Don't pull the rope (redux)

Oh, no! The word is out that Dallas Mavericks are in discussions to completely sabotage their basketball fortunes in a boneheaded move to acquire Jason Kidd. The deal, which if it's true, will earn Dallas the right to be called the laughingstock of the NBA, would send Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, probably Devean George, DeSagana Diop, Maurice Ager AND TWO FIRST ROUND draft picks to New Jersey for Kidd and Malik Allen. The only possible bright side to this trade -- and even this is not as bright as not making the trade at all -- is that the Nets would then give us back Stackhouse which would mean he plays for us but is paid by New Jersey. However, I can't for the life of me seeing New Jersey agreeing to that.

Why oh why are the Mavs doing something this stupid? Actually, I could see us making a trade with New Jersey but for Vince Carter, not Jason Kidd, and as long as that trade did not include Harris. What Dallas needs is a decent 2-guard, not a 1. Harris, when healthy, is a very good 1-guard and is constantly getting better. Jason Terry, as we saw at the beginning of the season, makes a wonderful backup. But who do we have at the 2? George? Eddie Jones? Carter would be an incredible improvement over either, especially if we don't have to give up Harris.

There were years when the Mavericks were irrelevant on the local sports scene. Then came Cuban and Nowitzki and Nash and after a series of so-called blockbuster trades that didn't pan out, the Mavs decided to build through the draft (Josh Howard, Harris, etc.) and shrewd lower-key acquisitions (Terry). Sure, the Mavs had their stumbles (losing Nash and getting nothing in return), but this Nash-less team made it the NBA Finals two years ago, something no other Mavs team ever did.

Then a couple of weeks ago the Lakers traded for Paul Gasol and the Suns traded for Shaq and all the pundits said the Mavs had to keep up and trade for somebody. Meanwhile, the team that has been the most dominant of the decade, the San Antonio Spurs, has not felt the need to do anything so rash. We should be following the Spurs' blueprint for success more than the gambles of the Spurs and the Lakers. Not to mention we should not repeating this mistakes of our own past.

If this trade happens, the Mavericks have, for all practical purposes, purchased a return trip to irrelevancy.