Mark Cuban claims the trade for Kidd that dealt Harris to the Nets has been a win-win situation.

I actually have to say no on this one Mark. It's not a win-win trade. Devin Harris is only destined to get better, he's young, he has years and many years left in him. Kidd will be gone and out of the picture soon. Where does that leave the Mavericks? In search of another PG because I'll be surprised if Jose Barea fills that role.

Unless the plan all along is to try and lure Harris back, which I think every Maverick fan would like to see and welcome.

Cuban was quoted saying from the Star-Telegram, "It is what it is. Jason Kidd has been our best player by far. There’s no question about. It’s a win-win. J-Kidd has just been phenomenal, so it’s been a win-win trade."

Read the article here.

Josh Howard has issued an apology. We all knew this was coming. You don't disrespect the National Anthem and not issue an apology when you are in the public eye.

So you're apology is accepted Josh. Now can you just shut up and play basketball. If you're going to say stupid things like most of us can or do, make sure there's not recording device around.

I use to like Josh Howard. I thought he was a rising star and was a great member to have on the Dallas Mavericks. I shrugged off the pot smoking because well, that's his business and as long as it's not affecting his performance, then all power to him in smoking pot.

But now he's disrespecting the National Anthem, claiming he doesn't celebrate that "shit" because he's black. If you really don't celebrate that shit, then move the fuck on out of the United States. You'd be a great addition to the European Basketball League.

I think it's time for Mark Cuban to maybe think about trading Howard. How can you keep someone on your team that disrespects the National Anthem that's played before every game he plays.

There were also comments that he said Obama '08 afterwards. Let's be quite clear, Obama probably wouldn't endorse you Josh Howard and probably be ashamed of such statements towards the National Anthem.

So there are some free agents available and it would be a dream if the Mavericks maybe got their hands on a few, maybe trade off some veterans or other useless players to get a well rounded player that could help not only score but also play defense.

Some of the choices include Elton Brand, Byron Davis, Gilbert Arenas (Wizards signed Jamison so he'll probably keep his word and stay with Wizards), Josh Smith, Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon, Beno Udrih and a few others.

I think my top pick would be someone like Elton Brand. Although that would be a tough call since he was limited to 8 games last season and could be injury prone.

Byron Davis would be a good pick but he's too injury prone, plus with history against him and the Warriors two seasons ago, leaves a sour taste thinking about Byron Davis in a Mavericks uniform.

Gilbert Arenas would be good but like he's already claimed, he's probably gonna stick with the Wizards since Jamison resigned.

I think another top pick would be Josh Smith. He's young, could get him at a decent price and it would make it easier to clear some salary cap space for him. He averaged 17 ppg, 8 rpg and 2 bpg last season. He would be a very nice edition to the Mavericks.

Ben Gordon might cost too much and he seems more like a 6th man now, something the Mavericks don't need unless we got rid of Josh Howard or Stackhouse, maybe rotate Terry in as starter.

I also like Beno Udrih, kind of an unknown potential star. He could be a viable option. He averaged 14 ppg and 5 assists in 51 games for the Kings last season. He could be a great back up point guard behind Kidd.

Not necessarily Maverick news but the Celtics and Lakers are now meeting once again in the Finals. Carlisle seems to predict that the Celtics are going to take the title home for the first time since 1986. Their last Finals appearance was in 1987.

What's your prediction? I unfortunately believe that the Lakers will win in 6 games. They dominated their rivals and matchups throughout the playoffs while the Celtics barely slipped past lower ranked and seeded teams. The only thing that saved them was having home court advantage, which I think the Lakers will exploit and it won't matter.

Honestly though, these two teams have plenty of trophies and I quite bring myself to be interested in watching any of the games. It's really nothing new.

And until the season picks back up, there probably isn't going to be much updates to this site til all the excitement of next season begins for the Mavericks.

So without a doubt, I can still say I liked Avery Johnson but reading story after story, it does appear to me that he did lose this team with his own tactics on handling the head coach position.

Carlisle I hope will surprise me. He's known to be just as hard nosed in the past but with his press conference after getting introduced by the Mavericks, things seem more optimistic for the Mavs.

"Having said all that about the offensive end, we've got to be passionate and vigilant about preserving what Avery did here in establishing the defensive end," Carlisle said. "This team didn't get to the championship round until they really made a commitment defensively."

I like this. Preserve the defense that Avery brought the team.

"One of the things that drew me to this opportunity was the chance to work with a different type of team in terms of personnel," he said. "When you play with Jason Kidd, I think you got to open up the floor and you got to allow him to push it. ... I think the thing is you've got to play to your strengths and you've got to adjust. For me, this isn't about me coming in with my style. This is about me coming in here and figuring out what the roster is going to be and fitting the style to the personnel."

This also is good. It's what they need, let the point guard do his job in running the court.

Everyone saw it coming. Two first round departures in the past two seasons for the Dallas Mavericks. Avery Johnson is hit with some type of playoff bug after taking the team to the Finals against the Heat three years ago.

Before the season ended this year and the team down 3-1 against the New Orleans, the heated debates picked up about how Avery needs to go. He ruined the chance with their new point guard who was suppose to lead this team far into the playoffs. But Avery was too controlling. He wanted defense, something this team desperately needed after the Nellie days of free flowing offense, which gets you nowhere. Take D'Antoni for example.

Now the Mavericks are on the verge of picking up Rick Carlisle, who has somewhat of the same type of regular season and playoff record that Avery had. This of course is after the Mavericks said they were in no rush to find the replacement, to find the perfect coach that will fit this core team as it was stated none of the players are going anywhere anytime soon, which is probably a lie as well.

Everyone blamed Avery for his stubbornness on controlling the offense. Now the Mavericks are going to hire a guy who is claimed to be just as controlling. Some are calling him the White Avery even.

I don't think Mavericks fans were provided the whole truth. I don't believe Avery was the problem at this point with the upper management making drastic and most likely costly decisions that make no sense. I think the only people to blame of the failure of the Mavericks at this point is the executives and owner.

Now with the rush to hire the first guy interviewing for the job, I'll probably be writing the same thing 3 years from now when we fail to get any further than the first round in the post season and Carlisle will be looking for a new coaching gig. I hope I'm wrong of course about Carlisle if he's hired.