They were long shots when they walked in the door — Dallas had 15 guaranteed contracts on the roster already — and on Tuesday the ax fell.

The Dallas Mavericks waived Fab Melo and Renaldo Balkman, the team announced Tuesday.

In the case of Melo his possible return to the NBA some day will be dictated by his willingness to develop his game. There have been rumors questioning his maturity and desire to work at his game since he entered the league. The fact Memphis was willing to eat his $1.3 million salary this year to let him go before camp even started should speak to that.

Drafted No. 22 by the Celtics as a project, he never got close to what the Celtics envisioned. Despite his athletic gifts and being a legit 7’0”, he got in just six games for Boston last season and spent most of the season in the D-League developing his game (he was named to the D-League All-Defensive First Team and D-League All-Rookie First Team). The most notable thing he did as a rookie was get a concussion walking into a doorway. Boston traded him to Memphis. When Memphis waived him he took a camp invite from Dallas, but that was never the long term answer.

Dallas also cut Balkman, who looked good for Puerto Rico in the FIBA America’s tournament, likely now returns to Europe for the season.

Dallas also waived former Laker Devin Ebanks as well as D.J. Kennedy.