ARLINGTON, Texas - Dallas Mavericks forward Chandler Parsons made one of his first Metroplex appearances since signing a three year, $46-million deal with the Mavs.
Parsons threw out the first pitch before Wednesday's Texas Rangers game and it was a strike to Derek Holland. The Mavs have to hope he has as much success with the Mavericks this season.
Chandler has made the move to the Metroplex and started working out with his new teammates.
Here is a Q&A with Parsons.
What do you think about your new team? I love it. I'm so excited. This is where I wanted to be and with the core that they had and all the guys that they added it's promising and it gives me a great deal of confidence just knowing Mark (Cuban) and Donnie (Nelson) are always looking for ways to put together a championship team and add pieces. Coach (Rick) Carlisle is one of the best coaches in the league and just learning from Dirk (Nowitzki) and him being one of my favorite players it will be awesome to learn from him and play with him.
What's your relationship with Dirk like? My relationship is great with him. Even when I played on Houston I was always cool with him and we got to know each other and I played in his charity softball game last year. Getting to know him he's an awesome guy and one of my favorite players, one of the best to ever play. I'm just going to be a sponge around him and absorb everything I can. However much longer he plays, hopefully it's a long time, we can start creating that chemistry now and hopefully have a nice two-minute game. I think I'll make him better and I think he'll definitely make me better.
What was your confidence level you would or wouldn't be in Houston with the offer sheet from the Mavericks? It was tricky. Just being a restricted free agent is tough. Obviously unrestricted is much easier and this free agency was difficult with LeBron (James) and Melo (Anthony) and (Chris) Bosh and everyone kind of get their piece of them and wanting us to wait. But Dallas showed interest right away and I thought in the back of my mind that Houston was going to match. They pretty much told me go get the biggest deal and best deal for you and we're matching. At the end of the day it's a business and I have no hard feelings against them.
Do you think the Rockets were surprised by the Dallas offer? Yeah and I think so. I think it surprised a lot of people. It didn't surprise me. I believe in myself. I continue to work and motivate and just be a leader to do what I can to help this team win games and compete for a championship. I'm obviously flattered and humbled by this contract but now it's time to go out there and win games.
With you and Dirk and Tyson (Chandler) and Monta (Ellis) and Jameer (Nelson) and everybody else is this team ready to win a title? That's the goal. That's always got to be the goal and obviously everybody is going after that but like I said we have a veteran team. We have guys that understand what goes into winning. We have no egos and all coachable guys and we have a lot of talent. Playing pickup even with these guys things come easy.
Are you predicting a 60-win season? I was predicting 82 games (laughs). We're just going to try and win as many games as possible. I know that sounds cliché but I think if we go through the process with the right mindset and how hard we've been working good things will happen.
Do you think about the contract and does it weigh on you? No. Not at all. I was underpaid my first three years and that didn't affect how I played. Now people are going to talk about my contract because it's a huge raise. It doesn't really matter to me. I'm a basketball player. I'm going to continue to get better and do what I do regardless of how much money I'm making.
