NBA Newsflash: Curious George
Published by Gagan on February 14, 2008
This Week: All about the Kidd trade and how the West is playing dominoes right now, no team wants to be the last piece to fall.
What’s that? It’s a deal? Great, the Mavericks now –wait, what? Mr. George has a special clause in his contract? Are you serious? Deal is off as of right now you say? It’s a great time to be a Mavericks fan, eh? That is basically the synopsis of what happened on Wednesday as Dallas Mavericks fans were teased with the notion that all-star Jason Kidd would be re-joining their team. Now, this is still a definite possibility but the fact that the deal was reportedly done, and now a player of Devean George’s caliber is the one holding up the deal, it’s just preposterous. The only player in the NBA to have a sure-fire no trade clause is Kobe Bryant (deservedly), so you’re telling me that curious George has the next best thing? Great job there by management.
I firmly believe this deal will go through, with or without George as part of the equation. But, imagine for a second it doesn’t and Mr. George is the reason why. The Dallas fans would hate him almost as much as Toronto hates Vince Carter, the coaching staff would be pissed at him, not to mention all those players who could’ve had a shot at the finals with Kidd around. If George was Mark Cuban’s own son, he would probably disown him because of the simple fact that with every top Western conference team making a move, he feels obligated to make one as well, as he should be. George had a solid outing in the wake of the news that he stopped the reported deal as he went 0-11 in the Mavericks game against Portland.
So, what if this deal does go down? What’s in store for both the Mavericks and New Jersey Nets?
The Mavericks would get the perennial all-star at point guard they haven’t had since Steve Nash (everyone who thinks Mark Cuban can’t sleep at night because he let him go say “I”) and that would in turn help out the entire roster. The one guy that Kidd will make a big difference on is Josh Howard. He is a Richard Jefferson type and look at what Kidd has done for Jefferson during his time as a Net. The Mavericks would once again be a true top-four Western team, something I believe they still were without Kidd, but it’s an added bonus with him in the back court and a much more comfortable situation for Coach Avery Johnson.
Even though the Nets lose Kidd, they would still be able to compete for a playoff seat in the really, really weak East. Devin Harris is a quality point guard, who with a couple more years of experience and good health may be able to call himself an all-star. Add to that the cap room they will get for the coming off-season and it’s easy to imagine why the Nets did this deal. If Jerry Stackhouse stays with the club, that’ll be good. But if they decide to buy him out, that’ll be good as well because they will get the ever-luxurious cap space, so they win either way with him. They also are likely to get two first-round picks in the deal, which even though will most likely be late picks, are always valuable when trying to construct trades.
This is no doubt a reactionary move on the part of the Mavericks. It’s doubtful they would’ve made such a major move if the Lakers didn’t acquire Pau Gasol and if the Suns didn’t acquire Shaquille O’Neal. Even though the Mavericks cannot be considered in the class of the Lakers, Suns or Spurs, they would certainly be knocking on the door with this deal. As we saw last spring, in the playoffs anything can happen and Dallas would be the first to testify to that notion. With all four of these teams loading up and only one being able to make the finals, there will surely be some sad faces come playoff time. As a general manager you can only do so much and the general managers of these respective teams have done all they can. They can now only hope, they can now only dream, they will now see what it’s like to be a fan of this great game.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...92 views
4 so far
Toby Getsch
on Thu, 14th Feb 2008 3:24 pm
What’s with bashing Devean George. He’s got a contract and he’s making a decision. If anyone was asked to move to a new city and a new job and they didn’t want to go and they had a contract that had that provision… so be it. Bashing on Devean George doesn’t do anything except display ravaged sports fans that don’t make the most rational decisions… This is life stuff too, not just monopoly money and fantasy trades… Seriously!
Gagan
on Thu, 14th Feb 2008 3:46 pm
I agree that it is his right to veto the trade, but don’t you believe that no one in Dallas will ever look at him the same way?
He is forever going to be known as the guy who stopped Dallas from getting Jason Kidd. Wait until they bounce in the playoffs, and see who most writers blame first. I consider him to be a good player, but how do you still work for someone you know doesn’t want you there?
Ryan
on Thu, 14th Feb 2008 5:47 pm
Toby - I agree that it’s right to veto a deal if his had family concerns or he was connected to the city, he killed the deal because it affected his wallet. The irony is now that he’s stopped this deal there’s no reason why the Mavs would step up and help him out this summer, so his reason for stopping the deal makes no sense.
It’s not bashing, it’s a writer wondering where the logic is in stopping this deal.
Ebaz
on Wed, 20th Feb 2008 2:55 pm
If I were the Nets, I wouldn’t mind George sticking around in Dallas. Why would you bring in a player who is outdated. 3ppg and 3 rebs per game does not help you in any sort of way. Unless he had an expiring contract, then I would bring him to my team.