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The Dallas Mavericks seem to have found a winning formula: bench Jerry Stackhouse. The Mavs had a 3-7 record the day Stackhouse requested a trade. He hasn't played a single minute since, and the Mavs have won eight of nine games in his absence.

Knowing this, it's not a huge surprise the team has granted him permission to seek a trade elsewhere. At 34, he's not the player he once was, but he can still provide some scoring punch and has a palatable contract that expires in time for the summer of 2010. Hmm, who might be interested in a player like that?

Alan Hahn of Newsday connects the dots and suggests a match with the Knicks, who could send back Malik Rose's expiring deal in return. With a heart condition putting Cuttino Mobley's career in jeopardy and a nagging groin injury bothering Nate Robinson, the Knicks have been playing shorthanded.

Donnie Walsh certainly won't pull the trigger on a multiyear deal to fill a short-term need, but Stackhouse seems like the kind of player who could thrive in Mike D'Antoni's offense not to mention bring some veteran leadership and swagger to the court. The Knicks will be over the cap next year anyway, so losing whatever space Rose's expiring deal brings isn't that big of a deal. The real prize is the summer of 2010, and bringing Stackhouse on board wouldn't change that at all.

The Knicks have officially pulled off one important trade today, sending Jamal Crawford west for Al Harrington, making some room for the vaunted Summer of 2010. Various outlets are saying, though, that Donnie Walsh isn't done. Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reports that the Knicks might have a deal in place to send Zach Randolph to Dallas or L.A. with Jerry Stackhouse, Tim Thomas and/or Cuttino Mobley also changing places. Meanwhile, Newsday's Alan Hahn has the following line in a blog post:

The Knicks haven't announced anything yet and I'm told by an NBA source that is because the Knicks may not be done yet today....

Four dots? Whoa! Something must be up. Still, Randolph has been involved in myriad trade rumors since the summer, when his value was at an all-time low. As he has produced well under Mike D'Antoni, it only makes sense that the suitors would come calling. Walsh's plan paid off, apparently.

The key takeaway, however, is the new knowledge that (as compadre Nate Jones put it) Walsh is not messing around when it comes to 2010 cap space! The Crawford move alone gets N.Y. close to the needed cap level to pursue a max '10 player. Losing Randolph leaves Walsh with a little extra space to make the team desirable to free agents. The Knicks are alive, man.

Dallas has been perhaps the most disappointing team early this team, with (dis)honorable mentions awarded to Philadelphia and the Clippers. The Mavs sit at 3-7 at this juncture, an overtime win against the Knicks being the latest rare salvation. As such, it's not surprising to see DallasBasketball.com reporting that Mavs GM Donnie Nelson is working trade channels hard.

From inside, one player is getting his Harrington on: Jerry Stackhouse, who received a DNP-CD from Rick Carlisle despite perfect health, wants to be traded somewhere he'll be able to play. From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's blog:

"I'm exploring options," Stackhouse said after the Mavs' Monday workout in Charlotte, N.C. "The team is always going to protect itself, I can't force their hand to do anything. I don't really know all the options right now. I talked to [agent] Jeff [Schwartz] yesterday. ... I think it's to the point now where it's time to start researching some things and seeing if there's other possibilities that make more sense for me right now."

Say what you will about the fellow (and we have said plenty), but Mark Cuban makes things interesting. Most of the world is shaking their head at what Stephon Marbury hath wrought, deserving of blame or not. Cuban takes a look at New York's torment and sees a Dallas opportunity. The Mavericks won in New York Sunday evening, and Cuban had buckets or praise for Starbury.

"I'm a Stephon Marbury fan," Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said, placing himself in a realm in which he's quite comfortable - the fringe - but certainly not alone.

Cuban and Marbury had a brief handshake and chest bump, and Marbury pitter-pattered his fingers to let Cuban know he'll be in touch. Who knows? It could happen sooner than we think.

Cuban also told reporters that teams would "absolutely" have interest in a free agent Marbury, and made vague assurances his own franchise has "babysitting skills" in place to deal with odd ducks. So could the Mavs be a Starbury landing spot?

Behind Jason Kidd, Dallas has Jason Terry (a gunner, more like a small two-guard) and J.J. Barea, who plays only very limited minutes. Really, the Mavericks don't have many guard options in total without playing big with natural small forwards like Gerald Green, Josh Howard and Shawne Williams. Antoine Wright has been awful, Jerry Stackhouse has fallen off so much the team placed on the inactive roster Sunday. The team needs guard help, especially at the point.

But Starbury? The Mavericks are already old and floundering. Why add to the bouillabaise of frowns?

The Mavericks are said to be the latest team interested in acquiring Ron Artest, but so far, their offer to trade for the mercurial (I love that word) star is a little light. Dallas is said to be offering up Jerry Stackhouse (decent player, veteran grit, solid scorer) and Brandon Bass (young, inexpensive, and possibly a Jason Maxiell-light) for Artest, but the Kings are holding out for more: like Josh Howard, perhaps.

The Bee's Sam Amick doesn't see the Kings making the deal as is, and he also doesn't see the Mavericks going so far as to include Howard:

I can't even come close to seeing Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie doing this deal, not unless Josh Howard is involved. And from what I'm told, that's not going to happen. As the Mavs see it, the perceived risk of taking Artest is acceptable so long as the price of getting him is Bass and Stackhouse. Lose Howard to get Artest, though, and the gamble is too great.

That makes sense, because after all, you never know what you're going to get from Ron-Ron. But that was also largely the case with Josh Howard last season. J-Ho (really, kid needs a better nickname) was inconsistent all year, brought up his previously admitted marijuana use for absolutely no reason, and threw a birthday party during the playoffs that went specifically against the wishes of his head coach.

If I'm Dallas, I don't hesitate to trade Howard for Artest. I would not, however, include Brandon Bass in any deal. He just has too much upside being so young at the power forward spot -- a position where Dallas has been historically weak. Howard for Artest seems about right to me; a change of scenery might do both of them a lot of good.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Mavs-Hornets game tonight.

1. You Don't Have To Go Home But You Can't Stay Here: Fire Avery Johnson? Trade Dirk? Trade Josh Howard? All of those questions have to wait. The Mavericks aren't dead yet, and you don't bury the body till the soul is gone. It doesn't look good for the visitors, though. After an uplifting Game 3 went back and changed ... nothing. Not a thing. They said "We got the looks we wanted, they just didn't fall. They'll go in next time." And they did. All of the "JET can stop Paul!" talk was drowned out by this fact. Even if you stop Chris Paul, you let his weapons beat you. I want to believe, if only for the sake of dramatics, that the Mavs can turn this thing around. But in reality, this entire series has felt like the Mavericks were only a footnote for the Hornets' reclamation project. We'll see if the Mavericks are ready to call it a year or not.

2. Not Only Is The Future Now, The Past Is Then: You have to wonder if Jason Kidd may have irreparably harmed his legacy with this trade to Dallas. In New Jersey, he could have made the playoffs a few more years, collected a few dozen more tri-ple dou-bles and sailed off into the sunset. Now he's the old dude that can't keep up with Paul, who tried to decapitate Jannero Pargo, and may have ruined the Mavs' longterm flexibility. Kidd's still going to go down as one of the best in the game, but perhaps it would have been better to stay somewhere he could divert the criticism to others, like, oh, say, Vince Carter.

A report from the New Orleans Times-Picayune states that Byron Scott will be announced as the 2008 NBA Coach of the Year tomorrow. It is Scott's first time to win the award.

Scott guided the Hornets to one of the biggest turnarounds in the NBA this season, and the 2nd seed in the West. While the other finalists were considered mainly due to their management of unbelievably amazing rosters full of talent (Doc Rivers), playing above expectations (Maurice Cheeks), or weathering a storm of injuries (Rick Adelman), Scott managed an ensemble of challenges. He guided Chris Paul into being one of, if not the best point guard in the league. He turned David West and Tyson Chandler into household names and made the Hornets one of the most consistent teams in a hyper-competitive Western Conference on both sides of the ball. He did all of this with arguably one of the thinnest benches in the league.

Jerry Stackhouse recently stated, along with saying he'd like to fight him, that he didn't "think Byron Scott is the best coach." Well, Jerry, with your team on the brink of elimination, your starting spot revoked for Jason Terry, and Scott's Hornets in position to move to the next round, maybe you might want to rethink that. And even if Stack doesn't think Scott is the best coach, for this season, at least, Scott's peers disagreed.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Hornets-Mavericks game tonight.

1. The Answer Was As Plain As The Jet On Your Runway: "We'll trap him with Dirk and Kidd!" Negative. "We'll pull Howard up and use man-help!" No-go. "Wait a second, why don't we just put our small, fast, quick-handed guy on their small, fast, quick-handed guy?" Bingo. Jason Terry moved to the starter spot (where he belongs, taking Jerry Stackhouse's position , and Avery Johnson sicked him on Chris Paul. The results were impressive, to say the least. Paul was held to a reasonable 16 points and 10 assists, and was never able to really ignite his team. Paul brushed it off as primarily a matter of the Hornets not hitting shots (and their 38% field goal percentage would seem to back that up). But if the Mavs repeat the defensive feat of closing off the MVP-candidate's masterful game, well, then, NOLA's got problems.

2. Go West, Young Man: David West shot the ball 20 times in Game 3. He made 6 of them. That's, you know, bad. That's kind of a big deal for the Hornets' offense. West is the primary scorer on the squad. While Peja Stojakovic and Tyson Chandler are the auxiliary weapons, West is the main points producer. Without that offense, the Hornets don't go anywhere. However, some folks say that West rarely has back to back poor scoring games.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Hornets-Mavericks Game 3 tonight.

1. Now Would Be A Good Time To Walk The Walk, Stack: Jerry Stackhouse is apparently shopping for a fistfight with Byron Scott. He should be trying to kick the crap out of his own shooting performance. Stackhouse, limited by a groin injury, has only gotten 53 minutes in this series, and is shooting 31% from the field. Stack is a vital part of the Mavs' offense, and without him, they struggle to find a spark. In the playoffs, you need your key guys to hit big time shots, especially at home to get the crowd into it and demoralize the opposition. Stack better bring the fight to the court tonight.

2. Going To The Big D And I Mean Dallas Disappointment: The Hornets have not won a game in Dallas since 1998. Let me put that to you again. The Hornets have not beaten the Dallas Mavericks since before the debut of TRL. Bear in mind that these guys are in the same division. So a win tonight would be yet another declaration of a changing basketball culture for the Hornets franchise. That said, the Dallas crowd is always rabid, and the Mavs tend to feed off of it. Their backs are against the wall and they know it, so if they're going to make a stand, this is the place to do it. Circle the wagons, folks.