<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Mavs show caution as preseason opensDALLAS -- After four days in Denton, a pair of team scrimmages and a full practice in their own gym, the Mavericks are ready to start the preseason part of training camp.Well, most of the Mavs.Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse won't be in Oklahoma City for tonight's exhibition opener against the Hornets.Mavs coach Avery Johnson is leaving three of his top guns home as part of an effort to keep his veterans fresh.Devin Harris will make the trip, although he missed Monday's practice with a strained left hamstring sustained in Sunday's Fan Jam scrimmage at American Airlines Center.Johnson's decision to leave the trio back is more precautionary, but he did say all three are suffering from varying levels of unspecified soreness. Stackhouse missed the first 26 games last season after injuring a knee in camp."We're just trying to get over the hump with some little nagging things," Johnson said.For those making the trip, the Hornets provide Johnson the first opportunity to gauge the Mavs' progress against different colored jerseys."It's always a good time after seven or eight days and two-a-days to get back on the court," Johnson said. "It's good to run up and down the court and hit somebody else."Not having three top scorers in uniform allows others the chance to shine on offense."Preseason is going to be a good time because a lot of main guys won't be playing," center DeSagana Diop said. "Dirk takes most of the shots, then JT and Stack off the bench."It'll let a lot of us get more shots, but I'm not going to go out there looking to score 16 like I did in [Friday's scrimmage]. I've got to do what I do for this team."Johnson heads into the eight-game preseason schedule with a detailed plan of evaluating the roster and determining a rotation, even if he doesn't want to give it away."At a certain point in preseason, I try to get the team ready," Johnson said. "We're going to try to follow that same formula."Johnson also has four free-agent hopefuls -- Ndudi Ebi, Jose Barea, Darius Washington and Pat Carroll -- battling for one roster spot, and the coach wants to get them "significant minutes" in the preseason.What's clear for two of the Mavs' key off-season signings is the depth Johnson has to work with and his mission for the season."We have two solid teams and a solid two behind those 10," point guard Anthony Johnson said. "We're meshing well."Added swingman Greg Buckner: "It's not about playing time. It's about winning an NBA championship</div>."LinkHave no problem with leaving Dirk, Stack, and Terry home. They are proven players and are guarunteed rotation spots. It also gives Avery and the coaching staff more minutes for players like Ebi, Barea, Washington, and Carroll to watch in live and game time settings. I really want to see how much Howard and Harris have improved over the summer along with the newly aquired players(Johnson, George, Buckner, Croshere).
I know the games not over, but I just looked up box score on nba.com. Like 7 minutes left in 4th tied. I dont really care much about if its a win or a loss. But more of the performances by some of the players. Ager showing a poor performance shooting, looks like he has work to do. Making bad shoot choices, which is something Ager stuggled with in college. Shouldnt be to big of a problem yet, just pre-season openerI know Dirk, Stack, and Terry arnt playing tonight. But I dont see Harris on the boxscore?I should have gone to the game, tickets were dirt cheap for close. Gas would have been more expensive than pre-season court side seats
Harris is hurt again, out 10 days due to hamstring and Dampier supposedly is ahead of Diop with his training camp performance. Sounds like two starting spots will be different come opening day. Harris needed to bulk up this summer a little and it appears he didn't. Least Anthony Johnson is here.
