J-Kidd to the Mavericks

February 19, 2008 – 10:10 pm

After dancing around a possible deal like Emmitt Smith for two weeks, Jason Kidd and some other guys I’ve never heard of are heading to the Dallas Mavericks for Devin Harris, the retired Keith Van Horn (more on this later), a bunch more guys I’ve never heard of, draft picks, and $3 million in cash. It looks like the Eastern Conference is trying to get worse by trading away their good players to the Western powerhouses. Does this move adequately prepare Dallas for a playoff run?

Even though no one associated with the Mavericks will admit it, this is a direct response to Shaq relocating to Phoenix and Pau Gasol arriving in Los Angeles. The stale-as-some-three-year-old-saltine-cracker Mavs looked around and saw their competition getting better, so owner Mark Cuban decided to get Kidd no matter what it took. And it took quite a bit. Kudos to New Jersey for getting maximum value for their aging superstar.

To a certain extent, Dallas has put themselves in a similar situation to the Suns. They each have two, maybe three seasons of these high-profile acquisitions playing at championship caliber. The ultimate goal is to win a title, so if they don’t in the next couple seasons, how can anyone say either of these were a good deal? They both gave up quite a bit to get a 35 year old super-duper-star. Contrast this with the Lakers deal. They picked up a legit 27-year-old 7 footer and didn’t give up hardly anything. They’re poised to contend for the next six or seven seasons barring ugly contract negotations.

Throw in Nick Van Exel and we’ve got a deal!

An interesting phenomenon in a couple of these deals is trading players who are no longer in the league. How is this possible? Well, teams still own rights to players if they decide to retire or take some time off while still under contract. So, they can then include them in a sign-and-trade, like the Mavericks did with Keith Van Horn. He has been ”retired” since the 2006 Finals, but Dallas still owns his rights. So now he’s headed to New Jersey. Good for him. His buddies Van Exel, Jalen Rose, and Vlade Divac are just waiting for a call.

I think teams should take this to another level. They could include members of the coaching or athletic training staff in trades. Better yet — cheerleaders. “Sure, we’ll give you Mike Bibby, but we want Ashley included in the deal!” GMs everywhere would be lauded for their savvy dance-team pickups. The possibilities are endless.

Regardless of who you’re rooting for, this is shaping up to be a fantastic end to the ‘07-’08 NBA season. The Western conference is deeper than Bill Gates’ pockets. Who do you have winning it all? Does finally getting J-Kidd make the Mavs the team to beat?

Tags: emmitt can DANCE, jason kidd, lakers, mavericks, nba dance teams