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LAS VEGAS -- The consensus opinion among NBA coaches and executives surveyed during the Las Vegas Summer League is that the Dallas Mavericks made a wise move to give Harrison Barnes a maximum contract, given the circumstances.At 24 years old, Barnes is a proven, quality, versatile starter who has yet to hit his prime. Hes expected to help the Mavs compete for a playoff berth during Dirk Nowitzkis twilight and be part of Dallas core after the face of the franchise rides off into the sunset. Sure, $94 million is a lot to give a good role player, but that was market value for Barnes, and the Mavs will still have the salary cap space necessary to be aggressive bidders again next summer.After letting Chandler Parsons leave, the Mavs are much better off with Barnes than without him. However, league sources gave mixed reviews regarding the Mavs optimistic vision for Barnes growth into a go-to guy after he averaged career highs of 11.7 points and 1.8 assists per game in a complementary role for the Golden State Warriors last season.Youre going to see a lot more to his game than youve seen in the past, Mavs owner Mark Cuban said. I think he can do a lot more than hes been asked to do, and thats what we expect to see. ... Maybe not first year, but I think hes going to grow into [the role of go-to guy]. Just because a guy hasnt done things doesnt mean he cant do it.Asked about Barnes offensive potential, one skeptical Western Conference executive said: At best a third option.The biggest issue with Barnes is that he hasnt demonstrated the ability to make plays off the dribble, in isolation or as a pick-and-roll ball handler, in four NBA seasons. He is a more explosive athlete than Parsons, but Barnes doubters say he isnt nearly as fluid and lacks the feel for the game of the players hes replacing in the Mavs lineup.Hes been a championship-level system player for Golden State for several years, and hes coming into a situation where were going to need him to be more of a primary guy, coach Rick Carlisle said. Its going to take time to develop the mentality, make sure were getting him in the right situations to do it, but he has the ability and hes a worker. Im confident that hell get there.Mavs pull off coup with BogutA few years after Dwight Howard spurned the Mavs to sign with the Rockets, a starting center picked Dallas over Houston. The Warriors allowed Andrew Bogut to choose between the Mavs and Rockets as his trade destination, according to league sources.The Rockets were willing to make the same trade as the Mavs to get Bogut, which was essentially to take a future second-round pick along with the veteran big man in a salary-dump deal that helped give Golden State the cap space required to sign Kevin Durant.A source said the Philadelphia 76ers also showed heavy interest in trading for Bogut but were never seriously considered by the Warriors, who wanted to send the center to a playoff-caliber team as a token of their appreciation for his contributions the past four seasons.Acquiring Bogut in a contract year is widely considered a coup for the Mavs. He can provide the Mavs everything that Zaza Pachulia did last season but is much more mobile and athletic.Hes a top-five center as a defender without question, Carlisle said. Hes a premier rim protector, hes one of the best centers at taking charges, and he really understands the game. Offensively, were going to look to get him involved. Hell be a guy we look to throw to on the inside some, and we know hes a great passer and a great roller.Powell will have an increased presenceDwight Powells days as a fringe rotation player should be done. The Mavs didnt give the 24-year-old Powell a four-year, $37 million deal to have his primary role be shooting arrows on the bench to celebrate Wesley Matthews 3-pointers, as it often was late in the season, with Powell getting a DNP-CD in 10 of 27 games after the All-Star break.I expect him to be a rotation player, Carlisle said. The last two years weve been working toward this period where we could get him signed to a longer-term deal and integrate him to our everyday rotation. ... Hes a combination 4/5. I see him playing both positions. Time will tell how much at each, but I do believe there are going to be a lot of situations where hell play both positions in the same game.Powell might have taken a discount to stay in Dallas. A league source said the Brooklyn Nets were interested in Powell and pondering making a four-year, $48 million offer to the restricted free agent.Youth movementThe Mavs are committed to a youth movement as they fill out their roster. Their minimum-salary slots have primarily gone to veterans in the past, but theyve made a philosophical shift to give those roster spots to developmental prospects.One example is 25-year-old power forward Quincy Acy, who agreed to a two-year minimum deal with Dallas on Thursday.Cuban expects the Mavs to have as many as four rookies on the roster, all of whom will be signed to three-year deals for the minimum or close to it. Second-round center A.J. Hammons and 23-year-old Argentinian wing Nicolas Brussino have guaranteed deals. Summer league star Jonathan Gibson and undrafted forward Dorian Finney-Smith have agreed to three-year deals with some guaranteed money.Gibson has lit it up in Vegas, averaging 20 points per game while shooting 53.6 percent from the floor and 46.4 percent from 3-point range. He wouldnt exactly be a traditional NBA rookie as a 29-year-old who has played in Israel, Turkey, Italy, Iran and China. The Mavs see Gibson, who averaged 42 points per game in China last season, as potentially a poor mans Jason Terry.Finney-Smith has struggled offensively in the summer league, getting only two buckets in the first four games, but Dallas considers him a prospect because of his defense. At 6-foot-8, 220 pounds with a 7-foot wingspan and a 35?-inch vertical jump, Finney-Smith has the size and athleticism to defend multiple positions, similar to ex-Maverick Al-Farouq Aminu. Carolina Hurricanes Store . Brad Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., team took control of the game early. Carolina Hurricanes Pro Shop .Y. -- Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo had little trouble picking up his first shutout of the season against a Buffalo Sabres team thats having trouble scoring goals. https://www.cheaphurricanes.com/ . -- Cam Newton pranced into the end zone, placed his hands over his chest and did his familiar Superman pose. Wholesale Hurricanes Jerseys . Laudrup revealed Thursday he was notified of his dismissal in "the briefest of letters which gave no reasons why such hasty and final action was deemed necessary. Carolina Hurricanes Shirts . -- Lou Brocks shoulder-to-shoulder collision with Bill Freehan during the 1968 World Series and Pete Roses bruising hit on Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star game could become relics of baseball history, like the dead-ball era. Overseas teams have been on a hiding to nothing in Test matches in Asia over the last year. Since October 2015, there have been four completed Test series in Asia - England in the UAE, West Indies and Australia in Sri Lanka, and South Africa in India - plus the first Test of New Zealands ongoing tour to India. Thirteen Tests have been played in these series, of which 11 have been won by the Asian team, and only two have been drawn, one of them due to inclement weather during the India-South Africa Test in Bangalore last November.For non-Asian teams, playing Tests in India, Sri Lanka and the UAE are anyway among the toughest assignments in world cricket. Over the last year, things have been even more difficult because of the toss result: the overseas teams have lost the toss in each of those 13 Tests. In all but one of those games, the home team has batted first, usually when the pitch is at its finest, forcing the visitors to bat last in conditions loaded in favour of spin bowling. The only exception to the toss rule was that Bangalore Test against South Africa, when India chose to field first. That move worked perfectly for the hosts too, as South Africa were bowled out for 214 and India were 80 without loss before rain washed out the last four days of the match.The toss disadvantage is a significant one in Asia, but home teams havent always made huge first-innings totals and sealed the game at that stage. The highest first-innings total in these games is Pakistans 523 for 8 declared against England in Abu Dhabi, but that was in a drawn game: England replied with 598 for 9 declared, and then bowled Pakistan out for 173 in their second innings and clearly had the upper hand in the draw. Apart from that game, though, there is only one 400-plus first-innings total in 11 other games, and six totals below 300.In fact, the overall average runs per wicket in the first innings of the 12 Tests when the team winning the toss has batted, is only 31.11. On more than one occasion, teams have ended up with totals that are far from match-winning. For instance, Sri Lanka scored 200 against West Indies in Colombo, India managed 201 against South Africa in Mohali and 318 against New Zealand in Kanpur, Pakistan made 234 against England in Sharjah and Sri Lanka made 117 in Pallekele and 281 in Galle. In most of these instances, the overseas teams would have been reasonably happy with the state of the game at that point.On four of these 12 Tests, the overseas teams have gone on to take the first-innings lead, with the highest of those leads being Australias 86-run advantage in Pallekele (which should have been higher given that they had bowled Sri Lanka out for 117). England led by 75 in Abu Dhabi (in the drawn game) and by 72 in Sharjah, while Australia led by 24 after their first innings in Colombo. Then there was the Mohali Test, when South Africa only trailed by 17, and even Kanpur, when despite Indias tenth-wicket stand and New Zealands collapse, the deficit was only 56.* Excludes West Indies 227 in Galle, when they followed on and lost the Test These numbers indicate that overseas teams have done fairly well to overcome the dissadvantage of losing the toss, and stayed in the hunt through the first two innings of Tests in Asia.dddddddddddd The telling blow has often come in the third innings, when the Asian teams have amassed huge totals (in the context of the conditions) despite the pitch usually offering more help to bowlers. That has often left overseas teams with impossible fourth-innings targets, making the result a forgone conclusion. In fact, in these 12 Tests, the average first-innings deficit for the overseas teams is 62 runs, but the average victory margin in the ten Tests which were won by runs is 164. That indicates how the Asian teams have often run away with the game in the last two innings.The average runs per wicket in the third innings of these 12 Tests is 32.36, which is marginally higher than the first-innings average. That is partially due to declarations is some instances, but the fact that there are five 340-plus scores in the third innings - when the conditions should generally be far more difficult for run-scoring than in the first - indicates that overseas teams have often lost the plot during this period. That happened with England in Sharjah, when Pakistan scored 355 - the highest total of the match - after conceding a first-innings lead of 72; in Pallekele, when Sri Lanka turned around an 86-run deficit with 353 in the third innings against Australia; in Colombo, when they again overturned a first-innings deficit by scoring 347 for 8; and by India most recently in Kanpur, when they declared at 377 for 5, again the highest total of the match.* The third innings of this Test was by West Indies, who followed on and lost by an innings In the third innings, it is obvious that spinners need to do most of the wicket-taking, but all overseas teams have struggled with this aspect. In the third innings, overseas spinners have averaged 36.83 runs per wicket, which is similar to their first innings average, when pitches are usually far more batting friendly. Nathan Lyon has averaged 38.87 in the third innings, Adil Rashid 38.28, and Moeen Ali 40. Only the two South African spinners, Imran Tahir and Simon Harmer, have sub-25 averages, though both were involved in an unusually low-scoring series in India last year.On the other hand, the Asian spinners have been outstanding in the second innings and in the fourth, with averages of less than 21. Those numbers indicate how outmatched the overseas teams have been in Asia over the last year, especially in the spin-bowling department. Over the next few months, they will be playing 11 more Tests in India alone, with New Zealand playing two, England five and Australia four. England were exceptional when they toured in 2012-13, winning the series 2-1, but this time they will be without Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar, the two spinners who formed the backbone of that series victory. All three overseas teams will be up against it in India, but they could perhaps start by winning a few tosses. After 13 successive wrong calls, they are due a few correct ones. ' ' '