Dallas Mavericks 2010 Preseason Press Conference

[fearthebrow]

Welcome back to the Dallas Mavericks annual preseason press conference. It's been an interesting offseason! We started by drafting Hassan Whiteside and Jeremy Evans. Then we acquired seasoned vets Stephen Jackson, Tayshawn Prince, and Caron Butler.

So where does that leave us?

Our team has enough talented youth that we think a solid foundation is in place, and it's time to show them how to win a few games before they fully develop. Are we talented enough to compete for a championship? Probably not. Talented enough to make the playoffs? No doubt.

Jackson and Butler will immediately step in as starters and should provide strong defensive and offensive production. We like what they bring to the table, and we especially like their contracts. They will both expire when it'll be time to re-sign our young players. So we feel good about our current situation, not mortgaging our future away and not letting our youth rot on worthless teams. At this point, we have nothing to lose (except the 2012 pick that we sent to the Knicks for Jackson).

We're looking forward to our young players continuing to grow under the leadership of our veteran studs. The foundation is in place to compete in the division and make a run for many years to come. Questions anyone?

[NickMalone77]

Nick Melon; The Advocate: You made it a point to vastly improve the wing positions in the offseason with bringing in SJax and Butler. What would you say could be the weakest position in your lineup and do you think Jrue is ready to take that next step in development as being a long term point guard in this league?

[JNR]

GWR: How did Brook react to the drafting of Hassan Whiteside? Was he threatened that you spent a high draft pick on a project center?

[WigNosy]

The acquisitions of Butler, Prince, and Jackson suggest the Mavericks are ready to make a move to win now... but the drafting of Whiteside says the Mavericks are trying to play the long game. How soon do you feel the Mavericks will be title contenders?

[Darth Vegito]

There still a team in Dallas?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[fearthebrow]

Nick Melon; The Advocate: You made it a point to vastly improve the wing positions in the offseason with bringing in SJax and Butler. What would you say could be the weakest position in your lineup and do you think Jrue is ready to take that next step in development as being a long term point guard in this league?

Thanks for the question. Our weakest position on paper has to be point guard, but only because we're very young at that spot. Jrue showed some flashes of brilliance last year as a 19 year old. We think he's going to continue on an upward trend and provide solid minutes this year. We also feel very comfortable with Mario Chalmers at the point; he's a solid game manager. Both of these guys are defensive studs and we're not expecting much out of them offensively, so we feel good about that spot despite it being our weakest on the court.

[fearthebrow]

GWR: How did Brook react to the drafting of Hassan Whiteside? Was he threatened that you spent a high draft pick on a project center?

Brook is excited to work side-by-side and show Hassan the way. Hassan and Brook have developed a really tight friendship; they're basically best buds now.

Hassan will start as a bench player, and we expect him to provide some decent minutes backing up the center and power forward positions. We're really excited to have both of these guys on our team for many years to come.

[fearthebrow]

The acquisitions of Butler, Prince, and Jackson suggest the Mavericks are ready to make a move to win now... but the drafting of Whiteside says the Mavericks are trying to play the long game. How soon do you feel the Mavericks will be title contenders?

Title contenders... man, we're just trying to get to the playoffs first and show our young guys what it's like to win. Realistically speaking, I would say 2-3 seasons for title contention.