SALT LAKE CITY – Willie Cauley-Stein’s arrival with the Mavericks was great news for two former and now-current teammates of the 7-footer.
Justin Jackson played most of his first two seasons with Cauley-Stein while both were with the Sacramento Kings.
“I was hyped,” Jackson said when asked his thoughts of being reunited with Cauley-Stein. “I loved playing with him in Sacramento. Cool guy off the court.
“On the court, he’s a good teammate. I’m excited. I texted him this morning and he said he’s really excited to come join us. It should be good for everybody.”
The Mavericks’ trade for Cauley-Stein became official Saturday afternoon after Isaiah Roby passed his physical with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Mavericks made that deal to clear room on the roster for Cauley-Stein.
The Mavericks feel like they are getting a sort of light version of Dwight Powell, who’s ruptured right Achilles tendon precipitated the moves that yielded Cauley-Stein.
“He’s an active guy, a great roller and great rim protector, plays with a lot of energy, athletic,” said Seth Curry, who played with the Kings and Cauley-Stein in 2015-16. “He’s a fun guy to play with it.
“We had some good times in Sacramento playing together and he can help our team, so I’m excited to have him.”
The logistics of bringing aboard Cauley-Stein might preclude him from having an impact on this road trip, which ends Monday night at Oklahoma City.
The fifth-year center is scheduled to have his physical on Sunday morning and should join his new teammates Sunday night in OKC. He is not expected to be there in time for a scheduled practice on Sunday afternoon.
“He’s going to give us depth,” Carlisle said. “That’s the one thing we desperately need with Powell being out.
“I don’t know if he’ll be active for the game (Monday) because we’ve got to look at some different things. (Ryan) Broekhoff may be available for the Oklahoma game.
“He’s not going to be there in time for (the practice). We’ll give him the crash course and try to simplify things for him initially and get him in here, get him going and see where we are.”
Cauley-Stein has a reputation for his good screen-setting, strong rolls to the basket and decent rim protection on the defensive end.
“His rebounding is good and we feel there are areas where he can get better,” Carlisle said. “I talked to him a little bit abbout those things. We’ll coach him hard and with a lot of respect and get him ready to help us.”
Cauley-Stein’s assignment will not to do all the same things that Powell did. The 6-10 Powell started 37 games before his injury and he was a constant in virtually every area of the game.
Cauley-Stein will do it differently, but there is a segment of people in the NBA that believe he has substantially more potential than he’s shown.
“Obviously, losing somebody like Dwight and how important he is to our team, you can’t really just replace him because he did a lot of things that didn’t even necessarily show up (in the stats),” Jackson said. “But as far being able to set screens, roll, be a threat on the roll at the rim, I think it is going to be really good for us, especially pairing him with Luka (Doncic) and guys that are coming off those screens.”
Carlisle said the mechanics behind the trade were fairly straightforward. The Mavericks knew they had a need and addressed it as best they could.
“As soon as the injury happened, we started talking about who could possibly be available,” he said. “There are some free agents, some good names. But there were assorted health concerns, etc. We were looking for a guy that’s ready to play.
“The trade of Roby for Patton was certainly a means to an end and allowed us to finish the deal. I’ve talked to Willie and he’s excited about coming. We think he’s a guy that has some really unique abilities.
“And we got to get him integrated into what we’re doing and get him ready.”
Twitter: @ESefko
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