Mavs Should Stay Patient In Free Agency

Feb 13, 2013; Dallas, TX, USA; A general view of the Dallas Mavericks logo at center court before the game between the Mavericks and the Sacramento Kings at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

As the July 10th date gets closer, the rumors and speculations of who the Dallas Mavericks will sign in free agency continue to grow. Even with players like Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh looking to possibly switch teams, the Mavs don’t need to rush anything. There is nothing wrong with waiting and keeping your options open.

The Mavs have learned their lesson about not having options. During the pre-championship years, the organization was known as the destination of choice to get overpaid. Juwan Howard was the highest paid player in the league at one time while in a Mavs uniform. Keith Van Horn made $15.6 million sitting on the Dallas bench for a season. Hell bent on not repeating the past, the front office has gone into the last three seasons with options. No need now to give up those options for one player by signing a long term deal for substantial money.

The Tyson Chandler trade could very well be the biggest splash the Mavericks make in the offseason. It is a huge upgrade to the roster and allows the team to have an option at the end of the season to keep Tyson or not, just like the championship season. The talk of bringing in Luol Deng, Trevor Ariza, and now Lance Stephenson sounds good, but as Cuban has stated nobody will get a max deal. That means that they will be cost efficient on all fronts no matter the player.

Last offseason, even though they spoke with Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum, the Mavs waited to make any free agency moves. The brought in Jose Calderon and Monta Ellis later and both have paid off in different ways for the future. They like being able to meet with top free agents from year-to-year and retool as needed under the current CBA.

The deep free agent class this offseason works in the team’s favor as well. They can add role players to fill holes on the roster that will keep the team competitive. There is no shame in bringing back Vince Carter and Shawn Marion on short deals. You could argue that by adding Raymond Felton and Tyson Chandler to last year’s roster would have been enough to win Game 7 against the Spurs and advance to the second round. We all have to be patient…