.

Dirk acknowledges that the doubts about his ability to still perform to the standard he set for himself served as ample summer motivational fodder.

“Competitors, they always find ways to motivate themselves,” said Nowitzki, who averaged 17.3 points and 6.8 rebounds in his down 2012-13 campaign, including 18.9 points and 7.7 rebounds after the All-Star break. “When I first got here, ‘He can’t do it, he’s not ready for the NBA,’ then once I established himself, ‘He can’t win it all.’ So I think there’s always stuff you can use as motivation and competitors use it the right way.

“So yeah, I’m fired up and hopefully I can show it and still put up a decent season.”

Decent by Dirk’s standards means dominant. That’s the Nowitzki the Mavs need to have any hope of accomplishing their mission of making playoff noise again.

The Dallas Mavericks have acquired many players this offseason who have a chip on their shoulder. When asked by a fan during the team’s introductory press conference last week which game he had circled on his calendar, DeJuan Blair had a very simple answer.

“The Spurs,” Blair said.

Dallas is hoping Blair, a 6-foot-7, 265-pound big man, has a chip big enough to bring a dose of nastiness to the Mavs. Blair fell into the second round of the 2009 draft because of his history of knee troubles, but he proved to be a relative steal for the San Antonio Spurs.

Mavs owner Mark Cuban already feels a sense of determination in Blair.

“DeJuan already knows when we’re playing the Spurs,” Cuban said. “We already know what DeJuan is going to do to the Spurs. It’s going to be a beautiful thing.”

Blair, 24, averaged 7.8 points and 5.8 rebounds in 18.9 minutes per game during his four seasons in San Antonio. For a multitude of reasons, the bruiser fell out of the team’s rotation, averaging just 5.3 points and 3.8 rebounds in 14 minutes per game last season.

The writing was on the wall for Blair as he logged less than 18 minutes of game action in the seven-game series against the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.

“I don’t think we would’ve come up short if I would have played,” Blair said. “It’s just a lot of motivation to see everything. Going through those two weeks (of the Finals), it was the best two weeks of my life. I definitely want to get back, and I think we’ve got the team to do it.”

Whether he’s taking a shot at his former team is irrelevant. Blair, like any player in the NBA, feels he can make a difference for a team. With an opportunity to move down the street and play with the Mavs, Blair represents a player the team needed, based on the turnover from the previous season.

“DeJuan was a really important acquisition for us because Elton Brand didn’t return,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. “We need that physical (butt)-kicker to put out there and be an enforcer for us.”

Both Brand and Blair have made the most of what they have, and neither are afraid to mix it up. The Mavs would be thrilled if they got a younger version of Brand in the form of Blair, who is 10 years younger.

With defense and rebounding a major area of need for the Mavs, Blair and his career average of 11.1 rebounds per 36 minutes would go a long way in alleviating that issue.

Despite being with the Spurs from 2009 to 2013, Blair still hasn’t won a championship. That’s another driving force for the new Mav. Whether it was intentional or not, the Mavs have acquired new players who are chasing their first championship, much like the 2011 roster.

A motivated Blair could certainly help the Mavs get back into the playoffs. No matter who the opposition is, it may not be a bad idea for him to have a case of blurred vision and believe he’s facing his former team every night.

When speaking to ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM’s Galloway and Company back in late July, Mark Cuban vehemently denounced naysayers of Dirk Nowitzki who said that the Mavs forward's time as an elite player was done. The doubters have fuel based on the fact that Nowitzki had his lowest scoring average since his rookie season in 1998-99 and had to battle back from knee surgery.

"Knock on wood, if we stay healthy, I think people are just missing Dirk in ways they shouldn't," Cuban said in late July. "Like I've been telling him, Karl Malone won an MVP at 35, and there's no reason why he can't be considered in an MVP conversation at 35.”

An indirect way to ensure Nowitzki is cranking on cylinders is to have a John Stockton-like player. Enter Jose Calderon.

“He’s one of the best ball distributors in the game,” Cuban said of Calderon during the team’s introductory press conference last week. “He’s going to open up the court.”

The 31-year-old Calderon will be handed the keys to the flow offense. While he doesn’t carry a lot of playoff experience, he’s widely regarded as one of the most efficient point guards the league has, holding career averages of 10.1 points and 7.2 assists. He’s coming off a season where he split time between Toronto and Detroit and averaged 11.3 points, 7.1 assists and just 1.7 turnovers while shooting a league-best .461 percent from 3-point range.

Bringing an influx of basketball IQ to the roster with Calderon should make life easier for Nowitzki.

(Read full post)

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.

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

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“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.

Las Vegas -- Shane Larkin’s ankle injury moved Gal Mekel into a more prominent role in the summer league and ended up giving Mekel the opportunity to be the most consistent player on the floor for the Mavs.

He finished the summer league by averaging 9.7 points and 5.0 assists while shooting 45.1 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from 3-point range. Not bad, considering the Mavs ended the summer league playing four games in four days.

“For me, I think it was a great week the first time getting to know the NBA game,” Mekel said. “I think I played pretty good for the first time.

Prior to the summer league team leaving for Las Vegas, Mekel, 25, was considered a unique prospect because no one really knew what kind of game he had. Fresh off a title and MVP award in Israel, the guard’s resume impressed his coach.

“Gal has been a very successful player internationally,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said during the team’s introductory news conference last week. “I know he’s a big hero in Israel. We think he’s a very good player, but we want to make sure the expectations here are not that he’s going to come in here and be the star player right away.

“We think he’s young enough to where he’s a good player and can get better. He’s a rookie in this league.”

While he is a rookie, Mekel isn’t lacking in the confidence department. The confidence comes from the fact that Maccabi Tel Aviv has been seen as the dominant team over the past 40 years in Israel. It's won the Israeli championship 36 out of those 40 years. Mekel was the best player on two of the four teams that did not win the league over that period.

When talk of Mekel’s confidence came up, Carlisle said, “They just won the Israeli championship a month ago. Wouldn’t you be a little confident, too?

“That’s not surprise. The challenge for him is to continue to trend his game where it needs to go to be the kind of guy we think he can be on our team.”

Playing in a competitive Israeli league and really developing his skill over the past two years, Mekel crafted his game to a level at which he felt comfortable enough to pursue his dream of playing in the NBA. As his confidence and playing ability rose, he realized the time was right for him to really go for it.

When second-year forward Jae Crowder was asked about Mekel’s game, he instantly lit up with a huge smile.

“He’s a good player. You can tell he knows how to play basketball. He has that Euro swag about him, like [Manu] Ginobili, so he won’t back down from anybody,” Crowder said. “He feels like he can help us. He has a great upside, and he knows he can play basketball.”

Mekel didn’t know what to make of his teammate’s comments, but he wanted to reinforce the point that he is excited to play. “I love the game. When I’m on the floor, I’m having fun,” he said. “I’m not feeling like I’m playing under pressure or something. It’s just about playing and having fun.”

Now that the summer league is over and preparation for training camp beings, it’s up to him to brace for the adjustment that will have to come by playing in the NBA.

“I think in every stage in your career, when you face a new challenge, you have to make adjustments. I’m sure I’ll have to adjust to a few things here,” Mekel said. “The speed and the athleticism here is much different than it was in Europe.

“I’m willing to learn. I’m a marathon runner, so I have time. I want to learn and I want to get better. With hard work, results come.”

Can he make the adjustment to the NBA?

“I’m pretty confident I can make the adjustment,” Mekel said.

Circumstances made it to so he was relied upon more than most people expected in Vegas.

As he now heads into a period during which he can train for his first season in NBA, confidence will be a key. It certainly appears he’s not lacking in that department.

LAS VEGAS -- By making a trade to acquire the 43rd overall pick in the 2013 draft, the Dallas Mavericks made Providence shooting guard Ricky Ledo their guy.

"We specifically grabbed that pick for Ricky Ledo and we feel pretty good about him," president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said.

Ledo, 20, is considered to have big upside, but there is a reason he was available in the second round. He never played for Providence. After moving from high school to high school, the guard sat out his freshman year as a partial academic qualifier before declaring for this year's draft.

"Certainly, he needs to mature and needs time, but we really feel good about him," Nelson said.

It's a much different situation for him now compared to his time at Providence, when he wasn't able to travel with the team.

Mavs coach Rick Carlisle has been quick to note Ledo is still considered a project piece.

"Ledo is a very good prospect at the guard position. He's a very young kid and this is the beginning of a process for him," Carlisle said. "We know he has NBA ability and we like him as a person. We're going to work hard with him."

The team certainly has a decent foundation to work with in Ledo. He has a smooth shooting touch and is pretty steady in regard to his dribble penetration and ability to pass. There have been highs and lows with his performances in the summer league, but he's still trending in the right direction.

There were ups and downs through the summer league, as he averaged 7.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists, but Ledo continues to show promise.

"I like his progression over the last four or five days," Carlisle said. "Each day he was a little more confident, a little more poise, keeping things a little more simple.

"That's going to be the key for him."

It's a key for him because as a second-round pick, he doesn't have a single guarantee of making the roster. He will earn an invite to training camp, but that's all he is assured of.

(Read full post)

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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.

LAS VEGAS -- The Gal Mekel bandwagon just added one important member: Mavs owner Mark Cuban.

Cuban made a surprise appearance in Las Vegas and observed the team’s 95-89 victory Wednesday in their first-round game of the summer league championship tournament. Citing that he saw the previous three games Dallas had played in, Cuban said he might see a potential gem in the Israeli point guard.

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“There are basketball skills and then there are skills above the neck,” Cuban said. “In terms of understanding the game and basketball IQ, he sees it before it happens, and that’s rare to find. You don’t see that a lot.

“I’m excited to see how well he’ll do. He’ll keep on getting better.”

Mekel was pleased to hear the owner's comments.

“That’s great,” the 6-foot-3 guard said with a smile. “When the big boss is saying good stuff, it’s always good to hear.”

Mekel’s performance in the first-round victory was actually a little flat compared to his previous outings. He had nine points and four assists, but he came on strong in the fourth quarter, leaving his imprint on the game on the offensive end of the floor. He worked alongside Jae Crowder and the two of them carved up the Clippers defense with their pick-and-roll game.

“I’m really happy that in the fourth quarter coach trusted me and Jae, and we ran basically the same play all the time and it got us going and good things came.” Mekel said.

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LAS VEGAS -- Gal Mekel has been a standout performer for the Mavs during summer league play. He’s one of only five players in the league to average at least 12.0 points and 4.0 assists. While making the transition back to America and the NBA game, the 6-foot-3 point guard has been impressive throughout the process.

Second-year swingman Jae Crowder has been one of Mekel’s biggest supporters on the summer league squad. As people are still trying to figure out the kind of player the Israeli guard is, Crowder confidently offered his own player comparison: Ricky Rubio.

“You see him do the trick passes like Rubio,” Crowder said. “He can pass with both hands. That’s very rare amongs point guards around the league.”

Through two games, flashes of Rubio’s game are there with the dynamic passing. Mekel, 25, has shown some unique flair, creativity and improvisation on offense. His court vision is quite impressive for a player who is still trying to adjust to a new level.

“Rubio is a great player,” Mekel said when asked about the comparison to the Spanish guard. “I played against him a few times back in Europe. It’s a nice compliment. Of course I want to be successful like him in this league.”

Mekel has made the most of his opportunity in Las Vegas. Mekel has been able to make an even bigger impact with first-round draft pick Shane Larkin suffering a fracture in his right ankle.

“It’s a great opportunity. He was going to have a great opportunity whether Shane played with us or not,” Mavs summer league coach Monte Mathis said. “Now it’s even more so because there’s even more minutes out there.

“We’re really depending on him to be a leader out there and call things out there and get us lined up and help everybody else out.”

While the buzz has centered around the offensive end of the floor, Mathis has been impressed with Mekel’s creativity on the defensive end.

“He’s a very smart and crafty defender,” Mathis continued. “He’s not the fastest guy in the game or the quickest guy in the gym, but he really uses his smarts for his angles on defense.”

Mekel’s ability to read those angles and anticipate the opponent’s next move does give him the ability to mask whatever he is lacking on the defensive end of the floor.

The young point guard floated an impressive lob pass to finish off the team’s shootaround on Tuesday afternoon and that drew the roar of approval of his teammates. It certainly had Rubio-esque quality to it.

“I’m Gal Mekel and I’m trying to help my team,” Mekel said. “That’s it.”

While he appreciates the comparison to Rubio, the guard is working on making his own name in Las Vegas.

“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.

Per team officials, second-year center Bernard James is out for today’s summer league against the Charlotte Bobcats due to an illness.

After the team’s win against the Sacramento Kings on Saturday, Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said that James should “dominate” the summer league with his defensive tenacity.

James scored two points in the team’s victory against the Kings. He struggled on offense but was a defensive anchor for the team as he pulled down a team-high nine rebounds and had three blocked shots.

LAS VEGAS -- Josh Akognon, a training-camp cut who returned to Dallas on a 10-day contract at the end of last season, is out to prove he belongs through his performance in the summer league.

So far, so good.

Akognon scored a game-high 24 points in the team’s 76-73 win Saturday against the Sacramento Kings. Whether the team was down 14 points or making its final push, Akgonon was consistent, going 8-of-14 from the field and 3-of-6 from 3-point range.

“I don’t want to sound obnoxious, but I felt like there were a couple of shots that I could have made and things I could have done better,” Akognon said. “We fell back so far, and a sense of urgency kicked in for us. For me, my immediate thing goes to scoring to get us back in the game.”

Akognon didn’t have much of an opportunity as the season ended for the Mavs, but the 5-foot-11 guard hit the ground running in Vegas.

“This is the kind of stuff he does,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. “He’s been averaging over 30 [points per game] in China for years. He’s an experienced scorer. He’s a resourceful scorer, and he knows how to get the ball in the basket. He can mix it up.”

Averaging 30 points in China sounds crazy, but it’s actually not that far from the truth. He averaged just more than 28.5 points per game in his two seasons in the Chinese Basketball Association.

Shooters like Akognon believe that they’re one shot away from catching fire, and the basket certainly looked bigger than normal for him against the Kings.

“That’s my whole career. That’s why I’m playing pro basketball,” Akognon said. “A lot of times, they’re going to keep telling me to shoot anyways, so my confidence is very high. If I’m missing shots, it feels like I’m making them.

“That’s the blessing and the curse with me. It did feel great for them to go in and to have my coaches and teammates behind me.”

Point guard Gal Mekel also made noise in his first game in Vegas, but he knew that a lot of his success was due to Akognon finishing off possessions with a bucket.

“He’s a great shooter,” Mekel said. “I love to play with a great shooter and to find them. We definitely played well together.”

Akognon noted after the game that Mekel was telling him in the moment that he needed to be in different spots to get better looks at the basket. That’s where Akognon’s note of being able to do things better came from.

It should be noted that he is still a part of the main roster for Dallas. The 2013-2014 portion of the contract he signed is fully unguaranteed but will become fully guaranteed if he’s not waived on or before Dec. 1.

A team can never have enough shooters. If Akognon can keep his shooting touch at a consistent level and stay honest on defense, he might not have to worry about that date in December.