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Mavericks reportedly in talks to round out roster with J.J. Barea, Richard Jefferson

barea

Houston Rockets’ Pablo Prigioni (9), of Argentina, defends against Dallas Mavericks’ J.J. Barea (5), of Puerto Rico, who drives upcourt in the second half of Game 3 in an NBA basketball first-round playoff series Friday, April 24, 2015, in Dallas. ockets head coach Kevin McHale, right, watches in the Rockets’ 130-128 win. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

AP

The Dallas Mavericks now have DeAndre Jordan at center, Dirk Nowitzki at power forward and Chandler Parsons as the small forward. That’s as good or better than any front line in the NBA.

But they still have some work to do.

Right now Devin Harris would be the starting point guard (Jordan will find he’s not quite CP3) . They have Wes Matthews at the two, but he is coming off Achilles surgery and may not be the same player. Dallas is already at work to fill out a couple of their guard bench spots with role players, as reported by David Aldridge of NBA.com and Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports.

Both J.J. Barea and Richard Jefferson were with Dallas last season, playing reserve roles primarily. Barea averaged 7.5 points and 3.4 assists a game, playing just less than 18 minutes a night at about a league-average level of efficiency. Jefferson averaged 5.8 points a game in almost 17 minutes a night, but efficient wouldn’t be the word you would attach to them

They both make good reserves, solid role players off the bench. But if Dallas wants to run with the big boys in the West next season — Golden State, San Antonio — they need to land a quality starter for the one and some depth for the two spot.