Q: (Dead silence, sound of crickets chirping)
--Dallas, Texas
SG: Wait, nobody from Dallas is e-mailing me this week to tell me that I'm a moron for not liking the Jason Kidd trade? What happened? Was it the consecutive road losses to San Antonio, Dallas and Utah that cooled you off? Did you realize after Deron Williams' 17-20 that Kidd can't defend quick point guards anymore? Are you concerned after the displicable end-of-the-game benching in San Antonio that the OverCoacher (aka, Avery Johnson) and the Coach On the Floor (Kidd) might not be the greatest match? (By the way, I just made up the word "displicable" -- it's for anything that's one step beyond inexplicable.) Are you worried that your team's immediate future hinges on Erick Dampier playing hard for four months in a row, or that you don't have a bench, or that you have to work really, really, really superduperhard against good teams to get quality shots in the final five minutes of a game, or that you're not getting stops when it matters? Or did the Internet go down in Texas this weekend?
One other thought: After watching three nationally televised Mavs games in the past week, I was amazed that every announcer and studio analyst raved about Kidd and everything he "does" for a basketball team without ever mentioning his flaws. It's like he was a Republican getting broken down on Fox News. We get it, he makes everyone better and runs the out of a fast break. But what about the fact that he can't shoot? Or that he can't guard any penetrating guard? Or that, when things slow down in the last four minutes of a game and everyone stops running, he's just not as effective? I didn't hear one TV person mention this over the past week. Not one. Now I'm wondering if the G.P. Corollary applies to Kidd here -- in other words, because he looks exactly like he did during his apex, it's throwing everyone off (even someone astute like Kenny Smith or Jeff Van Gundy) and they're treating him like he's In-His-Prime J-Kidd instead of Guy-With-1,100-Games-On-His-Odometer J-Kidd. It's bizarre.
Life-time, Kidd is 0-fer against Western Conference playoff foes and has just one series win vs. a 50-win team in the playoffs. His inability to shoot kills Kidd-led offenses come the playoffs. He's a great, but Simmons is right on about his flaws. I saw 50-win, Kidd-led Suns teams with home-court advantage lose in the first round. That was nearly a decade ago.
yeah.
Mavs fans, any comments?
<crickets>
Definitely didn't make them a better team. But, in my opinion, it still wasn't a bad trade because they weren't going to win it with Devin Harris either and they were trying to shake things up. Didn't help, but didn't hurt them that much either. The draft picks probably hurt more than losing Harris and Diop.
I think it's pretty sad that Dallas lost to themselves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUfn0BRAdbA cricket fight
Yes, Simmons is an idiot. He gets paid to write stuff that gets a reaction. Sort of like Charles Barkley gets paid to spew Hot Sports opinions.
First of all, this is old news. This is over a week old. He judges the trade based on 4 games against the 3 or 4 best oppoents in the West at the time.
The Mavs lost to the Hornets on Kidds 2nd day here. Big surprise. Then the Mavs lost to the Spurs, Lakers and Jazz all by 1 possession in regulation and those 4 games were played in 5 days. The results would have been the same with Harris.
While it is factual that the Mavs team is now "Older", they aren't as old as the Spurs. And they are more experienced now. Kidd brings playoff toughness and experience that Harris could not.
Myth:
The team is worse now than before. Totally wrong. While Harris was a decent scorer 17-18 points per game. He only avg 4-5 assists and 2-3 rebounds. Overall his production is far less than Kidds 10 assist per game 11 points per game and 7-8 rebounds per game.
And what people do not see, unless they watch all the Mavs games, is that Kidd makes everyone around him (except Josh Howard) better. He gets them the ball in a much better position to score where as Harris simply dribbled it up and passed it to another player for an Isolation play.
Myth:
Kidd shoots poorly. While Kidd's 2 point FG % is not the best he does shoot over 35% from 3 point range. And he can make a big shot if needed. But that is not why he is here.
Myth:
Losing Diop hurts the Mavs further. Wrong.
While Diop was a good back up to Damp he was never a scorer and had foul problems. Now that Kidd is here Damp is playing better than ever so we miss Diop even less. Furthermore, Malik Allen has done a nice job playing back up for Damp and he scores twice as much as Diop. Also Magloire is starting to get some time so he should be in shape by the Playoffs. So we will then have a 3 head center position if needed. Damp, Allen, Magloire and that is better than Damp/Diop
Myth:
Now that Harris and Diop are gone the Spurs will run all over the Mavs. Wrong
the game last week was a one possession game and Kidd and co. did a very nice job on Parker. If Josh Howard had been healthy (he is still on about 85%) the Mavs would have won that game and the next 2.
Additionally, we got a good young player in Anotine Wright who is finally getting some playing time under stubborn Avery Johnson's system.
Kidd brings a much larger defender for the bigger gaurds in the NBA. Harris was small/slight of build and was somewhat Fragile. Harris has missed more games in 4 years than Kidd has in 13 years.
And lastly, Kidd has made it fun to play the game again. If you watch the Mavs closely, you see that everyone on the team is just more excited about playing. Everyone is passing the ball and assists are up and Isolations are down. Bottom line, if Dirk's happy about it, that's what matters most.
Our only problem now is getting Avery to stop micro-managing the team and let Kidd run the offensive flow.
I hope that answers your questions.
abt? obe-kabe.
simmons is a ing idiot. the guy also still says j-will would be better than yao if he didn't demolish his body in that bike accident.
Just curious whether Mavs fans think they're any closer to a le. I already said I don't think the trade helped or hurt the Mavs either way. But, do Mavs fans think they have a legit chance at a le more so now with Kidd?
Hasn't he gone back and forth like three times already? From panning it, to defending it while adding that it wouldn't lead to a le, to now panning it again?"Wait, nobody from Dallas is e-mailing me this week to tell me that I'm a moron for not liking the Jason Kidd trade?"
I didn't pop off or tout this team's horn after they beat Minnesota and Memphis, and it's equally foolish to dismiss them now. They lost on their final possession to LA and San Antonio, and went to the wire against Utah when playing their fourth game in five nights. Why don't you check back when Josh Howard's back heals and he's gotten himself together personally? Because right now we're a two-man team instead of the trio that the front office and coaching staff was hoping we'd be. Some guys handle tough situations off the court really well, like Brett Favre in that Monday Night game, or Kobe when the Colorado thing was going on, but it's obvious Josh's mind is elsewhere and he's not helping his team right now."Was it the consecutive road losses to San Antonio, Dallas and Utah that cooled you off?"
Does Simmons realize that Williams torched Devin Harris for 41 points back in December? Does Simmons realize that Chris Paul torched Devin Harris for 33 points and 12 assists back in December? When has Steve Nash ever failed to do whatever he wanted against Dallas? Didn't Kobe once drop 62 points on a Finals-bound Mavericks team that featured Devin Harris as its best perimeter defender? Why doesn't Simmons ask Dwyane Wade and Baron Davis if they think Devin can guard them."Did you realize after Deron Williams' 17-20 that Kidd can't defend quick point guards anymore?"
Absolutely, and he's finally on to something here. If Cuban felt he couldn't wait on a young and promising player because of the urgent pressure to win NOW, I don't understand why he would want to roll with a young and promising coach whose best days on the bench are in front of him. The average shelf life for an NBA coach is about three years, and Avery is a control-freak perfectionist in the Fratello/Skiles mode. If the Mavs flame out again or heaven forbid end up in the lottery, he's out in Dallas."Are you concerned after the displicable end-of-the-game benching in San Antonio that the OverCoacher (aka, Avery Johnson) and the Coach On the Floor (Kidd) might not be the greatest match?"
No, because we would have never beaten the Spurs without him two years ago, he did an admirable job on Shaq in the Finals, and maybe you missed it, but he curbstomped Pau Gasol on Sunday, and has actually looked like a center on BOTH ENDS OF THE FLOOR since Kidd got here. Kidd understands this team isn't doing anything in the postseason if they can't get points in the paint, and he's made it a priority to get Dampier involved on the offensive end."Are you worried that your team's immediate future hinges on Erick Dampier playing hard for four months in a row,"
Jerry Stackhouse, Brandon Bass, Malik Rose and Devean George isn't a bench?"or that you don't have a bench,"
Well, that was the whole point of getting Kidd here now, wasn't it? Because that was certainly the case with Devin Harris and Jason Terry running the offense."and or that you have to work really, really, really superduperhard against good teams to get quality shots in the final five minutes of a game,"
That's right, we traded Bill Russell and his 12 minutes per game to New Jersey."or that you're not getting stops when it matters?"
Look up his shooting percentage since joining the Mavs if you're not lazy. Go ahead. I haven't gotten to watch Kidd play on a regular basis since his first stint in Dallas. His mid-range jumper sucks, there's no question about that. But he's a decent three-point shooter. And he doesn't force shots, he only takes high-percentage looks. It's not like Devin Harris was the second coming of Ray Allen or Dale Ellis."But what about the fact that he can't shoot?"
Devin's ability to do so has been wildly overrated."Or that he can't guard any penetrating guard?"
So Jason Kidd can't run half-court sets better than Devin Harris and Jason Terry? Did you watch the Warrior series last year?"Or that, when things slow down in the last four minutes of a game and everyone stops running, he's just not as effective?"
This trade isn't a slam dunk like Rasheed to the Pistons or Gasol to the Lakers. There will be times the Mavs miss Harris' speed and ability to create a one-man fastbreak and Diop's shotblocking, but it absolutely makes Dallas better in the short-term, if we're talking this year and next. I don't know of any non-homer Mavs fan that decided to start planning a parade after the trade finally went through. I believe we'll enter the playoffs as a darkhorse, and it gives us a fighting chance that we didn't have before. Like everybody else, we're looking up at the Spurs and Lakers. Close doesn't cut it, and there is no such thing as moral victories, but how can you look at the two games last week against LA and San Antonio and conclude that Dallas can't hang with the elite teams in the League? Am I missing something or did they get blown out and run off the floor?
Last edited by Findog; 03-11-2008 at 02:54 PM.
You don't think Kidd might do better with Dirk and Josh as opposed to Rex Chapman and Penny Hardaway needing to be put down like Barbaro stage of his career?
Kidd does bring a lot of playoff failure experience to the table, so he should jel quite nicely with the Mavs.
[QUOTE=Findog]
Jerry Stackhouse, Brandon Bass, Malik Rose and Devean George isn't a bench?
You don't even know your own roster? Malik Rose used to play for the Spurs, he now languishes in New York. Your players name is Malik Allen.
Man, this guy just s on every team in the league.
[QUOTE=ehz33satx]One's an undersized PF, the other's a center with shooting range out to 18 feet. I damn well know the difference between them. It's a typo, bag.
that was intense
Too early to say...I think they're better. He just happened to come over at the start of a brutal stretch...
Dirk's stats
Before Category After
22.8 Points/game 29.4
47.1 Field-goal pct. 51.2
29.1 3-point pct. 53.6
16.8 Shots/game 18.4
4.0 Assists/game 2.7
Can't find the team stats, but everything is up, including ppg and points give up per game (both up about 3 per game).
Actually, the opposite is true for the team overall. Offensive efficiency is down while defensive efficiency is up. Opposite of conventional wisdom.
The trade the Mavs should have made
Hi Jeff.
America, eatin' my lunch from a single bowl in my parents basement, where I'm livin'. Happy Birthday, I'm forty-three.
Don't want to waste those precious calories...chewin'. Jesus come move my jaw for me, help me get my sloppy food down my throat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfan5MacmsI
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