The Mavericks are 15 days away from opening their 30th training camp. There are plenty of questions about their veteran club that won't be answered until the 82-game grind and a presumed playoff run play themselves out.

But there are a few questions that can be answered now, which is why we went to the source, coach Rick Carlisle, to get a primer as well as an insight to how the Mavericks are approaching training camp.

What about the roster changes of the off-season? What do the incoming players bring to the table?

I like the moves we've made. We've acquired competitive guys. I like our chemistry. I think the pieces we added fit. The personalities of the new guys complement our nucleus. And I really believe the abilities of our new guys complement the guys that we have. We're more athletic. We've got more experience.

Could the new guys like Shawn Marion, Drew Gooden and Tim Thomas provide an edgy quality to the team?

That's certainly one of the priorities, to carry over the last 35 games, the momentum and the toughness we sort of gained through our tough start, and carry it through this training camp. We're going to have to be a tough-minded, persistent team to be in the top of the Western Conference. I believe we can do it. But it's going to be work.

Speaking of that tough sledding early last season, nobody saw a 2-7 start coming. And certainly nobody expected an 0-4 start at home. How much emphasis do you put on a better start to the season?

Playing from behind in this league is extremely difficult, whether you're talking about score or record. You got to win as many as you can from the beginning. So we gotta have a great training camp and brace ourselves to get off to the best possible start that we can.

Everybody expects Marion, Gooden and Thomas to be rotation players, but what about the other new guys, Roddy Beaubois and Quinton Ross? Will they play much?

I liked Beaubois in the summer and I liked the way he's worked and developed since the summer league. He gives us another quick athlete that can make things happen. He's got tremendous ability. If he's the right guy to play and he can help us, I'll throw him out there. But that's one of the reasons you have training camp and exhibition games, to see what's what with your younger guys. There's a balance between throwing a guy to the wolves and burying him and not giving him a chance. My feeling is you got to be able to strike a balance there. I'm watching the kid work every day, and I'm liking what I'm seeing. But the regular season is a little different than summer league.

Quinton Ross is a role player that we all like. So we're going to have a lot of flexibility on the roster and in one month's time period, we're going to have to figure out the best starting lineup and rotation to make sure we can get off to as good a start as possible because we have a very difficult road schedule in the first month.

What about meshing this team together? Last year, you put a big emphasis on this being the players' team. Will it be that way again?

It's going to still be there team. I'm the facilitator, and there are decisions that go into how a team is formulated and structured. But we have a veteran team and a bunch of professionals who have been very deep into the playoffs. But we're going to have to put an emphasis on defense in training camp. That's going to be important.

When you look around the Western Conference, what jumps out at you?

There are a lot of good teams. It's going to be a cluster again. The Clippers have improved a lot. Golden State is going to be a lot better. Phoenix is going to be healthy with (Amare) Stoudemire back. Oklahoma City is going to be a lot better. Utah, if healthy, is going to be a lot better. It's going to be difficult and extremely tight.

Look at the last day of the season. If we lose and (the Spurs' Michael) Finley misses the shot, we're in eighth playing the Lakers. If we win and Finley misses the shot, we're in seventh playing Denver. But he makes the shot, we win, and it bumps us to sixth. It gave us more momentum. And we played well in the first round. It's going to come down to the last two or three days again for seeding and all those things.

Will you carry 15 players or try to trim it down to 13 or 14 as a concession to the economy?

It's too early to talk about that. If there are enough guys that play well enough to make a case that they deserve jobs, then most owners will be more open-minded. But if not, it'll be 13 or 14.