Not so. The Mavs will have the cap space. That's why they let Chandler, Barrea & Butler walk this past off season. They will get more cap space for buying out Odum's contract plus if they let Marion & Terry go, they will free up even more cap room. Now, the scuttlebutt (as of today) up here is that while they may or may not have a shot at Howard, they definitely still feel in the running for D Williams. And, this may come as somewhat of a shock, Plan B for the Mavs if they don't land D Williams is...Goran Dragic. This sort "slipped" out today so take it for what it's worth.
D-Will is indeed a very realistic possibility. But Dwight AND D-Will going to the Mavs simply can't happen. D-Will's 17 million. Dwight's 19 million. And Dirk is 21 million. And even if they get rid of EVERYONE else, they still have nine cap holds which are half a million each, meaning 4.5 million. 17+19+21+4.5= 61.5. And that's the absolute, "Dallas somehow manages to dump EVERYONE for absolutely nothing" scenario. And I'll jump off a bridge if Cuban can pull that off especially since he didn't trade anyone for expiring last trade deadline. Won't be surprised at all if they get one, probably D-Will. But both is literally impossible. `
Actually Les would love if Howard, Dirk and Deron ended up in Dallas...The luxary tax i believe is no longer 1;1...i think its 1:4...Mark will end up being broke...
I think I've just been so desensitized by Lakers constantly winning in my lifetime that I just forgot about it. I wouldn't want to see the Spurs or Mavs hold up another trophy, but I still view that as better than the Heat holding one up. They will win it, it's inevitable... I just want it to be postponed for as long as possible. Minimizing LerBon's prophecy of not 1, not 2... 7.
The word off the record is that D Williams is a distinct possibility. Howard is a big question mark now especially with his back surgery. Cuban basically started clearing out salary space due to the new CBA and the penalties for being over the cap that kick in the future. Although: With Dallas currently looking up at OKC from an 0-2 hole, there is a lot of grumbling about Cuban right now. If they don't get D Williams and settle for Dragic, then they could have paid T Chandler, kept the championship team intact for one more run AND gone after Dragic to replace the end-of-the-line Jason Kidd. If (when) the Mavs flame out in the playoffs, they will be facing the same sort of unknown future as the Rockets.
Haven't we known this basically since they opted not to pay Tyson Chandler? No one is disputing the fact that Mavs have room for 1 max free agent, and clearly had that earmarked for either Deron Williams OR Dwight Howard. But it is a massive fallacy that Dallas can get both while keeping Dirk around, and it doesn't take a capologist to figure it out, just some arithmetic that a second grader could do. I can't say I love the fit of Dragic in Dallas though; that team has flourished on perfect rotations, spacing and perimeter shooting. Dragic has blossomed by being more like Manu or Nash; unbelievably creative, constatly probing the defense, and being borderline reckless. Deron Williams had his greatest success in a highly structured offensive system in Utah with a killer pick-and-pop player. If Dragic has to leave, I hope it's for Phoenix, Portland or Indiana, which seem to fit his talents much better.
Don't know much about arithmatic abiliites of 2nd graders. But I don't think they are tuned in to players forcing a trade to a specific team. Odom is a TO for 1 year and Marion has 2 years and ~$18M remaining. Haywood (4 yrs / ~$48M) would be desireable to a team being forced into a trade. Sometimes it's not about capology. It's about recognizing the Rockets are not the only team with "assets". :grin:
And sometimes, a person does not need to make other people's trash look like treasures in order to make it seem like the Rockets are crap. There is no way in hell Orlando or any other team with a star player will take the Mavs "assets" you mentioned over any package the Rockets can give.
You're trolling, right? There is no way that you can possibly think Brendan Haywood with his contract has value as the primary piece in any deal. The same with Marion; heck, he's going to be paid MORE that Hedo Turkoglu over the next 2 years. Even Odom's deal is terrible; he's guaranteed $2.4M regardless, and unless he's waived prior to June 29, his entire contract is guaranteed, so he's not a walking Trade Exception in the slightest. The Mavericks literally have nothing to trade, not even future draft picks, so they'll have to go the free agency route, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that 21 + 19 + 19 + 4 > 58. If Dwight agrees to take a paycut to $10M, then fine, I accept that it's possible. But it's insane to think that the Magic would ever trade him to the Mavericks; if they do, you might as well contract the franchise, because that would be the single stupidest deal in NBA history. They would literally be better off letting him leave for nothing.
That depends on who they have overseas. I agree it will be tough to get howard, but they can have enough room after the season to offer him the money. If they get willams and pair with dirk for 2012, vets will take 1 yr deals.
