Dirk on Kidd and Harris, Cuban gets a brain.
Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 7:16 pm
6
Marc's Quote
"I still love playing with Jason. He's done everything we've asked him to do. I just think he fits in better with what we're trying to do.
"We all knew Devin would be a great point guard someday, but I think it's good for him that he went somewhere new. He plays more free now. His shot looks better, and he's not looking over his shoulder at Avery every time for the play call. He's having a great season.
"I'm happy for Devin, but I don't really look back. We made a decision, and I think it was the right one."
Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki, revisiting the controversial February trade that sent Devin Harris and two first-round picks to the Nets for Jason Kidd.
Nowitzki was speaking before Kidd, who will turn 36 in March, went back to New Jersey on Friday night for the first time since the deal and wound up on the painful end of a vengeful drubbing, with Harris erupting for 41 points and 13 assists in a 121-97 Nets rout to reinforce the growing notion that New Jersey won this trade handily. It was Harris' second 40-point game in three weeks, and he is the league's No. 6 scorer at 23.8 points per game , underlining his status as a leading contender not only for the NBA's most improved award but also a spot on the Eastern Conference All-Star team.
Yet Harris is the first to acknowledge something important that second-guessers of the Dallas side tend to overlook: Nets coach Lawrence Frank changed his whole playbook for Harris and has established the 25-year-old as his No. 1 option -- ahead of even Vince Carter -- with a "dribble-drive" system that, in Harris' words, is "not your typical NBA offense."
Amassing such gaudy numbers in Dallas, in other words, almost certainly wouldn't have been possible.
The Nets spread the floor and invite Harris to attack the rim possession after possession, pinning much of their offensive success on Harris' penetration. The Mavericks will never know how much the move from Avery Johnson to Rick Carlisle might have liberated Harris, but it seems safe to suggest that staying in Dallas couldn't have been as liberating as the move to rebuilding Jersey.
"A new coach would have helped Devin, too," Nowitzki said. "He could have done a little more [under Carlisle]. But he and Vince take every shot [for the Nets], and it's not like that would have happened here."
The Mavericks, though, will continue to absorb heavy criticism for the trade -- given how nicely Harris is blossoming -- unless they can put more pieces around Nowitzki and Kidd to move back into the West's elite or reconfigure the roster in a meaningful way in coming months with the help of Kidd's monstrous expiring contract.
It's a misnomer to say the Mavs made the Harris-Kidd trade because they felt they were one piece away, even though they're being second-guessed on that basis. They saw Kidd as an answer to their leadership void at perhaps the most important position on the floor, as a locker-room energizer who could lift the growing gloom in what turned out to be Johnson's last days as Mavs coach after some painful playoff failures and as a guy who could rejuvenate a weary Nowitzki after his three-plus years of heavy lifting without complaint following the equally controversial departure of Steve Nash.
Mavs owner Mark Cuban was likewise hoping that reacquiring Kidd would bring some local buzz back to a team that had gone stale, as big deals in Detroit (Allen Iverson) and Phoenix (Jason Richardson) recently have done.
So Kidd deserves a full season back in Dallas before the full autopsy about what he did and didn't do.
"Jason has been great for us, on and off the floor," Nowitzki said. "One thing … I think he's even a better shooter than you [media] guys give him credit for."
The Mavs' miscalculations? Cuban certainly will have the opportunity in June (and subsequent Junes) to buy back first-round picks to replace the two he surrendered to the Nets, but dealing Harris for Kidd didn't change enough to prevent him from firing Johnson less than three months later. Mavs management, furthermore, sees quite clearly now that a group it felt needed a significant shakeup 10 months ago still needs at least one more quality newcomer via trade -- preferably a scoring threat at either shooting guard or center -- to nudge Dallas back into the West's elite.
That's the move, according to NBA front office sources, that Dallas is chasing hard now. Cuban, meanwhile, apparently is still determined to resist trade interest in Kidd and retain his expiring contract (worth $21.4 million this season) through the Feb. 19 trading deadline and into July 1, setting the Mavs up to pursue drastic changes as early as this summer or wait until the summer of 2010, when Nowitzki has the right to become a free agent as well.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime ... -081220-21
Marc's Quote
"I still love playing with Jason. He's done everything we've asked him to do. I just think he fits in better with what we're trying to do.
"We all knew Devin would be a great point guard someday, but I think it's good for him that he went somewhere new. He plays more free now. His shot looks better, and he's not looking over his shoulder at Avery every time for the play call. He's having a great season.
"I'm happy for Devin, but I don't really look back. We made a decision, and I think it was the right one."
Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki, revisiting the controversial February trade that sent Devin Harris and two first-round picks to the Nets for Jason Kidd.
Nowitzki was speaking before Kidd, who will turn 36 in March, went back to New Jersey on Friday night for the first time since the deal and wound up on the painful end of a vengeful drubbing, with Harris erupting for 41 points and 13 assists in a 121-97 Nets rout to reinforce the growing notion that New Jersey won this trade handily. It was Harris' second 40-point game in three weeks, and he is the league's No. 6 scorer at 23.8 points per game , underlining his status as a leading contender not only for the NBA's most improved award but also a spot on the Eastern Conference All-Star team.
Yet Harris is the first to acknowledge something important that second-guessers of the Dallas side tend to overlook: Nets coach Lawrence Frank changed his whole playbook for Harris and has established the 25-year-old as his No. 1 option -- ahead of even Vince Carter -- with a "dribble-drive" system that, in Harris' words, is "not your typical NBA offense."
Amassing such gaudy numbers in Dallas, in other words, almost certainly wouldn't have been possible.
The Nets spread the floor and invite Harris to attack the rim possession after possession, pinning much of their offensive success on Harris' penetration. The Mavericks will never know how much the move from Avery Johnson to Rick Carlisle might have liberated Harris, but it seems safe to suggest that staying in Dallas couldn't have been as liberating as the move to rebuilding Jersey.
"A new coach would have helped Devin, too," Nowitzki said. "He could have done a little more [under Carlisle]. But he and Vince take every shot [for the Nets], and it's not like that would have happened here."
The Mavericks, though, will continue to absorb heavy criticism for the trade -- given how nicely Harris is blossoming -- unless they can put more pieces around Nowitzki and Kidd to move back into the West's elite or reconfigure the roster in a meaningful way in coming months with the help of Kidd's monstrous expiring contract.
It's a misnomer to say the Mavs made the Harris-Kidd trade because they felt they were one piece away, even though they're being second-guessed on that basis. They saw Kidd as an answer to their leadership void at perhaps the most important position on the floor, as a locker-room energizer who could lift the growing gloom in what turned out to be Johnson's last days as Mavs coach after some painful playoff failures and as a guy who could rejuvenate a weary Nowitzki after his three-plus years of heavy lifting without complaint following the equally controversial departure of Steve Nash.
Mavs owner Mark Cuban was likewise hoping that reacquiring Kidd would bring some local buzz back to a team that had gone stale, as big deals in Detroit (Allen Iverson) and Phoenix (Jason Richardson) recently have done.
So Kidd deserves a full season back in Dallas before the full autopsy about what he did and didn't do.
"Jason has been great for us, on and off the floor," Nowitzki said. "One thing … I think he's even a better shooter than you [media] guys give him credit for."
The Mavs' miscalculations? Cuban certainly will have the opportunity in June (and subsequent Junes) to buy back first-round picks to replace the two he surrendered to the Nets, but dealing Harris for Kidd didn't change enough to prevent him from firing Johnson less than three months later. Mavs management, furthermore, sees quite clearly now that a group it felt needed a significant shakeup 10 months ago still needs at least one more quality newcomer via trade -- preferably a scoring threat at either shooting guard or center -- to nudge Dallas back into the West's elite.
That's the move, according to NBA front office sources, that Dallas is chasing hard now. Cuban, meanwhile, apparently is still determined to resist trade interest in Kidd and retain his expiring contract (worth $21.4 million this season) through the Feb. 19 trading deadline and into July 1, setting the Mavs up to pursue drastic changes as early as this summer or wait until the summer of 2010, when Nowitzki has the right to become a free agent as well.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime ... -081220-21