Josh Howard is out Caron Butler is in

The All Star weekend was great for the Dallas Mavericks, Dirk won his All Star event for team Texas and the Mavs pulled of a 7 player deal. This trade has the potential to fix all of the roster questions that have surrounded the Mavericks for most of this season. Below are the players that are are coming and going.

The trade between the Mavericks and Wizards
Mavericks Get:
G/F Caron Butler
C Brendan Haywood
G DeShawn Stevenson

Wizards Get:
G/F Josh Howard
F/C Drew Gooden
F James Singleton
G Quinton Ross

On Dunham and Miller this morning they reported that Gooden and Howard were the Mavericks least efficient players. Haywood and Butler are the Wizards most efficient players this season.

J-Ho for Caron Butler
The biggest part of this deal is no doubt the fact that the Mavs were able to get rid of Josh Howard and his off court distractions. Caron Butler is a guard / forward that will fit better than Howard at the 2-guard spot. Another plus about Caron Butler is that from all of the accounts that I have heard he is a good guy on and off the court.

Josh Howard seemed to lose his game after his barrage of off season incidents and injuries, J-Ho never returned to the production level that the Mavs counted on in their championship run. Caron Butler improves the Mavericks 2-guard situation and can create his own offense and play a little defense, something Howard forgot how to do at some point.

J-Ho vs Caron Butler Stats 2009-2010
Josh Howard
31 Games 26:41 PPG 12.5 FG 40.1 3PT 26.7 FT 79.0 RBS 3.6 STL 0.7
Caron Butler
47 Games 39:23 PPG 16.9 FG 42.2 3PT 26.3 FT 87.7 RBS 6.7 STL 1.5

Butler has better numbers in almost every category.

The other major swap in this trade is the Mavericks F/C Drew Gooden for the Wizards C Brendan Haywood, the rest of the players were included to get the salaries right. Gooden was a nice player, but we needed him to be a true 7 footer and you can’t teach height.

Haywood is a true center that averages just under a double double a game, this will allow the Mavericks to have 2 true centers again. Watch for Haywood to edge Dampier by the end of the season for the starting job at center.

By Playoff time I believe the Mavericks lineup will be:
PG Jason Kidd
- Backups: Rodrigue Beaubois, Jose Juan Barea
SG Caron Butler
- Jason Terry, DeShawn Stevenson
SF Shawn Marion
- Caron Butler, Eduardo Najera, Matt Carroll
PF Dirk Nowitzki
- Tim Thomas, Eduardo Najera
C Brendan Haywood
- Erick Dampier, Eduardo Najera

Conclusion
If I had to score the trade I would put it at Mavericks 3 – Wizards 1. The Mavericks get 2 points for getting rid of Josh Howard and replacing him with 2-time All Star Caron Butler. The Mavs get one more point for acquiring a productive center in Haywood, I think I would take him over Gortat as well. However the Mavs lost some depth in this deal which is why I give the Wizards 1 point. Don’t get me wrong though this trade is definitely lopsided in the Mavericks favor. Gotta love owner Mark Cuban and GM Donnie Nelson.

State of the Mavericks | Playoffs and Beyond

Dallas Mavs This Season

The Mavs did not make any major personnel moves at the trade deadline, but Jason Terry’s return from a hand injury coupled with Dirk being on fire have the team looking much better. The Mavericks are doing it without Josh Howard who has been sidelined with a lingering ankle injury that might keep him out until the end of March. Devean George is also out, a knee injury has him sidelined, although the Mavericks will probably be just fine without him pointing around the court. His 3.4 points a game will be hard for the team to make up, but they’ll just have to manage.

Although many have been calling for the Mavericks to be blown up, they are currently 6 games ahead of the Phoenix Suns, all but guaranteeing them the 8th seed. Only one game separates the Mavericks from 4th place; so do not put the nails in the coffin just yet. Lets just hope the team that showed up for the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder does not come out again this season.

If Dirk can keep playing out of his mind into the playoffs it will be entertaining to watch, although it will not be enough. The bench will need to play better, Singleton has had a string of nice games and more are needed from him and others for a legitimate playoff run. Its doubtful that very many fans are optimistic about this years playoffs, but just remeber how terrible this team was in the early 90s when their win totals for several season’s were in the 20s. The Mavericks have come a long way since then so enjoy it.

Future:

It has been rumored that Dirk and others are willing to help create some cap room for one of the vaunted 2010 Free Agents. This Free Agent class is full of stars including:

Free agents:
Joe Johnson, Ray Allen, Manu Ginobili, Marcus Camby, Tracy McGrady, Shaquille O’Neal, Brad Miller, Stephen Jackson, Jermaine O’Neal, Mike Miller, Rip Hamilton

Players with opt out clauses:
Amare Stoudamire, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Mike Redd, Tyson Chandler.

There are also many other nice players that will be available. So if one of the above free agents is added and Dirk doesn’t opt out the Mavs could be contenders again. It would be even better if the Maverick’s could pull off a trade like the Celtics and Lakers did, although a trade as sweet as those is highly unlikely.