JJ and Monster Mash Are Reportedly Still Available

As Tim alluded to in his last post, the long-rumored Jason Kidd-to-the-Mavs trade appears close to fruition, a few short days after Mark Cuban rather unconvincingly insisted that the trade was essentially an impossibility. NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE, particularly when you're willing to give up Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, Desagana Diop and Devean George to make something happen.

Now, I absolutely love watching Jason Kidd on the basketball court and firmly believe him to be one of the greatest players of my lifetime. That said... I'm not sure about this one for the Mavs. Granted, they've never been able to win a title and there's no reason to believe they're going to start without shaking things up a bit, but still, this is an awful lot to give up. Harris is only 24 years old--10 years younger than Kidd--and an awfully good young player (albeit an injured one at the moment). Losing Diop means that the Mavs are one-deep at center in a Western Conference that keeps getting bigger, and that "one" is Erick Dampier, whom the ESPN.com piece charitably describes as "inconsistent." Are you looking forward to watching Dampier and Nowitzki try to guard Shaq and Stoudemire or Bynum and Gasol come playoff time? Neither are Mavs fans. Diop isn't a great player--he's not even a good player, although he's turned out better than the historic bust he looked to be a few years ago--but he's at least a 7-footer who's allotted six fouls every game.

Kidd has historically been one of those rare players in the NBA with the genuine ability to transform a team, as he proved with his arrival in Jersey in 2001. But that was seven years ago, and for a team that's a highly-respectable 34-17, the Mavs just gave up an awful lot for a potentially risky makeover. I don't know, we'll see how it plays out; it could end up being brilliant, and we all should know by now to think long and hard before doubting Kidd's impact. In any event, this is certainly one of the more memorable trading seasons we've seen in a while. Not to be outdone, I hear Isiah is trying to ship Eddy Curry back to the Bulls for a bag of basketballs... developing....