Dallas Blow-up

[tester551]

Do you think there is any chance that Cuban blows up the Mavs this year if they don't make the playoffs?

I would sure be nice to get Josh Howard.... for cheap.

[JES12]

Ain't happening!

[TradeMachine]

More of a chance to get Kidd than Howard, is my thinking.

[Spykes]

If there is any blowup, Avery will probably be the first casualty.

As for Howard, he might be made available, but they'll want a LOT for him. And not only that, they'll want immediate help too. By them making the deal for Kidd, they pretty much cut their championship window in half... if not more so. They need someone who can step in and be an improvement right off the bat. The Blazers don't have anyone like that up for trade. The 3 guys that can help them the most on our team are obviously off limits.

The best thing Portland could offer them is cap space, but if Dallas pulls the trigger on that, then they've conceded that their championship window in closed and they need to rebuild. Now, assuming we still have Raef's contract next season and Dallas has a near Miami-esque breakdown, then there is the possibility of them taking this option and us having a shot at Howard (and likely Terry), but outside of that scenario, we really don't have a realistic shot at him.

There's always the possibility of a 3 way trade, but I think most teams would gladly just take Howard for themselves instead of cap space.

[ph1sh55]

still can't believe they made the trade for kidd and gave up an asset like harris. To me they've already "blown up" the team. It's not like dirk is ancient either, they had no reason to panic with their core being so young.

[d-train]

There is no reason for Mavs to consider breaking up Dirk and Howard. Mavs overpaid for Kidd, Dampier, and Raef LaFrentz; and gave up Steve Nash for nothing. But, because Dirk gives them such a great foundation, Cuban can't F'up the team until Dirk gets too old to be a top 5 player.

[BlackMamba]

i don't think that will happen. they still have a team that can make a run for the championship for the next 2, 3 years max, then he might start to blow things up.

he might just fire avery johnson.

[JD45]

I think Avery Johnson is gone.

Otherwise Cuban has to admit he made a really bad trade (which he did).

But, since Cuban also gave up future draft picks, they really can't blow up the team and start rebuilding. So they are likely in the market for more aging vets. They don't have any trade assets left to acquire young players.

Cuban made an Isiah Thomas trade for the Mavs. They are screwed for about 5 years. Someone will get Dirk and Josh for a reasonable price when the blow up finally happens, but that will be a few more years from now.

[Spykes]

I could see the Mavs making a serious run at Jermaine O'Neal here soon. He's the most skilled bigman who's on the Trading Block right now. The only problem is that the Mavs don't have great peices for a rebuilding team. We might be able to work our way into a 3 way trade by sending Raef's expiring contract to Indy, ofcourse, it has to be worth our while to do that.

I did get this trade to work, even though I can't imagine it ever happening (although I also didn't think Cuban was dumb enough to trade Harris for Kidd, so...)

POR Trades:

Martell Webster
Raef LaFrentz
Jarrett Jack
#13 Pick

POR Recieves:

Josh Howard
Jason Terry

Don't laugh...

DAL Trades:

Josh Howard
Jason Terry
Jerry Stackhouse
Eric Dampier

DAL Recieves:

Jermaine O'Neal
Martell Webster
Jamaal Tinsley
#13 Pick

IND Trades:

Jermaine O'Neal
Jamaal Tinsley

IND Recieves:

Raef LaFrentz
Jerry Stackhouse
Jarrett Jack
Eric Dampier

Not realisitic, I know, but it's the first deal I was able to get to work with Howard's BYC.

[d-train]

Mavs can't trade Howard anymore than they can trade Dirk. Dirk can't win games all by himself. Sure JO is a nice piece but it doesn't do Mavs any good to add JO at the expense of losing Howard. Dirk and Howard are the foundation of a finals team a couple years ago.

[PDXKnight]

Agreed that dallas won't blow up just yet and definitely wouldn't look to give howard away (or any mav except for maybe Jason Terry/ Damphier b/c of their salaries). Dallas still has a solid core and while they won't win a title with their current team, you can't forget that there's always room to make another move to place them back where they were. Cuban has made a lot of bold moves as the owner of the Mavericks and I wouldn't be shocked to see them make another blockbuster deal where they take on a definitely risk to get back in the championship picture (Something like acquiring Jermaine O'Neal or Vince Carter).

[Spykes]

Mavs can't trade Howard anymore than they can trade Dirk. Dirk can't win games all by himself. Sure JO is a nice piece but it doesn't do Mavs any good to add JO at the expense of losing Howard. Dirk and Howard are the foundation of a finals team a couple years ago.

Ya, I know. Howard is the only way the Blazers would take on one of the Mavs bad contracts though. These 3 teams admittedly aren't the greatest fit for a trade.

The only thing I could say as a rebuttal to that comment is that bigmen are much harder to find than a good SG/SF. JO would give the Mavs that inside defensive presence they desperately need, whereas it would be relatively easy to replace what they get from Howard.

That doesn't make the trade any more realistic, but... whatever.

[BlackMamba]

yeah, i don't see anymore big trades made by the mavs.