Mavs <3 Jason Kidd

So you’re saying there’s still a chance!  The Mavs for Kidd deal is off thanks to Devean George.  Maybe the Cavs still have a shot?

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Yes, Jason Kidd is about to become a Mav. Now if only they could pry Jamal Mashburn from ESPN and talk Jimmy Jackson out of retirement, they could return to their glory days.

Since the Cavs are the center of the universe (we have LEBRON!), I’ll just touch on the implications.

The Mavs get smaller, while Phoenix and LA have been busy growing, and get thinner by trading 3 rotation players and 2 others for Kidd and a maybe rotation player in Malik Allen.

• This seems like a move to turn the Mavs more into the up-tempo team Don Nelson originally formed them as. I have no idea what they plan to do against the Duncans, Gasol/Bynums, Shaqs or Yaos of the world. Dampier certainly isn’t the answer. Maybe they can just outscore everyone.
• Losing the depth won’t affect them much. Going 10 deep is great for an 82 game regular season – just look at all the wins they racked up last year – but you only need 8 strong for the playoffs.
• A starting lineup of Kidd, Terry, Howard, Dirk and Dampier is pretty damned good. Brandon Bass, JJ Barea and Eddie Jones is everything else they have.

For the Nets, well, kudos to them. They finally found a deal they like to help them rebuild.

• Harris is their PG of the future.
• Stackhouse is a contributor, an asset to trade elsewhere, and a replacement for a soon-to-be-traded Vince Carter
• All the expiring contracts ($5.5 mil) and cash ($3 mil) let them rebuild this summer instead of down the road.
• And the pick is a throw in to seal the deal – it’ll probably be 25th or lower.

So why didn’t the Cavs get Kidd?

We couldn’t come anywhere close to that package! We couldn’t make an offer that wouldn’t be laughed at compared to that one.

• A quality point guard? Boobie? They’ll pass.
• Another quality scorer? Sasha? Hughes? Would you take either – contracts aside – over Stackhouse? No. And neither would the Nets.
• Ok, we could’ve matched the expiring deals with Ira and the Browns, but even including Kellen Winslow wouldn’t make that deal palatable.

I don’t think Lebron is going to pause for a moment and wonder what could have been. Nothing could have been. It was never a possibility. As I’ve said all along, the Cavs only shot is for a mid-level player. Maybe next year when we have some real assets.

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Let’s drop a quickie preview of tonight’s game while we’re at it:
Cavs, at home, against a Spurs team without Tony Parker on the last leg of their “rodeo road trip”. Hughes should be playing with confidence. Lebron won’t be thinking about getting Kidd. Gooden and Z should play. Good things should happen.

Go Cavs!

Another post about Larry Hughes

I’m pretty excited about tonight’s win. I don’t know if it’s warranted. I don’t feel comfortable being happy about it. I’m not bouncing around the room with adrenaline. I’m not pumping my fist and envisioning our Eastern Conference dominance henceforth.

I’m just… content.

Winning in Dallas is cause enough for celebration. Holding a good team to 81 points means something. We got to the line. We won the battle of the boards. I’m even happy that we played 9 guys. I think they’re the right 9 guys and I think Coach Mike is going to stick with them.

Sure, there were plenty of negatives – it was an ugly game – but I’m not even going to mention them.

You know what got me most excited? Larry Hughes. He looked angry. He took contact. He played in traffic. He was… good. He played his game. He wasn’t “on”. He wasn’t a black hole. He just played, calm but assertive.

Let him fly under the radar. Let’s not talk about it when he does this again next game. Let’s just get back to appreciating Lebron, screaming for Andy and scaring children for Z, while Larry, without scrutiny or expectations, can cruise along putting together a season of games like this.

Ori, feel free to berate me for my defense and applaud the Cavs for theirs. And offer a little more analysis while you’re at it. I’ll just be here basking in this oddly placating, somehow minimized win.