but..... and i'm not much of an "i told ya so" kinda guy, really. but Antoine Walker was a mistake. too many guys who need the ball. just adding good players doesn't get it. Richard Justice said this today in the Chronicle: The Rockets sometimes have focused too much on getting guys who can play instead of guys who can play together. I think that's true...but even more true of the Dallas Mavericks.
I said that the day they traded for him. The Jamison trade was a good one I think, but I believe Cuban was so restless after MN, LA, and even SAC. retooled their lineups, he had to do something to "keep up." Big mistake. "I'm Employee number 8 - I make baskets."
I'm the biggest Steve Nash fan on this planet, but he wears down. He breaks down. He had a tremendous game last night, but in the 4th quarter, he couldn't finish around the basket. His legs weren't there. He was running and rebounding and defending well, but he couldn't hit a lay-up or open jumper, and passed up on too many shots. Same goes for Game 2, I think it was. NVE is a punk, but he takes care of things. With Nick the Knife, I really think they could have taken Sacto out and surprised Minny (sans Hudson).
ummm, I think every person with an IQ over 3 knew last season's pick-ups were going to hurt the team rather than improve them. Says a lot for Cuban and the Mavs.
here's the thing though, with Hou and Dal you've got two teams with random peices. WHAT IF... you mixed the peices and assembled two new teams? i think you could get two contenders. 1. Yao, Nash, Jamison, JJ, Daniels, Najera, Fortson... 2. Dirk, Finley, Steve, Cat, Cato, MoT, Howard... you could tweak it a little but these are two competitive cores. idle musing...
I think the real killer for the Mavs is that they were not able to get into the Brad Miller sweapstakes last year. The Kings beat them to the punch. Imagine how important Miller would be on the Mavs team at Center. He would provide them all the things they were HOPING to get from LaFrentz. Instead the Mavs got Walker and he has been terrible for them. I agree that Jamison has been solid but Walker is just terrible. I really dont like his game at all. I think the Mavs can still keep Finley, Nash and Dirk. But I think a coaching change is in order. I think they should try at all costs to keep Daniels. Howard has been a good find. I think Walker should be moved to a team looking for salary cap relief. Walker for Tyson Chandler and Antonio Davis? Perhaps Jamison gets moved to. But whatever Dallas does, they need to bring in some defensive stoppers. Lunch pail guys. Perhaps they should revisit the Brian Grant trades.
Although Mavs may not admit that, I always think Walker trade is more than get rid of Lafranz long term contract than bring in the final piece of the puzzle.
walker definitely has tools. if he would get in shape he can be a contributor. great passer. can get to the rim, also when he's out of shape he can't elevate or finish. sometimes i even think walker would help the rockets. but then A) makes too much money B) yesterday with the game on the line, three consecutive plays: travel, 3 seconds, bad pass turnover. ouch.
He has talent, but I think Mavs think of him as more tradable asset when doing that trade. They already know Raef is not the final piece, so why not trade Raef's contract for Walker's. If Walker turn out to be great, they win, if he failed, he is by far much more tradable asset than Raef.
i wonder if anyone could search and find the original thread when this deal went down. i distinctly remember a number of defenders. i'm not trying to call anyone out...it's really not that big of a deal.... i'm not a dallas anything fan...and kinda like when stuff explodes in their face. sorry!
http://bbs2.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=66577 "Ill be the first to say that Dallas will break the Bulls record of 72 Wins....Sure they cant play defense but does it really matter win you have that kind of offense?" -- Rocketfan83
wow...that was a fun read! thanks for re-posting it! oh..and for the record...the Western Conference Finalist of 2003...was SLAPPED out of the FIRST ROUND of the 2004 playoffs. enjoy!
Funny thread. Thanks for posting the link. Looking back at my own comments, I felt the deal was a little suspect for Dallas in terms of solving their problems, but felt that talentwise Dallas clearly got the better end of the deal. I still feel that way even though I dont like Walker's game. I was worried that Walker would be taking away 3ptrs from Dirk. That was a problem. I felt that Dallas was just acquiring more desirable talent to make deals. Clearly Walker didnt work out. He has one more year on his contract and he now is in play as a piece that can be shipped out for a player(s) that fit better with the team. Dallas has its work cut out for them to reshape this team.
