MAVS NEWS:

[F Gump]

Did they shorten the waiting period recently?  I wonder if its less of a deterrent than it used to be.

The length of time has some impact, but even a couple days is huge because of:
1 the requirement to have the cap room cleared before being able to have a player sign the OFFER sheet (which means you have bypassed any opportunity to be an over-cap team in free agency, probably giving up some or all of the free agent holds for Bird rights on your own players, which is a big advantage overall);
2 the uncertainty of knowing the outcome while you wait (after all that, you may end up with air for your efforts-- for lots of examples, see: Mavs, Dallas, history of free agency); and 
3 the speed of free agency (your team's cap is paralyzed while players come off the board right and left, and few if any good free agents want to wait to be your backup plan, the leftovers -- recall DJJ not wanting to be 2nd fiddle, and the timing didn't even get to the end of the moratorium, much less to an offer sheet wait following the moratorium).

Having RFA rights isn't ever a lock unless you have a max-level player, because another team can make a stupid-money offer too big to even consider matching. But is a stupid-money offer going to happen on a 9 ppg backup? Seems remote to me. 

QG feels like he fits in the "around MLE" slotting that the Mavs prefer to pay, and the Josh Green comp that's been mentioned is a good upper end of the range he should land in imo. I also think Naji is a good comp - a promising backup on another team, that you think might have some upside. It seems like the Mavs are in great wait-and-see position on such a player, with RFA rights that give them the final say. That assumes he continues to play well, of course, and stay healthy.