Looking at the Mavericks -- Again.

I've been dedicating a lot of space to this Jason Kidd thing and made it clear that I wasn't a huge fan of the trade for Dallas. So far Dallas has lost to teams it probably should have lost to, and beat teams it probably should have beat. So it looks like a lateral move so far. I wanted to take a look at what's been hurting Dallas since the trade.

So here's a look at what opposing guards have done against Dallas since the trade.

Chris Paul - 31 pts (11-20), 5 reb, 11 ast
Mike Conley / Javaris Crittenton /Kyle Lowry - 33 pts (12-30), 7 reb, 7 ast
Rashad Mccants - 17 pts (8-15), nothing else worth mentioning.
Ben Gordon - 25 pts (9-20), 2 reb, 4 ast
Manu Ginobli /Tony Parker - 27 (11-33), 10 reb, 9 ast
Beno Udrih - 25 pts (10-16), 5 reb, 5 ast
Kobe Bryant - 52 pts (15-27), 11 reb, 4 asst
Deron Williams - 17 pts (7-17), 5 reb, 20 ast

That's 227 points on ~47% shooting. Over 28 points a game. Compare this against Dallas having held opponents to 44.84% shooting on the season and it becomes clear why they're struggling against elite competition. Since Kidd's arrived Dallas has kept up it's overall defense keeping opponents at 44.48% shooting. So it looks like the interior defense has held up after losing Diop, which is somewhat surprising.

I'm clearly no John Hollinger, but you get the point.

Of course it's not fair to pin the recent outbursts from opposition guards solely on Jason Kidd. If you look at this list of players who (mostly) excelled against Dallas you see the majority of these guys are quicker guards who would have been covered by Harris on the defensive end.

There's some truly elite players in there, but for every Kobe on that list there's a Beno. It's not exactly uncommon for NBA teams, but Dallas now looks helpless against guard penetration. It's going to be difficult to find an answer for this problem between now and the playoffs with Jason Terry as probably the quickest guy on the roster, but also a guy who's best described as "kind of okay" defensively.

Then again Dallas offense has looked majestic for stretches since Kidd arrived, so they may be able to overcome their defensive shortcomings.

Also worth noting, Erick Dampier is playing like a guy who's worth almost two thirds of his contract now.

The 2007-08 NBA Season - The Beautiful Game

I can't stop watching basketball. In the past weeks it's become a gripping addiction.

I found myself watching the Houston Chicago game last night, two teams that I almost despise watching. I think there are even some fans of the two who would agree that neither team plays a particularly exciting brand of basketball. But I had to watch.

How were Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden going to fit in Chicago? Can the Rockets keep their remarkable play going (no matter how many games they win, it's still not all that exciting to watch)? I was amazed by how quickly easily I could get sucked into this game, and a testament to just how good this NBA season is. To answer my previous questions, the Bulls new players fit in fairly well, and the Bulls as a team continued to play fairly not quite good (that's the only way I can describe it). Houston on the other hand is continuing it's streak of brilliant play by being the most boring western conference team to watch. I can't wait for the Rockets to drag out the first round to seven excruciating games so they can lose again. By game 5 every NBA fan in the country (outside of Houston) will be hoping for the series to just be over already. I can't wait!

I had to watch the Cavs play a mostly terrible Memphis team to find out how the new players would fit together and to begin to answer the burning question in Cleveland and Chicago, was Ben Wallace cartering it with the Bulls? (For those unfamiliar with the verb "cartering" it is defined as; losing interest, giving up, forfeiting effort, turning cities and countries against you. That's right ladies and gentlemen, Vince Carter is now a verb!)

The answer was a resounding "maybe."

I even had to watch the entirety of the blowout that was the Suns - Pistons game. Mostly to watch the results of this Shaq experiment unfold. Something that I'm slowly drawing conclusions upon that I'll touch on after I've watched a few more games. Partly to find out exactly how the Pistons are good. Everyone I ask about this looks at me like I'm crazy. Like it's just a given that the Detroit Pistons are a good basketball team. For some reason I'm still not sold, record, statistics and other objective measures be damned!

Then there was the Lakers - Sonics game. I don't care how loathed the Lakers may around many parts of the country. Any basketball fan should be watching them every chance they get because they are simply playing an exceedingly beautiful brand of basketball right now.

Jason Kidd has 32 assists in his last two games, grabbing 17 of them last night. To say that my interest has been piqued would be putting it mildly, even though I really didn't like the trade for Dallas, and still don't.

None of this even takes into account that the pre-trade deadline media darling, the Boston Celtics, were in action against an intriguing Portland team.

Just another night in the 2007-08 NBA regular season.

Next year's Nets could be this year's Celts

If the Nets are able to receive the final league approval on this relentless Jason Kidd trade it will have been a windfall for team president Rod Thorn. Today he holds a roster that possesses some significant talent with some significant price tags. This talented core has been choking the Nets of any serious depth for years now and both Jason Kidd and Vince Carter are well past their primes even though the contracts are yet to peak. The most this years team can hope for is a meek first round exit in an even meeker conference.

Last year the Boston Celtics were only considered to be a nominally better franchise than the Knicks. This year they enjoy being the belle of the NBA ball. New Jersey could enjoy similar fortune come next year and Rod Thorn appears willing to roll the dice. The key is completing this first deal.

Once Devin Harris is in the fold Thorn appears poised to search for more deals. See what pieces he can find in the clearance bin of the NBA. He's currently targeted Mike Miller of the Memphis Grizzlies, and has the expiring deals to make it happen. He also seems determined to ship out Vince Carter to the highest bidder. Even if he sells Carter for 30 cents on the dollar it's important to keep in mind he only paid about 28 cents on the dollar to bring him to New Jersey in the first place.

Casual fans may lament these trades. A starting back court of Devin Harris and Mike Miller would get run off the court in all star votes going up against veteran luminaries Jason Kidd and Vince Carter. The contracts are certainly no match either. Harris and Miller while handsomely paid are not on max contracts like Kidd and Carter. But star power and bank accounts aside, a Harris/Miller backcourt is actually more efficient than the current one in New Jersey. It's not a landslide gain, about ~0.8 of PER, but considering that this modest gain comes in at half the price it shows how it can affect the team elsewhere.

If the rumored Carter for Indiana's Jermaine O'neal swap happens, his addition to the potential backcourt and joining Richard Jefferson and the promising Sean Williams has New Jersey looking at what could be one of the most formidable starting fives in the eastern conference. As well as a 5 man unit that can legitimately hope to compete with western conference powers.

Now it's unlikely that all three deals to build my proposed powerhouse will be completed. There's a chance none will be completed. My point is that the Nets have the assets to make other teams consider these deals and Rod Thorn has a good track record and is willing to pull the trigger on a deal when it's going to help his team over the long run.

Rod Thorn found value for Jason Kidd, more than many thought he could. I suspect he'll also find value for Vince Carter in the form of a draft pick and salary cap relief, possibly enough to let the Nets make some noise in free agency in a couple years to complement what could be a very potent core. Come this time next year teams like Miami and Cleveland could be bidding for his services trying to appease their own franchise players.

If Danny Ainge was able to turn last year's Celtics team into this year's Celtics team then there's no reason to think Rod Thorn shouldn't be able to work similar magic. The Nets are poised for a quick clean rebuilding in the next 12 months. Come next years playoffs I fully expect the team to be among the favorites in the east.

The NBA is like shopping.

It seems the NBA season may have peaked already. Gasol, Shaq and Marion have already been traded. Jason Kidd may or may not have been traded.

All this is great. It's interesting, keeps people focused on the league. Only problem is this happened before the all star break. Every year the most exciting thing, far and away, during all star weekend is the trade talks. Unfortunately the league was on pace to win 70 games with these trades and now it looks like there's nothing left in the tank.

What the hell am I going to think about between now and tuesday? So I'll compare some deals teams have made and are trying to make to things that have absolutely nothing to do with basketball. I'm choosing shopping for my comparison. I don't know why.

Shaq to Phoenix. I'd say it's like going to Saks, buying a thousand dollar suit, and opening a store credit card to do it. It could help you get a fantastic new job, you could also spend $3000 paying it back.

Gasol to the Lakers. The Lakers didn't need Gasol. They looked like contenders anyway (pre Kobe finger injury 6 weeks unpleasantness). It was like they had huge plasma TV, good surround sound, and some comfy couches surrounding it all, then decided to go out and get an Xbox 360 for all of it. Except they found a gift card for $500 to pay for it (Kwame Browns contract) and the cashier somehow rang it up for 30% off (Chris Wallace will be playing the cashier, a role he will probably be playing in another two years. By playing I mean it will actually be his vocation).

Kidd to Mavs. I'm not really sure that the Mavs get anything out of this, so it's more like transferring the balance from a low interest rate credit card to a high interest rate rewards credit card. Then defaulting on half the money you owe (resigning Stackhouse after he's bought out). Then the janitor at the credit card company throws out your application because he doesn't want to live in New Jersey for 4 months.

Anything Isiah Thomas tries to do. I'd compare this to a crack-head walking around with a 6 foot length of garden hose, his shoes, and a football phone and trying to trade it to anyone who will give him 3 consecutive minutes for an '89 Cadillac El Dorado that's missing both doors, the trunk, and has blood all over the seats. It also has one of those orange stickers stating that the owner will owe $400 for towing fee's if the car isn't moved within 48 hours.

Anything the Cavs try to do. If the Lakers found a $500 gift card, and Isiah has some garden hose and a football phone to trade, then the Cavs have a $10 old navy gift card. Ira Newble's expiring contract is a $10 old navy gift card. You can't get much for it, there's not many places to use it, and when you can use it there's nothing you really want. Then there's the problem that they have to use the gift card under a leg of the coffee table to keep it from wobbling with all the injuries, so they're not even sure they can use it if they want to.

Anything involving Ron Artest. It's like buying and selling drugs people. You could end up in jail, you could end up dead, you could end up with your whole life ruined. You could also end up having a lot of fun (kids- don't do drugs). If only we could hook Ron up with Isiah, in terms of this strictly non basketball comparison it makes endless sense.

I'm just going to take a moment to apologize for the inanity of my column. I'm overwhelmed and disappointed right now. I'm sorry.