Dallas Mavericks Summer League Roster

In continuing the series of spending way too much time telling you more than you need to know about players that don't have NBA contracts, I present the Dallas Mavericks Summer League roster in excruciating detail.

For a breakdown of other NBA Summer League rosters, check these out: New Jersey Nets, Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers, Orlando Magic, Indiana Pacers, Boston Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets.

For the rest of the Vegas Summer League rosters, refer to this post.

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Head Coach: Monte Mathis (Toledo)
Assistant Coach: Darrell Armstrong (Fayetteville State)

For reference, I won't be including Rodrigue Beaubois or Dominique Jones because they're guaranteed to be on an NBA roster next season and you should probably be able to learn everything you need to know about them by visiting Mavs Moneyball.

I'm going to list the players by position, then how likely it is that they'll appear on any NBA roster next season.

Bigs

Omar Samhan, C, St. Mary's - I'm not the biggest fan of Samhan - let's get that out of the way right off the bat.

Samhan, standing at 6-foot-11 and right around 265 pounds, has legitimate size for an NBA big man but doesn't have much in the way of athleticism - though that could probably improve if he continues to get in a little better shape.  He's also got good touch around the bucket, but it's always around the bucket - he plays under the rim and rarely is able to throw down a dunk.

My biggest issues with Samhan's game come with the fact that he beasted in the WCC  - something John Bryant did before becoming a decent, but not call-up candidate, big mane in the D-League.  With Samhan's struggles against Baylor, I have a feeling he's facing the same fate.

DeShawn Sims, PF, Michigan - Sims might not belong with the bigs, technically, since he measured in at under 6-foot-7 at the Portsmouth Invitational.  But, there's no way I could see him playing on the wing in the NBA, so here is where he's going to end up.

A four-year player at Michigan, Sims averaged a pretty impressive 16.8 points and 7.6 rebounds his senior year for the Wolverines while relying on a pretty versatile offensive game that includes everything from a back-to-the-basket fadeaway jumper to a meddling three-point shot.

If he's able to play as hard with the Mavericks as he should have at Michigan, there's a chance he could make the leap.

Also playing: Boston Celtics, Orlando.

Moussa Seck, C, Senegal - It's pretty hard to say much about Seck, but he's obviously a pet project of someone with the Dallas Mavericks as he's been with the team in Vegas the past couple of seasons.

Seck is really long - when actually seeing he looks closer to eight-foot-three than seven-foot-four - and also really, really skinny. This resulted in him relying on turnaround hooks/jumpers in last year's Summer League (all both attempts - I watched them).

I'm assuming the Mavericks will probably work to get him on the Frisco Legends, their new D-League team - with just a marginal amount of moves, 7-foot-4 is something that you can't teach.

Interesting fact according to eurobasket that I refuse to not believe: He was discovered by a basketball scout in 2006, on the dusty streets of Kaolack, Senegal, a city 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of the capital Dakar. He was probably the world's tallest cosmetics street vendor at 7-4.

Eric Tramiel, PF, North Texas - His goals include "to get as better as possible" and "to play professional basketball, where ever it may be" according to this video.

He averaged 12.9 points and six rebounds while being named the Sun Belt All-Tournament MVP.

Wings

J.R. Giddens, SG/SF, New Mexico - Despite never getting much NBA playing time since being drafted 30th overall in the 2008 NBA Draft, I'm pretty familiar with Giddens due to the extensive time he spent in the D-League while with the Boston Celtics.

The best aspect, and perhaps the least heralded, part of Giddens offensive game comes in the form of his mid-range game.  For a guy known for his dunking and athleticism, he was often able to hit mid-range shots when he wasn't able to get to the rack.  On defense, his long frame and uber-athleticism allow him to keep himself in front of his man while, leaving the opposition to mostly have to force up contested jumpers.

I don't know that I love his long-term NBA prospects, but it's tough to go from a first-round pick two seasons to no longer being on an NBA roster just two seasons later.  And really, even though he's 25, he still has some untapped upside.

Shan Foster, SG/SF, Vanderbilt - Foster has the inside track on the job with the Mavs since they still hold his rights after drafting him in the second round of the 2008 draft, but I put him beneath Giddens because I think Giddens has a better chance of making any NBA roster next season (while Foster's limited to Mavs or bust).

The 6-foot-6 sweet-shooting guard spent last season in Turkey where he averaged 9.1 points while shooting 39% from beyond the arc.  He hasn't played professional basketball since January however, after returning home due to what was rumored to be a foot/ankle injury (I'm bad at reading Turkish).

Amara Sy, SF/PF, France - Sy went the unconventional route of trying to make the NBA via the D-League last season after playing professionally overseas since 1999.  I say unconventional not because players don't make the NBA from playing in the D-League (they definitely do), but because he was more than likely making a lot of money overseas already and had played Summer League in Vegas the past two seasons - so he was obviously on NBA radars a bit already.

For the Bakersfield Jam, the 28-year-old Sy averaged an under-appreciated-by-me 15 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists while shooting 55% from the field and 42% from beyond the arc.  After playing in the Showcase (and probably getting frustrated that he wasn't getting much love from RU), he chose to head back overseas to play with C.B. Murcia in Spain.  His numbers were down across the board, but it's tough to read into mid-season overseas additions.

Sy is a guy that could make an NBA roster as a polished dude that knows the game and is a good defender, but for some reason my gut is telling me no - if it was going to happen, it should have happened a few years ago.

Mouhammad Faye, SF/PF, Southern Methodist - Faye actually began his career at Georgia Tech (no doubt hoping to follow in the footsteps of Luke Schenscher), but he left after his sophomore season for more playing time (which was probably a good idea in hindsight considering Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal both would have kept him on the bench).

Faye's a long, lanky forward who isn't afraid to put the ball on the floor or pull up from deep.  He played quite a bit at both on the perimeter and in the post for SMU, though, and loved to get position and dunk it on whoever was in his way when he was down low (though typically without the use of many post moves).

I don't see him making the Mavs this year, but once again I think he'd be a good D-League pick-up to develop for the future.

Guards

Jeremy Lin, PG, Harvard - He's from Harvard and the Golden State of Mind crew loves him.

The end.