State of the Mavs

[jthig32]

So posting something like this immediately after that kind of loss is probably not the smartest thing. I'll probably be much more knee jerky than I should be. But I've been feeling this way for going on two weeks now, and I need to get some thoughts out.

This team is just not very good. It's just not. You can show me the standings, show me how this team is only 4.5 back of 2nd place in the West. Whatever. This Mavericks teams is, at best, the 8th best team in the West. Period.

So as of this moment, what do we do? What is the plan from Cubes and Donnie? Obviously everyone wants to trade Josh. I want to trade Josh. I've never had less fun watching Josh play. I defended him all last season, and I defended him early this season. And I don't know if my perception has just changed, but it's become obvious to me that this team can not win with Josh on the floor on a consistent basis. Josh is completely incapable of contributing to this team on offense unless he is out and out gunning. If he's not attacking with the singular notion of scoring the basketball, he is worthless to this team.

And maybe it's just me seeing what I want to see, but I think this team is frustrated with his tunnel vision and frustrated by his shot selection. Kidd's quote was telling the other day when he discussed how Josh can learn that he can help without trying to score all the time.

To me, Josh is destined to put up decent numbers on bad basketball teams his entire career. And if I had to guess, I would say that he will probably prefer that to doing what he's doing now.

So they need to trade Josh. We alll agree. But for what? What kind of move do you make? I am absolutely *terrified* of this front office making another short sighted, win-now move. Because I'm sorry, this team is not one move away from being legit. I'm not even sure a Pau Gasol level trade makes this team legit. Say you could somehow convince the Bucks to give you Redd for a package centered around Josh. Does that make this team legit? No way. I love Redd, but does Redd help this team play defense?

The reality is this team has too many holes to patch with one trade. This team has too many holes to patch on the fly. It must be torn down and rebuilt. What level of torn down..I don't know.

Trading Dirk is just not the answer. Not right now. I still think you have a better chance tearing everything else down and trying to rebuild around Dirk than you do trading him and hoping you stumble upon your next franchise player. Plus how terrible do you want to be next season without a first round pick?

To me, the answer is a dramatic shakeup everywhere but Dirk. So start with moving Josh. Then...you move Jet. No one loves how Jet has played this season more than me (well maybe Silk loves it more). Jet has been fantastic. The way he has adjusted to Kidd and the way Carlisle has used him has been amazing, and should embarass Josh, the guy we all thoguht would benefit most from Kidd.

But as much as I love Jet and what he brings off the bench, if you ever want a traditional team with a traditional SG, you have to move Jet now while his value is at an all time high. I'm still not sure what you get for him because of his unieque skill set/body combination and his big contract that last until '11/12, but you have to get what you can right now.

Whether or not you move Kidd depends solely on what you can get and what your plans are over the next two seasons. My guess is Kidd finishes this season with the Mavs and leaves.

So there it is. It's not a very well thought out plan. I don't have any specific potential trades because I think those are mostly a waste of time. But if I'm running the Mavs, I am actively looking to shake this roster to its core, to acquire as much young talent and draft picks as I can, and I'm not moving Dirk.

Thoughts?