Per ESPN, the deal has been completed and there is a 9th player involved and he is going to GS. Drum roll please . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Antoine Rigaudeau
Is that French bust who missed 3 ft layup? Oh, that trade is really sick to my stomach. Golden State is offically the Mavs' trash can right now.
Doesn't Rigadeau play the same position as Dunleavy? If GSW is really looking to "rebuild" and do so by having a firesale, it doesn't make sense to (1) trade their #1 player for NVE or (2) get a (horrible) prospect to backup a 2nd year player who has proven NOTHING. Well, not like any of this matters. It's a horrible trade and Rigadeau just made it even less respectable.
The Mavs got better on both ends of the floor no matter how one slices it. Rebounding, post play, scoring, size, defense, trade value, young prospects, depth have all been addressed and improved considerably at a fractional cost. The other powerhouses got over the hill players for short term benefits(Timberwolves, Lakers), or traded equal talent for talent(SA). The Mavs are the biggest winner in this off season as they addressed nearly all aspects of their game both in short term and long term with less cost.
Waiting for heypartner to show up and say that he has told us all along that Rigadeau sucks and that the Mavs are proving him right now .
And now for a look at what's being said about this trade in San Francisco. here's the link: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/08/17/SP10564.DTL Dunce caps, not salary caps, behind Warriors' deal Blame Cohan and Rowell, not St. Jean Ray Ratto Sunday, August 17, 2003 It's not like you haven't been warned about this sort of thing time and time again. The Warriors march boldly into an inextricable predicament, make a ridiculous trade that clearly makes them worse in the short term (read: at least two more years), and the logic behind it is, "Well, now they have some cap room." Of course, we've seen what Chris Cohan has done with cap room in the past, but hey, it's cap room, and cap room gives you the illusion that maybe the next decade will be at least marginally better than the past one. But if you've lived here more than three years, you know that's a lie. Cap room in the hands of the Warriors is the same as not having cap room, because the man who runs this franchise is strategically, tactically and even fiscally unqualified to do so. And no, we are not talking about designated team scapegoat Garry St. Jean. Oh, St. Jean is a nice target, largely because as the general manager he is more visible than his two superiors, Cohan and his faithful ward Robin . . . er, Robert Rowell. He gets paid to bring you the bad news, and because he is the general manager, he is presumed to be the mastermind behind the Warriors' persistent failings. OK, their failings that didn't happen while Dave Twardzik was in charge. Well, fine. St. Jean's record under two bad ownership groups (this one, and Gregg Lukinbill's seat-of-the-pants operation in Sacramento) does not inspire confidence, and even put in that context, the best you can say is that St. Jean has never played with a full hand. Still, if you think this one is his fault, well, go with your heart. Live with your fantasies, children, because they're all you've got left. Friday's trade with the Dallas Mavericks allowed the Warriors to rid themselves of a good but not inspiring player in Antawn Jamison, two cap drags in Danny Fortson and Chris Mills, and the team's pivotal 12th man, Jiri Welsch. It doesn't matter who they got, given that the Warriors operate under the subtraction-by-addition model, but if you must know, it was Nick Van Exel (one more year at $11 million), Avery Johnson (one more year until his AARP membership becomes active), Popeye Jones (one more year fighting for rebounds and loose balls) and Evan Eschmeyer (one more year as Evan Eschmeyer). But if you think the cap room is what got this deal done, then you do not understand who runs this franchise, how they do it, or why. Or need we remind you who tried to close the Gilbert Arenas deal months too late? That would be Rowell, who apparently tried to promise Arenas illegal future inducements to sign the Warriors' offer, while Cohan sat inert. Not that it would have made any difference in the end, because Arenas cleverly deduced that a bad team that pays $11 million per year is more attractive than a bad team that pays $4.9 million. What is instructive, though, is that Cohan and Rowell decided to try to close the deal themselves rather than leave it to an underling. Cohan and Rowell run this team, and do not think otherwise. They aren't well-meaning chaps who have been bamboozled by the diabolical St. Jean. They make every significant decision about the Warriors, and they made this one because, simply put, they figured that if the team is going to stink, it may as well stink with the lowest possible payroll. This wasn't a basketball deal that made any sense at all, if you think the Warriors are trying to win. This wasn't even a basketball deal that made any sense if you think the Warriors won't blow the cap savings on a fresh new group of underachievers. It was, however, a deal that saved Cohan actual money, as opposed to mere cap money, which with his constantly pressing cash flow issues is always helpful. Besides, even if you wanted to see this as some long-term masterstroke, ask yourself this: What self-respecting NBA player, having watched the Warriors win 32 percent of their games over the past nine seasons and having any other employment choice above the Turkish league, would choose to come here? The answer is "nobody." Golden State is not on any player's list of places to work, because the work is so pointless. Players worth having don't come for the lifestyle, or the low humidity, or the access to the wine country, or the pretty bridges. They come for the money, and for the chance to win. Since the Warriors don't possess the second, the first has to be overwhelming, as it was when Arenas left Oakland for Washington and a team whose recent history is only slightly better than Golden State's. And we haven't even gotten to the psychic damage this latest "Oh, screw it, let's start over" move leaves for people who still consider themselves Warriors fans despite the metric tons of evidence. So, the Warriors made this bold move, at the mere expense of two more seasons without hope or purpose. At the end of those two seasons, they will have a new coach, because Eric Musselman won't be staying for this, and they'll have a new scapegoat, because St. Jean's contract will be up, and they'll have 120 more losses to explain away while they tell you about all their lovely cap room. But maybe finally we can all agree that the Warriors have always had more cap room than they know what to do with. You just need to remember who's actually wearing the caps.
you don't think acquiring 2 hard nosed players hall of famers was better? LA easily had the best off season but this helped dallas maintain.
I feel so bad for GS fans.... I wish some of the haters on this board could deal with a team like that for a while. Then they would understand that at least our front office tries to win.
cuban aint messin around no more. jamison is one of the most underrated player, he can do it all. with him and finley on the same team is a fortified threat. wish rocks would mix it up like the mavs did just now. this will be a team to watch again.
robbie380: It's better in the short term but doesn't come up to the Mavs gain in the long term. The Mavs are like rebuilding and contending at the same time, they'll do it for many years. The Lakers have their window of opportunity for only this or next year is what I see it. Kobe's fiasco in the off season is not helpful either. The Kings won't go further with Chris Webber the China doll leading their way. The Spurs just got past the key-players-injured Lakers, Kings and Mavs in last playoffs. Luck was there for them but who knows about next time? Timberwolves will make some minor noises and that's it. After the Lakers reigning it will be the Mavs is my gut feeling. The Lakers positioned themselves to win the next championship this off season and the Mavs positioned themselves to win the championships after the next championship. This is a masterful killer trade on the Mavs part. There is basically no way for other teams to repeat the same and catch up with the Mavs. So yeah I'll say it's even better than picking up Karla and Payton.
Good analysis Panda. The Dallas team looks scary. If they can pull off another trade, maybe Najera and Mills for a banger inside (admittedly these are rare), they can do it all this year.
is everyone forgetting defense wins championships!!! at least sometimes. dallas gave up a 6ft tall scoring machine with no d for a 6-8 guy that wont have the go ahead that nick had and doesnt play a lick of defense. if this was nba live, yeah this could work. but considering this is real life, just because a guy was good somewhere else, as the #1 option, doesnt mean he'll be good for his new team, as the #3 or four option. and he cant even shoot the three!!!! to hell with adding size to your roster if you dont improve in reboundin, block shots and defense. they just traded the best guy in last year's playoffs for a taller version with a worst shot and minus the fire that nick has..... they wont be any higher than 6th in the west
"Cap room in the hands of the Warriors is the same as not having cap room..." Damn, that's funny.........
Being from Dallas, one of the things I like about Jamison's game that no one has mentioned is that he is effective without the ball. He is a bona fide scorer and needs to shoot to be happy, but he doesn't need to initiate the scoring with the ball in his hands. This is why I think he'll be extremely effective as the 4th option for the mavs next year. Jamison has a variety of quick moves and shoots from a variety of angles... very unpredictable. If he gets the ball in a position to score, there is a good chance he'll do so. He shot a very nice percentage last year. He has a better ball distributor in Steve Nash to work with this upcoming season. It's tough to score as many points as he did last season with a ball hog like Gilbert Arenas is running the point. As a contrast, Nick Van Exel, is better with the ball in his hands. He can dribble penetrate, dribble and hit a pull up J, or post up and destroy other guards down low with his patented hook. He's not as effective coming off screens or spotting up. During 2 key games last year, the Mavs imploded because they went away from their free wheeling ball movement offense and went to playing one on one. First vs. the Lakers with the 28 pt lead going into the 4th. If they had done what they had done the 1st 3 quarters, they would have won by 40. Instead, they tried to kill clock and had Finley go one on one. That threw everything off, and the rest is history. The other game was Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals. With a double digit lead going into the 4th, instead of keeping the pressure up by moving the ball around, Don Nelson had Nick Van Exel go one on one against Steve Kerr with the rest of the team standing around. That killed all the mometum that Dallas had built up. Game over. Jamison works well in the flow of the offense, and is perfectly suited for the style of the Mavericks. With the trade, the Mavs are not any better on defense, but they wont' be any worse either. They do get much better on offense and add depth. The benefit on offense that Jamison will bring will not translate entirely when the playoffs roll around because of the tougher defense played, but his contributions might be able to give the Mavs the push they need to at least get back to the Western Conference finals. I'm not crowning the Lakers or Spurs yet.
What I like about the Mavs is that they first went out and tried to cover their most glaring weakness. Failing that, they decided to get even better at what they do best. They are now EXTREMELY dangerous on offense with 4 legitimate players who can put the ball in the hoop. Their high power offense and versatile lineup will definitely create problems for the other teams in the division. When I read all of the posts here about the Rockets being an up and coming team, I simply don't see how that can be the case. If you look at their lineup, no one, outside of Yao and maybe Francis, really create matchup problems for opposing teams. Even with JVG onboard, this is a team that will struggle to put up points on the scoreboard. I feel that this is a team in the beginning stages of transition. When you look at the composition of the top teams in the league, a common factor is that they all have players that can create problems for their opponents. That is not the case with the Rockets. There are too many one dimensional players on this team and taken as a whole, this is not a team that neither scares nor creates problems for anybody. Theyll need a significant upgrade to their SG, SF, PF positions as well as their backup PG, PF, SF before they can be considered a legitimate contender. That is not something that will happen overnight nor will it come about in 1 or 2 years. I expect this to be a 3 to 4 year project. I just hope that we have the right organization in place to make it happen.
Sorry, anyone who thinks that NVE is better than or equal to Antawn Jamison at this stage is out of touch. NVE had one good series against the Kings and people makes him out to be a scoring machine. It's a matter of matchups. NVE played well against the Kings partly because the Kings had no one to match up with his quickness. Against the Spurs stellar defenders NVE went back to his old playoff form by scoring 17 ppg at just 37.5%. Two words, a better version of Austin Croshere. We wanted Croshere a couple years ago as he had a good series against - I can't recall which team. Now Austin who? The Mavs are smart in realizing NVE's stock has never been higher at this point, and they traded him for Dirk II named Antawn Jamison, minus the 3 point shooting but with better perimeter defense, and a bona fide rebounding machine when healthy Danny Fortson. This is steal! No, this is rape! This is the type of trade that put teams over the hump.
Van Exel IS a scoring machine. Period. He's proven that his entire career. Not only that, but his career assists per game average is pretty good. Given the choice if I were the Mavericks, I go with Jamison to fill a big need.
