Kevin Sherrington, sports columnist for SportsDayDFW.com and The Dallas Morning News, answered readers' questions about the Mavericks in a chat on Wednesday. Here are some of the highlights:

Question: What can the Mavs do to make sure Chandler Parsons isn't even tempted by his option to leave after the season?

Sherrington: This is one of the things that I found interesting in our chat on "Ballzy" with Calvin Watkins, who covers the Rockets for ESPN.com. He said the Rockets brass has really been impressed with the job Carlisle has done, and in particular how he's handled Parsons. He's not coddling him at all. Some think he's riding him too much, but his plus-minus numbers show that he's got to do more defensively, and Carlisle is reminding him of that. Sort of like what Ken Hitchcock did for Mike Modano. Modano didn't much like it, but it made him a much better two-way player and gave the Stars a title. That won't necessarily happen here, but if Parsons is smart, he'll recognize that Carlisle can take him to the next level.

Question: What did you make of Cuban's comments about how to build a championship team in today's NBA? If you didn't hear it, he suggested tanking for a superstar isn't the best way to go. Instead, he wants to focus more on coaching up his guys.

Sherrington: He's talked about this sort of thing several times in the past. The problem with tanking is that you don't know what kind of pick you're going to get because of the lottery. Ben Simmons looks like a really good young player, but he's still awfully young. Is he the real deal? Cuban would rather try to entice a proven player to come to the Mavs. Despite his lack of success attracting a major FA, I don't fault him for that. But you have to build up a cheap core around those guys, too, and that's what a draft is for. There's not just one way to build a roster.

Question; Do you think the young talent the Mavs have (Powell, Anderson) could actually become useful rotation players?

Sherrington: Yeah, sure, but it requires the Mavs keeping them instead of putting them in deals like they did Jae Crowder. It's always tempting to shed those kinds of contracts when you're clearing out cap space to make a run at FAs. What they like, and what everyone likes, about Anderson is his athletic ability. They haven't had much of that lately. In a conference with Russell Westbrook running amok, it'd be nice to think there was someone who could at least elevate to his stratosphere.

Click here to read the full chat transcript.