Mark Cuban says Parsons will be key
— -- LAS VEGAS -- After having to sweat it out until the end, the Dallas Mavericks were able to get their man in Chandler Parsons.
And now that the dust has settled, Mavs owner Mark Cuban says he is pleased things turned out the way they did.
"It feels good," Cuban said. "We obviously value him very highly. We think he's going to contribute a lot."
Cuban suggested that Parsons was their No. 1 target with a specific reason in mind.
"I looked at all the main guys that were young that we thought would be available and we loved his game," Cuban said. "We liked him the best of all the free agents and that was point one.
"When you looked at the numbers relative to Houston's cap position, he seemed the most obtainable."
While the Mavs had to wait out the restricted-free-agency process for almost the full three days, there was a sense they would ultimately get their man.
"No, because we did the numbers," Cuban replied when asked if he was surprised to get Parsons. "We knew what the numbers were. We knew, based off the numbers, they were going to have to make some tough choices."
Cuban added that had he been in the Rockets' shoes, he would have matched the Mavs' offer sheet.
In possible damage control, Houston's general manger Daryl Morey said that he didn't believe Parsons could be the third-best player for a title contender.
"I'm not going to go there," Cuban said. "Daryl is entitled to his opinion. That's the way it goes."
While Cuban and Morey may disagree on their Parsons projections, their two teams are both in the market for another forward.
Sources have told ESPN.com's Marc Stein that the Mavs and Rockets have barged into the Mike Miller sweepstakes. The attempt is to acquire a perimeter oriented small forward and to keep LeBron James' sharpshooting teammate from Miami away from Cleveland.
Last season, the Rockets preferred to keep Parsons on the floor as much as possible, playing him 37.6 minutes per game. That ranked as the seventh-most in the league and 1.1 minute per game shy of league-leader Carmelo Anthony.
Mavs guard Monta Ellis ranked eighth at 36.9 minutes per game.
"He's the old Nellie (Don Nelson) point-forward, personified," Cuban said regarding Parsons. "It gets us younger. The good news about all of the experience we had, it really allowed us to modify and give the Spurs a run for their money last year. The bad news is that we had to restrict minutes. Restricting minutes was the big challenge.
"He's a guy that we can keep out there a lot longer. With Vince (Carter), 'Trix ( Shawn Marion) and Dirk (Nowitzki), we really had to balance minutes."
Cuban said he wasn't concerned about Parsons' development as a potential All-Star-caliber player.
"I don't care," Cuban said. "I just want to win. He's the same way. He wants to be an All-Star, Monta wants to be an All-Star, Dirk doesn't want to be an All-Star. We just want to win."
Parsons' versatility on offense has drawn widespread praise, but Cuban said he could be underrated on defense.
"He's a willing defender," Cuban said. "One of the reasons I went after him, one of the things I did, I went and talked to all of the scorers that I know and I asked who defended them the best and list the top three and Chandler was on the list a few times. He's not a shutdown defender, but he's a work-hard defender. He's an irritant.
"I think Coach [Rick Carlisle] will do a lot better job with stances, coach will get on him. We do a lot of drills for the little stuff like that."
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