The Mavericks have acquired 27-year old C/PF Tyson Chandler and 22-year old center Alex Ajinca from the Bobcats for 34-year old center Erick Dampier, 29-year old SG/SF Matt Carroll and 34-year old forward Eduardo Najera. Chandler played in 51 games (27 starts) for the Bobcats last season and he averaged 22.8 minutes, 6.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 1.1 blocked shots per game. He has now played in 588 games (391 starts) in his 9 years in the NBA and he has averaged 27.6 minutes, 8.1 points, 8.8 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 1.4 blocked shots per game. Chandler will be Dirk Nowitzki and Brendan Haywood’s top backup in 2010-11. Alex Ajinca played in only 6 games (0 starts) for the Bobcats last season and he averaged 5.0 minutes, 1.7 points and 0.7 rebounds per game. He has now played in 37 games (4 starts) in his two years with the Bobcats and he averaged 5.7 minutes, 2.2 points, 0.9 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game. Ajinca gives the Mavs a nice big guy to bring along slowly.

Erick Dampier played in 55 games (47 starts) for the Mavericks last season and he averaged 23.3 minutes, 6.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 1.4 blocked shots per game. The Mavericks have been looking to get rid of Dampier for a while so they won’t miss him. Matt Carroll only played in 25 games (0 starts) for the Mavs last season and he averaged 4.8 minutes, 1.8 points, 0.5 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game. Carroll rarely got off the bench so he won’t be missed either. Eduardo Najera played in 33 games (3 starts) for the Mavericks last season and he averaged 14.6 minutes, 3.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.

This was a good trade for the Mavericks who offed players they didn’t want anymore to net them a solid big man in Tyson Chandler.

The Mavericks have signed 23-year old center Ian Mahinmi to a 2-year, $1.8 million dollar deal. Mahinmi played in 26 games (0 starts) for the Spurs last season and he averaged 6.3 minutes, 3.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game. He has now played in 32 games (0 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 5.9 minutes, 3.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game. Mahinmi has always played pretty well when given the chance so I like this signing for the Mavericks.

The Mavericks have re-signed 30-year old center Brendan Haywood to a 6-year, $55 million dollar deal. Haywood played in 28 games (19 starts) for the Mavs last season after coming over in a trade with the Wizards and he averaged 26.5 minutes, 8.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 2.0 blocked shots per game. He played in 77 games (67 starts) overall for the Wizards & Mavs last season and he averaged 30.6 minutes, 9.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 2.1 blocked shots per game. In his nine years in the NBA, Haywood has played in 607 games (469 starts) in which he averaged 24.6 minutes, 7.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 1.5 blocked shots per game. The Mavericks were smart to lock up Haywood as he was the best center left on the free agent market.

The Mavericks could be in for a very interesting summer. Franchise player Dirk Nowitzki has opted out of his contract becoming a unrestricted free agent. The Mavericks must re-sign him or they will be in big trouble. That’s because the Cleveland Cavaliers have indicated that they won’t even listen to sign and trade offers for LeBron James. If Nowitzki leaves town the Mavericks would have huge holes at both power forward and center. I have a feeling that Nowitzki will come back to the Mavericks. If he does they will still need a center. There’s not much available in free agency as old war horses like Jermaine O’Neal, Shaquille O’Neal, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Brad Miller are the best out there. The Mavericks could try to work some kind of deal with the T-Wolves for Al Jefferson.

UPDATE: (7/3/2010) - The Mavericks have re-signed Dirk Nowitzki to a 4-year, $80 million dollar deal.

The Mavericks picked 22-year old center Solomon Alabi with the 50th overall pick of the NBA Draft. They then shipped him to the Raptors for a future second round pick and cash considerations. Alabi played in 77 games (68 starts) in his three years in college and he averaged 9.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 2.1 blocked shots per game. The Mavericks probably made this trade to recoup some of the cash they spent to acquire SG Dominique Jones from the Grizzlies.