With Kidd, the West Is Officially Out of Control

By Bethlehem Shoals
When I first caught wind of the Kidd trade -- which, believe me, will still happen -- I puked a little in my throat.
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The West is now officially out of control. It reminds me of baseball, back when people thought the lack of parity had ruined the sport. You could justify the other two big moves: The Lakers needed one more impact player, and the Suns had decided to change directions. But the Mavs landing Kidd, that’s just gross.
Devin Harris is pretty good and Diop’s useful defensively, so they gave up something. And with the exception of Josh Howard and Brandon Bass (?), Dallas doesn’t have many athletic-finisher types. Prepare for a lot of alley-oops to Dirk and Dampier. Whatever, it’s Jason Effin’ Kidd, Hall of Fame royalty, triple-double machine, bulldog with an architect inside. Finally, Mavs/Warriors is avenged!
Trades are in vogue, and all of a sudden, this fall’s contender is this winter’s team in crisis. The landscape’s shifting too quickly, and the balance of power is impossible to track. We don’t know what these new incarnations of Phoenix or Dallas will look like, but presumably, they’ll be even better than they were when they were favorites to win it all. And that’s kind of messed up. It kind of feels like when Boston put together their Band of Brothers over the summer. ‘Twas almost surreal, and seemed to have put the entire league on notice. Now that’s happening, but every other day, and with teams that weren’t in the lottery last season.
So let the madness continue. What about all those disgruntled Class of 2004 guys, who couldn’t agree on extensions over the summer? Anyone want Andre Iguodala, Josh Smith, or Ben Gordon coming off their bench?
I have to wonder, though, what these arms race teams think when they look at New Orleans’ roster, or see how much that inconspicuous Kyle Korver deal has done for Utah. I think these Lakers will be for real for real, mostly because the pieces and personalities fit. And the Suns sure seem to enjoy hanging out with Shaq. But Kidd to Dallas is just plain lazy -- when a team gets uneasy, why not add a superstar looking to move? Try asking the Yankees how well that works.
Oh, and I have to thank Shanoff for instantly reminding me that, back East, this is all about getting LeBron to Jay-Z’s Brooklyn Nets. By that time, the Knicks will be dead to that city, James will be far and away the game’s best, and you’ll be able to taste the synergy from miles away. Let’s hope Jay doesn’t put out any more Kingdom Comes between now and then, because that’s all that’s derailing this train to glory.↵