Moe and more to stretch out vs. Houston

Avery Johnson knows what he has in Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Jason Terry, etc. So this is a good time to get a long look at young players, newcomers and those trying to earn a roster spot. That’s how Johnson is approaching tonight against Houston.

“The game was structured for Moe Ager to play and we need to see a lot of him,” Johnson said today. “We needed to see Eddie Jones. We needed to see [Trenton] Hassell. We need to see [Nick] Fazekas. We need to see [Darvin] Ham.”

Even though the team has the maximum 15 guaranteed contracts, Johnson said he’s not that much closer on making roster decisions. Complicating matters are the injuries to centers Erick Dampier and DJ Mbenga, leaving some uncertainty behind Gana Diop.

“Because of injuries,” Johnson said, “I think it’s all probably going to go down to the wire, especially with the big guys. We don’t have enough bodies.”

Johnson added that JJ Barea will play about 24 minutes. The coach has been pusing the second-year point guard and Barea is responding, averaging 10.3 points and team-high (along with Devin Harris) 3.5 assists.