He is a 9-time all defensive selection.... I think a lot of you guys are missing the reason that this trade hurts the Mavs. IMO, its ridiculous to try to argue that Kidd isn't an upgrade over the PGs they had before, he's one of the best in the league, hands down. There is no doubt they get better at the PG position, assuming he stays healthy. The issue is the depth they lose.
Many are severely underestimating Kidd. Devin Harris wishes he could have a career half as good as his.
Yes, Kidd has had a good career. But he is near the end of said career. He is a major injury away from hanging it up. Dallas is clearly in the win-now mode. Trading away their young players and picks for an 35-year-old Kidd, they are giving themselves a 2-year window for the champ, because two years from now, Dirk, Howard, and Stackhouse with scrubs aren't going to get them anywhere in the West.
They upgraded the pg position, which will help, but not get them over the hump. Harris and Terry are solid point guards, not Jason Kidd solid, but you don't have an elite team without a good point guard. If the Mavs were going to upgrade a position to get them over the hump, upgrading the center or power forward postion would have been the way to go. I mean, how hard could it be to get a better player than Diop and Dampier. They probably could have given up less to get someone like Eddy Curry. I wouldn't call him a great big man, but he's better than Dampier and younger and would have probably given them a better presence inside. As it stands, they are weaker in their weakest position. I think the best chance Dallas had would have been to have shown Nash the money and kept him.
They had their most realistic chance 2 years ago and blew it. This is their last gasp and your right about that 2 year window. It's now or never for them and with the nucleus they had (still have) they weren't going to win it all let alone get to the finals again.
Kidd, Barea Terry, Jones Howard, Stackhouse, George Nowitzki, Bass, Fazekas Dampier, Allen Juwan waived to accomodate KVH. Free Agents available: Gary Payton PJ Brown Danny Fortson Michael Olowokandi
Yet he is shooting 48.3% fromt he field and a whopping 1.45PPS. At least when you sag off Harris he is still quick enough to get to the hole or a clean 15 foot shot--can't say the same for the current version of Kidd. Many are overestimating the player Kidd is NOW (if it was about players CAREERs they could just sign Payton for min and keep Harris for the future) and underestimating how weak his shooting skills are. Kidd is shooting a brutal 36.6% and 1.05PPS and 10 year low of 11 points (in 37 minutes). So keep this mind when someone talks about his near average of a "triple double"--that the offensive production and offensive effiency is terrible for a guy playing that much. Losing Harris for Kidd could go either way for Dallas (Harris in addition to scoring much more efficiently actually gets more steals per minute than Kidd), though I could totally buy it would help them because of Kidd's experience. But losing Diop, by far their best shotblocker , hurts on top. Without Diop they have even less of an answer for Duncan (Diop BTW saved them versus SA 2 years ago), Amare/Shaq, Gasol, Boozer, etc. The Mavs are majorly less athletic with this move. On top I am not sure their half court game on offense or defense gets better. Kidd makes them much better in transition--but that isn't where they are coming up short in the playoffs. Now maybe this will fire up Kidd and he will raise his offensive game up, but if it is the same Kidd we are seeing bricking it up in NJ this move does not make Dallas better.
I can't believe you guys are dogging this trade. The new deal is basically giving Devin Harris and CRAP for Jason Kidd. Now they get to keep George and Stackhouse and only lose Diop and Harris and Hassell. That's a total steal by Dallas.
Got to look beyond the marquee names. Harris is a much more efficient shooter than Kidd. He is also the quickest guy on the floor--gets the the basket a lot quicker and even more steals per minute than Kidd--I would alsdo argue Harris is a better individual defender at this point of his career as well (at least in terms of harassing/chasing Parker, Nash, Williams, Davis, etc). Now Kidd is a much better set up guy, much more carefull with the ball, more stable leader, etc. But I don't think Dallas's problem has been getting their key guys the ball in the right spots (Dirk, Howard, Terry). Dallas can usually do this (get these guy the ball in good spots), and they already are a low TO team (4th fewest in the league)--but I think since the Miami series folks have figured out ways to contain their key scorers. Dallas had been overwhelming you with athleticism, depth and physicality--they weaken those strengths along with weaken their shooting/scoring in order to improve on turnovers and stability/organization from the PG spot. Of course I could be wrong that PG stability, leadership and role definition was their chief problem and then this trade makes them a much better team, but I think they weaken some of the best attributes and create weanesses elsewhere (their "bigs" are Damp, Dirk, Bass and Juwan--could you get any less intimidating for a guy like Duncan, Boozer, Yao, Shaq/Amare).
Kidd gets so little love here. Dirk, Josh Howard, Jet, Stack and even Dampier will now have a much easier time scoring. Devin Harris doesn't have and never will have the floor vision and toughness of Jason Kidd. MaxwellsTemper has it right. They upgrade at PG but lose depth at C. If Dampier goes down their season is done.
The Mavericks have maxed out. As presently constituted, they simply are not a true championship contender. As DD said: they had their shot 2 years ago and blew it: up 2 games to zip with a 12 point lead in the 3rd game. From where I sit, this deal does make them a tougher team to face but in the end, they did not address their primary weakness which is the weak front line especially at the 5 (no way they can beat LA, SA or PHX with Dampier) which of course, is where the Rox have a distinct advantage now. The word on the street up here is that they also hope to get Kirk Thomas back if he's bought out. With Dallas, everything old is new again... Also, this deal makes the entire Maverick organization starting with BoBo, er, Mark Cuban look like total dimwits because they HAD a franchise PG in Nash and they let him walk for NOTHING because they felt he was getting old and would not be able to hold up. And now they end up trading away their young PG for what? An aging PG at the end of his career...
If that happens they would be a very serious threat to anyone. But as it stands now Kidd for Harris/Diop, nope. True. But Kidd doesn't even shoot as well as Harris is and is A LOT slower (defensively and getting to the hole). If floor vision and steadiness from a ball handler is the chief problem for the Mavs than Kidd over Harris makes major gains--I am not convinced that was their main problem.
A lot of this is sort of humorous. I suspect the sentiments were that the Mavs were also going to implode when they let Steve Nash walk for nothing. They kept on winning. Obtaining Jason Kidd isn't a harbinger of their demise. It's just another case in point that they are willing to take risks. I would suggest waiting until you've at least seen Kidd and the Mavs in action vs NO Thursday before scheduling their funeral. For the record...I'm NOT a Mavs or Cuban fan...just someone who appreciates risk taking.
Forgetting $$$ for a moment - where is Mavs depth/protection at the 1? Shane, I'm sure, they'd want. Perhaps Bonzi, too. JET is not readily replaceable, however. Hmmm, mj and Bonzi for JET? Love it...but, alas, I'd pass if I were Cubes.
A successful premier or a flat out failure on Thursday either is not necessarily a harbinger of the Spring. I also appreciate risk taking, and Mavs certainly weighed their risk/reward quotient. But risk for risk sake can often be...a bad risk.
