[spreedom]

After some time to reflect (also because I'm very bored), here are my trade deadline thoughts:

• I went into this deadline with very low expectations, thinking we'd at most shed some long-term salary (Devin or JJ) or do something to shuffle pieces at the end of the bench to see if it could spark our second/third units.
• We didn't have anything approaching a very valuable asset so our best hope this deadline would have been to take on an undesirable contract if we wanted to bring in a real difference-making player (and to be clear, I would have been willing to sacrifice cap space this summer if it meant trading for an upgrade at PG, C or bringing in a quality 6th-man type). It's pretty obvious that we weren't ever really in the running for the guys like Horford, Ryan Anderson, or even the mid-tier deadline pieces being dangled like Ben McLemore. There are about 15-20 teams that were reported to be active at the deadline that could have offered more than we did. So I don't think the deadline was necessarily a failure because we didn't land a big fish.
• We have absolutely zero chance at winning the championship this season, that much is clear. That said, there are two different ways to approach that reality: you can do everything you can to close the gap or you can punt on the season and hope your veteran players can get you some sort of long-term building blocks (young players or draft picks) in hope of competing a few years down the line.
• That said, if we had the chance, we should have traded Zaza since he's probably our most valuable trade asset right now, next to Justin Anderson. I know he had been a revelation as a starter and is already possibly the second-best center the team has ever had, but with that over-achievement comes a steep price: If the Mavs want to keep him beyond this season they need to be ready to pay him eight figures (I'd guess $10-12M per season). It wouldn't surprise me to see Zaza get a higher annual salary than Tyson this coming summer with the cap blowing up like it will. To me, Zaza is a VERY good backup center at this point of his career and with the game evolving like it is, but he just can't be starting for you if you're trying to win a championship. And since I don't think he's worth $10M+ and I don't think he is a guy we should be giving a multi-year contract to, I really wish we would have traded him. With Jeff Green yielding a first-round pick (and Mozgov yielding TWO just a year ago!) I feel like the Mavs probably could have gotten a first or at least two quality second-round picks for Zaza... and we should have done that, even if it meant starting Mejri or JaVale for the rest of the season.
• Just about any piece on this roster (besides Dirk) that could have gotten us a decent first-round pick or multiple quality second-rounders probably should have been on the table as long as we weren't taking on bad salary to make it happen. The fact that we didn't do this probably means that there wasn't a ton of interest in some of the most easily-moved players on our roster, which is just the reality of the trade deadline sometimes.
• All of this in mind, I'm also glad that our front office, for all of its faults, isn't as bad as say Sacramento's. The fact that the Kings were trying to trade for Pau Gasol this deadline tells you everything you need to know about that disastrous clusterfuck.

Here ends the rant...