The Dallas Mavericks had two top scorers on their roster last season with Dirk Nowitzki and Monta Ellis, but with Ellis leaving the team in free agency, someone else is going to have to carry more of a scoring burden:
“It’s a big void,” head coach Rick Carlisle confessed while speaking on the loss of Ellis. “You know, we’re talking about our leading scorer the last two years and a guy that really, to be totally truthful about it, got us back into the playoffs the last couple of years. Without him, I don’t know if we would have been able to do it. He was that important to us.
“We’ve got to get Parsons back to 100 percent, which will happen. His game has grown a lot. He’s not only a shooter and a scorer, but he’s a playmaker. He’s a defender and a rebounder. He’s one of our best all-around players. As the season went on, his responsibilities grew, and they will continue to grow going forward. … There are going to be plenty of things that he can do to refine his game, even if he’s not on the court going 100 percent. I’ve had long discussions with him about that. There will be no time wasted, and he will continue to get better and be one of the best young players in the game.”
Parsons says he's more than willing to step up on the offensive side of the ball:
“I’ve never been hurt in my career,” Parsons explained. “I think I missed more games this year than I did my entire first three years, which is extremely frustrating. Obviously, being a new guy on a new team and in new city, everything was just brand new with me. A lot of times I’m trying to get acclimated and get used to it. I’m just disappointed I couldn’t play in the playoffs. That’s the most fun time of the year, and what you come here to do is compete for a championship. For me, not being able to do that this year was devastating and frustrating. I’ve never really went through anything like that. It was a pretty down year for me, just from the standpoint I couldn’t help. I couldn’t play in the playoffs and help my team compete for a championship.”
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