Dallas Swaps Centers with the Bobcats: The Mavs made a shrewd move in trading Erick Dampier (non-guaranteed contract), Matt Carroll, and Eduardo Najera for Tyson Chandler and Alexis Ajinca. Dampier was the Mav’s best trade chip since he can be waived at any time and free up $13 million against the cap. While Dallas was hoping to bring in a top player from a team looking to dump salary they made a solid move here. Chandler is a solid center, particularly on defense, and given the fact they just resigned Haywood the Mavs didn’t need an All-Star. His deal expires after the season so in addition the Mavs can move him fairly easily if the right deal comes along. In addition the Mavs got back Ajinca a 22 year old center who has been a bust thus far in his career. The good news for Dallas is this is a classic low risk move. Ajinca has a team option next year so the Mavericks could clear another $2.4 million if he doesn’t show any signs of life. If he does show he can be a solid back up center then the Mavericks will have a cheaper option then pursuing one on the open market. The real benefit for Dallas is what else they gave up, Carroll and Najera have a combined $10 million remaining on their contracts after this year, in addition to the $7 million+ they are owed this season. Neither player is close to worth that amount, and Dallas can find a much better use of that money, now and into the future. The trade also nets the Mavs over $6 million in trade exceptions for this season giving them plenty of ammo to do a major deal this year.

As for the Bobcats, they could potentially move Dampier’s contract for a valuable piece, but even if they do they took on two bad contracts to do so. Charlotte would have been better served playing Chandler and either looking to move him as the season wore on, or free up money after the year when his deal expires.

Utah Makes a Move to Replace Boozer: The Jazz used their trade exception from Carlos Boozer to acquire C/F Al Jefferson from the Timberwolves in exchange for a pair of first round picks and C Kosta Koufos. For the Jazz they got a premier scoring big man still in the prime of his career. Jefferson should completely replace Boozer’s production, and do so for less money. Jefferson isn’t a bad contract, it was just redundant in Minnesota. He is making just $42 million over the next 3 years which is less money and/or years than what all the top free agents got. Jefferson at 25 is also younger than any of the free agent big men, making him a good value for the Jazz. While Utah did have to sacrifice two first round picks, this is a solid move that will keep them relevant in the West the next couple of years.

The Timberwolves on the other hand might have sold a little low on Jefferson, given he was the best big man available and he was the center piece of the Garnett deal a few years ago, but they did alright. They had to clear money, and Jefferson’s contract didn’t make sense for them given the presence of Kevin Love and the free agent signings of Milicic and Nikola Pekovic a promising European player. It became even more clear that Jefferson had to go when the T-wolves traded a pair of 2nd round picks for Micheal Beasley last week. While losing Jefferson might hurt a little, when you figure that for Jefferson and a pair of 2nd rounders the T-wolves received Beasley and a pair of 1st rounders (not to mention some financial freedom going forward) Minnesota did okay. Also, the T-wolves got back Koufos, who hasn’t shown much but is a young, cheap 7-footer and that does have some value. Jefferson is a very good player, but he didn’t fit their system, so Minnesota was right to move on. While it is hard that they didn’t get any tangible players for Jefferson, they got the money to sign these free agents and trade for Beasley. If Beasley can get his act together Minnesota might have a bright future after all.

Both teams did well here, Minnesota for adding some assets and financial freedom, and Utah for getting a good value in a big man to replace their All-Star.

I was not surprised at all when I read today that the Cavs fired Mike Brown. Just a bit shocked that it took so long for them to do so. For back to back years the Cavaliers had championship aspirations, but failed to deliver on the promise. As much as the media tries to lay the blame of LeBron James shoulders, I think Mike Brown is much more deserving of criticism.

James might be the league’s best player, and led the Cavs to the best record in the regular season these past two years but failed to execute in the playoffs. While some of that can be laid at James feet since he is the floor general, most of the blame needs to be on Mike Brown (you can make a case that the team wasn’t built properly either). Yes great players always seem to be winning championships, but they also need top coaches to harness that talent. Phil Jackson was instrumental to both the Bulls success with Jordan and the Lakers success with Kobe and Shaq. It is quite possible that these players wouldn’t have half the rings they have without a great coach like Jackson. Now don’t get me wrong it is a two way street, obviously he wouldn’t have those rings without great players, but Jackson played a significant role to their success. I don’t think Brown is that same way (not saying he needed 10 rings), and capable of out thinking an opponent. Even the game’s best players need to be put in the best possible position to succeed. The Cavs were a good team, and James is a great player, but they were overmatched (aka out coached) these last two years.

Brown didn’t make the adjustments in the playoffs to match up with better defensive teams these past two years. The Magic and Celtics showed that James could be stopped, and the Cavs (Mike Brown) weren’t prepared to go to Plan B. The reason they couldn’t go to Plan B, is simply because they didn’t have one. For a talented team with a number of 2nd tier players and the biggest superstar in the game, you should be able to win the big games. Yes these teams found ways to slow down James, but that isn’t reason enough for the Cavs to not only lose these two series, but also to lose them so badly.

For a team with such talent and depth, there is no reason they should have lost to the Celtics like they did. Sure Boston has talent, but they are old, and not supposed to challenge a team like Cleveland. This Boston series showed exactly the fatal flaw with Mike Brown. Brown isn’t a strategist and relied far to heavily on James to win the games for him. I’m sure Brown will find another coaching gig, but he will have to learn how to make adjustments, if he will be a successful NBA coach.