[kg_veteran]

Please don't look at the player acquisition period as being up when the season starts. Trades can be made up until the Feb trade deadline and adding payroll makes just that much tougher to make a deal.

Mark? Mark Cuban? Is that you? Honestly, if you're not him, you sound just like him. Adding payroll doesn't make it any tougher to make a deal. The Mavs are currently $38 million over the cap. How does going further over the cap hurt? Only one way. Mark Cuban's pocket. And he has told us many times before that money was no object.

Unless you can sign the guy for one year and make him a part of a mid season deal it doesn't make much sense.

Huh? If the guy can give you 5 points and 7 rebounds per game in 20 minutes of playing time, I'd say it's worth it. Combine that with the 7/7 Shawn is likely to put up, and you have a decent 12 points and an excellent 14 rebounds out of the center position.

Don't make a move for the sake of making a move. Mavericks will still have a team vying for the top spot.

I swear, you must be Cuban. Mark, why haven't you been responding to my emails, man?

Who did we lose to last year? The top contenders in the west. We may still lose to those teams but will continue to beat the have nots of the east and the wannabes in the west. I see alot of panic on this board. Relax people, the Mavs will be fine and will make the right moves when the time comes.

Dude, just get your username changed, because you are definitely Cuban.

The Mavs don't need to make any additions to be a very good team. You're right about that. But if they want to be a legit championship contender, they need to make moves. And why should we relax and trust them to maket he right moves "when the time comes?" They told us before July 1 that we should relax because they were going to have a productive summer. What has it produced? Nada. Nothing. Zilch.

Stepania can be a relatively low risk investment for the Mavericks. But it will require Mark Cuban to spend money, something he doesn't really appear willing to do.

Brian Grant can be had if the Mavericks are willing to give up something decent, like LaFrentz. But they can't get him for a package of Esch, Williams, and Rigaudeaux. Or somesuch. You have to give to get, and swapping Raef for Grant just makes a lot of sense.

I was upset when we didn't land anyone that would help but to just get someone because they are available is not the way to go.

Unless they might could actually help, which Stepania could.

Raef Lafrentz is better than this guy.

Possibly, but we're not talking about trading LaFrentz for him. You could theoretically have both.

He will certainly improve and please consider he is still young.

Hell, he's virtually an All-Star. Why do we even need help inside?

He will be given more of an opportunity to score inside and not be asked to hang out 18-23 feet away from the basket as much.

Really? Says who? You?

No to Stephania and yes to giving Raef another opportunity to show what he can do. Unless we can trade for a true center/banger I don't really see the point.

Raef and Stepania are not mutually exclusive. Even if the Mavs keep Raef, they could start Raef at PF if they acquired Stepania, theoretically.

Stepania seems to me to be a true center. He's 7'1", 255 lbs. He also seems to be a banger. He crashes the glass and throws his body around. He's just the kind of guy the Mavs could use off the bench. Why are you so against him?