You’ve got to hand it to Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks. Even when his team is one of the least profitable franchises in the league, he still pulls a crazy-ass trade every few years to keep us NBA fans excited about winning it all. The 4-team trade I’m talking about looks like this:
Dallas gets:
Shawn Marion from Toronto, FA Signee Marcin Gortat from Orlando Kris Humphries from Toronto, Nathan Jawai from Toronto, Greg Buckner from Memphis and some extra cash.
Memphis gets:
Jerry Stackhouse from Dallas and Cash
Toronto gets:
Sign and Trade Hedo Turkoglu from Orlando, Devean George from Dallas, Antoine Wright from Dallas
Orlando get:
a nice “thank you” note from the above teams
So, basically the clear cut winner from this trade has to be the Dallas Mavericks. They just upgraded their 3-spot to a former All-League player when coupled with an elite point guard, who Dallas just resigned. I think he goes by the name of Jason Kidd.
Here’s Dallas’ starting projected starting lineup now:
PG – ason Kidd – he still got no J
SG – J.Ho
SF – The Matrix
PF – Dirk Diggler
C – Gortatten the Forgotten
Key Bench Players – Jason Terry, JJ Barea, Erick Dampier & Kris Humphries
The Mavericks aren’t as tall and long as the Lakers and their defense still could use some improvement. With Kidd at the helm, the allas Mavericks should be able to keep up with any of the top offenses in the league and keep Cuban’s fans entertained until May.
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I beg to differ. Mark Cuban blinked and gave J Kidd who until late in the season looked old and tired, a 3 year contract when the NY Knicks came sniffing around. Shawn Marion is a legend in his own mind. He pouted when he couldn’t be The MAN in Phoenix. His trade demands were answered and he was swapped with The Diesel-The Truth-The Big Cactus and now The Big Freezer. His and O’Neil’s impact on the game since that blockbuster trade? The Big Zero. Now he lands in Dallas in another blockbuster trade, be it his 5th team where expectations run high and patience low. Gortat played well during the playoffs behind D Howard in Orlando and his stock rose accordingly earning him a fat contract. Now he’s no longer under the radar and as a starting center how effective will he be in a Western Conference loaded with premier big men like Gasol, Duncan, Bynum, Boozer and Yao (pending trade and health issues), Nene, Chris Anderson, Oden, and talented rookie Blake Griffin night in and night out? Journeyman Humphries along with Jawai (who?) where throw-ins in the Marion trade and they’ll probably be buried deep on the bench. Nomad Buckner bounces around in the league based on defense. He isn’t in the same area code as Ron Artest and Shane Battier. He plays limited minutes shot and his offensive skills are minimal at best. And then there’s the critical issue of chemistry. Offensively, is Dirk Nowinski still going to be the go to man? Is it possible for Josh Howard (if healthy) and Marion to work together? All three players require a fair amount of touches to be effective meaning should losses mount, someone going to start grumbling a la Jerry Stackhouse. Age is another factor with the majority of the players in their 30’s. Success or failure will come down to Rick Carisle who has the unenviable job of meshing the new acquisitions with what’s left of last year’s ho-hum team into a marquee cohesive unit all the while dealing with a yelping and meddlesome owner literally behind the bench. Time will tell, but in the powerful Western Conference billionaire Mark Cuban’s flash of cash will ultimately result in another 7th or 8th seed in the playoffs or humiliating visit to Lottery Land.
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