Heard It Through the Grapevine 2-6-09

Posted by Rob Mahoney on February 6, 2009 under The Grapevine | 6 Comments to Read

  • Today’s a pretty depressing day.  Especially for Jason Terry, who’s inevitably going to see plenty of this.
  • Jerry Stackhouse may not be as far out the door as we previously thought.  Or maybe Rick Carlisle is just giving Stack lip service while Donnie Nelson finds a trade partner.  Personally, I’m hoping for the latter.  I’ll talk more about Stack’s situation with the Mavs next week, but for now dissect this article by David Moore of The Dallas Morning News: “The reversal stems from a conversation Stackhouse had with Rick Carlisle last week. The Mavericks coach told Stackhouse once he is healthy, he will be given the opportunity to reclaim a consistent role in the rotation. ‘It changed my whole mind-set of what I was thinking,’ Stackhouse said. ‘I just wasn’t comfortable with what was being said early on about using me in certain matchups and certain games. As a competitor, I just wasn’t ready to accept that’ “
  • From Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don’t Lie: “And Dallas, a team that has a tendency to fold once it gets hit in the mouth, folded after it got hit in the mouth.”  It’s one of those things that you desperately want to disagree with, but how do you argue after last night?
  • Jason Kidd is not John Stockton.  Just in case you were curious.  Still, it is pretty interesting to note that Stockton wanted no part of the offensive play calling, the responsibility that (before yesterday, at least) had seemed to breathe life into Jason Kidd and the whole Mavs team.
  • Eddie Sefko has an article that may or may not still be valid concerning the Mavs’ trade front.  If the Mavs manage to turn it on again in the next few, it could deter the Dallas brass from pulling the trigger on anything serious.
  • On that note, the Mavs did make a transaction of sorts last night.  Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com reports: “The Mavs have completed a trade. They just swapped Jekyll and are acquiring Hyde. And then they shipped ‘em back for each other. First one-team trade ever. Over and over and over.”
  • Last night’s game against the Jazz wasn’t ALL bad, right?  There has to be something positive to take away from this one.  Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News may have stumbled upon it: “And if you’re looking for more silver linings, Dirk Nowitzki got through a whole game at Utah without getting ejected or having the threat of a suspension for the next game hanging over his head.”

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  • http://- 1st

    Tonight playing:
    raptors@hornets
    blazers@thunder
    nuggets@wizards
    warriors@suns
    jazz@kings
    We’re all set for another day of fun and embarrassment.

  • http://- 1st

    well, one out of five.
    GJ Klahoma City Thunder

  • wacc_attack

    ok…so Stoud is on the move from Phoenix. if we don’t pounce of this like a starved pitbull, we’re idiots. we NEED a guy like amare. we do not have a single guy athletic, agressive, and skilled enough to drive to the rim with consistency. amare could present just that. again, he can not only punish you in the paint, he can also knock down the mid-range with good consistency. he is a good rebounder, he has great speed. that would finally give us presence under the glass, taking some pressure off of our outside shooters. right now teams now they dont have to pay any attention to anyone in the paint, bc we will settle for a jumpshot 9/10 times. that means dirk and jet are almost always double teamed. and when that jumper isnt falling like it should (as in the utah game), we all saw waht happens. with amare around, considerable pressure would be taken off of those guys. kidd would finally be given a viable option underneath the basket, and we could finally play the inside-outside pass that it seems like 80% of the teams literally murder us with.

    so here is my proposal. the suns said they will settle for a young talented guy, and an expiring contract who can contribute. well guess what phoenix? we got all that. lets give them j-ho and stack. well damn, it actually works!

    http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=1727~2006~802&teams=6~21~21&te=&cash=

    if thats not plenty of potential for them, let’s throw in ol’ gerald green. that one works as well.

    http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=1727~2761~2006~802&teams=6~21~21~21&te=&cash=

    giving up green might be a little too much to lose, as he has sick talent and it seems as though his only roadblock is being a poor student of the offense. but if we can get amare, i say lets do it.

    this is exactly what cuban said he was looking for…a team that is rebuilding, and thus willing to part with considerable talent. maybe the suns are not as desparate as either the grizzlies or the timberwolves were to get a deal done, but they are nonetheless listening.

    this is our chance to finally get that missing piece! let’s not blow it….again. we already let the big ticket and pau walk away for peanuts.

  • Brian D

    wacc_attack I feel like you’re looking at this the wrong way. Yes, Amare is a fantastic offensive force, and I don’t doubt that on the right team, he could flourish and contribute heavily for a contender. The Mavs are not that team. These trades you proposed, while financially legit, would work out terribly on the court.

    Where does he play? Does Dirk slide to the three spot? Offensively it’s possible that could work out favorably, but on the defensive end they’d get destroyed. Amare may very well be the worst defensive forward in the league.

    I’m anxious for them to shake things up a bit too, but this is the wrong trade.

  • wacc_attack

    i have to disagree, Brian. that argument is hinged on assuming that Josh is a superior defender to Amare…a far superior one. for his career, J-Ho averages 1.1 steals per game, and less than that this season. he also averages around 6 boards a game which, again, exceeds his totals this season. as far as blocks go, he gets about .5 a game. Amare averages a tad bit less in steals, but pulls down almost 3 more rebounds per game, and blocks more shots. and yes, i know thats statistics dont represent the entirety of a player’s defensive or offensive make up – but they sure do help. so if j-ho does play far superior defense in those off the stat sheet categories, i still believe that such advantages are far outweighed by what amare offers on the offensive end.

    and stack? its not exactly as though he is playing anyways, so what he can offer doesnt matter much. plus lets be honest, everyone here would be surprised if he finished the season as a maverick

  • http://www.thetwomangame.com Rob Mahoney

    wacc: It’s more a matter of which player works better within the Mavs’ scheme. Dirk and Amare at PF/C wouldn’t work because neither is a strong enough post defender. Dirk/Amare/Damp at SF/PF/C, as Brian described, would be a defensive nightmare. And obviously if you’ve got two players as good as Dirk and Amare, you want them on the floor; the fact that they can’t really play together is a bit of a problem.

    Yeah, Josh might be a far superior defender because as far as forwards go, they don’t get that much worse than Amare. His rebounding stats and blocks are obviously going to be better than Josh’s because he plays power forward and he’s 6’10″, but again all of this is ignoring the real issue — without Josh, the Mavs don’t have reliable options at the 3. The Mavs would have to at least look into dealing for Amare because he’s really damn good and from a value perspective it’d be a steal, but Amare just wouldn’t be a good fit with the current Mavs.

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