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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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ESPN's Stephen A. Smith chimes in on the Dallas Mavericks' season, their free agency plans and more. Listen

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

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.

If Dwight Howard is dead set on leaving the Magic's small (market) world ASAP, as reports suggest, and Orlando grants his wish, it's hard to find the happily-ever-after ending for the Dallas Mavericks.

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Is the Dwight Howard to the Mavs dream alive? Dwight still wants out of Orlando and it could open the door for the Mavs to put a proposal together. Listen

That's the picture Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi painted Tuesday morning during an appearance on ESPN Radio's "Mike & Mike in the Morning." If you thought D12 got what he wanted with Monday's news of coach Stan Van Gundy's firing and the franchise parting with general manager Otis Smith, it might come as a surprise then that Bianchi suggested that Howard could be traded before the June 28 draft.

Bianchi believes the Magic will first ask Howard for a long-term commitment. If the game's top (and seemingly profoundly confused) center says no thanks, then Bianchi thinks the Magic will act quickly to move him out to spare the club and its fan base another derailing, drama-filled season.

If Orlando again begins to solicit trade offers for its statuesque big man coming off back surgery just a month ago -- while also likely looking to unload the egregious Hedo Turkoglu contract (two years, $23.6 million) -- what's the Mavs' best offer?

Think the Magic jump at Brendan Haywood, Lamar Odom's partially guaranteed contract, Shawn Marion, Brandan Wright, Rodrigue Beaubois and whoever else the Mavs might want to throw in?

Not likely (and it's here where speculation can run wild that re-signing Tyson Chandler might have made the Mavs a more prominent player in a potential deal).

Howard has been adamant that he wants to play for the Brooklyn Nets. That's presumably because of his desire (or is it adidas' desire?) to play in a large market where his superstardom can really shine, and his arrival would almost certainly convince All-Star point guard and free-agent-to-be Deron Williams to sign long-term in the borough. If the Nets get a top-three pick in the draft lottery May 30, they'll keep their protected pick from the Gerald Wallace deadline deal, a golden nugget to toss into a package to Orlando.

The Nets, with restricted free-agent center Brook Lopez, and the Los Angeles Lakers, with center Andrew Bynum or power forward Pau Gasol as prime bait, are the top contenders to deal for Dwight now.

The Mavs simply are not.

Dallas' best hope would be that the Magic are desperate to trade Howard out of the Eastern Conference and can't work out a deal with the Lakers. The worst-case scenario, obviously, would be for Orlando to deal him to Brooklyn, effectively (presumably) taking the Mavs out of the running for D-Will and leaving Mark Cuban and Dirk Nowitzki staring into an uneasy future.

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

The curious case of Kelenna Azubuike as a member of the Dallas Mavericks started March 22 when the club released athletic big man Sean Williams, who had spent most of the season with the D-League Texas Legends.

A week earlier, the San Antonio Spurs had traded for Stephen Jackson and were closing in on signing Boris Diaw to bolster their roster for a deep playoff run. What were the defending champion Mavericks up to in releasing Williams and opening a spot on the 15-man roster? Who was on their radar that could provide an immediate jolt one month from the true start of their title defense?

Last year, Dalllas signed veteran sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic and the move paid off handsomely. At this point in the season, they could use someone like him. Three-point shooting -- heck, shooting in general --- had taken a significant dip throughout the truncated schedule and the Mavs would need firepower down the stretch and into the playoffs.

Could 3-point specialist Jason Kapono, recently released by the Lakers, be on his way? Maybe the 6-foot-7 Andres Nocioni? Sure, he was down on his luck, but still he was a 37.3 percent 3-point shooter throughout his career.

Turns out Kapono wasn't coming and neither was Nociono.

Who'd the Mavs have up their sleeve?

Azubuike, an intriguing shooting guard, oh, about three seasons ago before a torn patellar tendon put his career on indefinite hold.

And the Countdown ticks down to No. 10 ...

KELENNA AZUBUIKE
Pos: SG
Ht/Wt: 6-5, 215
Experience: 5 years
Age: 28 (Dec. 16, 1983)
2011-12 stats: Played total of 18 minutes in three games
Contract status: Team option for next season
2011-12 salary: $280,192
2012-13 salary: $992,680

His story: The Mavs signed the 6-foot-5 London native March 23. This was not a shot-in-the-arm acquisition like the S-Jax trade or the Diaw signing the Spurs pulled off (and are now reaping the benefits). Azubuike was starting to make a name for himself in 2008-09 with the Golden State Warriors when the formerly undrafted free agent averaged 14.4 points and 5.0 rebounds and knocked down 3-pointers at a 44.8-percent clip. He was a heck of an athlete built for an up-and-down game. Then came the devastating patellar tendon injury nine games into the 2009-10 season. The impatient Warriors traded him to the New York Knicks, who waived him Feb. 28, 2011. On March 23, 2012, Azubuike got another chance in the NBA, thanks to the Mavs, who knew he wouldn't be helping them to defend the title. So what were the Mavs' hopes in signing him? An inexpensive option with hopeful upside at shooting guard and/or small forward for next season? Perhaps. After all, Jason Terry will likely be moving on and so could be Shawn Marion, maybe even Rodrigue Beaubois and Vince Carter, too, depending on various factors in Dallas' venture into free agency. Interestingly, Azubuike, after playing just three regular-season games with Dallas, was on the active roster in the first round against Oklahoma City, taking the spot of second-year guard and 2010 first-round draft pick Dominique Jones.

His outlook: The Mavs believe they have the best head athletic trainer in the game today in Casey Smith and an elite orthopedic crew headed by team doc T.O. Souryal. Azubuike will be three years removed from the horrific knee injury that put his burgeoning career in jeopardy and one that remains terribly difficult to watch on YouTube. But here's the hope for Azubuike: A second surgery in March 2011 was performed to fix the first surgery that wasn't done properly. Azubuike confirmed that fact on Twitter in March 2011, saying: "The 1st surgery in '09 wasn’t done right. Gettin it done right this time!” The Mavs' medical and training staffs have a track record with patellar tendon injuries after Caron Butler's awful injury on Jan. 1, 2011, in Milwaukee, which happens to be where Azubuike also blew up his knee. There's no guarantee that the the former Kentucky Wildcat will ever regain his explosiveness, but watching Butler this season with the Los Angeles Clippers has to be encouraging that he can at least be a productive player. At less than $1 million next season, Azubuike is low-risk and if he turns out to be high-reward, the Mavs will have made a shrewd move at a time when many were scratching their heads at the timing of the signing.

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 Coming Tuesday

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.

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.

PODCAST
Coop and Nate weight in on Rick Carlisle's new contract with the Mavericks. Listen

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.

Mavericks forward Shawn Marion, who finished eighth in Defensive Player of the Year voting, went under the knife Friday and, for all you pre-Med MFFLs, shared the experience online via Mobli and then posted to his Twitter account (@matrix31).

He underwent a minor procedure to have a lipoma, a common benign fatty tissue, removed from the back of his shoulder. Marion didn't actually record the outpatient surgery, although he says he wishes he could have. He did provide a photo of the removed fatty tissue in a jar and a groggy, post-op Mobli.com video from the car on his way home explaining what just went down.

(Be warned, the mostly harmless video needs two bleeps for inappropriate language).

Marion arrived back in Dallas on Monday night, he tweeted, but don't expect Marion, who turned 34 on May 7, to sit still for long this offseason. His plans include his usual globetrotting as a man always on the move.

"I'm going to do it all, I enjoy my life, so I'm going do to what the hell I want to do," Marion said in his humorous showboat style during the team's exit interviews. "Its just that simple."

There's no telling yet if Marion will be a man on the move this summer from a professional standpoint, too. Marion has two years remaining on his contract. He could ultimately be included in a potential sign-and-trade deal as Dallas seeks to get younger, and he is one of two candidates along with Brendan Haywood that the Mavs can amnesty.

Or the Mavs can bring back their top perimeter defender and a core veteran leader.

"I can't sit here and tell you what they're going to do, what they decide not to do," Marion said. "It's up to those guys upstairs (Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson) to make it happen."

DALLAS -- Mavericks forward Shawn Marion knows he could fall victim to the amnesty clause this summer and be forced to resume his career somewhere else next season.

"I'm a Dallas Maverick right now," Marion said Sunday during the team's exit interviews. "That's all that matters."

Few speak the truth like Marion, even if it's sometimes in his own specialized Matrix language. Still, if you want to know what's up, Marion is the man to talk to. After Games 1 and 2 at Oklahoma City, Marion was fuming that the Mavs put themselves in position to lose both games late, which they did.

He was exasperated that Kevin Durant's Game 1 game-winner totally overshadowed his 10-of-27 shooting performance with Marion locking him down, and he had some choice words about that bucket. On Sunday, as players cleaned out their lockers one day after the Thunder's monstrous fourth-quarter comeback to sweep the series, Marion told it like he sees it.

"You know, to recover from this, we've just got to regroup, refocus and really dig deep inside and decide if you want to go out there and try to win another one. That's the biggest thing," he said. "It's frustrating to be sitting here talking about it, saying how we just got beat in the first round of the playoffs. To go out like that, I'm very disappointed, especially because I really love competing and I try to go out there and lay it on the line every night and just came up short.

"They was a better team. They did everything right and everything bounced their way, and it's frustrating when you're sitting here thinking about, contemplating what's the scenario, this or that. But at the end of the day, we have a lot of free agents on this team and we're going to see what's going to happen for the summer and go from there."

Marion, easily the player who came to training camp in December in the best shape and turned in the most consistent season of anyone on the team, is on the short list of players under contract for next season. The list includes Dirk Nowitzki, Vince Carter, Brendan Haywood, Brandan Wright (team option), Kalenna Abuzuike, Rodrigue Beaubois and Dominique Jones.

Is that concerning for the 13-year vet?

"I don't know. This is a business, it's a business first. I look at it like that, that's what it is," Marion said. "I know that, I've adjusted to that throughout my career. That's what you have got to take it as first, everything else comes second. It's a business first. It means you've got to have that mindset going into, you know that, that's what you've got to take it as."

DALLAS -- Mavs president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson, perhaps sick of hearing that the franchise made a mistake by not re-signing center Tyson Chandler, suggested that the big man wouldn't have made much of a difference for Dallas this season.

In Nelson's opinion, the Mavs still wouldn't have been good enough to get past the young, improved Oklahoma City squad that just dismissed the defending champions with a first-round sweep.

"There’s no fans bigger of Tyson Chandler than the guys in that locker room and the guys in the management staff," Nelson said. "We understand what he brings to the table. But we also would not have won that series had he been here. We might have won more games, we might have put ourselves in a better position, but there’s no question that they’re a better team.

"We’d be sitting here today and you guys would be telling me, ‘Man, you guys are all locked up with no place to go and no flexibility, blah, blah, blah.' So it’s just what it is."

Nelson's take is not a consensus opinion throughout the organization. Shawn Marion's eyebrows shot up above his designer shades when informed that Nelson didn't think Chandler could have made a difference in the series.

"He really just said that?" Marion asked. "Tyson does things out there a lot of guys don't do in this league. Even if he's not scoring all the time, but it's just his presence out there, his demeanor, it can carry to wins."

Could it have carried to four wins in a series over this season's Thunder? We'll never know, but the Mavs' front office doesn't think so.

DALLAS – Don’t count on Jason Kidd to help recruit Deron Williams to Dallas.

Kidd wouldn’t mind backing up Williams next season, but he doesn’t plan on trying to steer the All-Star point guard to any particular team.

“I won’t have any influence on D-Will’s decision,” Kidd said during Sunday’s exit interviews at the American Airlines Center. “I only joke because we have the same agent and we’ll probably play a lot of golf this summer together, and so [there is] a lot of speculation. But he’s his own man and he’s going to make the right decision for what fits best for him to try to win a championship.”

Kidd will also have a decision to make as a free agent, so as he pointed out, he’s in no position to be a recruiter.

“I’m a free agent, so who am I recruiting?” Kidd said. “No, I will help whatever it takes to recruit, but I’ve got to find a home first.”

Dirk Nowitzki didn’t plan on being eliminated from the playoffs so quickly, so the Mavs' superstar doesn’t have a recruiting pitch for Williams prepared. Nowitzki joked that signing with the Mavs would allow Williams, a Rangers fan, to see his favorite baseball team much more often.

How about what the Mavs have to offer?

“It’s obviously way too early,” Nowitzki said. “It’s May and he knows he’s got a big decision to make. It’s obvious that we’d love to have him, but so would a lot of other teams, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens there this summer.

“I was fortunate enough to spend some time around him during All-Star games. He’s a great dude and he’s from here, so I think it would be a great fit, but hey, that’s not my decision.”

Shawn Marion kept his recruiting pitch for Williams, a native of nearby The Colony, short and sweet: “Get yo’ ass home. Home is where the heart is.”

DALLAS -- Last week Charles Barkley joined ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM's Galloway & Co. and said adding Deron Williams alone to complement Dirk Nowitzki won't be enough to return the Dallas Mavericks among the Western Conference contenders.

Barkley said Nowitzki needs a big man in the middle.

After the Mavs went from championship to swept Saturday at the hands of the young Oklahoma City Thunder, Jason Terry, who might not be back with the team after eight seasons, said Nowitzki has plenty left in the tank, but that the Mavs must get him interior help.

"Dirk's so wonderfully amazing with his ability to play the game at high level night in and night out with the defenses that he faces," Terry said. "But, again, for Dirk to be successful and go to where we went to last year he has to have an active big to play alongside him. He has to. And he knows it. So, if he's involved in any kind of decisions I know that's what he's going to be looking for."

The comments by Barkley and Terry certainly sound like indictments of Mavs starting center Brendan Haywood, who had a miserable series and still has three guaranteed years and some $28 million remaining on his contract.

Haywood played a series-high 25 minutes, most of which came after Thunder center Kendrick Perkins left in the first quarter with a right hip strain. Yet, the 7-foot Haywood could only muster four points and four rebounds. He played a total of 36 minutes in the first three games and was benched to start the second half in Games 2 and 3.

In Game 4, the Mavs' interior defense was laughable, particularly in the fourth quarter when the Thunder scored 20 of their 35 points in the paint with the majority coming from James Harden. He drove past Dallas' guards at will and met little resistance as he attacked the lane and then the rim for 15 fourth-quarter points. He scored one fewer point in the quarter than the entire Mavs team.

Haywood played just the first 4:33 of the fourth quarter, long enough for Harden to put in six points and to be whistled for an offensive foul away from the ball. Ian Mahinmi finished out the game with little effectiveness on the defensive end to slow Harden. Mahinmi, who will become a free agent, did have 10 points and five rebounds in 14 minutes.

Because of his uninspired play during this brief series, the man who backed up Tyson Chandler last season and played just 25 minutes in the NBA Finals because of a hip injury sustained in Game 2 could fall victim to the amnesty clause this summer. It would allow the Mavs to rid their books of Haywood's remaining contract heading into next season. Shawn Marion is also a candidate for the amnesty clause, but the forward's value, particularly on the defensive end this season, can not be understated.

Although Carlisle twice went to Mahinmi to start the second half, the coach kept Haywood in the starting lineup all four games. It's uncertain at the moment if Haywood will be back in the starting lineup next season -- or back at all.

Here's three more things to consider as the Mavs head into a long offseason:

1. Half man, half awful: Vince Carter certainly had some moments this season and he even delivered a vintage jam in Game 4. But all in all, the Carter experiment didn't pan out. He had an abysmal series shooting the basketball. He made 3-of-10 shots in Game 4 and for the series he made 12-of-41 shots (29.3 percent). Carter did make 2-of-3 buckets from beyond the arc on Saturday, but he was 3-of-10 for the series. Carter is likely one of the few players that will return next season. He's under contract for the next two seasons.

2. Quiet Delonte West: He certainly provided Mavs fans with some entertaining play and antics, both on and off the court, this season, but his playoff series didn't leave much of a mark. West came off the bench for the first time in the series in Game 4 and had just two points and three assists in 18 minutes. West endured the unfortunate dislocation and fracture of his right ring finger in February and missed six weeks. As a free-agent-to-be, West said he hopes he's proven to the league that he's trustworthy of signing a multi-year deal. If that is the case, he will likely be signing somewhere other than Dallas.

3. What's next for Roddy B?: Rodrigue Beaubois played a grand total of 12 minutes in the four-game sweep. He got into Game 2 as something of an emergency sub when the Mavs fell behind by 16 points in the second quarter. It's been another rough season for third-year guard after coming back from a second foot surgery last summer. He said he can't be sure he'll be back with the Mavs -- he could be trade bait to create cap room if needed -- but Beaubois is excited to be healthy for the first time in three summers and capable of working out and working on his game. With the possibility that Terry, Jason Kidd and West won't be back, there could be real opportunity for Beaubois if the Mavs still believe he can be a contributor to the future of the franchise.

DALLAS -- For years prior to winning the title last season, the debate has raged: Should Mark Cuban blow up the Mavericks?

Well, that point might actually be upon the Mavs' owner as his club faces the prospects of being swept out of the first round of the playoffs on the heels of winning it all. Not exactly the way a defending champion wants to go out, but it's a path that Cuban can't claim will have come as a total shock.

The owner decided to dismantle the title team and play the free-agent game in the summer. And once this season comes to a close, whether it melts away tonight or in Game 5 in Oklahoma City on Monday or somewhere stays alive beyond the that, the names on the jerseys are going to change.

Check out the list of names that could be making their final appearances tonight:

* Shawn Marion
* Brendan Haywood
* Delonte West
* Jason Kidd
* Jason Terry
* Rodrigue Beaubois
* Ian Mahinmi
* Brian Cardinal
* Dominique Jones
* Yi Jianlian

The only player guaranteed to be back is Dirk Nowitzki. A few guys would seem likely to be back, such as Vince Carter, who has two more years left on his deal, Brandan Wright, who the Mavs would figure to pick up the team option, and Kelenna Azubuike, who they acquired late in the season and have under contract for next season.

Otherwise it's wide open, and much will depend on where super free-agent-to-be Deron Williams lands. It will be a busy July around here. The Mavs would like to at least keep things going a bit longer in May.

Series: Oklahoma City Thunder leads, 3-0

When: 6:30 p.m.

Where: American Airlines Center

TV: TNT/TXA 21

Radio: ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM/1270 AM (Spanish)

What to watch: Level of play. Coach Rick Carlisle continued to emphasize Saturday morning that the Mavs' effort was up to snuff in Game 3 and that it was their level of play that let them down. In that case, the Mavs' season must hinge on whether they can make baskets, hold onto the basketball and keep the Thunder from making more baskets. If they do that, then they should win and extend the series.

Key matchup: Kevin Durant vs. Shawn Marion
As terrific as Marion's defense was on Durant in the first two games, Durant got off early in Game 3 and scored 21 of his 31 points in the first half. Needless to say, that can't happen again. Marion will turn 34 on Monday. Depending on how well he can defend Durant tonight will determine if he's celebrating another year in Oklahoma City before a Game 5 or while on vacation.

Injuries: Thunder -- G Eric Maynor (torn right ACL) is out. Mavs -- None.

Up next: Game 5 -- Mavs at Thunder, 7 p.m. Monday (if necessary)

DALLAS -- As far as Kevin Durant is concerned, he was due for this kind of game.

Oklahoma City’s scoring machine was confident that he wouldn’t keep firing bricks. All due respect to Shawn Marion’s defense, but Durant considered his 34.1 percent shooting in the first two games of this series a fluke.

“I knew that if I’d just continue to work, they’d start to fall,” Durant said.

Shots kept falling for Durant in Thursday night’s 95-79 win over the Mavs that put the defending champions in danger of being swept out of the first round. The three-time scoring champion lit the Mavs up for 31 points on 11-of-15 shooting.

“He had a good game tonight,” Shawn Marion said. “I’ve got to give him credit. It’s frustrating to see him do that. As many times as he shoots, he’s going to have a good game here and there. S---, it’s bound to happen, he shoots so damn much.”

Durant really didn’t shoot that much Thursday, which is what made his performance so impressive. He attempted fewer shots in a game only 12 times this season.

Durant drilled a couple of wide-open 3s in the opening moments and stayed in a groove the whole first quarter, finishing the frame with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting. He was outscoring the Mavs by himself for much of the quarter.

“He’s the best scorer on the planet,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. “Marion did a phenomenal job for two games, and then tonight Durant picked his level up a little bit. He was making some of those contested shots.”

As good a defender as Marion is, it’s virtually impossible for a scorer of Durant’s historic caliber to struggle all series. The Mavs messed up by not taking advantage of Durant’s off nights early in the series, although he deserves credit for hitting a game-winner jumper in Marion’s grill in Game 1 and the go-ahead free throws in Game 2.

“If you look at Game 1 and Game 2, the way we defended him, we’ve got to steal one of them,” Dirk Nowitzki said. “He shot 34 percent from the floor in the first two games. That’s a time where we’ve got to steal one and we weren’t able to.”

Then, the Mavs weren’t able to slow down Durant in Game 3.

DALLAS -- Even down 0-3, there is still a bit of false bravado in the defending NBA champions' locker room.

After being dominated on their home floor by the Oklahoma City Thunder, a couple of Dallas Mavericks adopted a why-not attitude when it came to their attempt to become the first team in NBA history to overcome an 0-3 deficit in a playoff series.

“Can you fight through adverse situations and come together as a team and get it done? I believe we can,” sixth man Jason Terry said. “People say I’m crazy. Hey, go see a doc.”

A sane outlook after a 95-79 loss that wasn’t near as close as the final score indicates: The Mavs are simply playing for pride at this point. They’re just trying to avoid the embarrassment of following up a championship run by failing to win a playoff game.

It’s essentially guaranteed that the Mavs will be scattered on golf courses and beaches in a week or so. It’s just a matter of if they’ll have to hang their heads all offseason after being on the broom end of a sweep.

“We’ve got to win a game,” Dirk Nowitzki said. “If you’re down 0-3, you never focus on winning four straight. You’ve got to show some pride on Saturday and just play a better game.”

The Mavs’ ill-fated postseason slogan -- “All in” -- is about pride and commitment. It just so happens to have been a phrase owner Mark Cuban hollered in a heated halftime confrontation the day the Mavs mutually decided to let Lamar Odom quit on this team.

Can the remaining Mavs muster the mental toughness to keep fighting when all realistic hope has been rejected into the fifth row like Serge Ibaka’s swat of a Terry layup attempt?

We’ll find out Saturday night in Game 4. And that’s really the only drama remaining in the Mavs’ failed title defense.

“We’ve got to fight,” Shawn Marion said. “We’ve got to go out swinging. That’s what it’s about. It’s about going out there and seeing what’s inside of you.

“Gotta dig deep inside of us and go out there and get it. We’ve got to all look at each other in the eyes and in the face and go out there and challenge each other.”

The Mavs will be all out soon. That fate has all but been sealed.

Will they be ashamed? They still have a say in that.