Dallas/Washington/Chicago/Golden State four-way deal

[birdsanctuary]

Dirkenstein wrote:

I'm interested as to why you would want to move Dirk to the 3 spot if this trade were carried out. The way I see it, if we moved Dirk to the three he would be in a bad situation where he would be getting killed by the quicker opposing 3's, finley would have to go to the two where is isnt as good defensively, we would have to push Daniels out of the starting lineup, and we would still have a gap at the 4 with no one to play there except Laettner (ugh). Why on earth would we want to do that when we could leave Dirk at the 4 (in my opinion his natural position) and play a more defensive/athletic lineup at 3-2-1.

Dear Dirkenstein:

Here is my concern, when Dirk is put in at Center or the 4 the opposing bigs tend to hurt him, they play very physical against him. I am especially concerned with the amount of focused force on Dirk's shooting elbow. In a Zone defense the Mavs are going to have to make better shifts and adjustments when players get beat, or in the man Dirk's going to have to switch to a bigger man. So moving Dirk against smaller 3s gives the opponent a heck of a time matching up. Dirk is very durable, but later in his career this pounding is going to limit his ability. I just want Dirk to develop into the Bird like Legend that he's heading toward. At the 4 and Center spot, he just takes too much pounding. Given KG's trade let Davis, laetner and Najera be a 3 headed 4 with differing rotations into the center spot. Primary Center played by Damp and the Mantis. I think KG's trade makes the Mavs very big, as big as some teams like Portland and Toronto have been in the past.

Frankly, Nellie does not agree with my take on Fin, I see far more upside with Howard and Daniels than Fin, and regardless of his Leaderhisp ability he should be traded before he has no value what so ever. I agree with you that Fin can't play the 2 spot. If opposing guards knew anything about him they would D him up tight when he has the ball and they would pick him every time, he is a very poor ball-handler. I really believe at this point in his career Fin is more of a 3 point specialist than an Ironman like he has been used to being. Keep Daniels in the starting linup. I just think Fin should be moved while his value is fairly high, and I think it's especially high in Chicago.

I know it all sounds crazy, but I just hate seeing bigs abuse Dirk's elbow, watch game tape, they all do it especially away from the ball.