The Dallas Mavericks are aggressively looking to trade, but they don't want to limit their future financial flexibility.

"The thing that Mark has brought is the ability to hit the grand slam home run," Nelson, the Mavs? GM, said Wednesday from Chicago, where he planned to watch the University of Connecticut play. "You have an owner who is a proven, willing spender if the right deal comes along, and you can count those guys on one hand right now. Almost everybody is looking to cut back.

"I don?t want to take that card away from Mark in 2010, because he?s shown he?s capable of pulling a rabbit out of his hat."

Mark Cuban and former Mavs' coach Don Nelson are headed to mediation Thursday to try and resolve their long-running dispute over the former coach's compensation package.

"We're going to mediation for the appeal," Nelson, who now coaches the Golden State Warriors, said before his team played the Mavericks on Wednesday night. "That's all I know at this point."

An arbitrator ruled last August that Cuban was to pay Nelson $6.3 million, a figure that a federal arbitrator increased to $7.1 million in September.

Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki believes that the team's defensive shortcomings this season are complicated.

"You name it," Nowitzki said of the team's issues on the defensive end. "Pick-and-roll. One-on-one containment. Transition. Rebounding. Rebounding actually is OK. But it's all over the place. We got some work to do."

Josh Howard's name continues to pop up in trade rumors this season, and Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News believes the Mavericks might be able to get a point guard in return.

Dallas owner Mark Cuban has said he'll keep Howard, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't pull the trigger on the right deal.

The Bobcats might still look to deal Raymond Felton, and the Grizzles could ship Mike Conley Jr. to Dallas in a trade involving Howard.

Stephon Marbury appeared on Sports Center on Tuesday and tried to set the record straight on his situation.  He has been in contact with the Celtics, Heat, and Mavericks.

"If something was to happen, I would be able to pick either of those teams," said Marbury.  "So it's not do I have a verbal or did Boston give me a commitment. That's people saying what they are basically speculating on what I said. If I could get out of my deal, I'd have a chance to choose what teams that I am able to go to. Even if those teams are not there, another team might come up and try to do something. I don't know where it could go. But the whole truth of the matter is I have to be able to get out of my deal. And I'm in a deal where I'm basically locked in where I can't play basketball. I can't complain too much because they are still paying me.

"I don't believe that it's about the money," said Marbury.  "I think it's about where I'm going to be playing basketball at. D'Antoni says that he doesn't mind if I play in Boston or if I played in Miami. He didn't care moving forward. I don't think it's necessarily about money. It can't be about money, whereas the Knicks, the organization itself, they're a billion dollar company, so I don't think it can be about that, especially when they owe me that money. I didn't come this year saying to the Knicks that I wanted to go in another direction. I came here ready to play. I did the exact thing Donnie Walsh told me to do. He told me to come in the best shape of my life and I did that."

Rick Carlisle revealed on Monday night that the Mavericks have decided to add veteran guard Darrell Armstrong to their coaching staff.

Carlisle coached Armstrong while with the Pacers and has remained in touch as Armstrong finished his playing career.

Armstrong will make his retirement official with the league in the near future. He played 50 games last season with New Jersey.

Dallas point guard Jason Kidd said in an interview with HoopsHype last week that he would like to play basketball until he's 40.

"I feel sore sometimes in the morning, but that happens at any age. I feel I can still compete," Kidd, who will turn 36 in March, said. "I feel good mentally and physically, I still feel I can play at a high level.

"I would like to play maybe until I'm 40. I feel great, but we'll see how that goes. But I would stop at 40. No smalls, no little guys have played until 40, so that would be a great accomplishment."

A team source doesn't believe that the Bucks will trade guard Michael Redd this season, but multiple teams have inquired about the sharp-shooter.

"We need to make the playoffs this season to regain our fan base," the source said.

"Everyone is interested [Portland, San Antonio and Dallas, etc.], but their offers are pure [garbage]."

Coach Rick Carlisle had a message for the Mavericks after the team lost by 34 points to the Bucks on Wednesday - play harder.

"Hard play is the biggest key to winning in this league, other than having enough talent," Carlisle said. "I love the talent on our team, but we don't have the kind of talent to win on talent alone. That's a fact. And most teams in the league are in the same position. We got to fight every night for wins. It's just never easy."

Dallas allowed Milwaukee to shoot nearly 80 percent over the second and third quarters on Wednesday night.

"At times. Our formula for winning ? and I sound like a broken record ? is consistency at the defensive end and a plus margin in rebounding and good decisions and shot-making offensively."

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle is content with the team's roster and believes that they can win with what they currently have.

"I like this team a lot," Carlisle said. "There's a formula for success, and it involves consistency and being a strong rebounding team defensively, and offensively being efficient. When we do those things, we're very difficult to play against."

Carlisle admitted that it has been hard for him to gauge how well the team can play with forward Josh Howard, who has struggled with injuries.

"It's been difficult for us to put long periods of sustained play together with him, but we got to press on, with or without him," Carlisle said.