Mavs not ready to pass the go-to mantle from Nowitzki to Ellis

Mark Cuban is longing for the day when he can say Dirk Nowitzki is his team’s second-best player.

“Or third or fourth,” the Dallas Mavericks owner said Friday. “But I’m not ready to say that’s the way it is day in and day out.”

Cuban’s comments came despite the explosive showing by Monta Ellis on the team’s recent 4-0 road trip, while also averaging a team-high 20.7 points per game. That includes Ellis manufacturing his sixth career game-winning basket — a shot with five seconds or less remaining in a game — when he drilled an off-balanced 18-footer at the buzzer to beat Milwaukee 107-105 on Wednesday.

“He has been lately,” Cuban said when asked if Ellis is the Mavs’ new closer. “But when you have more than one guy who can close, it makes it easier for both of them.

“Monta has improved his shot, he’s improved the type of shots he takes and he can get a shot off on anybody, so it’s hard to protect against that. You’ve got to pick your poison.”

Coach Rick Carlisle said the Mavs have been building the team to complement Nowitzki, and that the 17-year veteran’s role hasn’t vastly changed from what it’s been the last couple of seasons. He added that it’s best to have a team of go-to players.

“His role is to play a game and to play it in a way that suits our team and his abilities,” Carlisle said of Nowitzki. “The team has been built the last couple of the years to have more balance and to be able to give him a little more relief, have players around him that complement the things that he brings to the game so that he doesn’t have to carry as big a load as in previous years.”

Cuban said as Ellis has gone about his business, the 10-year veteran has learned plenty from Nowitzki.

“If it something that’s changed, Monta doesn’t come out looking for his offense early,” Cuban said. “He comes out letting the game come to him and trying to get other people involved sometimes to a fault.

“He’ll overpass sometimes, but he’s our one guy that when Dirk’s out that can get a shot no matter what. And that’s a unique skill set that we need.”

Pelicans sign Mekel

Carlisle said he was very happy when he found out that the New Orleans Pelicans signed point guard Gal Mekel on Friday.

Mekel signed a three-year guaranteed contract with the Mavs in the summer of 2013, and averaged 2.4 points and two assists in 31 games last season for Dallas. Mekel was the last cut the Mavs made prior to this season, and it came shortly after Dallas was able to sign free agent J.J. Barea.

“I thought he was very deserving to be on our roster,” Carlisle said. “It’s just there was an opportunity to get J.J., and so we felt we couldn’t pass on that.”

With the Pelicans playing in Dallas on Wednesday, Cuban said of Mekel: “We know the next guy who is going to score 30 on us. He’s going to go 10-for-10 from 3.”

Super Bowl prediction

With Thursday’s 41-28 win over the Chicago Bears, the Dallas Cowboys posted their ninth victory of the season and are guaranteed of having their first winning season since 2009.

“It’s awesome,” Cuban said. “You know my prediction and I’m sticking to it.

“I said 52-51 [Cowboys] in the Super Bowl — over the [Denver] Broncos.”

Briefly

The NBA rescinded the technical foul that was given to assistant coach Monte Mathis in Milwaukee on Wednesday. Cuban said the officiating criticism was his.

This story was originally published December 5, 2014 at 10:25 PM with the headline "Mavs not ready to pass the go-to mantle from Nowitzki to Ellis."