Review of the Jason Kidd Trade

Well, now that Jason Kidd has officially arrived, and played his first game, I thought I would give my initial thoughts on the positives and drawbacks that come with this trade. First the positives:

-Kidd is mentally tough as he led New Jersey to back to back finals appearances in 2002 and 2003. The Mavs right now, in my opinion, are not mentally tough. This is in large part to two of the biggest postseason collapses in NBA history in back to back seasons. Looking at the Mavs this year, they just don’t look like the same team (even though much of the roster is the same) they were last year or the previous season. They need someone that is going to push the team and not let another team impose it’s will on the Mavs (see Golden State in the playoffs last year). I think once Kidd gets acclimated to the team he can be the mentally tough leader the Mavs need.

-Even though the Mavs lost in New Orleans the other night, Kidd showed flashes of why he was brought to Dallas. The very first play of the game where Kidd lobbed a half court pass to Josh Howard for an easy score comes to mind here. Kidd sees the court very well, knows the game very well and knows how to play the point guard position. He can distribute the ball when his team mates are in good scoring position and, even though he has lost a little of his quickness due to his age, teams still need to respect his ability to drive and get to the basket.

-As I noted in the post below, this will benefit Avery as well because he won’t have to coach Kidd as much as he had to coach Harris. Devin is a good player but he is still learning how to play the point guard position. This would be evident as, about half the time Dallas would call a time out, Avery would be in Devin’s ear about what he just did or didn’t do. Kidd is still a top 5 point guard in the league and is an immediate upgrade from Devin Harris.

Now, the drawbacks from this trade:

-Dallas gave up quite a bit for this trade: point guard Devin Harris, forwards DeSagana Diop and Trenton Hassell, guard Maurice Ager, two future first-round draft picks, $3 million and semi-retired former Net Keith Van Horn, whose rights the Mavericks own. The two things I think Dallas will miss from this list are DeSegana Diop and the draft picks. Even though Diop has taken a step back from where he was the last two years, he still was a serviceable backup for Dampier (heactually matched up better against San Antonio than Dampier). Now, that the trade deadline has passed, Dallas is going to have to keep their eyes peeled on the waiver wire for another big man to back up Damp. That means they will end up signing someone who has been cut by another team or wasn’t playing to begin with because no other team wanted them. Dallas must also find a veteran point guard to spell Kidd when he needs a rest. Right now, JJ Barea is Kidd’s back up and that just will not do especially in the playoffs. However, Gary Payton would be a viable candidate for this spot as he is a solid veteran who is no currently on anyone’s roster.

-While lower 1st round draft picks don’t produce a ton of talent some of the time (Dallas’ last two first round picks are Maurice Ager who basically doesn’t play and Nick Fazekas who Dallas recently cut) those are picks Dallas could have used to replace talent lost in this trade. Keep in mind that Josh Howard was a low first round pick as well as Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, so talent can be found there.

-While Devin Harris was still learning, he did match up and play well against San Antonio which is Dallas’ main competition year in and year out. While Kidd may be able to hold his own, defensively, against other teams he may not be able to keep up with Tony Parker but that will remain to be seen.

Even though Dallas didn’t fare that well in their first game with Kidd, keep in mind they were playing the top team in the Western conference (New Orleans) and the game was tight until the last part of the 3rd quarter when Chris Paul exploded for New Orleans. Also, I think that once Kidd gets used to playing with the team, and vice versa, they will be better than they were the other night. They don’t have very long for this to happen though due to the depth of the western conference. However the next three games are against Memphis, Minnesota and Chicago…all of which are pretty poor teams. So, the Mavs and Kidd should take full advantage of this time because their schedule only gets tougher and another small slump, like they had before the all star break, could drop them out of playoff contention altogether.