There is a lot of buzz surrounding the Dallas Mavericks after they finally traded for Jason Kidd. They will now have to answer questions like "can the Mavericks win the West?" and "how will the Jason Kidd trade make them a better team?"
The Mavericks will have to prove that they are contenders and that they are the real deal, but the question is, are they?
There is not doubt about it, trading for Jason Kidd makes the Dallas Mavericks a better basketball team.
But how much better are they? Are they good enough to win the West? Are they now the best team in the league?
My answer to that is no.
In the trade, the Mavericks gave up two key players in Devin Harris and DeSagana Diop. Now, as far as racking up the assists and rebounds, Kidd dominates Harris in that category. But Harris is a much better offensive player then Kidd; over the last couple of years, Kidd has shown that he cannot make a jumper to save his life. Defending the point guard would not be too hard for the opposing guard and thereby they can assert themselves more on offense.
They also gave up Diop, a primarily defensive center. You might ask, how is giving up Diop for Kidd a bad thing for the Mavericks? The answer is size.
Diop is a seven foot, 280 lbs and uses his big body to guard the post and intimidate players from driving to the hole. With Diop gone, the Mavericks will now have to play small ball, with Erick Dampier as their only real center. And suppose he goes down with an injury, when what?
Compared to the other trades in the West, teams like the Lakers and the Suns traded for size. If the Mavericks were to meet either of these teams in the playoffs, they would lose. If they played the Lakers, Dallas would have to go up against a starting lineup consisting of four players 6'10” or more. If they played the Suns, they would have to deal with a starting lineup of two players who are about seven feet.
The Mavericks are a better team. They will make it passed the first round of the playoffs and they will win at least 50-55 games, possibly even 60.
But pound for pound, they will not be able to match up with some of the bigger teams in the west, and even the East.
The Jason Kidd trade does not make the Mavs the real deal.
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7 months ago
The thing about Kidd on the Mavs is that he makes the Mavs a much much better smallball team. It's really not a downgrade because the mavs weren't a good enough defensive team even with diop and Harris. So the Mavs aren't hurting their D, they are just dramatically helping their offense. Don't think of Kidd replacing Harris, who he is really replacing is Avery Johnson. Because it was Avery's offense, or lack of that was killing the Mavs. With Kidd you make avery strictly in charge of defense. And you leave the offense up to the guys who know how to play it -- Dirk and Kidd. Also, Kidd can post up where Harris couldn't. Harris was also posted up by everyone in the West. Kidd can hold his own with any physcial point guard.
Also, because Kidd is a guard that can post all the other points up and because Dirk is asuch a great perimeter big Dirk's game will make Kidd dominant on the post and Kidd's post game as a guard will make Dirk even more dominant on the perimeter.
7 months ago
thanks for your comment
7 months ago
dead on about Kidd and the jumper. the thing about Kidd is the question of what he will do in the locker room. as long as he is winning...no problem. but if the Ls pile up does recent NBA history show more of a whiner and quitter? too bad. talented guy wasting a lot of it. if he had the drive and competitive fire Jordan had he could have 3 or 4 rings by now. instead he will end his career with exactly as many as I have.
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