[cinemablend]

Originally Posted by Caseman

It doesn't matter. We have NOBODY to replace him. You think Bass and Barea can hook up points for you every night? You trust the consistency of Singelton, George, or Wright? These are bit players. You need at least three All-Star calibre players. The Mavericks have Dirk, Terry, and like it or not, Josh. You might hate his game, his absense in the fourth quarter, but he puts up points. You can't expect Dirk to be hot in the beginning like he was today. Josh usually eats up first halves. That's a fact.

First, no one is suggesting we don't replace him, so this is a bunch of over-emotional garbage you're spewing.

Second, right now the Mavs have only one All-Star calibre player and his name is Dirk. Josh is not an All-Star player, and the only reason he got into the All-Star game was on a technicality... after a year in which he and the entire team played way way way over their heads. Josh is not an All-Star calibre player. At best he's just a hair below that. Terry as well.

So here's the situation. People want him gone. What can you get for him?

An inside-scoring center: well, that leaves you depleted in the shooting guard/small forward position. Terry would be the only lights out shooter accompanying Dirk after moving Josh.

A lights-out shooter: that leaves you with the same problem with no production from the inside and makes the team into what everyone around here hates, a jump-shooting offense. On top of that, you have the shakey forward lineup of George, Wright, and Singleton. Does anyone trust them to make a play when it counts?

Um... you just said we were trading him for an inside-scoring center. Sooo how does that make us a jump shooting offense if we have an inside scoring center SCORING FROM THE INSIDE???

I'm not disagreeing that he seems to take some nights off, but Josh can get his own shot, he can drive by people on the dribble, he can post-up, and when he wants to, he can defend.

He hasn't done most of that since 2005. The Josh in your head is not the one on the court. The Josh on the court is a guy who doesnt' really care about defending, doesn't like to take contact so he doesn't even try to drive people on the dribble. The Josh on the court now is a guy who stands on the peremiter and jacks up shots, and doesn't pass the ball or if he does just botches it. If he scores points its more from volume. His impact on the game is at best, extremely inconsistent and definitely waaay overrated by you.

I'm sick of people taking his points for granted and acting like this roster is sooo deep that they can move their third best player and plug in a spare in his place.

Again, trading him to get a NEW third best player. Not suggesting ditching our third best player and making JJ Barea our new third best player.

You also had JJB going off. Teams have figured out his tendancies. You can't expect him to dice up teams like the Lakers every time.

Which is why he's been doing a lot more very excellent passing. And unlike Kidd, he's an effective passer in the half court because he can drive into the paint and kick out to an open Dirk or Terry. And even though people keep screaming that teams have figured out his tendencies, he still has had some pretty nice games. I guess Portland is the one team that hasn't figured out his tendencies??

The Mavericks are not on the same level as the Lakers and Celtics, and unless you can get a steal of a trade, moving Howard will do NOTHING to change that.

Neither will keeping him. So we can keep him and definitely not get to the same level as the Lakers and the Celtic, or we could try to move him and get a better piece and at least have a SHOT at getting to that level, a shot which we do not have with Josh Howard.