Off the Glass

Many big winners in trade deadline deals

Raef LaFrentz is averaging a career-best 14.9 points per game this season. William Sallaz/NBAE/Getty Images

By Paul Forrester, Special to CNNSI.com

Good things happen to those who eat Brazier Burgers. You know, the legit food section of Dairy Queen. Many a burger did OTG consume on the way to Richfield, Ohio, in the early 1990s. And can anyone prove that those beef patties of greasy goodness didn't contribute to Cleveland's appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1992.

Ten years later, Dallas owner Mark Cuban seems to have stumbled upon the NBA's good luck charm. Mere weeks after donning the Dairy Queen uniform, Cuban struck gold with Raef LaFrentz and Nick Van Exel for the overpriced Juwan Howard, Tim Hardaway, Donnell Harvey and a draft pick, one that isn't likely to be all that special. This isn't to say the Mavs will reach the Finals (Does anyone honestly see any team taking care of Shaq and Kobe four out of seven times?), but they're a far sight closer than when the week began.

While the thought of LaFrentz and Van Exel taking the court with Steve Nash, Dirk (Diggler) Nowitzki and Michael Finley almost brings a tear of joy to OTG's eye (Four players averaging better than 19 a night and a center who blocks three shots and hits from downtown? No, c'mon, we couldn't even create a team like that on our old Sega Genesis NBA Live.), we fear we may not be the only one crying.

LaFrentz isn't a concern. His block totals should remain steady and he may pick-up a few more boards -- at the expense of some threes -- as Don Nelson tries to position the Iowa native in the low post.

Van Exel is another story. Although he publicly is saying the right things about being happy to come off the bench and play as many minutes as Nelson asks, we don't buy it. As the fellas on TNT mentioned Thursday night, does anyone really think that Van Exel thinks Nash is a better player? Somehow we've always had this gnawing feeling that Van Exel is a coachable Isaiah Rider, wearing out his welcome everywhere he's played, albeit productively. We figure some of Van Exel's 20 shot attempts a game this year will disappear now that Nick at Night no longer has to try and make up for the absence of Antonio McDyess. But we are left wondering just might get the ball on a Mavs break with Finley wide open in the corner. Hey, a shooter's gotta shoot, right, Nick?

The backside of this trade, and when you're left with Juwan Howard and a declining Tim Hardaway that's pretty far back, is good for owners of both. With the remaining semblance of NBA talent (we'll also make an exception for James Posey) banished from the Rockies, McDyess has absolutely no incentive to return. That means someone has to shoot, a need Hardaway will be more than happy to fill. And, to his credit, Howard was consistently productive in Dallas when called upon to take a bigger role in the offense (i.e. one of Nellie's Big Three were out). But to step aside from the fantasy perspective for sentence, OTG still doesn't understand why Denver would make a deal that promises $20 million in salary-cap relief AFTER next season. That's like waving the "Wait 'til 2004" flag.

Rosy future

We confess we don't know if Donnie Walsh in Indiana or Jerry Krause in Chicago have visited the Queen lately (although we'd have trouble believing Crumbs in Chi-town isn't on a first-name basis with his local DQ manager). However, this week's Pacers-Bulls swap the two Central Division GMs pulled off is one of those rare deals in which everyone goes home happy. Indiana gets a forward in Ron Artest who lives to play defense (averaging almost three steals a game), a productive center in Brad Miller that will allow the 6-11 Jermaine O'Neal to move to the forward spot and a scorer in Ron mercer who likes to, uh, score.

The downside on the Hoosier state side of the trade will be the drop in scoring Artest suffers with his shots going to O'Neal and Reggie Miller, which is a shame considering how Artest's new aggressiveness on the offensive end was paying off to the tune of 15 points and more than a 3-pointer a game.

On the Chicago side of the ledger, we think it's a safe bet that if Jalen Rose needed some help packing his bags for the United Center, there isn't a fantasy owner with Rose on his squad who wouldn't have driven the U-Haul personally. With every vestige of offense now in Indiana, Rose can shoot to his heart's content.

The quiet bonus in this transaction is Travis Best, who escapes the roadblock known as Jamaal Tinsley and a career off the bench to run the point full-time, which he did last year on 12 points per game, six assists and 1.4 steals. We expect those numbers to return over the last month-and-a-half of the season, especially with the increased minutes Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry are receiving now that Artest and Miller are gone. Those are two big targets for Best's passes, in addition to two inconsistent targets that afford Best some opportunities to pick up the slack.

Speaking of slack, we were left slack-jawed by the week's final deal: Marc Jackson to Minnesota for Dean Garrett. Correct us if we're wrong, but we don't get why Golden State matches the offer Jackson received from Houston last summer for millions only to bench then guy and then trade a very productive rookie for 5 points and 5 boards a game. With Kevin Garnett in Minnesota to take away A LOT of the defensive pressure, Jackson could put up something similar to the 13 ppg and 7 rpg he recorded last season.

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