Jason Kidd Traded to Dallas...And Then Not Traded

I had a huge post ready to go today concerning a 5 step process for saving the Mavs. Before I could finish it up, however, news came down that the Mavs and Nets were in heated discussions to bring Jason Kidd back to Dallas. As the day progressed the trade expanded then shrunk, new players were added, players were taken away, etc. until a deal was reached...and then the deal was rejected because Devean George excercised a very rare no trade clause to block the deal. In the end it looks like the deal will eventually get pushed through in some form or another with the principles being:
Dallas trades - Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, Gana Diop, Maurice Ager, 3 million dollars, 2 first round draft picks, a second round draft pick, and either Devean George or something equivalent.
New Jersey trades - Jason Kidd, Malik Allen, and Antoine Wright.
New Jersey would also buyout Jerry Stackhouse, allowing him to resign with the Mavs after a 30 day waiting period, which he could use to heal up anyway.
I've written a lot on this throughout the day but I think the following sums up most of my thoughts on this move.

On What the Mavs Are Giving Up:
First off, I don't care about depth. We've had great depth on some of our past teams and every year it's been the same thing: in the playoffs your rotation drops to 8 or 9 no matter how deep you are. Dirk, Kidd, Howard, Terry, Damp, Bass, Stack (we assume), Jones, and either Barea or a big man to be named later. It would be great to have lots of depth but it might be the most overrated, over talked about "x factor" in all of sports. It doens't matter in the playoffs.

Second, I hate losing Harris. I really, really wish the Mavs could have gotten a deal done with Terry instead. Harris and Kidd together sounded great. But, you have to give to get. My arguments with Harris are the same as they've always been:

1.) Avery cannot or will not use him correctly. He doesn't trust him, he's not his type of player, and unless Avery suddenly took the shackles off, Harris would never reach his full potential here.

2.) Harris is never going to be a Hall of Fame player. Ever. He's a very good guy who might scratch the All Star game once or twice, maybe more now that he's in the East where there are far less talented young points. But we've all pretty much agreed that best case scenario for Harris is a poor man's Kevin Johnson. I loved KJ but he wasn't even close to Kidd, even in his prime.

3.) The injury bug seems to afflict Harris pretty regularly. He's skinny as a rail, he takes a lot of hits, and with the exception of Allen Iverson, most players who play that way end up with major injuries that hamper their effectiveness. Harris playing the way he does, which I love by the way, probably means he'll peak out at 28 or 29 and begin an early decline. Slahers like Harris who do not have reliable jumpers often fall VERY fast. Kidd has never had a jumper but that's never held him back and he's already adjusted his game to both his inability to shoot AND a microfracture knee surgery. We have no idea how Harris will adjust to the major injury that, let's face it, is in the cards before too long. Eventually he's gonna get hurt and hurt seriously and you have to wonder how he'll get over it.

Third, Stack coming back is helpful. I was under the impression that if a player wasn't under contract by March 1 he couldn't play in the playoffs but perhaps that changed along with the 30 day rule. Giving Stack 30 days off to rest up could actually make him halfway useful for the stretch.

Fourth, I absolutely hate losing Diop. I like Diop a lot. I think he is very underrated in terms of what he does without complaining for the money he is paid. It's tough to find those guys. Perhaps NJ cuts him as well? I don't know. Losing him is the most significant part of this deal. I have to imagine the Mavs have a plan to get a replacement though.

Fifth, why would any fan care about the rest of the pieces involved in this? Maurice Ager might be the worst player in the NBA if it weren't for the fact that the Mavs also drafted Nick Fasuckus. George can be helpful when he plays his role but we got a nice dose of George's inconsistency on Sunday when he threw up 12 shots, including 4 threes. He's redundant to Hassell who is a better player anyway. Someone on one of the radio stations (I think Nate Newton, who knows nothing about basketball anyway) was throwing an absolute fit about the draft picks. Again I say, WHO CARES?! The Mavs have proven a complete inability to do ANYTHING useful with their draft picks anyway so why does it matter? Do we really need 2 more Agers in the next 3 years?

10 Reasons Why I Like This Trade:
1.) Jason Kidd makes everyone around him not just better but significantly better. If you're willing to work to get open, there is not a better player in the league except for maybe Nash at finding you. The guy is averaging 10+ assists per game on a TERRIBLE team. I think he gives Damp a better opportunity to score some low post points. I think he makes Eddie Jones and Jet (or whoever they get for Jet in another trade, please GOD!) a better outside shooter. I think he gives Stack a better opportunity to actually provide something of value. Most importantly, I think he takes defense away from Dirk and gets him the ball, something this team hasn't done for 2 years in spite of his MVP trophy, and I think (or at least hope) that he turns Josh back into a slashing type of player. Josh has regressed significantly this year and I've been on him for that but when you add a guy who is so incredibly gifted at finding players who go to the rim, it gives you motivation to do just that. I think Howard and Dirk get immediately better because of Kidd's presence.

Harris was an excellent player but he was not a particularly gifted passer/distributor. Getting better? Yes, but Harris doesn't have the court vision you need to become a great passer. This team needs easy baskets like no team in the league and while you'd like to get easy baskets by adding a monster in the paint, who was out there, who was available? No one. J O'neal and his gimpy knee and that's it. Kidd gets us easy baskets and while we're still a jumpshooting team, like I said, I think the knowledge that if you go to the rim this dude is going to find you gets into your head and you start passing on jumpers to move the ball and get it back later for a dunk. Consider this telling stat, something I consider pretty significant: this season, Jason Kidd has 33 games of double digit assists. The Mavs as a TEAM have 2 double digit assist performances all year. That makes a BIG difference.

2.) Kidd isn't a bad defender. He's not as good as Harris is simply because he's not as quick. But people are making Kidd out to be Steve Nash defensively. Kidd has been one of the better defensive point guards for the last decade and while he may be a step slower now, he's still a pretty salty defender. Consider also that Kidd doesn't pick half the fouls Harris does as well. Harris is one of the worst players in the league at picking up cheap, ticky tack fouls that send him to the bench, resulting in prolonged periods of Jason Terry's matador defense. Kidd has the respect of the refs that no one on this team has and it allows him to play more physically on defense, something Avery will love and something we should all be appreciative of.

3.) Kidd adds the two things this team has been lacking the most: mental toughness and leadership. I think Dirk has gone above and beyond in his efforts to be the leader, it's just not his personality. He's not a vocal leader. Kidd is. Kidd will rip your heart out if he thinks you aren't playing as hard as you should. And then he goes out, shows you how to do it, and throws you an alley oop to let you know he still loves you. That's BIG. And even more importantly, in my opinion, is the mental side of this. This team's basketball IQ is possibly the lowest I've seen in a true contender, ever. Stupid play after stupid play. That cost them in 05, it cost them in 06, it cost them in 07, and it's still rearing it's ugly head this season. Kidd is one of the smartest players in the league and he's tough as nails. No one is going to intimidate JKidd the way the Mavs were intimidated by the Warriors. There won't be nearly as many complete mental breakdowns like the Mavs have had repeatedly in the last 3 years, Kidd won't let it happen.

4.) I don't think you can underestimate the effect of rejuvination. Kidd is putting up near triple double numbers while playing for a crappy team knowing full well he's not going anywhere. Now add him to a team that has a great chance of winning a title playing with a guy he has had an outspoken great admiration for in Dirk. That's another thing that's important: Kidd hasn't been real shy about the fact that he doesn't care for Carter's way of playing the game but Kidd is a fan of Dirk. I think we can expect Kidd to pick up his game even more and like I said, he's already putting up a 3D.

5.) Some of the pundits, particularly Hollinger, have stated that Kidd doesn't fit the Mavs offense. I think that's true in a way but it doesn't take into consideration the idea that the Mavs could and should (and better) change their game planning some to fit Kidd's strengths. We won't be running as much as a Nellie team but even stubborn Avery can recognize Kidd's greatness and loosen up the reigns a little. In addition, even if Avery doesn't do that, Kidd isn't going to be like Harris, turning to the bench every possession to see what the coach wants him to do. He's gonna grab the ball and run and eventually, even if Avery is over on the bench screaming for it to stop, the rest of the team will start running, too.

6.) I think Antoine Wright has something. He's extremely inconsistent but I thought his addition to the trade helps out a little. He certainly is a better player than Ager so it works out. I think he could be a nice addition at a cheap price.

7.) Don't be surprised if another move is on the way. I've heard several sources, from Stein to Norm quoting a Mavs source, that have said Dallas isn't done trading. Obviously the team is now in need of a big man but they could use a little help at the point/swing spot. I got the impression that something else is in the works.

8.) The fact that Jerry Stackhouse, who has kind of become the team's spokesman in the last couple of years, is SO EXTREMELY EXCITED about this speaks volumes to me. This dude is getting traded away in this thing and yet he sounds like a fat kid in a candy store. That tells you how much other players respect Kidd and how excited this team is to be playing with that guy. That's huge in my opinion.

9.) If nothing else, I like that the Mavs recognized that a.) the team needed a shakeup and b.) the window of opportunity is closing. Portland, LA, New Orleans, Utah, etc. are only getting better. I don't think you can bank on this team contending with those teams in the next 3, 4, 5 years whether they have Harris or not. I like that the MBT, after completely failing us in the last 2 years, stepped up a made a big move, for better or for worse, that they truly believe will bring them a title. After sitting through this season and it's numerous frustrations and having seen the complete and utter chokes the last two years, I don't know how we can sit here and say this is a bad move and that the Dirk-Harris-Howard "building blocks of the future" thing was going to win a title. Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't, but personally I like our chances better now than before.

10.) Last, I don't care about the future. I'm dead serious. If we win a title in the next year or two, we can go back to winning 11 or 13 games again. I don't want to hear anything about the future unless it's in conjuction with help now as in "he will help us win now AND will be a building block for the future." The question you have to ask yourself is would you rather be the Mavs as they've been recently, always contending, always with a chance to win it but ultimately never quite getting it done, or the Heat and win a title and then slip into complete insignificance within a year or two. I'll take the ring every single time. And JKidd gives us a better shot at that ring than Harris did, IMO. Plus, a lot of fans are pissed about this right now but in a couple weeks when the Mavs are winning again and JKidd is pushing our offense back to the top, the fans (including those on this board, haha) will forget all about Devin Harris.

On Devean George's selfishness:
First off, this deal will get done. There's more than one way to skin a cat. Devean George can't stay on this team now after what he's done, for one thing, but for another, it's really very difficult to keep a lot of guys now that you've told them you traded them. One guy, like the Spurs with Brent Barry a couple years ago, you can handle. But you can't tell 5 guys "we traded you" then say "nevermind" and expect everything to be fine. More importantly, George's contract is easy enough to substitute. Option 1 is most likely, IMO, George will talk to the agent, figure out that he can't stay here now and that he'll get as good an opportunity as he can to earn himself a new paycheck. Option 2 is the Mavs find another team that George will agree to that has an expiring contract close to what George's is. Send him there, send the expiring contract to NJ. Option 3 is to pull Diop out of the deal and sign KVH to whatever the difference is, equivalent to the contracts of George and Diop, then tell George your services are no longer needed, go home. In that scenario we keep Diop, which is a plus. I know Cubes said he doesn't want to use KVH but there's a difference between a 16 mil contract and one that equals to George and Diop, which is what, 4 or 5 mil? That's doable. Actually, according to ESPN.com, it would only cost the Mavs 2 million dollars more to take out George and Diop and add KVH.

But I wanna say what a jerk George is. First off, the reason you're getting traded is because you don't play your role. Freaking 0-11 tonight, idiot. If you were playing the way you did last year you'd probably have a bigger role. Second, you asked for a trade numbnuts. You want more PT. Well guess what, chief, the way a fringe player like you gets more minutes is by going to a crap team. Does he really think he's going to get 25+ minutes with a contender? Idiot. And third, don't agree to the freaking trade and then back out after the news has already come out. Freaking moron. If you wanna talk to your agent first, tell them that, don't say yes and then back out.