PRINT THIS PAGE | E-MAIL THIS PAGE

Thursday, June 26, 1997

Nelson doing his tricks already, trading down for Anstey, cash

By JAIME ARON / AP Sports Writer

DALLAS (AP) - Don Nelson gambled and won Wednesday night to get the player he really wanted in his first draft for the Dallas Mavericks. Now it's up to Australian 7-footer Chris Anstey to make winners out of the Mavericks.

Nelson used Dallas' 15th pick to take Iowa State center Kelvin Cato for Portland. The Trail Blazers then took Anstey for Dallas and swapped the players, with Portland throwing in an undisclosed amount of cash. The deal also gives the Mavericks some salary-cap relief.

"We weren't sure he was going to be there at 18," Nelson said. "We took a gamble. We rolled the dice a little and he was there, so we got the guy we really wanted."

The Mavericks got another guy they liked at No. 35 in Bubba Wells, a shooting guard from Austin Peay who would've led the nation in scoring (at 31.7 points per game) had he played more than 19 games as a senior.

Going into the draft, Nelson had said he wanted to add a scorer and some frontcourt help with his two picks. The going logic was that he'd do it in that order.

But when Olivier Saint-Jean went to Sacramento at No. 11 and Austin Croshere to Indiana at No. 12, Nelson had to change his focus.

He insisted he was happy winding up with Anstey, even though he'll be fighting for minutes against Shawn Bradley, A.C. Greene, Kurt Thomas, last year's top pick Samaki Walker, Martin Muursepp and Ed O'Bannon.

"As he gets stronger, he can play some backup center, some power forward and some small forward against some of the bigger threes in the league," Nelson said.

"He has a lot of skill, a lot of ability and he's just scratched the surface. He's going to be able to come in and play right away.

Nelson was asked why he would put himself under the duress of waiting out two picks if Anstey was his man all along.

"Good question," he said. "The intrigue, maybe."

By moving down three slots, the Mavericks will pay Anstey $118,800 less next season than they would've had to spend on Cato under the NBA's rookie wage scale.

Whatever cash they received is probably insignificant considering the wealth of Mavericks owner Ross Perot Jr. Then again, Perot is gambling $8 million over five years that Nelson can return Dallas to the playoffs for the first time since 1990.

Anstey, 22, didn't play organized basketball until he was 17, after growing too tall for tennis, his first love. He joined the National Basketball League of Australia at 19 and helped the Melbourne Tigers to the semifinals, although he scored just 3.1 points per game.

He averaged 11.8 points and 7.8 rebounds two years later when the Tigers were league champions.

Anstey excelled last year during a six-game tour against NCAA Division I competition. He had 25 points and 10 rebounds against eventual national champion Arizona, 23-12 against San Diego State and 18-9 against Texas.

Wells overcame fractures in each leg to become Austin Peay's all-time leading scorer with 2,267 points. He now has steel rods implanted in each lower leg.

For his career, Wells scored 21.6 points, hitting 40.5 percent of his 3-pointers. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
Send the URL (Address) of This Story to A Friend: