San Antonio Spurs Just Got Better; The Dallas Mavericks Didn’t

[duncan228]

San Antonio Spurs just got better; the Dallas Mavericks didn’t
By Randy Galloway

Our guys — Cowboys, Mavericks, Rangers, Stars — just don’t do these kinds of deals:

The San Antonio Spurs, about as small-market as you can get on the pro sports landscape, gave up "nothing" and added a $29 million, major front-court piece this week in Richard Jefferson.

For the Mavs’ loyal fan base, sweating through the summer’s first heat wave, a logical and loud response was, "Where the bleep were we?"

Mark Cuban, I have been notified, answered the Jefferson steal by tweet (OK, the first time I ever Twitter, shoot me). "Winning the summer is not the ultimate goal in the NBA" was his catty comeback.

Thanks, Mark, except you left your rear end hanging out there in the left lane of I-35. The Spurs’ history suggest they win much more than summers.

Bottom line: The Santones just got better in late June, and the Mavs didn’t need another club in the Western Conference of the NBA to get better. Too many in the West are already better, and others are getting better.

It’s not like our guys — Cowboys, Mavericks, Rangers, Stars — won’t do the big deals or the expensive deals.

But the key element in the Spurs hanging a good punch on the West brethren was giving up "nothing," meaning a collection of expiring contracts for aging players who were on their way out anyway. Find a financially troubled sucker — in this case, Milwaukee — and pounce.

No reminder, of course, is needed about how the LA Lakers obtained Mr. Gasol, and totally turned around a docile franchise.

But the last blockbuster deal around here was the Cowboys in October. They got a receiver. They needed a receiver. They still need a receiver. Rampant concern over Roy Williams being the right receiver is obviously legitimate.

Meanwhile, what sours that trade is Jerry Jones gave up half the Ranch — Valley Ranch — to make it happen, and then had to award Roy with a contract almost equal to Jerry’s suite prices at the Boss Hawg Bowl.

If it was a steal, the Detroit Lions did the stealing, at least based on early returns.

The last time the Mavericks made a major deal, Cuban temporarily hushed those "Mark has zipped his hip pocket" critics by throwing around millions to bring Jason Kidd here.

Beyond the money, however, Cuban gave up half of downtown Dallas in the transaction. Although there are those still defending this trade, it was and is a huge bust. (The usual disclaimer: Yes, I wrote approvingly of the deal when made. But give me some credit for admitting six weeks later that I was stupid.)

Only the Rangers, and GM Jon Daniels, have scored dramatically in a major deal of late. Of course, that was the Mark Teixeira transaction.

In that case, the Rangers were sellers.

At the moment, while mired in a bat- of a June, the Rangers are in a position to be buyers.

Despite a miserable month for run production, the division appears wide open as ever, with the Angels using one hot streak to wipe out the divisional lead. And pesky Seattle has also drawn close.

But that’s been more about what the Rangers haven’t done in June, as opposed to those divisional foes suddenly having what could be defined as a long-term surge.

On the trade market, however, selling is one thing. Buying to stay alive in a divisional race is another. The foolishness of "wait ’til 10, and we’re in," is the worst kind of cop-out. If there’s a chance to win a division, go for it now.

The pitching still says the Rangers have a great chance to win now. The hitting, however, has reached such a woeful level, there’s a current concern about exactly where the expected rebound will come from.

Check the proven bats in that lineup. How many are there? Even when Josh Hamilton returns, how many are there? And by proven, I mean players who have an established track record.

Michael Young does. Ian Kinsler might be considered close. Andruw Jones once did, but he’s a veteran starting all over. Otherwise, the long-term track record is not there.

But the Rangers, as buyers, have to do be aggressive, don’t they?

Do sumpin.

And there is absolutely no way the Mavericks just sit there all summer, which would be a repeat of last summer.

The Cowboys, we assume, have done what they are going to do, for better or worse.

But when the Spurs stepped up this week and stole a very good player, without disrupting an aging but super-talented core, it was a direct hit on our local jock kingdom community.

Others do. We don’t. At least not lately.

[duncan228]

Dallas Mavericks hopeful of pulling off deal similar to Spurs’ trade
By Eddie Sefco

The Dallas Mavericks had no choice on Tuesday but to stress patience — both to themselves and their fans.

Rival San Antonio used a pair of contracts similar in nature to Jerry Stackhouse’s to acquire forward Richard Jefferson from Milwaukee. So why couldn’t the Mavericks pull off such a deal?

It wasn’t for lack of effort. They had what Donnie Nelson, president of basketball operations, called a "fairly active” Monday and Tuesday.

"There’s a chance we could do something around [Thursday’s] draft and probably an equal chance we would just carry it into July when a lot of the bigger deals are going to be discussed,” Nelson said. "We don’t feel any outward sense of urgency because somebody else is doing something. But when it’s right, we’ll squeeze the trigger.”

The Spurs used the contracts of Fabricio Oberto, Bruce Bowen and former TCU standout Kurt Thomas to obtain Jefferson. Milwaukee, which wanted to avoid paying the luxury tax and now can try to re-sign Ramon Sessions and Charlie Villanueva, then sent Oberto to Detroit for Amir Johnson.

Oberto and Bowen combined have a salary of about $7 million. But only $2 million of that money is guaranteed, meaning their respective teams can waive both for immediate savings.

Stackhouse’s contract is virtually the same as those of Oberto and Bowen combined. He’s due $7 million next season, but can be bought out for $2 million.

The Mavs still expect to make a deal involving Stackhouse. Teams like Chicago (Kirk Hinrich), Detroit (Tayshaun Prince), Milwaukee (Luke Ridnour), New Jersey (Vince Carter) and Philadelphia (Samuel Dalembert) are looking to dump players with longer-term contracts.

If the Mavericks offered Stackhouse and somebody like Erick Dampier, whose contract ends after next season, that’s a palatable package for a team looking to exit a big contract that extends out two or more seasons.

The Spurs, meanwhile, got Jefferson, who averaged 19.6 points last season and provides another the option the Spurs lacked when Manu Ginobili was injured.

"The West gets tougher,” Nelson said. "They went after their guy, no question.”

[Killakobe81]

I agree Mavs need to get Dirk More hrlp especially front-court help. A good 2 gaurd wouldnt hurt either ...

[iggypop123]

if all these moves are any indication if you are willing to take money any player is yours

[VivaPopovich]

the mavs problem is more fundamental than that. dirk is 7 feet, but really plays SF. he's not someone that sets picks or gets offensive rebounds or blocks shots. kenyon martin really exploited that; dirk is a soft pf

they need to go after a traditional big man

[ata]

Who cares about Mavs. Spurs got better, so has Cavs - are we already leveled with Lakers, Magic...?

[VivaPopovich]

Who cares about Mavs. Spurs got better, so has Cavs - are we already leveled with Lakers, Magic...?

not quite with the Lakers yet, although we are very very close

a good draft tomorrow plus a few more changes and we're set

[sribb43]

Nothing will happen with Donnie as GM...all talk

[SpursFan8179]

Mavs can trade for Vince Carter but they are never going to win a championship. I hope we play the Mavs again next year in the playoffs so we can shove it down there throat.

[Findog]

Uh, what the is the point of this article from Grandpa Urine? If it's October and they didn't turn Stack and Damp's expirings into something good, then unleash the criticism. The draft hasn't even taken place yet.

[dirk4mvp]

kenyon martin really exploited that; dirk is a soft pf

Did you watch a single minute of that series?

[Findog]

Did you watch a single of that series?

Obviously not.

[Ghazi]

Richard Jefferson isnt even top 10 at his position

[Findog]

the mavs problem is more fundamental than that. dirk is 7 feet, but really plays SF. he's not someone that sets picks or gets offensive rebounds or blocks shots. kenyon martin really exploited that; dirk is a soft pf

Dirk in the Denver series:

Game 1: 28 and 10 on 12-22 shooting
Game 2: 35 and 9 on 11-20 shooting
Game 3: 33 and 16 on 9-19 shooting
Game 4: 44 and 13 on 14-25 shooting
Game 5: 32 and 10 on 9-17 shooting

Do you always comment on stuff when you have no idea what you're talking about?

[Ghazi]

Uh, what the is the point of this article from Grandpa Urine? If it's October and they didn't turn Stack and Damp's expirings into something good, then unleash the criticism. The draft hasn't even taken place yet.

agreed, same deal with the incessant girlish fits by FGTS like sribbb and mono

wake me up in a few months or so

[ElNono]

Richard Jefferson isnt even top 10 at his position

He's sure an improvement over Finley/Bowen, and that's all that matters really.

[Findog]

agreed, same deal with the incessant girlish fits by FGTS like sribbb and mono

wake me up in a few months or so

Well in all fairness, Donnie's track record doesn't inspire confidence. The Mavs haven't had a good summer since 2004.

[Ghazi]

^ true but the contracts and team/economic cir stances are much different this year.

so ill be patient

[Shank]

Who is Grandpa Urine?

[clambake]

i thought we liked our boys in blue.

[Imposter Cleaner]

Mavs can trade for Vince Carter but they are never going to win a championship. I hope we play the Mavs again next year in the playoffs so we can shove it down there throat.

Mavs are going to win their second championship in the very near future while they can never get Carter through a trade, because their GM is an idiot that can never do anything good to his team. Donnie should be the first GM even ahead of Warriors GM to know the Warriors were selling Crawford, as the idea of trading Crawford comes from their head coach Don Nelson, who said short after executing the trade that he had decided to trade Crawford if he didn't opt out his contract, because Crawford isn't fit for his team.

However, even with the current sqaud the Mavs will still be a contender for the le in the next several seasons. No big change has been made on their squad since 06, in which year the Mavs won the championship after beating the Miami Cheat in the NBA finals.

[MateoNeygro]

Mavs are going to win their second championship in the very near future while they can never get Carter through a trade, because their GM is an idiot that can never do anything good to his team. Donnie should be the first GM even ahead of Warriors GM to know the Warriors were selling Crawford, as the idea of trading Crawford comes from their head coach Don Nelson, who said short after executing the trade that he had decided to trade Crawford if he didn't opt out his contract, because Crawford isn't fit for his team.

However, even with the current sqaud the Mavs will still be a contender for the le in the next several seasons. No big change has been made on their squad since 06, in which year the Mavs won the championship after beating the Miami Cheat in the NBA finals.

Wtf? I'm confused by all of what u just said.

[DeadlyDynasty]

Dirk in the Denver series:

Game 1: 28 and 10 on 12-22 shooting
Game 2: 35 and 9 on 11-20 shooting
Game 3: 33 and 16 on 9-19 shooting
Game 4: 44 and 13 on 14-25 shooting
Game 5: 32 and 10 on 9-17 shooting

Do you always comment on stuff when you have no idea what you're talking about?

lol, owned

[Cry Havoc]

The Mavs need a serious second option on offense. They have 5 or 6 3rd or maybe 4th options and no one to really take the pressure off Dirk scoring most of the points.

[sook]

This le is hilarious...

I think mavs need a new GM.