FRISCO The Mavericks believe they found a prime candidate to fill their backup point guard position in Shane Larkin whom they took with the 18th pick in Thursday s draft.
On Friday a former Maverick sounded like he s ready to volunteer for the starting job.
Devin Harris who has gone from the Mavericks to the Nets to the Jazz and then the Hawks is a free agent this summer. He said at a practice session for Dirk Nowitzki s Heroes Celebrity Baseball Game that he s fully aware the Mavericks are in the market for a starting point guard this summer.
Asked if he has thought of a reunion with Dirk Nowitzki Harris said It s always crossed my mind. It s crossed my mind since I left. Obviously I think it would be cool to come back. But I also like it in Atlanta. It comes down to what best fits me.
Harris was the starting point guard for the Mavericks in 2006 s playoff run to the NBA Finals. He was traded to New Jersey in 2008 in the Jason Kidd deal then to Utah in the Deron Williams deal. He went to Atlanta last summer for Marvin Williams.
So will Dallas get consideration if Harris doesn t get a huge financial offer somewhere else
Always he said. Dallas has always been home. I d give them some consideration and see what happens. But I m just playing my options and see what s open. I ll make a decision when it s time.
Interestingly Larkin s arrival he is expected in Dallas in early July for practice with the Mavericks summer league team is being likened to another former Maverick who was at Dr Pepper Ballpark for Nowitzki s batting practice Friday J.J. Barea.
He could only smile when he was informed that the Mavericks feel they have drafted the next J.J. Barea in Larkin.
That s crazy isn t it he said.
Nowitzki said he likes what he s seen from Larkin.
I saw some highlights of him Nowitzki said. I think he s going to be good. He s a very good pick and roll player. He s obviously a smaller guy but I think he can shoot behind screens he can get in the lane shoot some floaters. He should help us.
I m not sure if he s going to be our starting point guard next year but he can give us some good minutes mix it up and pick up the pressure. He s very fast.
Sound familiar And at 5 11 Larkin has the same build as Barea.
He comes in with that kind of punch president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said. He s one of the quickest humans in many drafts. When you have that kind of quickness size wasn t really a problem with J.J. And Rick Carlisle coached a 38 year old Jason Kidd to a championship and a lot of people thought he couldn t stay in front of anybody.
I d say Larkin is a third point guard fighting for a backup position and probably in a pretty good position to do that.
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