http://tinyurl.com/2ae92cb The pressure is on Mark Cuban to produce now that he's gotten a hometown discount from Dirk Nowitzki. Nothing new there. Cuban always feels pressure to upgrade the Mavericks' roster. But this will be a little different. Nowitzki's new four-year contract will pay him about $80 million, roughly $16 million less than the maximum he could have received, sources said Sunday. That affords Cuban some wiggle room to take on salary as he and president Donnie Nelson now focus on trades to add talent around Nowitzki. The best player in Mavericks' history had said consistently that he would take less money if he felt assured the Mavericks would be able to reel in more talent to put around him. Apparently, he heard what he needed to hear in that regard. It says plenty about Nowitzki's priorities that he sacrificed enough money to fund a small country. And remember, if the Mavericks stay over the salary cap, it's a double savings for Cuban since that's $16 million less on the check he has to write to the NBA. But it's still a leap of blind faith for Nowitzki. Cuban will try to get another star-level player to pair with him. But the question is, how? The strategies are limited for Cuban and Nelson. Simply re-signing Brendan Haywood or even pulling in another center such as Marcin Gortat or Tyson Chandler won't be enough to qualify as a ground-shaking move. Sometimes those sorts of deals can make the difference. But the gap between the Mavericks and the teams that have played in the championship series the last few years appears to be wider than that. So that means adding another star-quality player is required. The A-list includes the obvious free agents: LeBron James , Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh , Amare Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer and David Lee. The only way the Mavericks can acquire any of those is via sign-and-trade. And all of those players are considering signing with teams that have salary-cap room and don't have to rely on a sign-and-trade to acquire them. In addition, there also are some stars around the league who are not free agents and may be on the trading block. Chris Paul would qualify, if New Orleans is as cash-strapped as reports indicate. Paul remains one of the best point guards in the league and has told the Hornets that if they do not successfully rebuild the team quickly, he would like to be traded to a contender. Minnesota's Al Jefferson is another name that has been hot in trade speculation. He's more of a power forward than a center but has the sort of rebounding and inside scoring abilities that the Mavericks have never been able to pair with Nowitzki. There is also Miami's Michael Beasley. The Heat's management has been trying to trade him to clear even more cap space in their attempts to re-sign Wade and lure James and Bosh to form a superstar trinity on South Beach. Beasley has been erratic in his two years with the Heat. But he was the No. 2 overall draft pick in 2008 and is only 21. He averaged 14.8 points and 6.4 rebounds last season, and it would seem logical that his numbers are only going to get better. These are the kind of targets Cuban will have to go after. And he could give Nowitzki no assurances of success. Cuban has never been shy about spending money. And you get the feeling there is something up his sleeve that nobody yet knows about but him. Still, it's a daunting task knowing that Nowitzki has held up his end of the bargain by giving Cuban the equivalent of a rebate to go out and shop for more talent. Dirk預計拿80M 他原本可以領96M左右 --

※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 122.117.52.42 ※ popstarkirby:轉錄至看板 NBA 07/05 13:47