Dallas Takes an Interest in English

Stunned by the defection of power forward Sam Perkins, the Dallas Mavericks said Tuesday they are looking at the possible acquisition of Denver Nuggets forward Alex English.

“We are taking a hard look at him. There’s been communication between Rick Sund and his agent,” Mavericks head coach Richie Adubato said.

“I don’t know if we’re too late on this or not. Alex has been out there (on the trading block), and several teams have been looking at him. Whether we are going to be able to accomplish this remains to be seen,” Adubato said.

English, a career 20-point scorer, no longer appears to have a future with the Nuggets, who have moved into a rebuilding stage. Although English lacks the defensive and rebounding abilities of Perkins, his ability to score would fill perhaps the Mavericks’ biggest need.

“Alex English could add scoring to our team, plus he’s a tremendous person,” Adubato said.

English, like Perkins, is an unrestricted free agent who can sign with the team of his choice. Although he is one of the most prolific players in NBA history, at 36 he is also one of the older current players.

English, who has said he intends to play for one more season before he retires, made $2 million last season. That is no problem for the Mavericks, who had set aside $3 million a year to sign Perkins.

Perkins agreed to a 6-year, $20 million package with the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday. Adubato had planned to build his 1990-91 team around the versatile, 6-9 1/2 forward.

“It would have taken a large amount of money to sign Perkins, but if you listen to Derek Harper and Rolando Blackman, they knew how important he is, because they played everyday with him,” Adubato said.

Adubato also says Perkins’ agent wanted him to play for a different team, and that made it difficult.

“There had to be something to say about championship banners hanging in your gym, and the opportunity to play with Magic (Johnson),” Adubato said.

Another factor probably was that Perkins was a college roommate of Lakers starting forward James Worthy, Adubato said.

“We are frightened because not only have we lost Sam, we lost him to the Los Angeles Lakers, which gives them a tremendous front line, the best in the league.”

Dallas traded away its first-round draft picks this year to acquire two other front-line players, guard Fat Lever from Denver and forward Rodney McCray from Sacramento.

“We helped ourselves, but it looks like the rich are getting richer here,” Adubato said of the Lakers. “With Perkins gone, things are different for us, and we are just going to have to explore every opportunity.”

“The versatility of Sam, his ability to be our best defensive player, was going to help us. Fortunately, Rodney has been on the first team all-NBA defensive team, and so has Fat Lever. We’re just going to have to work a little harder now and be happy that we at least had enough foresight to help ourselves with those two players,” Adubato said.

Major question marks for the Mavericks are center James Donaldson, hampered in the past two years by ailing knees, to stay healthy, and forward Roy Tarpley, who has been suspended for parts of the last two season because of drug problems.

“Rodney is going to step in and play for us, but we are going to have to keep James healthy, and Roy is going to have to give us the whole year,” Adubato said.