The Mavericks have re-signed 33-year old forward Tim Thomas to a 1-year deal. Thomas played in 18 games (1 start) last season for the Mavericks and he averaged 15.8 minutes, 7.5 points, 2.3 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. He has now played in 824 games (408 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 25.9 minutes, 11.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. Thomas missed most of last season as he was taking care of his sick mother. Look for him to give the Mavericks what they thought they were going to get out of him last year in 2010-11.

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 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.