No problem including Stackhouse, per Stern and Cuban
Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:18 am
In the Dallas paper today, Stern basically said there's nothing wrong with Stackhouse being included in the Kidd deal, directly contradicting ESPN's supposed quotes to the contrary.
The commissioner said during his All-Star news conference that the league is not blocking the inclusion of Jerry Stackhouse in any trade for Kidd, but that a thorough review of any deal is a virtual certainty.
"Even though I don't want to give Stackhouse and the Mavs their defense too easily, things happen," Stern said. "He certainly is allowed to do that in terms of going back after 30 days. The big issue is whether there is an agreement to do it. And speculating about it doesn't make it an agreement, even if you wish he hadn't spoken."
Stern reiterated that Stackhouse can be involved in the trade. He just emphasized that there can be no prearranged deal.
Cuban also weighed in, saying virtually the same thing: if they trade for Kidd, they'd have no problem with using Stackhouse.
Cuban confirmed that the league spoke to the Mavericks, as well as the Nets, to make sure both sides were adhering to the league's guidelines in the wake of Stackhouse being quoted as saying that he wasn't going anywhere and that he would return to Dallas 30 days after the Nets bought out his contract after completion of the trade.
"They called up and said, 'OK, you know the rules, right?' " he said. "Where does Stack come off [talking]? Well, he thought the deal was done, and he thought they were going to release him, so he said what he said. It's not that unusual.
"It only would have been an issue if something bad had been going on. They can look at whatever they want. There's no issue. Everybody was speculating. The best we can surmise is that other GMs around the league didn't want it to happen and started putting their two cents in."
Thorn as I'm sure you already know has said much the same thing: no problem.
We don't know if Kidd will end up in Dallas, but the one and only issue seems to be a disagreement on what's a fair way to substitute for D George's refusal to be traded.
The commissioner said during his All-Star news conference that the league is not blocking the inclusion of Jerry Stackhouse in any trade for Kidd, but that a thorough review of any deal is a virtual certainty.
"Even though I don't want to give Stackhouse and the Mavs their defense too easily, things happen," Stern said. "He certainly is allowed to do that in terms of going back after 30 days. The big issue is whether there is an agreement to do it. And speculating about it doesn't make it an agreement, even if you wish he hadn't spoken."
Stern reiterated that Stackhouse can be involved in the trade. He just emphasized that there can be no prearranged deal.
Cuban also weighed in, saying virtually the same thing: if they trade for Kidd, they'd have no problem with using Stackhouse.
Cuban confirmed that the league spoke to the Mavericks, as well as the Nets, to make sure both sides were adhering to the league's guidelines in the wake of Stackhouse being quoted as saying that he wasn't going anywhere and that he would return to Dallas 30 days after the Nets bought out his contract after completion of the trade.
"They called up and said, 'OK, you know the rules, right?' " he said. "Where does Stack come off [talking]? Well, he thought the deal was done, and he thought they were going to release him, so he said what he said. It's not that unusual.
"It only would have been an issue if something bad had been going on. They can look at whatever they want. There's no issue. Everybody was speculating. The best we can surmise is that other GMs around the league didn't want it to happen and started putting their two cents in."
Thorn as I'm sure you already know has said much the same thing: no problem.
We don't know if Kidd will end up in Dallas, but the one and only issue seems to be a disagreement on what's a fair way to substitute for D George's refusal to be traded.