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Tenth in a 15-part series ranking the Mavericks' 2011-12 roster in importance of bringing back next season.

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Brandan Wright is easily the most athletic big man the Dallas Mavericks have put on the floor since ... well, Tyson Chandler. Wright, the Human Pogo Stick or the Human Exclamation Point as a certain colleague of mine dubbed him this season, brought a high level of energy and excitement -- and a higher level of two-handed alley-oop slams -- as he earned more and more playing time.

The former lottery pick of the Golden State Warriors provided two areas that the Mavs' sorely lacked and will look to gain more of this offseasaon -- youth, he's only 24, and athleticism. He's a high-motor big man who can run the floor. He has soft hands and is an impeccable finisher around the rim with a nice array of moves -- he boasted a team-best 61.8 shooting percentage.

The biggest issue with Wright is where he fits. His natural position is power forward, but coach Rick Carslisle converted him to center because Dallas obviously has Dirk Nowitzki entrenched there and at the time they believed Lamar Odom would fill the bill when Nowitzki sat. At center, Wright started out on the depth chart behind Brendan Haywood and Ian Mahinmi, but as the season wore on the spindly-framed Wright at times logged more minutes than the others.

Until the playoffs.

And that's the conundrum with Wright. He hasn't developed a mid-range game to be able to play power forward effectively in Dallas' offense and he's not physically strong enough to consistently defend the center position. When he got his brief chance to play in the first round against Oklahoma City he had a serious case of butterfingers and the moment, the first playoff action of his career, seemed a bit too big. He played a total of 26 minutes in the series with a high of eight in the Game 3 blowout.

But at less than $1 million last season and next (assuming the Mavs pick up the team option), Wright is cheap, cheap labor and a talent worth trying to develop for the long run. In fact, he could be a talent the Mavs must develop for significant minutes next season because the center position at the moment is in total chaos.

Haywood is a prime candidate for the amnesty provision and Mahinmi is a free agent with no guarantee that he'll be back. Dallas won't dare go into the regular season with Wright as its primary man to patrol the paint, but he could certainly be relied upon to become a prime player.

The Countdown winds down a second week with No. 6...

BRANDAN WRIGHT
Pos.: C/PF
Ht./Wt.: 6-foot-10, 210
Experience: 4 years
Age: 24 (Oct. 5, 1987)
2011-12 stats: 6.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 16.1 mpg, 49 G
Contract status: Team option for next season
2011-12 salary: $915,852
2012-13 salary: $947,907

His story: Perseverance has Wright on the right track to remove his name from the long list of lottery busts and onto a more flattering one of productive rotation players. Drafted eighth overall in 2007 by Charlotte and traded to Golden State for Jason Richardson, Wright was buried on Don Nelson's bench and then injured his shoulder during an October 2009 practice. Surgery sidelined him the entire season and the next year the Warriors traded Wright to the New Jersey Nets. In his first three seasons, Wright played in 114 games so the 49 he got in this season was something of a landmark, a career-high he hopes to build upon. He's already been busy back in the gym, proving it by tweeting pictures. "I worked really hard to get back where I am," Wright said at the end of the season. "I'm blessed to have the opportunity to heal up from those injuries. This is a process and you’ve got to stick with it. When you start thinking like that (negatively), it's easy to start slacking off with rehab or getting back to where you want to be."

His outlook: Wright has to feel good that the Mavs will pick up his option (it would certainly seem to be a no-brainer). The real question is whether Carlisle will continue to try to mold him into a center or if power forward can be an option now that Odom is out of the picture and Shawn Marion (if he returns) might seem better off exclusively, or close to exclusively, at small forward. Wright believes he can develop a consistent mid-range jumper that could force defenses to extend out, providing the spacing the Mavs need to operate their halfcourt sets. He also needs to add muscle to his 210-pound frame (for a bit of reference, 6-5 guard Dominique Jones weighs 215 pounds) so he can hold his ground defensively at either the 4 or 5. If he can do that and sharpen his jumper, combined with his vertical jump and ability to finish at the rim, Wright could eventually live up to his lottery-pick status.

No. 15 Lamar Odom
No. 14 Brian Cardinal
No. 13 Yi Jianlian
No. 12 Dominique Jones
No. 11 Brendan Haywood
No. 10 Kelenna Azubuike
No. 9 Ian Mahinmi
No. 8 Vince Carter
No. 7 Rodrigue Beaubois
No. 6 Brandan Wright
No. 5 Coming Monday

Ninth in a 15-part series ranking the Mavericks' 2011-12 roster in importance of bringing back next season.

Surely one can look around the NBA and field a lineup of unfulfilled careers. With the Dallas Mavericks that search stops with Rodrigue Beaubois, the highly-talented guard whose career appeared headed toward the stars until the unfortunate day when the fifth metatarsal in his left foot snapped.

Nothing's been the same since. And everything's been a struggle.

Beaubois is heading into the most important summer of his young NBA career and he knows it.

"I cannot tell you what is going to happen, but obviously I know that this summer is going to be big for me," Beaubois said. "I have to work out a lot and make sure that I am ready because if they give me space (more playing time) I will have to be ready for that."

For the first time in three summers, Beaubois is healthy and able to train. He broke his foot in early August 2010 training with the French national team and underwent surgery soon after. He missed two-thirds of the following season because he re-injured the foot and then hurt it again in the final game of the regular season, forcing him out of the entire championship run and back into the operating room.

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Few inroads were made this season and so here we are at a crossroads. Beaubois is effectively entering the final year of his contract. The Mavs can make a qualifying offer next summer or they can say goodbye.

The Countdown ticks down to No. 7...

RODRIGUE BEAUBOIS
Pos.: G
Ht./Wt.: 6-foot-2, 180
Experience: 3 years
Age: 24 (Feb. 24, 1988)
2011-12 stats: 8.9 ppg (42.2 FG, 28.8 3FG, 2.9 apg)
Contract status: Signed through 2012-13
2011-12 salary: $1.2 million
2012-13 salary: $2.2 million

His story: The second surgery ruined another summer of work and development with the lockout adding another layer of frustration because it prevented Beaubois from working, or even visiting, with Rick Carlisle and the coaching staff. Once again, Beaubois' role this season is in total limbo because that's also where the Mavs' roster is. Will they sign Deron Williams and re-sign Jason Kidd to back him up at point guard? Will Delonte West and/or Jason Terry return along with Vince Carter to fortify the shooting guard position? And then there's the whole issue of whether he's a point guard -- which he mostly played to varying degrees of success this season -- or a shooting guard, or does it even matter? Or will that be determined simply by where there is room for him?

His outlook: Any number of backcourt variables that emerge after July 1 could open up playing time for Beaubois or again leave him buried behind a veteran crew. Or, in yet another scenario, Beaubois could get caught up in a trade to create additional cap space. Beaubois was essentially out of the rotation in the playoffs, leaving him with still virtually no postseason experience in three trips. Will the 2012-13 season be something of a rebirth for Beaubois in Dallas or the beginning of the end?

No. 15 Lamar Odom
No. 14 Brian Cardinal
No. 13 Yi Jianlian
No. 12 Dominique Jones
No. 11 Brendan Haywood
No. 10 Kelenna Azubuike
No. 9 Ian Mahinmi
No. 8 Vince Carter
No. 7 Rodrigue Beaubois
No. 6 Coming Friday

Shawn Marion finished eighth in media voting for NBA Defensive Player of the Year. NBA coaches apparently didn't buy into the hype.

Marion didn't make the first or second All-Defensive teams, as voted on by the league's 30 coaches, and garnered just three votes overall and no votes for the first team.

The Dallas Mavericks'' 6-foot-7 defensive stopper who was often asked to guard four positions this season and at times the league's top point guards, finished 14th in the "other players receiving votes" category.

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle spent much of the second half of the season campaigning for Marion to be considered a top candidate for Defensive Player of the Year, an award former Mavs center Tyson Chandler won. Interestingly, the coaches (who can't vote for their own players) selected Chandler to the second team with Dwight Howard garnering first-team recognition.

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka, far and away the league leader in blocks, earned first-team recognition after finishing second in Defensive Player of the Year voting.

Here are the All-Defensive teams:

FIRST
F LeBron James, Miami
F Serge Ibaka, OKC
C Dwight Howard, Orlando
G Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers
G Tony Allen, Memphis

SECOND
F Kevin Garnett, Boston
F Luol Deng, Chicago
C Tyson Chandler, New York
G Rajon Rondo, Boston
G Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers

Other players receiving votes, with point totals (First Team votes in parentheses): Andre Iguodala, Philadelphia, 19 (4); Joakim Noah, Chicago, 14; Iman Shumpert, New York, 13 (4); Paul George, Indiana, 10 (2); Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City, 9 (2); Josh Smith, Atlanta, 8 (2); Dwyane Wade, Miami, 5 (1); Thabo Sefolosha, Oklahoma City, 5 (1); Grant Hill, Phoenix, 5 (1); Tim Duncan, San Antonio, 5 (1); Avery Bradley, Boston, 3 (1); Marc Gasol, Memphis, 3 (1); Metta World Peace, L.A. Lakers, 3; Shawn Marion, Dallas, 3; Joe Johnson, Atlanta, 2, (1); Mike Conley, Memphis, 2; Derrick Rose, Chicago, 1; Jrue Holiday, Philadelphia, 1; Carlos Boozer, Chicago, 1; Luc Mbah a Moute, Milwaukee, 1.

Eighth in a 15-part series ranking the Mavericks' 2011-12 roster in importance of bringing back next season.

Bringing in Vince Carter last season, even at a buyer-friendly price, felt like a reach for a team with an already aging roster. Anyone who'd seen him play the previous two seasons with Orlando and Phoenix could only surmise that Carter was postponing the inevitable.

And then he got to town and Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle almost instantly, and rather shrewdly, started talking up the eight-time All-Star and former slam dunk champ as a sure-fire Hall of Famer whose basketball IQ soared as high as his dunks used to.

"Guys who are eight-time All-Stars are Hall of Famers. And there's a reason," Carlisle said shortly after the delayed start to the season in late December. "He's been a great player and he knows how to play. He's going to fit in great with what we're doing just because he's a hell of a basketball player."

It's hard to say that Carlisle wasn't right, to an extent.

Carter got off to a strong start, burying 3-pointers at a team-best clip, flashing a nice post-up game and scrapping on defense all the while giving the Mavs the versatility to play him at shooting guard or small forward. But after the All-Star break Carter started to slow down, and other than a brief hot streak, the swoon carried into the playoffs where he shot just 29.3 percent from the floor and 30.0 percent from beyond the arc.

All-in-all, Carter started 40 of the 61 games he played, when at this point in his career he's probably most effective as a scorer off the bench where he can take advantage of smaller and less talented reserves.

Carter will turn 36 in January, and the odds are that he will celebrate his birthday in a Mavs uniform.

The Countdown rolls on at No. 8 ...

VINCE CARTER
Pos.: SG/SF
Ht./Wt.: 6-foot-6, 220
Experience: 14 years
Age: 35 (Jan. 26, 1977)
2011-12 stats: 5.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 18.7 mpg
Contract status: Signed through 2013-14
2011-12 salary: $3 million
2012-13 salary: $3.1 million (partially guaranteed)

His story: Billed as half-man, half-amazing, Carter proved to be half-mortal in his first season with the Mavs. It can certainly be argued that injuries, particularly the broken finger that sidelined Delonte West for six weeks, played a part in Carter's decline. Carter was at his most effective when limited to about 25 minutes or less, but Carlisle had no choice but to keep him on the floor more through West's injury. Plus, Jason Kidd missed 18 games, mostly due to three separate injuries. Through the first 25 games, Carter logged 25 minutes or fewer 14 times, compared to 15 times in the final 36 games. Perhaps a better comparison though is the fact that he played 30 minutes or more just twice in those first 25 games, and 10 times in the final 36. It makes it difficult to argue that wear-and-tear didn't play a role in Carter's downturn or that playing fewer minutes consistently next season could serve him and the Mavs well.

His outlook: Carter is signed for the next two seasons at little more than $3 million for each, however his contract is not fully guaranteed. It is guaranteed enough for next season that, barring a major trade that would sweep him up, the odds are high that Carter will stick around here for at least one more season. One has to wonder though if the Mavs wouldn't be better off allotting Carter's minutes to younger players such as Rodrigue Beaubois (assuming he remains on the team), who the Mavs must get a full, healthy season out of to evaluate in what is essentially the final year of his deal, or to a player like Kelenna Azubuike. At this point, Carter would seem to be more of a last-piece-to-the-puzzle type that could bolster a contender's bench. But hey, who knows, depending on what transpires in free agency, the Mavs might or might not become such a squad.

No. 15 Lamar Odom
No. 14 Brian Cardinal
No. 13 Yi Jianlian
No. 12 Dominique Jones
No. 11 Brendan Haywood
No. 10 Kelenna Azubuike
No. 9 Ian Mahinmi
No. 8 Vince Carter
No. 7 Coming Thursday

Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle had high praise for the Oklahoma City Thunder after being swept out of the first round, and his opinion was likely only reinforced after OKC's impressive dismantling and elimination of the Los Angeles Lakers in five games.

"No question that they got better," Carlisle said, comparing this OKC team that is 8-1 in the playoffs to the one the Mavs ousted in five games in last season's West finals. "When they went through what they did last year where they won two rounds and got in a tough series with us and basically were right there in every game, you take quantum leaps in terms of your emotional growth, understanding what it takes to advance to the highest levels."

It's been documented by the Thunder's coolness and effectiveness under late-game duress against the Mavs and Lakers, extinguishing the harshest criticism heaped on the kiddos a year ago.

If the Thunder, elevated by a core of four players age 23 and younger -- Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Serge Ibaka -- beat the championship-pedigreed and re-invented San Antonio Spurs in the West finals, their path to the NBA Finals will have rolled through the three franchises that have represented the West since 1999, and that have won 10 of the last 13 championships.

It would certainly signal an official restructuring of the West hierarchy.

"Their players individually have gotten better," Carlisle said. "Westbrook is a better player this year. Durant’s a little stronger and a little bit better. Ibaka has taken a major quantum leap and (Kendrick) Perkins, last year he wasn’t the same player. He was coming off of a surgery the previous summer and there’s a huge difference in his body this year. He’s 20 to 25 pounds lighter, back playing above the rim again and was doing some good things offensively. He really brought toughness to their team. They’re in a great position."

If OKC goes on to win it all -- and for the sake of argument let's say it beats the Miami Heat in the Finals -- will a run through the Mavs, Lakers, Spurs and Heat be more impressive than the trail of superstar ashes left in the Mavs' wake as they bulldozed through the Lakers, Thunder and Heat?

With at least four more days until the start of this highly anticipated West final, let the debate begin.

For years now talk has revolved around bringing in a second superstar to pair with Dirk Nowitzki. That hasn't changed, obviously, with the Dallas Mavericks having carved out salary cap space to make a run at Deron Williams, a perennial All-Star point guard and the lone superstar headed for free agency on July 1.

What has changed is the language the Mavs are using to describe Nowitzki -- the No. 2 superstar -- as he creeps into his mid-30s.

The No. 2 superstar? Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said it earlier this week.

"That's our goal," the coach said, stressing the need to lift the scoring burden from Dirk's shoulders entering his 15th NBA season.

There's certainly nothing wrong with that. It's not to say that Nowitzki doesn't have at least two more seasons -- the length of his contract that will take him through age 36 -- of All-Star-caliber fallaways and one-legged leaners left in his 7-foot frame. But it is getting unreasonable to expect Dirk, who turns 34 next month, to be the same player, or play the same minutes as he did at age 28 or even at 32 when he had the postseason of his life and led the Mavs to the franchise's lone title.

Did that dip start this season with Nowitzki posting near career-lows across the board? It was such a funky season that it's tough to say if Father Time indeed has his irreversible chops into Nowitzki, but regardless, inevitable decline will come as he ages. That's just how it works.

Which reinforces the obvious that Nowitzki can't get this thing back to an elite situation by himself. It was practically a miracle how the Mavs came together in 2011 and roared through Portland, L.A., OKC and Miami to win it all. Just look at the four teams left in the the Western Conference playoffs. One-superstar outfits don't exist. San Antonio still has three strong superstars surrounded by a deep supporting cast that is helping to keep Tim Duncan spry and sharp.

The Lakers have perennial MVP candidate Kobe Bryant with two All-Star sidekicks, in Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. The Thunder obviously have the youngest and perhaps most fearsome Big Three going that includes three-time scoring champ Kevin Durant and the Sixth Man of the Year James Harden. Even the Clippers boast Chris Paul with rising star Blake Griffin.

Nowitzki needs help, and this summer represents the best chance to lure elite-level help because, for the first time in the Mark Cuban era, Dallas wades into free agency with hearty cap space bait.

"We want to have the best players in the game, that’s always going to be our goal here," Carlisle said. "And there’s three ways you get them: you draft them, you trade for them or you get them in free agency, and we’re going to explore all three of those vehicles to continue to improve the team and get the right guys around Dirk Nowitzki. Our championship happened because we had the perfect mix of guys, not only on the floor, but around him. We’re always working on that."

Fifth in a 15-part series ranking the Mavericks' 2011-12 roster in importance of bringing back next season.

Every athlete should have it as good as Brendan Haywood. Eleven seasons into a serviceable, yet hardly spectacular career, the 7-footer out of North Carolina has already pocketed some $44 million in career earnings. At a time when some 32-year-old vets are wondering if they've got another payday coming, Haywood is locked into a generous deal afforded by owner Mark Cuban for three more seasons that will take his career earnings north of $72 million.

It's a good living if you can get it.

Yet, for that kind of dough the Dallas Mavericks might have expected more than 3.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 15.3 minutes -- with perhaps a hard foul thrown in along the way -- during four playoff losses to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The irony is that the Thunder were considered the favored first-round opponent over the massive front line of the Los Angeles Lakers that would pit Haywood on Andrew Bynum.

Haywood couldn't stay on the floor against OKC's Kendrick Perkins, who scored 13 points in Game 2 and averaged 7.7 rebounds in 27.3 minutes a game before leaving early in Game 4 with a hip injury. In those first three games, Haywood played a total of 36 minutes, shot 3-of-11 from the floor and had nine rebounds.

Go back to the series before that, yes, the NBA Finals. Haywood injured his hip in Game 2 and didn't play the rest of the way as Dallas secured the title in six games.

Haywood twisted an ankle and sprained a knee late this season and maybe those ailments had something to do with his ineffective play. Perkins even suggested prior to Game 4 that something must be bothering the Mavs' big man.

Since his arrival in February 2010 when Haywood started on a double-double roll, invoking praise by some as "best center in Mavs history," to OKC's first-round rough-up, his popularity among fans has hit an all-time low.

And now, thanks to the amnesty clause negotiated into the new collective bargaining agreement, Haywood's future in Dallas is certainly in doubt.

The Countdown rolls on at No. 11 ...

BRENDAN HAYWOOD
Pos: C
Ht/Wt: 7-0, 263
Experience: 11 years
Age: 32 (Nov. 27, 1979)
2011-12 stats: 5.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 21.2 mpg
Contract status: Signed through 2014-15
2011-12 salary: $7.6 million
2012-13 salary: $8.3 million

His story: In hindsight, the handsome, five-year contract (the sixth year is non-guaranteed) the Mavs handed Haywood following the 2009-10 season doesn't look so great. Of course, when Dallas did the deal it didn't know that a few weeks later Tyson Chandler would land in its lap via a trade with the Charlotte Bobcats. Haywood took Rick Carlisle's early offseason promise that he would take over as the starting center with Erick Dampier on his way out. Except Dampier's expiring contract turned into a resurgent Chandler, who came off a successful Team USA stint and instantly changed those starting plans. The Mavs will point to their defensive statistics this season as proof that Chandler wasn't missed as some would have thought. Others will point to athleticism, attitude, leadership and a stretch from March 2 through May 5 in which Haywood managed one double-digit scoring game and averaged 4.2 rebounds as proof that the Mavs took a significant dip at the center position.

His outlook: This is where things get interesting. If the Mavs are to sign Deron Williams in July, they will have to amnesty a player to help create the appropriate cap space to offer a max deal. There are two amnesty candidates, Shawn Marion and Haywood, but Marion figured to be the leading candidate if only because it is so difficult to find a 7-foot center to plug into the starting lineup. But, as the season wore on and as Haywood's floor time dwindled in the playoffs, plus with Marion having a fine season -- particularly as a defensive stopper -- speculation raged that Haywood has taken the amnesty lead. Haywood even said during an appearance on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM's Ben & Skin Show that he would not be offended if the team does cut ties. And why should he? The Mavs will still owe him the $28 million remaining on his contract and he'll pad it a bit more from whichever team should get him next.

The Countdown
No. 15 Lamar Odom
No. 14 Brian Cardinal
No. 13 Yi Jianlian
No. 12 Dominique Jones
No. 11 Brendan Haywood
No. 10 Coming Monday

We'll probably never know coach Rick Carlisle's true feelings about Lamar Odom and the forward's indifferent attitude and disappointing performances with the Dallas Mavericks.

Carlisle is a pragmatist. He doesn't obsess over what might have been.

PODCAST
The Ben & Skin Show explores a few teams that will have the power to prevent DFW native Deron Williams from coming home to the Mavericks this summer. Listen

"It’s a chapter that is one that will go down in Mavs history as just something that didn’t work out," Carlisle told ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM's Galloway & Company earlier this week. "We all tried. We all wanted it to work; Lamar wanted it to work. It was just rough. At times it felt like we were gaining momentum, but we just couldn’t get there and in the end we had to go on without him."

One has to wonder how badly Odom really wanted it to work since only he could control his attitude and effort. The Odom chapter is not yet closed because, well, he's still a member of the team. The Mavs would love to slam the book shut by trading Odom around the draft and getting rid of the $2.4 million potential cap hit, the amount guaranteed on the final year of his deal that in full is worth $8.2 million.

The deadline to trade Odom and wipe his potential cap hit from the books is June 29. Any team that has him on its roster by that date is responsible for paying him his guaranteed money. Two well-documented trade partners include Sacramento and Toronto, teams with substantial cap space to absorb Odom on the payroll and waive him. The Mavs will throw in cash to cover the buyout and maybe even throw in a second-round draft pick.

That strategy has seemed the most logical because, the thinking has gone, the Mavs in no way will take back salary because it would burn their cap space and squeeze their ability to offer Deron Williams a max contract in free agency.

Then, Carlisle on GAC offered just a scenario.

"One of the things about Odom’s contract is it is a contract that is going to be very desirable because it is a large number with a small guarantee, like (Jerry) Stackhouse’s and like (Erick) Dampier’s deal," Carlisle said. "Those two contract situations turned into (Shawn) Marion and (Tyson) Chandler. Those were two important building blocks to a championship."

Whether he meant to or not, Carlisle opened the door for speculation that the Mavs could be open to dealing Odom for a player of relevance. It would require packaging him with say, Shawn Marion ($8.6 million next season), for a high-dollar player another team wants to get out from under the contract, for example Pau Gasol in Los Angeles or Amare Stoudemire in New York.

The catch is that such a deal would make it difficult for the Mavs to then carve out enough cap space to offer a max deal to Williams. That is unless Dallas then moved the incoming player to another team in exchange for a player whose salary matched Marion's, as ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM's Jeff "Skin" Wade explained on Wednesday's Ben & Skin Show.

Such a scenario would rid the Mavs of Odom's cap hit, bring in a player at (most likely) a position of need and keep the Mavs in play to offer Williams the moon.

Such a plan won't be easy to carry through, but it certainly was curious of Carlisle to mention, unprompted, the possibility.

So let the speculation begin.

Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle is one of three NBA head coaches on the newly restructured competition committee announced by the league Wednesday.

Carlisle, the current president of the NBA Coaches Association, joins Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers and Memphis Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins. Also on the committee are team owners Dan Gilbert (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Joe Lacob (Golden State Warriors) and general managers Bryan Colangelo (Toronto Raptors), Mitch Kupchak (Los Angeles Lakers), Kevin O’Connor (Utah Jazz) and Sam Presti (Oklahoma City Thunder).

Previously, the committee included the general manager from each of the 30 teams. That committee has been reconstituted as the new general managers committee. The league says it streamlined the competition committee because it wanted broader input on issues that could potentially improve the game.

One issue that could come up when the committee convenes for the first time during the NBA Finals is basket interference situations in the final two minutes of regulation and overtime. Mavs owner Mark Cuban requested that the league immediately make such instances eligible for replay review following a late-season loss at the Los Angeles Lakers in which Cuban and Carlisle believe Lakers forward Matt Barnes touched the ball in the cylinder but was not called for offensive goaltending.

The play counted as a 3-point basket for Pau Gasol and could have changed the course of the overtime finish.

IRVING, Texas -- Not every head coach is equipped with the patience level to co-exist long term with an owner who practically sits on the team bench during most games, chronically chastises referees and talks to his players on the periphery of the timeout huddle.

(See Don Nelson, Avery Johnson).

PODCAST
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle joins "The Herd" to discuss his contract extension, Mark Cuban, Jason Terry, Dirk Nowitzki and the NBA playoffs. Listen

Rick Carlisle, however, seemed to come to Dallas in May 2008 not only prepared for it, but eager to embrace owner Mark Cuban's intense and unorthodox style of watching his team play. Carlisle probably figured Cuban isn't going to change so it'd behoove him to work with it instead of against it. And it's probably one big reason why Carlisle, 52, agreed to a new four-year contract Tuesday that next season will push him past Nelson as the longest-tenured coach under Cuban's watch.

There are other reasons why Carlisle wanted to remain in Dallas when other lucrative coaching opportunities would quickly have presented themselves. At the top of the list is that Carlisle trusts the track record of Cuban and president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson. He believes they will always provide the resources to compete, or at least aggressively pursue those resources -- a belief that will be put to the test during this offseason of potentially unprecedented roster turnover.

"I can’t think of another owner and GM that has been able to reinvent a franchise more times in a short period of time than Mark and Donnie (Nelson)," Carlisle said, noting how the duo acquired Jason Terry and Devin Harris after losing Steve Nash to Phoenix in free agency. "We’re at a point now where we’re going to make some things happen. I see things happening in a variety of different ways. I don’t see it being only free agency or only being trades or only being the draft. I think we’re going to be very active with all three modes of getting a team better."

As inventive as the front office has been through the years, Carlisle has proved equally adept on the bench as an in-game tactician and making himself flexible and open-minded enough to capture veteran egos. This season's disappointing 36-30 record, the first in a dozen seasons in which the Mavs did not finish with a .600 winning percentage (the equivalent of 50 wins), came under the most unusual of circumstances given the NBA lockout, the dismantling of the title team, the short training camp, injuries and the Lamar Odom saga to name a few.

As the offseason beckons with cap space to burn for the first time in Cuban's tenure, Carlisle said he and his staff will be active the next month scouring every position on every team to identify potential trade targets. But, Carlisle acknowledged, the architects of the next Mavs team will predominantly be Cuban and Nelson.

"We all kind of place our eggs in their basket knowing that they’re going to do the work, they have the resources, but this is going to be work," Carlisle said. "We’re going to have to do a lot of homework. We’re going to have to be opportunistic and resourceful and we’ve got the greatest fans in the NBA and we want to put the best team on the floor we can for them."

IRVING, Texas -- During his Game 4 news conference following the first-round sweep to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle raised some already curious eyebrows when he started talking about his time with the club in the past tense.

For a man without a contract, was he using calculated language? Was Carlisle planting the seeds for his departure?

PODCAST
Mavs coach Rick Carlisle dishes on his new four-year deal, how the team plans to attack free agency, his input on the decision-making process and much more. Listen

Well, the coach with the new four-year contract as of Tuesday said he wasn't trying to send hints through his verb tense.

"I was reflecting just simply based on my first contract. There was nothing meant by it," Carlisle said after spending an hour on the airwaves with ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM's Galloway & Company. "One thing I’ve learned through all this is owners are special people and they’re all different, they all have a different way of operating their business. The way it all happened was fine."

And now comes the hard work in what promises to be an intriguing offseason. The Mavs are entering an unprecedented summer under Cuban. For the first time in his ownership, Dallas will have cap space and plans to be aggressive. Obviously, Brooklyn Nets point guard Deron Williams tops the list when free agency starts on July 1.

Carlisle said next on his agenda is gathering his coaching staff and painstakingly combing through the 29 other rosters and studying every possible potential free agent and desirable players through trades, plus draft prospects with the Mavs set to pick 17th.

"I see us being very active in all three areas -- the draft, free agency and trades," Carlisle said. "And it’s going to be a long summer because we’re going to be involved in everything. And so it’s one of the reasons I’m excited because I think there are going to be some terrific opportunities out there. We’ve got to get the team younger, we’ve got to get the team better."

In other words, stay tuned.

With the no-brainer contract becoming a done deal today, assuring that Rick Carlisle is signed up to coach the Dallas Mavericks through at least the 2015-16 season, the real work begins.

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When Carlisle arrived on the scene in 2008 as the successor to Avery Johnson, the roster included soon-to-be 30-year-olds in Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Shawn Marion, and a 35-year-old Jason Kidd. Wow, seems like spring chickens.

When Carlisle and the Mavs open training camp in October, the roster will include a 34-year-old Nowitzki and ...?

Who else is the $81 million question, or the $108 million question -- the amounts the Mavs or Brooklyn Nets will pay Deron Williams, respectively, whenever he chooses one over the other (interesting, of course, that Johnson coaches the Nets). Terry and Kidd are free agents and Marion isn't guaranteed to return.

Beyond Dirk, Carlisle doesn't know who will be on the 2012-13 roster in what promises to be a significant transition season coming of the 2011 championship followed by the first-round sweep out of the playoffs by the young hot-shots due north in Oklahoma City. It's not soft-pedaling things to say that the Mavs will battle mediocrity (36-30 this season) and even relevance, at least to the standard set during Mark Cuban's 12 years of ownership, if Williams opts to stay with the Nets.

Not that the perennial All-Star point guard promises a quick return to the Finals, but it would be a promising start. The free-agency list won't be laden with superstars or superstar potential to drape around Nowitzki.

Still, with or without Williams, Carlisle will indoctrinate a slew of new players into the system, a task he will no doubt attack with vigor, yet one that could be considered more daunting than the one he inherited even with the club having bottomed out emotionally in the first -round loss to the Chris Paul-led New Orleans Hornets in five games.

At least the Mavs took a game from those Hornets, the No. 2 seed then just like the Oklahoma City Thunder who swept Carlisle's Mavs to an early summer vacation less than two weeks ago. If the title team looked different this season, just wait until next season.

It will take a strong communicator to bring an unfamiliar group of players together and launch new era of winning basketball in Dallas. Carlisle proved he could bring a cast together during the championship season, coming off what had the makings of a devastating first-round playoff exit to the San Antonio Spurs the season before.

Carlisle believes the area he's grown the most over these last four years in Dallas is in communicating with his troops, a trait that cannot be undervalued in the NBA.

Or undersold, say, if Kidd relates his experiences with a flexible, open-minded Carlisle to a potential point-guard newcomer who happens to be friends with Kidd and shares the same agent.

"One of my strengths is that I’m an open-minded coach, I’m open to communication and I listen to the players," Carlisle said during the team's exit interviews on May 6. "I’m always working on being a better communicator as a coach and I work on that every single day and I’ve gotten better with it and I’ll continue to get better with it."

It could be the single most important aspect to the job as Carlisle is now officially on board to tackle the changing environment at the American Airlines Center.

Contract disputes are about money. The person seeking the contract always wants more than the person handing out the contract wants to give.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and coach Rick Carlisle might not yet describe this lingering contract situation as a dispute, but the bottom line is that Carlisle has yet to ink a new deal. Neither side is talking about it, so it can only be assumed that money is a central issue.

Carlisle earned $4.5 million in the fourth and final year of his contract this past season. That ranked him seventh at the start of the season, according to Forbes, among the league's highest-paid coaches. Three of the top six on the list didn't make it out of the season. Mike D'Antonio ($6 million, tied with San Antonio's Gregg Popovich for second) resigned from the New York Knicks, Nate McMillan ($5.5 million, fourth) was fired by the Portland Trail Blazers and Flip Saunders ($4.8 million, sixth) was fired by the Washington Wizards.

According to Forbes, Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers is the highest-paid coach in the NBA, earning $7 million this season. He's in his 13th season as a head coach and eighth with the Celtics, who hold a 1-0 lead on the Philadelphia 76ers in the East semifinals. Rivers and the Celtics won the 2008 championship and returned to the Finals in 2010, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games.

Is Carlisle looking for Rivers-type money? Or perhaps the $6 million that Popovich, a four-time championship coach, is pocketing this season? The NBA's Coach of the Year has the Spurs in the West semifinals on the heels of a first-round sweep.

In Carlisle's third season in Dallas, he molded a group of title-less veterans into unexpected champions, providing Cuban and the franchise with its first title. While the Miami Heat, the team the Mavs dispatched in the NBA Finals in six games, rewarded coach Erik Spoelstra with an extension in December prior to the start of the season, Carlisle's reward never came.

Cuban dismantled the title team and the season was a struggle from start to finish. Dallas ended it 36-30 in the regular season and then was swept out of the first round by the Oklahoma City Thunder under coach Scott Brooks, who is also coming to the end of his contract and will command a bigger payday.

Cuban claims it's simply not his business style to grant extensions (the 2006 extension he gave Avery Johnson backfired). But now that the season is over and still no deal exists, it figures that either the two sides are negotiating a workable salary or that Carlisle, who would be a hot commodity as a free agent, is keeping his options open.

After all, the Mavs' future, in terms of its roster as Dirk Nowitzki turns 34 in June, is as unsettled as ever in Cuban's dozen years as owner.

Mike Hill and Jalen Rose discuss whether Rick Carlisle will get a contract extension and coach the Mavericks next season.

Eras have a definitive starting point and a definitive ending point.

Clearly this current Dallas Mavericks' era could have a few starting points: The hiring of Don Nelson in 1997, the draft-day trade for Dirk Nowitzki in 1998 or the sale of the franchise to Mark Cuban in 2000. For the sake of this argument, we're going to suggest that the official start was the 2000-01 season, the launch of a decade-plus string of 50-win seasons and the first venture back into the postseason since the 1990s blackout.

And so may we now suggest that the current Mavs era -- with the first-round sweep at the hands of the Western Conference's baby superstars in Oklahoma City and an expected roster overhaul that could turn over everyone not named Dirk Nowitzki -- represents the end of a 12-season era. That era included three coaches guiding vastly different rosters -- with Nowitzki as the only constant -- to at least the West finals.

In those 12 seasons, the Mavs hit phenomenal milestones and set the standard for teams to come:

* The franchise's first championship in 2011

* Two NBA Finals appearances (2006 and 2011)

* Three West finals appearances (2003, '06, '11)

* 12 consecutive postseason appearances

* Franchise-best 67 wins in 2006-07

* 11 consecutive 50-win seasons (or the equivalent of a .600 winning percentage) all with Nowitzki, and the last eight with Jason Terry.

That last feat is also the signal of the end of this era. This season's team with its hastily fashioned roster finished 36-30 (.545), the first time since the the 1999-2000 season (40-42) that it did not reach at least a .600 winning percentage. It meant a struggle just to secure a playoff berth, finishing with the No. 7 seed and the same record as the No. 8 seed Utah Jazz, and just two games ahead of the lottery-bound Houston Rockets.

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"When you’re used to going a little farther and doing a little better, everything becomes a priority," Mavs president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said. "The priority is for us to be healthy in the here and now, and also in the long-term, and to never go back to those 10 years of the Bataan Death March walks in the desert of no playoffs. That’s the plan."

Welcome to the new era.

The question ahead is whether the second decade of Cuban-style Mavs basketball will begin in earnest next season with local lad Deron Williams as Nowitzki's sidekick until the big man decides to step aside, or if next season only becomes something of a stopgap before regrouping in the summer of 2013 with a new plan to keep the successes coming.

At the moment, we can't even be sure if coach Rick Carlisle will make Dallas the longest coaching stop of his 10-year career. Carlisle appears headed toward free agency, having yet to strike a deal with Cuban for a fifth season and beyond. At times Carlisle has, strategically or not, talked about coaching the Mavs in the past tense. Other times he seems ready to embrace the uncertain future.

"I look at this summer for this franchise as a summer of opportunity and excitement," Carlisle said. "And I don’t think anybody should look at it any differently."

Surely the coaching situation will get resolved soon, seemingly with Carlisle signing a lucrative new deal to stay in Big D. Then all attention will shift to July 1 and the start of free agency, and whether the perennial All-Star point guard called D-Will will make 2012-13 the official launch party for the next era of Dallas Mavericks basketball.