That's the word from Ken Berger.
↵↵↵Nene, 29, has long coveted Miami and Dallas as landing spots, but would have to force his way to one of those teams via a sign-and-trade since both are well over the cap.
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He goes on to say the interest is mutual and that the Mavericks have already registered their interest in the free agent.
↵From a basketball standpoint, Nene would be an upgrade over Tyson Chandler. I would give a slight edge towards Tyson on the defensive front but Nene would provide more offense as he is by far the better low post scorer.
↵However, Tyson's intangibles are invaluable to this team. His leadership on the floor and presence in the locker room helped transform the culture of the Dallas Mavericks. It's hard to imagine Nene having that same kind of presence and influence amongst this team.
↵I wouldn't put too much stock into this report but as any smart front office would, the Mavericks are doing their due diligence when it comes to re-assembling this championship roster. I don't expect the Mavericks to sign Nene.
↵If the Mavericks are unable to re-sign Tyson I'd rather them sign a Joel Przybilla or Kurt Thomas on one year deals while rolling with Brendan Haywood as the starting center. I would be against committing any long term money to a center not named Tyson or Dwight.
↵But obviously re-signing Tyson is the Mavericks number priority right now and while there will be numerous reports of x player interested in Dallas and Dallas interested in y player, I don't expect any massive roster changes to this current bunch.
↵They are the NBA champions after all.
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