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I think I said that they would be better off buying out his contract to be rid of him than they would be giving up talent like Howard and Daniels to be rid of him.
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Fair enough, but you still characterized him as a "terrible pairing" with Dirk, which simply isn't true.
And what-ifs from a year ago aren't really the point (though it's worth noting that waiting until this offseason would have denied the Mavs the opportunity to make use of Laettner's expiring contract). What's done is done, and what the Mavs have done is acquire a quality starting center (at least by current league standards). The challenge now is how to improve the roster to take the next step towards a championship. I don't expect that taking that next step is going to involve trading Dampier. IMO, like Fin and Daniels, his contract and performance this last year make him worth more to the Mavs than he's worth to most other teams. Which isn't really that much of a problem. The Mavs have other tradeable assets who can bring a good return, and the MLE to play with as well, and are in a position where the only thing they really need to go out and acquire is another big to back up the one they acquired last summer.