A backhanded compliment from Vecsey

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NUGGETS DEAL WITH DALLAS

February 22, 2002 -- The NBA trading deadline ended yesterday with the Blazers and Mavericks in a bidding war for Raef LaFrentz and the Nuggets sufficiently unsure what to do.

But while those three teams diddled and fiddled (as famed Celtic announcer Johnny Most used to say) out West, the Celtics and Pacers have improved their respective playoff advancement and aspirations in the East.

You don't need a source to know Dallas had no problem resisting the Knicks' non-arresting offer of Marcus Camby, Shandon Anderson and Charlie Ward for Juwan Howard. Denver was never presented anything of consequence by New York for LaFrentz and/or Nick Van Exel.

Rather than inherit any of the Knicks' damaged goods, Mark Cuban thought it might be a better idea to secure some functioning interior help for his mighty Mavericks as opposed to the easily breakable Camby. I love Marcus and his game, but when most players fall down they tend to get up - he stays down for weeks.

Cuban has had goo-goo eyes for LaFrentz for quite some time, but only made his affections known as the deadline approached.

Minutes before 6 p.m., the Mavs pulled off a stunning deal by sending Howard (one year left at $20 million), Tim Hardaway (owns $1M buyout for next season), Donnell Harvey, a No. 1 pick and $2 million for LaFrentz, Van Exel (without sacrificing a dime, though deferring a few, of his leftover $60M, 5-year deal), Tariq Abdul-Wahad ($34M left over five) and Avery Johnson (two years from now at age 39, he'll pocket $5.5M).

In other words, Cuban agreed to assume three of the league's worst contracts (and take one of its all-time bad boys) to have the shot-snuffing LaFrentz prosecuting trespassers in his paint.

Is the 6-11 restricted free agent-in-waiting really that good? Dan Issel thought LaFrentz was soft and didn't hesitate to say so. And Nugget GM Kiki Vandeweghe never gave the impression he was all that eager to give him anything near the maximum enchilada this summer. Still, there probably wasn't a team in the East that didn't seriously inquire about LaFrentz, and it's not as if Western teams ignored him, either.

Portland backed off at the last moment, refusing to part with Bonzi Wells, Zach Randolph, Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje and a No. 1 pick for LaFrentz and James Posey.

Trading LaFrentz to Dallas will be a hard sell to the paying public because the Nuggets can't help but be terrible, at best, for the next 11/2 seasons. Management was concerned about how Antonio McDyess (healthy at last) would accept the Nuggets being lousy right up until the time he has the right to exercise an escape clause. "Obviously he wants to win, but he fully understands what we're trying to do," said Vandeweghe. And think of all the cap flexibility Denver is going to have summer after next when so many exotic free agents will be available.

Clearly, Vandeweghe is making a late run for executive of the year by ridding himself of the team's maximum malignancy. Hopefully, Van Exel won't be too disappointed if the league doesn't allow him to move into Dennis Rodman's rumpus room in Sleazy Mark's guest hacienda.