[Charlie Brown]

I was one of the biggest critics of nick van exel last year, or more importantly, how Don Nelson utilized Nick Van Exel. However, I doubt if NVE came back to the Mavs, Nelson would return back to his small ball days. Maybe here and there, but the difference between last year and this year is that now we have a legitimate small forward (antawn jamison) and another quality swingman (josh howard) that will limit NVE's minutes on the court. last year, nelson simply could not trust bell, griffin, and walt williams enough to give them consistent minutes and especially in crunch time. but i believe jamison and howard are quality players who will make nelson think twice about going to small ball, especially since he will have a legitimate center in dampier as well.

but another reason why i want nve here is that i'm very skeptical about nash's health. he seems to get injured every freakin year and appears to always get tired by the playoffs. on the otherhand, nve always seems to get more energetic by the time playoffs come around. and i don't trust best as the starter if nash goes down.

if nellie can get walker to tone down his shots, i think he can do the same with nve. i think the current mavs team is still not championship caliber and i'm not a big fan of ostertag either. dampier, when motivated is like a 7 foot danny fortson which is what this team needs at the center position.

i guess i'm the only one who likes this trade . . . but i understand all the arguments put forth.