Oh boy.  I'm a little bit calmer now, but not too calm.  Thank goodness
no one else was around when I heard the trade.  To put it bluntly, this
trade really pissed me off.  The Mavs traded Popeye Jones, the rights to
New York's 1997 draft pick (if not top 5, else their 1998 pick), and gave
Toronto the option of swapping Minnesota's 1997 draft pick if it is not #1
with their own (if Minnesota's pick is #1, Toronto gets the option in 1998 
to swap Minnesota's pick) to Toronto for Jimmy King and two 2nd round draft 
picks - either in 1997 and 1998 or 1998 and 1999 [I assume it will be moved 
to '98 and '99 if Minnesota gets the #1].

I've looked at it several ways, I've heard Keith Grant talk about it, and
I've still come to the conclusion that it is one of the worse trades the
Mavs have ever made - right up there with the Dale Ellis-Al Wood trade.
Basically, the Mavs paid _heavily_ to have a team take Popeye off our
hands just so that we could have a little over $1.2 million to go after a
free agent (read Derek Harper).  Even if you include Harper as part of the
trade, it still stinks.  If it had been Terry Davis instead of Popeye, I
could have agreed with this trade - you'd have to pay a team to take Terry
off our hands.  But to pay a team a draft pick and the option of moving up
in the draft to take a player who was one of only 10 players who averaged
a double-double (rebounds) and averaged 10.8 rebounds (would have placed
7th in the league if he played 2 more games) is stupid, stupid, stupid.
ARRRGGG!!!!  We went from talk of trading Popeye to Milwaukee for a 1st
rounder last week (Milwaukee changed their mind and want to see what the
free agency market still held) to having to give one of our draft picks to
give away Popeye.  Grant explained that a lot of teams have been trying to
free up money and the teams that had free money had been taking advantage
of the increased demand and upped their prices.  But we shouldn't have
been so desperate to trade Popeye to allow teams to hold a gun to our
head.  I love Derek, but for a backup point guard (even with the veteran
leadership he'll bring), he wasn't worth this price.  There are other
veteran point guards out there, such as Byron Scott and Kenny Smith, that
we could have waited a little bit and gone after and not have gotten
ripped off royally in doing so.

<deep breathe> Grant will be on the phone tonight and how ever long it
takes talking to Harper's agent.  The feeling around here (amongst the
beat reports who follow the Mavs) is that Harper will be signed.  Harper
has been patient waiting to see if the Mavs could free up any money.

Grant tried to put a positive spin on losing the New York pick saying it
will likely be a low first round draft pick and that we won't have to be
tied down with a 3 year contract for that rookie.  He also said that
Toronto's 2nd round pick will probably be only 8 or so spots lower than
New York's pick.  The real damage could come from Toronto's right to swap
places with the Minnesota pick.  Say Minnesota ends up with the #3 pick
and Toronto ends up with the #6 pick in the draft.  Toronto will then get
the #3 pick and we will get the #6 pick.

With Jimmy King, the Mavs now have 12 players under contract.  King has a
small contract and the Mavs probably would be willing to eat it if he
doesn't earn a roster spot.  Sean Harvey will have to fight his way onto
the team (barring injuries, of course).


<calm down, go on to the non-trade stuff>
I forgot to mention in my last post that the Dallas Morning News pointed
out a rule that I did not know about regarding the $1 million exception
that teams have.  A team must of re-signed one of their own free agents to
be allowed to use the exception.  Thus, the Mavs don't have a $1 million
exception this year.

Former Mavs update:
Lucious Harris has found a new home already and has signed a 7 year
contract with Philadelphia.  (congrats, Lucious!)
Sean Rooks signed with the Lakers.
Sam Perkins re-signed a 2 year contract with Seattle.
Dick Motta was named as a Denver assistant.


patricia