Shootaround report: Mavs harbor no ill will for D-Will
Shootaround report: Mavericks (25-32) at Nets (34-24)
Mavs harbor no ill will for D-Will
BROOKLN, N.Y. — After coming up short in the Deron Williams free agency sweepstakes this summer, the Dallas Mavericks take no ill feelings into Brooklyn in their first matchup against the Nets since Williams signed a max contract to remain with his current club.
Meeting with The Colony native this offseason and hoping to lure him back to Dallas, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle spoke with high regard for the former All-Star point guard despite a drop in Williams’ production this season. And with No. 8 leading the Nets after scoring the team’s final 11 points to finish with a season high-tying 33 points in Tuesday’s 101-97 win at New Orleans, Carlisle and the Mavericks know they won’t have time to think about what might have been as they try to contain Williams in Friday night’s showdown.
“We had a good visit with him, and he decided to come here and we wished him well. That’s pretty much history now,” Carlisle said. “You know, he’s a Dallas guy and we would have loved to have him. But if we can’t get him, we want him to have a good experience here.”
“Those days are over,” 11-time All-Star Dirk Nowitzki added after once dreaming of having Williams alongside him in a Dallas uniform. “You know, we went for him, we had a good shot, we were right there with them and he decided to stay. That’s about it. That’s how free agency works. We moved on and kept a lot of (salary cap) room again for next summer, and we’ll see if we can land someone then. That’s the name of the game in free agency. You can’t always get who you want. … It didn’t go the way we wanted it to, and now we have to move on as a franchise.”
Moving on could include claiming a win on the Nets’ home floor in the new Barclays Center as the Mavs try to bring an end to their current three-game losing streak. And with sharpshooter Joe Johnson expected to return to the Nets’ lineup after missing three games due to a sore left heel, the Mavs will try to improve to 1-1 on their three-game road trip with a much-needed victory over the team with the Eastern Conference’s fifth-best record.
Note: The Mavs continue their three-game road trip by touching down in Brooklyn for Friday night’s matchup against the Nets. The two teams have yet to play each other this season. The game will air locally on Fox Sports Southwest at 7 p.m. CT.
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