NBA Trade Deadline: A Dialogue on the Dallas Mavericks Making a Deal

The following is a series of e-mails between myself and fellow Dallas Mavericks writer Janet Kessler, on the subject of whether or not the Dallas Mavericks need to make a move at the trade deadline. The exchange began on Jan. 6, and the last part was sent Jan. 16, so we had some time to see the Mavs tackle the tough opening to their 2010 schedule.

Alex: From what I've seen of the Mavs this season, I would say they are a top-five team in the NBA, but I don't think they can realistically compete for a championship this season as presently constructed.

Despite a promising game against the Cavs without Dirk, the Mavs have proven that they are far too dependent on his scoring, a fact that he has noted himself. Without another scorer, the Mavs' playoff hopes are depending on Jason Terry getting hot at the right time (which never seems to be the playoffs) and Josh Howard getting aggressive (and who knows how healthy he'll be come April).

Janet: On any given night any team can beat any team. The lowly LA Clippers beat their arena mates and reigning champ LA Lakers the other night.

The current Dallas Mavericks are a good team that's still meshing together. They have great chemistry on the floor and in the locker-room, as seen in this video below, but nothing gels a team better than winning.

Right now the Mavs are good enough for second place in the crazy-wild Western Conference, and the Mavs' attitude is right for a contending team. 
 
The big question pounding in every Mavericks fan head is, are the Mavericks going to be good enough to overtake the Lakers?
 
I think they can!
 
We still have to play the Lakers one more time in the regular season, and the Lakers will eventually have to play everyone else on the road. We will really get a chance to see how great the Lakers are away from the comforts of home.
 
Drew Gooden has been an stable anchor in the absence of center Erick Dampier. Once Damp is back, we will (can't believe I'm saying this about Damp) have stability at the five again.
 
Should we do a trade just to make a trade? Not so fast! If it's a Pau Gasol-type deal in our favor, hell, we would be stupid not to, but how often do those type of trades come up?

Right now the Mavericks have plenty of scorers. If we do trade, who are we willing to give up? Draft picks we don't have? 
 
And who is out there that we have any snowball-in-the-fire chance of making a deal for? And will that piece be a fit, or will we have to wait another season to see results?

Alex: Sure, any given team can win on any given night, but it's another thing entirely to beat a team four times out of seven, which is why we usually see the better team win in a series.

I don't think the Mavericks need to make a trade just to make a trade, but I don't think they have enough weapons to win the West, or take out whoever wins the East should they happen to make the Finals.

Dampier needs to play against the Lakers, because with a front line of Bynum and Gasol, the Mavs need to go big and stay big, and Damp and Dirk provide a good matchup for them.

What the Mavericks need is another offensive weapon who can create his own shot and get to the line. No guard/small forward on the team seems to be able to do it regularly, and Dirk himself has even said that he needs help.

I don't feel good about the Mavericks going into the playoffs and having to count on a combined 30-40 points per game from the Howard/Terry combo. Terry is as hot and cold as they get, and he seems to get cold right as the weather is warming up in April.

As much as I like Howard, Marion gives the Mavericks a great skill set at the small forward, and if they can turn Howard's contract into a natural scorer, someone like Kevin Martin, then I think the Mavs have to do it.

With a point guard like Jason Kidd, I think the transition for a pure scorer will be much less than it would with another piece, and with someone that can consistently drop 20 a game, and divert the other team's defense from ganging up on Dirk, that's how the Mavs go deep into the playoffs.

Janet: Since we started this little exchange of words, we have seen the Mavericks make a token move of sorts.
 
We traded Kris Humphries, who kept getting lost on the bench, and Shawne Williams, who was being paid to stay away from the team, to the New Jersey Nets.
 
What we got in this exchange is an "Old Time" favorite Eddie Najera, $4.7 million in luxury tax savings, and an open roster spot.
 
Sure, having Najera is great for the locker room, but he's not going to make the Mavericks better then the Lakers (let's be real). I can't blame Cubes for jumping at a chance to rid the Mavericks of a bad attitude and bad contract in Shawn Williams.
 
I really hate to see Hump go (it was nice to see a white guy dunk once in a while), if he gets more playing time in NJ then I'm happy for him.
 
My gut feeling is the Mavericks are not done shopping; this was merely the first stop to a bigger deal.
 
When this recent trade hit the rumor mills, the Mavericks were mentioned in the same breath with the Utah Jazz.
 
The going-nowhere Jazz want to and need to dump salary badly. They have at least two players on record as wanting to be traded. The Jazz front office has stated they would trade any and all on their roster except Deron Williams.
 
Okay Alex, you said the Mavericks need another shooter, how would you like to see Carlos Boozer on the receiving end of a Jason Kidd pass?...or maybe Andre Kirilenko.  Maybe some one else from the Jazz?
 
Sure both Boozer and Kirilenko's scoring numbers are down this season, but we both know how motivational Kidd can be.     

Alex: I don't think the Mavs need anyone from the Jazz. I'd maybe take Boozer if the Mavs didn't have to give up a rotation player, but I wouldn't want them to re-sign him, maybe just rent him for a playoff run.

I think Kirilenko is a shell of his former self, and at this point he's a poor man's Shawn Marion.

What the Mavs need is another scorer, plain and simple. Dirk is getting frustrated with the lack of offensive help, and Jason Terry has been downright awful the last few weeks. I'm at the point where I'd dump him if the right deal came along.

Someone like Kevin Martin would be perfect. I know he's a defensive liability, and he would probably cost the Mavs someone like Josh Howard, but after the poor performances I've seen of late, I'd pull the trigger in a second.

The Mavs just don't have the offensive firepower to keep up with a team like the Lakers, and I don't want to go into another playoffs depending on Jason Terry getting hot (which he hasn't since 2006).

If Josh Howard and Shawn Marion could prove capable of being absolute lockdown defenders on the wing, and the Mavs prove themselves capable of winning games 80-85 (like the '08 Celtics) they need to add another scoring option.

Someone like Martin would keep the defense spread out and give Marion more of a chance, and we know he can be a scorer, even if he hasn't done it much this season.

The Mavericks haven't proven thus far that they can win a game just on their defense, so they'll have to win them with offense, and they don't have the personnel to do that on a consistent basis come playoff time.

Janet: Okay...so let's not touch our bigs. Damp is playing like a mad dog, and Gooden is still motivated.
 
We haven't had a really consistent reliable two-guard since Michael Finley committed treason and left for San Antonio. So who can Mark and Donnie shop for?
 
You mention Kevin Martin, who would be great for offense, but would he be any more of a defensive liability than Terry? Jet has stepped his defensive play a lot the season. 
 
No doubt Jet has been influenced by Kidd on steals and creating havoc on defense.
 
What I'm concerned with is Howard's body language the past couple of games, even though he is making assists, his shooting is terrible. It appears he has a don't-give-a-crap attitude.
 
Someone recently told me it's very hard to find pieces to play around Dirk because he is not your typical power forward; let's face it he rewrote the book on how that position is played.
 
Look how long it took the Mavs to get the point guard right for Dirk. So getting the rest of the team no easy task.

So there you have it, I think the Mavs have to make a move, Janet thinks they are better off standing pat unless a Pau Gasol-like deal comes up. What do you think?