Smith writes that the Mavs' run is over and Cuban has a history of buying low and selling high. He argues that it looks as though the Mavs' value is only going to go down for the next couple of years so it might be time to sell high.
The Mavs have very little flexibility, thanks to exorbitant contracts given to the likes of Erick Dampier, Jason Terry, and Jerry Stackhouse.
The Mavs' lone chips for trade (other than Dirk Nowitzki) are Josh Howard and Jason Kidd's $20 million expiring contract.
Howard didn't help his trade value much with his recent comments about smoking weed. BR's Zander Freund wrote a great article about Howard's honesty a couple weeks back. If you missed it you should check it out. He makes some really great points.
6) No more Star Wars.
The worst part about the Mavs and Suns' early exits is that we probably won't see another blockbuster trade made in the middle of the season for a while. I can't recall a more entertaining trade deadline than the one we had in the NBA this year.
If the Mavs and Suns were just trying to keep up with the Lakers' acquisition of Pau Gasol, then they should have followed the Lakers lead by not giving up much in their respective trades. It's one thing to give up a Kwame Brown, it's another to give up a Shawn Marion or Devin Harris.
Don't forget that Kurt Thomas and Kwame Brown made the same amount of money this season. The Suns could have packaged Thomas with D.J. Strawberry or Alando Tucker and a couple first-round picks to get Gasol.
If only their owner weren't a penny-pinching miser.
7) I guess I was right after all
Back in February, I wrote an article about the Nuggets and Rockets being just good enough to make the playoffs but not good enough to win it. Then the Rockets won 22 games in a row and looked like title contenders. Well, neither team failed to disappoint in the playoffs.
The Nuggets decided to hang onto George Karl, which means some personnel moves are forthcoming.
The Rockets, on the other hand, would be fooling themselves if they think the outcome of their season would have been different had Yao Ming not been hurt.
Trivia Hint #2: He's from Europe.
8) Saving the best for last.
In much the same way that you don't talk to the pitcher while he's in the middle of a no-no, nobody on the Lakers is talking about their season-long 10-game winning streak.
The Lakers won their final four regular season games, then their first 6 playoff games.
I don't consider this a jinx since nobody would be surprised if the Lakers lost tomorrow night in Utah.
The Jazz were 37-4 at home this year. If they win tomorrow night, then it won't be because of me.
9) Speaking of the Lakers...
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