http://www.star-telegram.com/287/story/256508.html
Mavs would like Diop to be a scoring threat
DALLAS -- The way Avery Johnson figures it, new Memphis Grizzlies shooting coach Mark Price owes his job to DeSagana Diop.
The Mavericks' 7-foot center spent time at the former NBA sharpshooter's shooting clinic in Atlanta, and soon after that, the Grizzlies hired Price.
"He must have done so good," Johnson said, "that he got Mark a job."
Diop, who also joined the Mavs' summer league team in Las Vegas for offensive grooming, said it's been his hardest-working off-season. Still, the career 1.9-points-a-game scorer cautioned not to get carried away.
"I know I'm not going to be trying to go crazy and score 20," said Diop, who enters his seventh NBA season and the final year of his Mavs' contract. "I've been working the whole summer, that's all I've been doing. I have to be confident out there. It's all about confidence in this game."
He and the Mavs will need it early. With Erick Dampier out until late November -- and he said it could be into December -- because of shoulder surgery, Diop will start the season as the team's only experienced center.
He's continually improved as a rebounder and shot blocker, and now Johnson would like him to at least make defenses pay attention.
"Just be a threat offensively," Johnson said. "Just try and make sure he gets in the right spots so they can at least guard him, and he can be a threat around the basket."
With Dampier out, DJ Mbenga is next in line. But he's working his way back from a torn right anterior cruciate ligament, and Johnson said he isn't sure if Mbenga can provide minutes early on.
Recently signed forward-center Jamal Sampson must push someone out of a roster spot to make the team. Young power forwards Brandon Bass and Nick Fazekas also could play early at center until Dampier returns.
As a tandem, Dampier and Diop averaged 9.4 points and 12.8 rebounds last season. With so many scoring options, the centers don't have to be in double figures every night, but Johnson would like to see Dampier corral low-post passes better and Diop convert more point-blank chances. It's their inconsistency that most rankles Johnson.
Of the Western Conference contenders, only the Mavs lack a powerful inside scoring force. The Spurs have Tim Duncan, the Suns Amare Stoudemire, the Rockets Yao Ming, and the Jazz found success with Carlos Boozer.
Diop said he and Dampier can get the job done.
"They're going to have to prove it," Johnson said. "I saw glimpses."
Johnson said he's still scheming for ways to get Dampier more touches down low. He said he'd like to get more inlet passes to him.
"We have to find ways to get in position to score easy baskets," Dampier said. "And running in transition, if the guys want to hit us in the open, it's going to be up to us to finish around the basket and get to the line and knock down some free throws."
George ailing
Devean George is in Indianapolis today to have his doctor examine a "stress reaction" in his left foot. The injury is a notch below a stress fracture.
George, sporting a training-camp Mohawk, has not been able to practice.
"The longer we have to wait on him in October, even though it's early in the season, the more concerned I'm going to get," said Avery Johnson, who also noted that George came in a bit overweight.
The 6-foot-8 swingman started some at the two-guard last season, but missed segments of the season with injuries and wasn't 100 percent heading into the playoffs.
Briefly
Trenton Hassell is expected to join the team today after missing the start of camp to attend to his ill father. He won't participate in tonight's Fan Jam.
Avery Johnson said talks between the team and Chris Webber never reached serious levels, and that Webber has indicated he will either retire or return to the Pistons.
Darrell Armstrong cleared waivers Wednesday evening. New Jersey appears to be the front-runner to sign him, but the Mavs would be interested if he remains available.
20-SECOND TIMEOUT
"I hurt my knee a couple of years ago and I was trying to do nutritional and wellness healing, and that's how I got into the diet thing. Once my knee healed, I continued trying to eat healthy. But I'm not a vegetarian; I just don't eat beef or pork."
Brandon Bass, on why he likes to eat his veggies