FA: Juan Jose Barea to DAL | 1yrs, $2.6M (vet min) | now released

[Benskix2]

Will JJB make the roster or is this just a 2.6 mil golden retirement parachute?

[ClutchDirk]

My take is Barea is getting his thank you gift and is getting one more chance to earn a roster spot before moving into a mentor coach role...

I especially want Barea to help Terry learn how to exploit defenders, learn how to draw a charge, and how to finish at the rim...

[khaled1987]

My take is Barea is getting his thank you gift and is getting one more chance to earn a roster spot before moving into a mentor coach role...

I especially want Barea to help Terry learn how to exploit defenders, learn how to draw a charge, and how to finish at the rim...

If we don't give Barea a roster spot he will play overseas.
He isn't moving to coaching that soon.

[Kingsideboogie]

I really don't know how I feel about this move. I think jj adds alot in our locker room but if he is actually getting a roster spot who are we going to cut instead?

[KillerLeft]

Impossible to judge this yet. 

I can see Barea being here next year as a positive, but I'd first have to know how his roster spot is carved out. There are certainly ways that could be done with which I would not be happy. A roster spot created through a 2-for-1 trade that upgrades a position? Sure, give me Barea and the positives he brings for one more year. Cutting someone who could help more on-court? Hmmm...not sure I'd be happy with that at all. 

I can see this as Barea's "gold watch" as @"DanSchwartzman" expertly put it, and I'd be THRILLED with that, as it would support the idea that this team treats its heroes with the respect they deserve.

[WillE]

I can see this as Barea's "gold watch" as @"DanSchwartzman" expertly put it, and I'd be THRILLED with that, as it would support the idea that this team treats its heroes with the respect they deserve.

As I already wrote in the other thread, I could imagine that JJ is not ready to call it quits yet - probably because his injury robbed him some time - and is determined to keep playing. MBT may think different but out of respect will give him a chance until he admits it for himself.

That's the same treatment Dirk received and no matter if he'll truly make the cut in the end: he earned it.

[fifteenth]

If Luka or Brunson got hurt we'd actually need that 3rd pg. Whether JJB earns a roster spot might depend on whether Terry looks capable of being a fill in pg.

[donzingis38]

This is a good move. Need someone like JJ in the locker room and bench. Just watch him interact with the players. The team needs those kind of good vibes, it helps.

[Scott41theMavs]

This is a good move. Need someone like JJ in the locker room and bench. Just watch him interact with the players. The team needs those kind of good vibes, it helps.

So whose butt do we cut to accommodate him?

[Luka_Magic]

JJ runs Rick's system so effectively I think it will be helpful in the long run for the young guys to get an opportunity to play with him and see how it feels if / when they get upgraded into playing alongside the first team. 

Beyond that, he can still regularly contribute valuable assists and has an underrated scoring touch. He has definitely earned whatever parting gift this deal might come to represent and a chance to close his career out properly. He a born competitor and is clearly determined to prove that he could still play.

As for who gets cut (not sold on Iwundu...) who knows what's going to happen when the season starts. Is there going to be some sort of commissioner's covid exemption list? They still haven't released the covid protocols ahead of the season.

[FunkBoreland]

5. Who will be odd man out?

It’s certainly feasible that one of the other 16 standard-contracted players gets waived or traded, but as training camp begins a once-upon-a-time tale seems in order.
The 1989-90 New Jersey Nets, coached by Bill Fitch, started 3-4 (on their way to a 17-65 finish) at which point Roy Hinson was due to be activated from injury.
One Nets guard, a 30-year-old journeyman, figured he was the odd man out. Unknown to him, Fitch had been closely studying him, as Fitch in 2016 described to The News.
“I remember really judging (the player) during the last practices of the preseason, watching his attitude, what affect he had as an older player on the younger players,” Fitch recalled. “I broke up a fight one time between he and one of the younger guys, which was good because the younger guy needed somebody to challenge him.”
Seven games into the season, Fitch summoned that player.
“You’re waived,” Fitch said. As the player started to thank him for the opportunity, Fitch interrupted. “Wait, I’m not done yet.”

Fitch asked the player to be one of his assistant coaches. That player, you’ve probably by now figured out, was Rick Carlisle.

https://t.co/5EZahhUXhC?amp=1

Brad's anecdote might be predicting what happens. We'll see. . .

[MrGoat]

I'm pretty sure his wingspan is a full 5 feet

[fifteenth]

Being about the same size as the little guy, all I can say is, JJB is a total badass

[ClutchDirk]

https://twitter.com/espn_macmahon/status...8935805957

[ClutchDirk]

https://media.giphy.com/media/fSAyceY3BC.../giphy.gif

[jesusshuttlesworth82]

deposit that $2.6 mil, retire, become an assistant coach for the Mavs

[DrMav]

Thank you JJ!

(and MBT for not making us pull out our hair)

[dirkfansince1998]

The only reasonable decision but it still hurts. Last member of the championship team leaving.

I just looked around the league and it seems like he is not only the last one on the Mavs squad but around the league.

Brewer - player development coach with the Pelicans
Mahinmi - unlikely to get a new contract
Chandler - not signed by anyone so far

[Scott41theMavs]

https://twitter.com/espn_macmahon/status...8935805957

https://media.giphy.com/media/2RGhmKXcl0ViM/giphy.gif

---

The only reasonable decision but it still hurts. Last member of the championship team leaving.

I just looked around the league and it seems like he is not only the last one on the Mavs squad but around the league.

Brewer - player development coach with the Pelicans
Mahinmi - unlikely to get a new contract
Chandler - not signed by anyone so far

While I'm disappointed at JJB's stubbornness at not being willing to join the coaching staff outright, and at the possibility of his playing elsewhere, hats off to him for all he has done for the franchise - especially his growth and spirit as a player who came in undrafted, and most of all for his quintessential contributions as one of the six core players of the championship team.

[StepBackJay]

Everybody wins. Love JJB hut it was time to go. Hopefully he joins the coaching staff. Glad to see we didn't cut Iwundu. I am interested to see what he looks like.