At least he knows how to sit...

They just can’t help themselves at the trade deadline. They had to make a trade. What is worse, they had to make a trade to get another guy who doesn’t defend much and a guy who jacks three pointers at all opportunities. The good news is that this Mavericks team might be able to afford that type of player, because the rest of the roster seems to realize defending is what has improved them.

Enter Keith Van Horn. I would not care generally so much about a trade, but the timing was puzzling. We must only assume that the Mavericks knew all along that they could get Alan Henderson back in a few days, and therefore were merely trading Calvin Booth for Van Horn. Since, Booth had no role here, it really is no bother. Otherwise, to so severely weaken their present roster at center is ill advisable. Erick Dampier is hurt, so to trade his back up and his back up’s back up for a perimeter player doesn’t add up.

They had to know that they would only need to play 2 or 3 games without Henderson. Those games likely against Sacramento and Phoenix so you might not even need a deep center position. If Henderson returns early next week, then I may need to settle down in hating this trade.

But, if what we can expect more of what we saw last night; 31 minutes for Shawn Bradley, then I think it is a poor, poor decision. Bradley tried his best, but he is what he is. A player who cannot be trusted to play more than 8 or 10 minutes a game. Any more and he is over-exposed. With Booth, Henderson, and Dampier, we never saw Bradley for more minutes than that. Don’t get me wrong, he seems to try hard enough, but cannot finish around the basket, despite being so tall that he is actually shooting down at the hoop most of the time. He was 3-8 from the field, missing a number of bunnies. Add that shooting night to 3 turnovers (from a Center who hardly touches the ball!) and you almost cancel out the 10 rebounds and 3 blocks.



(Above, Bradley is practicing his ability to fly like Superman)

So, in closing, if this trade was made as it appears, it seems bad. On the other hand if in a week, Henderson is backing up Dampier at Center, Van Horn is backing up Dirk at power forward, and Bradley is back on the end of the bench, then the trade is harmless and perhaps helpful.

Links:

David Moore is puzzled about Mavs trade, too …

Henderson to return? …

It is conceivable that Henderson will be a Maverick again next week. Bucks officials said Thursday they plan on waiving Henderson, who played in all 52 Mavericks games before the trade. If he is waived, and nobody picks him up – which is unlikely given his $8.273 million salary slot – the Mavericks could sign him to a minimum contract next week.

"I don't know what's happening," Henderson said. "I'm just going to see how it all shakes out."

Milwaukee’s viewpoint …

Winners and Losers from Trade Deadline …

This weekend in the Nextel Cup, Race 2: California …

ESPN falls for hoax on Shaq injury …

A report on ESPN that O'Neal was out for the season created a stir Wednesday afternoon. The report, however, turned out to be a hoax. Someone had e-mailed ESPN a Web page that appeared to be from a local newspaper.

The Heat and Perry Rogers, O'Neal's agent, immediately denied the report.
But it set off a chain of events from coast to coast. Heat guard Keyon Dooling said his cellphone rang so often it messed up his nap.

Riley was incensed.

"That a reputable, reputable national television network would go to a Web report without verifying anything and put it on television, come on," Riley said. "And then 30 minutes later they go on and say, 'Oh, we apologize, we made a mistake.' By then, I had 15 or 20 calls from people. I had to call my owner and tell him don't pay attention to that."

Clayton insists Vikings did not get enough for Randy Moss …


Here is the main problem with today’s television: No originality. And here in America, we are the worst transgressors when it comes to this. Example? BBC’s The Office is one of the finest shows I have ever seen. A British show about the mundane world of working in a cubicle. It is so well done. Think Office Space combined with Curb Your Enthusiasm. They only made 14 total episodes, and decided it was so perfect they should just stop there. I applauded them. And that is where America stormed in and screwed it all up…

That’s right. We couldn’t leave well enough alone, because coming March 24th, I present to you NBC’s The Office . Yep. We completely stole/borrowed the idea, cast American actors, and will now completely butcher it as only we can. If NBC was smart, they would run the BBC’s version, and then hire the cast to keep the series going. But now, you watch. They will use beautiful people to cast it (big mistake) and try to "Friends" it up. Vomit.

Rocco lives …

Hockey at Lambeau Field? …



Gerrard prepares to lead Liverpool to League Cup Final versus Chelsea on Sunday …

What is the League Cup? …