For the past 48 hours, since word of the Kidd homecoming to Dallas broke and then the 24 hours after the fact when Devean George decided keeping his right to make money in the summer was more important than ‘going along’ to Jersey…we painted him as the bad guy. The selfish one who is putting his own needs before the team’s, preventing the team from getting better. I’ll get to that in a second, but as I sit here and just concluded reading something, there’s one person who will inevitably get the finger of blame if this falls through. Who you ask? Stackhouse. In what may go down as the biggest ‘foot in the mouth’ moment in Mavericks history, Stack’s revelation of the side deal which would end up in the Nets buying out Stack’s contract allowing Stack to return to Dallas in a month is raising the ire of MANY GMs around the league and now has NBA’s Big Brother looking into things. And if you’re a Mavericks fan, a true one, pray they nip this thing in the bud. You don’t want this trade going through for the following reasons…

A) You don’t want to part with Devin Harris. Yes, you’re getting the Prodigal Kidd back, but this is about 15 years or so after his initial stay there which didn’t end too well. Devin’s younger, better and will develop into a true force in this league given time. With Kidd, you’re getting someone who gives you toughness, but not much else. On offense, he’s a facilitator and not much more as his jump shot’s too erratic. Defensively…well, I hope you enjoy watching Parker and other PG brethren burn by ya, cause that’s going to happen A LOT with Kidd on them.

B) Cubes had it dead on when he said this would cost about half the team. Included in that is your other best interior threat, which you don’t want to lose now that Phoenix has Shaq and Bynum’s playing like he’s not only got a set, but skills to go along with it. One of the few things Dallas has going for it is the depth on their bench. That would be pretty much lost if this goes through as scripted.

C) Probably most important of all, this doesn’t get you any closer to the Lakers, Suns or Spurs out West. Hell, it barely gets you close enough to catch the front running Hornets. Last year, you were exposed as a team that couldn’t run with someone who was just as quick and infinitely tougher than you were. Think Kidd’s going to change that all on his own? No. Dirk’s still softer than Charmin and in case any of you didn’t realize it, the Nets had some pretty tough hombres on that roster that won two straight conference titles in 02 and 03. There are no K-Marts on this team.

But thanks to Stackhouse basically telling the world about how he’s going to resign with the Mavs after being bought out by the Nets (presuming they would do it in the first place), perhaps people can stop trying to take aim at Devean. Oh and as far as Devean goes, you can’t knock a man for looking out for his best interest when his team isn’t. It’s business, not personal. So even if this thing goes off without a hitch, if Devean changes his mind and the like, what then? If the Mavs don’t catch the Hornets, I see another one and done in their future. If things stopped now, the Mavs would be staring at Kobe Bauer and the Lake Show. Kobe’s focused like never before and I think even without Bynum in a 7 game set, the Lakers win it. With Kidd and minus the already mentioned pieces of the puzzle, it happens that much quicker I think.

The Mavs don’t figure to improve by much adding this trade and it definitely doesn’t help them get ahead of a pack that’s hyperactively competitive this year (probably more so than any other year out West). But that is of course, pending Stern’s ruling that this thing will in fact happen in light of Stack’s bold (and foolish) proclamation that he’s not going anywhere. Turns out he might be right after all.