Carlisle impressed with his three rookies

DALLAS -– After two days of practice, Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle had nothing but high praise for his three rookies.

As far as Carlisle is concerned, guard Jared Cunningham, forward/center Bernard James and forward Jae Crowder are on target to perhaps make some contributions to the Mavs this season.

Carlisle said: “I’d say they’re all doing equally well.’’

However, Carlisle gave extra kudos to the 27-year old James, who performed three two-year tours of
duty in the military before attending college. James played two years at Tallahassee Community
College before finishing his final two seasons at Florida State.

“James has made the greatest improvements of all of them, but coming into this summer he was the guy that had the greatest potential for improvement because he really had been a late bloomer,’’ Carlisle said. “And his role at Florida State was really simply as a defender and rebounder.

“He’s running a lot of things offensively, he’s shooting the ball better and he’s got a good feel for what we’re doing.’’

The Mavs have been working on some offensive moves for James, who said: "My role really has been to kind of rebound, play defense and the occasional drop-off pass and also be a finisher.''

-- Dwain Price

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