Star-Telegram Staff Writer Dwain Price reports: During the Mavericks' playoff run last season, Don Nelson often looked toward his bench for help and saw nothing but untested young players staring at him.

That won't be the case this season.

During the off-season, Nelson stuffed the Mavericks' talent pool with enough dependable, proven veterans to make Dallas one of the deepest teams in the NBA. Whether that depth will be enough to help the Mavericks leapfrog a tough-as-nails Western Conference contingent that includes the world champion Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio, Sacramento and Portland remains to be seen.

"The West is still loaded," said Nelson, the coach and general manager of the Mavericks, who open training camp Tuesday. "But so are we. So, ha-ha."

The Mavericks "loaded" themselves by acquiring guards Tim Hardaway, Adrian Griffin, Khalid El-Amin and Darrick Martin, forward Danny Manning and center Evan Eschmeyer. Those players - combined with returning veterans Michael Finley, Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Juwan Howard, Shawn Bradley, Greg Buckner, Eduardo Najera and Donnell Harvey - make the Mavericks a heavy favorite to challenge the San Antonio Spurs for the Midwest Division title.

"If you didn't believe in Dallas before last season, I think now you'll believe in Dallas," said Finley, who signed a seven-year, $102.2 million free-agent contract in July. "We sold the team, so to speak, back to Dallas and getting them to a point where they were in the '80s.