Mavs camp: Newcomer Delon Wright limited by hamstring - but he's a 'winner'

Mavs camp: Newcomer Delon Wright limited by hamstring - but he's a 'winner'

DALLAS - There will be a hopefully slight glitch in the Dallas Mavericks’ plan to showcase they’re belief that top summer-shopping “get” Delon Wright is the “winner” they believe him to be.

Of course, the Mavericks do have eye-witness evidence.

“He’s a winner,” says coach Rick Carlisle said at Media Day on the eve of the start of training camp. “He’s one of those guys that you can’t get enough of that understands the importance of the little things you need to do to win games in a hard league like the NBA.”

The wait for Rick's vision to be realized will be delayed a bit, though; Carlisle says Wright suffered “a little bit of a hamstring issue” during a scrimmage last week and will be “limited in the first three or four days” of camp.

.@kporzee came into the NBA at 222 pounds. #Mavs big man says his present weight is 242. pic.twitter.com/s4W1GjOLXC

— fishsports ✭ (@fishsports) September 30, 2019

While Wright will be brought along slowly this week, the Mavs say that big man Kristaps Porzingis is ready to go after a year-and-a-half of knee rehab (and of rebuilding his body, which is up to 242 pounds, 20 pounds stronger than he was as a Knicks rookie.)

"His rehab is complete,’ says

Carlisle. ‘My understanding is he will participate in training camp without hesitation.’

.@jjbareaprtells me Achilles rehab is so on-schedule that ‘I plan on participating there in training camp from Day One.’ #Mavs coach Carlisle & trainer Casey Smith might slow that a bit. But JJB is ready. pic.twitter.com/K6CN0quz6g

— fishsports ✭ (@fishsports) September 30, 2019

J.J. Barea, coming of his Achilles tear, tells me he's "ready for Day One.''

Soon enough, they will be joined by Wright, Dallas' most notable acquisition during free agency this summer. We can pencil him in as a starter in the backcourt alongside point guard Luka Doncic ... and the Mavs think they can pencil him as a worker who can defend big perimeter players and who can build on what he did in the final 26 games last year in Memphis, when he became a part-time starter (after a mid-season trade from the Raptors to the Grizzlies) and averaged 12.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.3 assists in those games with Memphis.

Said Wright: I do a lot of the things that might not show up on a stat sheet.”

Carlisle spoke of being especially keen on the fact that Wright closed 2018-19 with three triple-doubles in the final four games, including two against the Mavericks.

“That,'' Rick says, "was something that certainly caught our attention.''

In what was technically a trade, Dallas gave up two second-round picks to get Wright. That wasn't quite the blockbuster we were all hoping for. But a healthy Wright can still add up as a value here.

“In watching him, looking at the metrics,” Carlisle says “he’s a winning player.”