Smart too. Thorn arranged the Kidd deal so there was a $3.3 million trade exception...how he did it is beyond me. Apparently, it was intially two TE's, but the Nets were able to get the league to revalue the deal. Few realized how big it was. Two days before the sign-and-trade, D'Alessandro was saying the Nets didn't have room, that all they had was the LLE and remainder of the MLE not given Najera, which was only slightly larger. Kerber didnt realize how big it was either. And since the Nets got $3 million in the Kidd deal, you could say Dooling's first year salary was paid out of the deal as well.
Thorn did it by establishing the minimum of salary that KVH would have to take to make the Kidd trade work, I'd imagine.
All around they did well in the Kidd trade. Took back less talent, for now, but seem like they have acquired some nice assets if only to trade. -Petey
Speaking of Mark Cuban, am i the only person who is not really liking how the Mavs are put together? I'm thinking next year we'r going to get a pretty nice draft pick from them.
Our pick from the Mavs is in 2010, not next year. I think the Dirk/Kidd combo is good for one more season. In 2010, I can see them dropping in the standings. A lot.
In 2010 I see the Lakers, Hornets, Blazers, Jazz, Spurs, Rockets and Suns all better than the Mavs. That leaves Dallas duking it out with Denver, Golden St, and maybe the Clips for the 8th seed. Pretty similar to how last season ended.
The drop in the standings will be from this season to the one after. I think the Mavs will finish strong this season (5th-6th in the West is definitely possible). No matter what you think of Kidd and Dirk, the Mavs have a strong roster this season. In 2010 they could drop all the way to 10th-11th, as you pointed out. If they do disappoint and finish 8th or out of the playoffs this season, that just puts them in a position to finish even worse than 10th place in 2010.
I don't see them finishing above Lakers, Hornets, Blazers, Jazz, Spurs, Rockets or Suns this season unless there is some big injury on one of those teams. Dallas has some talent, but not as much as those teams. When you factor in the decline of Kidd and Stackhouse the only real scoring threats are Dirk, Howard and Terry. Neutralize one or two of them and you have a shot.
Would there even be room for him on the team? You'd have to cut someone like Swift, which would have put Diop's effective cost about what Dallas paid him.
Easy to say, harder to do. I'm not saying the Mavs are actually better than any of those teams listed, but records don't always reflect who's better than who. The Hornets, Lakers, Rockets and Jazz are the only 4 teams I am pretty sure will finish with better records than the Mavs. The Suns, Blazers and Spurs are all great, but could finish with a worse record than Dallas IMO.
