[Thanks to KAE for today's game preview -ed.]

Before I get to my analysis of Dallas let me be the first to say welcome back to Larry Hughes. May you hopefully play out of your mind and generate much interest on the trading block... Or spend the rest of the season on the far end of the bench. Either way, welcome back.

The Dallas Mavericks march into the United Center on Thursday night in complete disarray with a record of 2 and 5. Fresh off a Tuesday loss to the Lakers, and with zero significant moves in the off season (unless you think Shawne Williams was a significant move), they resemble very little of the 51 win team from only one short year ago. They did however nearly hand the Lakers their first loss of the season, but fell short when they couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn in the second half… Not how a champion does it, Dirk!

Most of the criticism of the '08 Mavs stems form their inability to implement an up tempo style to better suit the game of Jason Kidd. After picking up Kidd in the middle of last season, one does have to wonder just what kind of identity these Mavs hoped to assume. Personally I find it hard to imagine Dirk running wind sprints for 35 minutes a game, I mean why bother running when you can pretty much get off a clean shot anytime you like (on that note, it must be nice to have a seven footer who can also shoot the three)… That’s how a champion does it, Dirk!

Per usual, Dallas sports a lack luster defense that has given up an average of 99.3 points per game (21st in the NBA), which is suddenly a major headache for former league MVP Dirk Nowitzki “Defensively we’ve just got to do a better job defending our guy and not breaking down so many times. If you’re getting broken down all the time, it puts our big guys in foul trouble.”… Way to blame it on the guards ,Dirk, sounds like dissension in the ranks of Dallas, and I like the sound of that!... You are a champion among a sea of contenders, Dirk!

For average Bulls fans looking for a reason to watch two sub .500 teams in an early season match-up, look no further than the aforementioned Jason Kidd. It should be most interesting to see how Derrick Rose matches up with the elder statesman who ranks 3rd all time in triple doubles with 101 (the most recent coming last Tuesday). Many have compared the games of these two electric players ad nauseum. Both are strong PG’s, with great interior offense, spectacular court vision, and entirely average jump shots at best. Kidd however is already a hall of fame player without question, and has been known to torch the Bulls in clutch situations in the past. This one in particular stands out like a skid mark on my brain.

Let’s all hope that Rose can start his own highlight reel of clutch shots on Kidd and the Mavs tonight...

more after the jump...

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Can anyone verify this post on Hoopsworld?

Humble Pie For Gordon

So the Ben Gordon story is coming to the ending that we all really expected. He's going to wind up taking the Bulls' qualifying offer and become a free agent next summer. At that point, he'll undoubtedly either wind up taking something similar to what the Bulls had on the table this summer - roughly a $60 million deal - or he might even wind up with something less. For a guy who walked in, talked about being better than Allen Iverson, and told everyone he should be the highest paid player in the history of the Chicago Bulls . . .that's a pretty big piece of humble pie to swallow. Hopefully he's learned something from the experience.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=9812

LOS ANGELES (AP)—Kobe Bryant has won the NBA’s MVP award for the first time, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site Friday night, citing anonymous sources familiar with the outcome of voting by media members.

The newspaper reported that commissioner David Stern will be in Los Angeles next week to present the trophy to Bryant.

In semi related news... MarketMaker, can I have YOUR house now?

http://www.blogabull.com/comments/2008/4/11/142120/986/97#97