MAVS NEWS:

[F Gump]

I don't trust Lively's availability at all. I want it to happen, I am thinking he will play to some degree (and hopefully regularly), but not willing to plan on him in ANY way. I just don't see how you can, if you have been paying attention at all to what he's not been able to do for the last two seasons (and even the first one saw him just play 55 and miss 27).

I don't see Gaff as a negative-sized deal. I think his play on the court is a much bigger positive factor than he's generally given credit for in this forum, and that play at that level for that price is not that easy to find. I think he's been undervalued because he's had to compete for appreciation against the "myth of Lively" - but that has only been real for a brief stretch 2 seasons ago, very much made possible by Gaff's addition to take the load off, and then it was gone.  

Whether Morez or Aldama would be a REALISTIC rotation player at C remains to be seen. The Mavs themselves are still non-committal with Cisse. (In a tanking year, he was very usable, but whether that translates to a trying-to-win year is a different question.)

I would not trade Sasser.

The trade I have been wanting to see: the Mavs offering Martin + "something" for a player they can actually use. That "something" could now be a chunk of cap savings (ie,, with Martin you could take back up to a 19M salary). That TYPE of deal has been out there all day long, if you have the cap room to offer, although actually finding the right player that fits the Mavs is uncertain. In theory it might be someone like Braun on the other end, a deal which DEN would definitely embrace, but the length of the contract is way too long to consider. (The same is true with Jovic.)  

I don't really think Mathurin improves the Mavs. He didn't do anything for LAC that I think the Mavs really need. High usage but inefficient, kinda ball-hoggy, a SF who rarely gets an assist. I think in DAL what he does is done better - and the minutes filled - by Flagg and Naji. Would rather give any leftovers at SG/SF to ZR and Tarik in hopes of even better floor spacing, and Mathurin is NOT the guy who can do that for you. 

Nor do I see the Mavs having a fit for Kuminga. Like Mathurin, he's a SF with a meh 3-pt game who is languishing as a FA, and presumably available at some sort of bargain.