[jthig32]

You know...I've been reading some Wizard blogs...and we are really, really spoiled around here.

I mean, I know we're all pretty happy with the trade. But I think reading things from Washington's perspective really shines a light on what we're accomplishing with this trade. Most of the time when you trade cap relief for talent, you have to take back significant bad contracts in return. The Mavs are coming away from this with largely FRIENDLY contracts. The fact that Butler has one year left on his contract is a plus, not a negative. Haywood is a legitimate, quality center that we will have bird rights on. That's a trade asset. Heck if you believe reports, when Portland inquired about Haywood they were told it would take Rudy Fernandez and Nick Batum. Let that sink in.

I mean, if the reports are correct, we're not giving up any draft picks or any young talent. A straight salary dump for players that don't even have that burdensome of contracts. That's unheard of.

The Mavs willingness to spend, their creativity in writing contracts and making trades (it certainly seems now that they did the Najera deal specifically to get that TE) have enabled them to essentially turn Josh Howard and Jerry Stackhouse into Shawn Marion, Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood.

When looking at things from that perspective, I find it hard to not get excited about this summer.

This trade may not be the thing that puts them over the top, but please recognize this for what it is: a true no-brainer home run win of a trade. And one that took a lot of creative thinking and planning along the way.