Mavs-Warriors deal - Mavericks screwed!

[IrishHand]

Any hopes the Mavericks had of playing with the big boys (Lakers, Kings) in the West are now gone. On Monday, the league will announce the completion of the following deal: Antawn Jamison, Danny Fortson, Chris Mills and Jiri Welsch for Nick Van Exel, Evan Eschmeyer, Avery Johnson, and Popeye Jones.

What the Mavs get...
-Antawn Jamison is a cancer. He plays no defense whatsoever and is obsessed with his scoring and role on a team. In all seriousness, if I was GM of a basketball team, I would never accept him on my team.
-Danny Fortson is a lesser cancer. He plays no defense whatsoever and is obsessed with his rebounding (which is much better than being obsessed with scoring, but self-absorption is never good on a team).

What the Mavs give up...
-Nick Van Exel is historically an idiot, but he was a model citizen during his year and a half in Dallas. He provided a valuable guard to help out the fragile (although great) Steve Nash. He'll probably return to being a head-case when he puts on the Warriors uni, but they're going to suck anyway.
-Avery Johnson is a great character guy who is more of an assistant coach than a player. Of course, the Mavs already have a dozen coaches, so that's no big loss.

Basically, the Mavs probably don't lose much, but they gain a pair of big negatives no matter how nice they might look on paper. The Mavs now have exactly zero starters who're interested in defense, and Jamison will go bonkers when he realizes he's offensive option #3 or 4 behind Dirk, Finley and maybe Nash.

[Sooga]

Hmm, I don't know about that. I thought FOrtson was exactly what the Mavs needed, a big body down low that can snag some rebounds. Let's face it, the Mavs have ZERO interior presence, scoring or otherwise. Dirk Nowitzki pulls down his 9 rebounds a game, but when a lot of your game is focused beyond the arc, that's not considered an interior presence. Fortson is a blue-collar kind of guy that will stay down there, and with all the shots that the Mavs throw up, can easily pull down 12 per game. I think Fortson fits in perfectly in Dallas, a rebounder who really doesn't care if he gets the ball or not.

As for Jamison, yea, there are definitely gonna be problems there. I don't know if I would necessarily view him as a 'cancer', but I'm not sure how he'll react to seeing FAR less touches than in Golden State. But Jamison is a good guy. You don't see him in the news getting caught with weed in his Hummer, or being charged with rape. I think if Jamison sees he's on a winner, he'll accept a lesser role. It's easy to be stat-obsessed when there's nothing else to look forward to. But, we'll see. The jury's out on Jamison, but I think Fortson will do great.

I'm glad Van Exel is gone. Not because he's a bad guy, but because he wasn't getting as much playing time as he deserved with Steve Nash in the way. And with Arenas packing, I think Van Exel will fit in nicely. He's never been a prototypical point guard, but I think he'll do well with the youngsters they got over there.

[IrishHand]

"a big body down low"?

The guy is 6'6". He's an outstanding rebounder - and that's it. He's a poor defender. What the Mavs needed was a Kurt Thomas-type, not a Danny Fortson. Thomas helps his teams win, Fortson helps himself to a bunch of rebounds win or lose.

As for Jamison's cancerous ways...you'll just have to trust me on this. I have it on very good authority that he's got one of the worst attitudes in the league. Just because he's smart enough not to blab about it on TNT doesn't make him a saint, nor does his apparently reasonable respect for our nation's laws. (There are a pile of cancerous player who've never been arrested.)

[Sooga]

Fortson is closer to 6'8"... and the guy weighs 260 pounds. He is a BIG man. Kurt Thomas is what, like 230? And he's like 6'9.

I never said that the Mavericks needed a defensive wizard down low. But teams were just beating them up last season because they had no one down there. LaFrentz was off near the 3-pt line, as was Nowitzki. The Mavs have NO big-body forward types on that entire roster. And now they will have that big body that will take up space down low and grab rebounds.

In fact, even if the Mavs did get a big defensive presence, I really don't think it's gonna change much in the long run. They'll still score over 100 a game, and they'll still give up about 95 a game. And they'll still win a lot of games.

I'm not ready to just take your word for it that Jamison is a cancer. I don't know who your 'good authority' is, but I don't really remember a whole lot of talk from the Warriors' camp about how they hate playing with the guy. I may be mistaken, I just don't remember hearing anything. I also never nominated him for sainthood. All I said was from all I've seen/heard about him, he's not the typical 'bad apple' that will rot the barrel around him, and I'm willing to give any player the benefit of the doubt until he does or says something otherwise.

[GOODBEATGUY2001]

The Mavs didn't get screwed but they didn't really get the help they need either. Their biggest glaring weakness is in the center position where Shawn Bradley has proved himself to be very ineffective esp. during the playoffs. They need at least a defensive big man to play against the likes of Shaq, Tim D., Vladi D. and Yao M. in the middle. Without this stopper, they'll have a tough time getting out of the Western Conference.

[IrishHand]

Fortson is a generous 6'6". I'm 6'4" and he's barely taller than me - or at least he was a year ago when I was talking to him. Of course, you are correct that what he lacks in height, he more than makes up for in girth.

Think what you will - I'm a diehard Laker fan and would have been very concerned had Thomas joined the Mavs. With Jamison and Fortson on board, I've added them to the Blazers/T-Wolves write-off category - too much attitude and scoring, not enough team.