Carlisle: Mavs have to 'get creative' to build around Dirk Nowitzki
As Dirk Nowitzki enters the 18th year of his NBA career, the Dallas Mavericks will be challenged with the task of building around a fading superstar.
Although Nowitzki is still playing at a high level, head coach Rick Carlisle admitted that the Mavericks will have some work to do in order to keep the team competitive while building around Nowitzki. Here's what Carlisle told Mavs.com:
“With Dirk’s situation in this stage of his career, we’ve had to do some creative things to try to keep the team as competitive as possible around him,” Carlisle confessed. “Going forward, I know that our desire is not to have a locker room full of free agents every year. That said, the guys that we’ve had have been terrific and have been professional. We’ve made the best of it. But again, this is a big summer. And from here, we’ll devise a plan and we’ll move forward.
“I’ve had a chance to work with (Nowitzki) extremely closely for the last seven years, and I hope that this goes on for several more years. He continues to work unbelievably hard to keep himself as one of the great players in the game. He was an All-Star this year. His greatness is not in question. Going forward, he’s such an important asset to this franchise, and it’s hard to describe his value.”
(h/t Mavs.com)
