Mark Cuban, Chandler Parsons, and the rest of the Dallas Mavericks have to be excited that it is time to be back to playing basketball. After their off-season drama involving Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, getting on the court and playing through some frustrations should be a most helpful thing. They finally get to hit the floor for preseason action on Tuesday, October 6, 2015, when they are set to play the Denver Nuggets.
The Nuggets have already made their preseason debut though, as they lost to the previously mentioned Clippers by a total of 103-96. In that game the Nuggets had an interesting starting lineup of Emmanuel Mudiay, Randy Foye, Wilson Chandler, Kenneth Faried, and J.J. Hickson. Granted they also did not play several of their better known players like Danilo Gallinari. Of the starters, Mudiay had the most points with 14, but was wildly inefficient, shooting a mere 5-17 from the floor and 3-7 from three point range. The best player in the game came from the bench for the Nuggets in Joffrey Lauvergne, who had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. The 6'11" power forward from France will need to keep statistics like that up if he wants to make a real impact during the NBA season, as the 24 year old has not been over in the NBA for long.
Meanwhile the Mavericks have several players who are hurt that they may not see for a while or at all this preseason. Deron Williams has a calf injury so he might not open up the season on the court, which would mean that Devin Harris would be likely to be the starting point guard. Harris isn't bad by any means, but with all the elite point guards out there, Harris is going to have a tough time matching up with them, and may be a good defensive guard to go up against Mudiay though. Wesley Matthews is still recovering from an Achilles' injury, and the timetable for his return is still not quite clear, but he is expected to play sometime while the calendar is still on 2015. That means we could expect to see the former Minnesota Timberwolves guard in J.J. Barea. Barea is a talented shooter, but his strength is clearly on the offensive side of the ball, which means that Foye guarding him would largely neutralize that match-up.
The other big preseason news is that Chandler Parsons may not be ready to play yet, as he is still being hampered by his knee injury. Hopefully that is something that will not hold him back or be likely to re-injure as each day gets closer and closer to the regular season.
But the best news for Mavericks fans is that they should be able to see some basketball soon, and hopefully the Mavericks will come out and play well against the Nuggets.