The Josh Howard secret is out! And the Kidd trade too.

[JES12]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... ons/080326

7. DALLAS (45-26)

Scouting report: The Mavericks didn't shake things up after one of the biggest collapses in modern sports history, played half the season before realizing that they needed more leadership and toughness (wow, really?), then mortgaged everything for Jason Kidd, which would have been fine except he's not really a leader and peaked about five years ago. ... They're not a great halfcourt team, they're not a great running team, they're not a great defensive team. ... And on top of that, it seems like they hate their coach. ... And now Dirk Nowitzki might be out for the season and they have eight tough games left (including road games at Denver, L.A., Phoenix, Golden State and Portland).

Biggest strength: In the third quarter of 20-point blowouts against terrible teams, they look like the Showtime Lakers reincarnated. So, um, they have that going for them.

Biggest weakness: Against good teams in tight games, it's amazing how many bad shots they get and how many good shots they give up. On the bright side, they can throw out a lineup of Jamaal Magloire, Jerry Stackhouse, Juwan Howard, Jason Kidd and Eddie Jones. Ladies and gentleman, your 1999 Eastern Conference All-Stars!

Biggest mistake: Not trading Dirk for Kobe before the season. Getting the best player in basketball would have been a good move. I'm almost positive.

Biggest X factor: Josh Howard is in danger of becoming the next Ben Wallace -- someone who was underrated for a while, received too much credit for bring underrated, then eventually became overrated even as everyone continued to maintain that he was underrated. We're 97 percent there.

Unsung hero: The guy in Dallas' organization who insisted that the 2008 No. 1 pick in the Kidd trade was lottery-protected. Hey, at least one good thing happened this season.

Best-case opponent: Houston.

Worst-case opponent: Everyone else.

Prediction: The ninth seed, no playoffs, a summer of "Should they fire Avery?" stories ... followed by everyone coming back and Avery getting fired in January. I wish there was a way to wager on this.

Eventual 2007-08 legacy: Their own chapter in Charley Rosen's upcoming book, "My 20 Favorite Panic Trades of the Last 60 Years."

[JES12]

I never really gave Bill Simmons any credit, but every dart was a bulls eye!

Edit: BTW, that 1999 eastern conference all-star remark happens to be the same year Avery won the championship.

http://www.nba.com/history/finals/19981999.html

I keep telling ya since the off-season...Avery may be a good coach, but all the players he played with must retire first as he still sees them the way they used to be.

[dirkforpres]

(sigh) I hope Avery gets fired before then... And im hoping to God that Mark actually does something to help the roster this summer... Its been a few summers since we've really done anything

[Darren]

Josh Howard is not Kobe Bryant. But he's still star in the league. Don't act like he's scrub. He's not. He's his shortcomiing. The only problem is we can accomodate with this one.

In the perfect world, I can tolerate a Josh Howard who get his quick points early and help us with fantastic start and score nothing in the 4th quarter...if we have enough defense to stop teams from comeback. But the reality is Dirk, JET, Stack, our major core can't stop better players in the league. That's why we're hopeless. You know, without Josh Howard, we're an awful defensive team.

[dirkforpres]

You know, without Josh Howard, we're an awful defensive team.

Which is funny because even with Josh Howard we are a pretty awful defensive team... Another reason why the Kidd-Harris swap hurt us.

[JES12]

Howard plays about 15% of the defense this year as he did last year.

And about the over/under-rated part, if Howard thinks he's an all-star or an all-star snub, he really needs to take a LONG look in the mirror cause he ain't even close in the west. Maybe not even in the east with Butler, James & Marion at the SF spot.

[Henry Turner]

Josh ho is an excellent 3RD OPTION. He's no ginobili, he's absolutely unable to take over big games. When we used to be good, jet was our 2nd option and now he sucks.

The sacrifice of both devin and diop wasn't a that terrible idea, but trading them for a grandpa like Kidd whose career is almost over is a crime. And our GM must be fired for that.

[Darren]

Josh ho is an excellent 3RD OPTION. He's no ginobili, he's absolutely unable to take over big games. When we used to be good, jet was our 2nd option and now he sucks.

The sacrifice of both devin and diop wasn't a that terrible idea, but trading them for a grandpa like Kidd whose career is almost over is a crime. And our GM must be fired for that.

I can't imagine how can Mark Cuban fires himself. Obviously, the trade is opposed by Avery Johnson.

[DDansby123]

-= original quote snipped =-
Which is funny because even with Josh Howard we are a pretty awful defensive team... Another reason why the Kidd-Harris swap hurt us.

I hate for facts and stats to get in the way here, but you do know that the Mavs have been significantly better defensively since the Kidd trade, right? It's actually the offense that has suffered since the trade, which is a surprise to me (particularly Josh Howard's struggles).

[studcrackers]

yea our defense has been very good for a while (until the denver game) kidd hasnt struggled defensively

[Henry Turner]

-= original quote snipped =-
I can't imagine how can Mark Cuban fires himself. Obviously, the trade is opposed by Avery Johnson.

Mark should fire donnie, hire a decent GM and give him the keys of the front office.

[Teffer10]

-= original quote snipped =-



I hate for facts and stats to get in the way here, but you do know that the Mavs have been significantly better defensively since the Kidd trade, right? It's actually the offense that has suffered since the trade, which is a surprise to me (particularly Josh Howard's struggles).

Good point!!!
The mavs just need to make some aggressive moves in the off season to get some players that are more suitable to play with Kidd. Marion is a player this team needs to go after aggressively because he is a good offensive player without the ball and would be an improvement defensively. Then a more athletic SG with some size (Maggette, VC, J. Richardson, etc...).

[Tha King]

Marion for Howard may seem like a good trade but unless you guys can bring in another reliable scorer, you wont do much in the playoffs with him as your second best scorer (you would need to add Terry or someone else with a big contract in the trade). He would be great in the regular season but once the playoffs start teams will focus on him more, taking away some of his garbage buckets. Marion has a history of not duplicating his regular season success in the playoffs. The suns didn't suffer all that much because they had guys like Nash, Barbosa, and Diaw who stepped up offensively. Kidd cannot score. You also dont want to rely on Stack. If Dirk struggles (or is doubled), who'll step up and score? In the halfcourt Marion just cannot create offense for himself. At least with Howard he's shown that his numbers get better in the playoffs.

And Howard disappearing in the 4th is on Avery. The first half Avery actually runs plays for him (i.e iso's in the post). Come fourth quarter it's Terry and Dirk. Howard is just there standing around.

[ppp000]

On a championship caliber team, Josh is a great 3rd option. On the cusp of being an all star.
I don't blame the Mavs problems on him, but rather on the FO that signed Terry and Stackhouse to huge contracts so that this team continues to rely on those inconsistent shooters and Josh as a 2nd option ala Ginobli (when he's not). When Duncan is having bad games, Ginobli can completely take over, not b/c the coach draws up plays for him, but b/c he is simply that kind of player. There is no one on this team like that around Dirk.

[Colombiano972]

I don't blame the Mavs problems on him, but rather on the FO that signed Terry and Stackhouse to huge contracts so that this team continues to rely on those inconsistent shooters and Josh as a 2nd option ala Ginobli (when he's not).

Bingo. Do you think Avery has any input on the resigning of Stack and Terry? Last season I was really hoping that we could get rid of at least one of them.

[myconsumerclub]

Quit crying over Kobe!

No way we get Kobe for Dirk because Kobe wanted to play with Dirk and would have squashed the trade. Dream all you want that would not have happened but I would have traded anything else in hindsight.

Maggette is a FA soon and if the Clippers are out of contention he will walk at least we can send them Terry and Bass and maybe EJ or Stack as an expirer to make that deal work they can throw us a scrub or 2 they don't want and make it work.

At 14 we likely can get a center or big SF that falls our way. We need more depth there due to Dampiers injury potential and not having anyone.

Free agency we need to grab Kwame and Earl Barron they help out at
PF and C. 6'3" Beno Udrih at backup for Kidd. Pietrus if we can't find a trading partner to accept our Terry problem.

Oh almost forgot! FIRE AVERY GET A SMARTER COACH!

[studcrackers]

maggette for terry and bass would be such a terrible trade

i understand people hate terry but jesus they undervalue him sometimes

[DDansby123]

i understand people hate terry but jesus they undervalue him sometimes

Agreed.

[GenericUsername]

(sigh) I hope Avery gets fired before then... And im hoping to God that Mark actually does something to help the roster this summer... Its been a few summers since we've really done anything

thanks for stealing my sig

[JES12]

I think I may steal it soon! Especially after playing Juwan Howard & Malik Allen instead of Dampier.