Big Man Earns Big Dough in Big D

by Steve Weinman on Jul 10, 2008 12:00 AM EDT in NBA Comment 1 comment

And the winner is...DeSagana Diop!

As reported by ESPN:

DALLAS -- DeSagana Diop signed a five-year, $31 million deal with the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday, six months after Dallas sent him to New Jersey in the Jason Kidd trade.
The Mavericks used their entire midlevel exception in their second free-agent deal with Diop since 2005.

Seems like a nice raise for someone who had never previously made $2.5 million in a season.

Though the money sounds high, I'm really not sure how much of a value deal this is for the Mavs or what exactly the market was for Diop. That said, I do think that Diop is an important piece for the Mavs and wrote during the season that his loss could be the biggest problem with the acquisition of Jason Kidd for this team. Though he started just 18 of the 52 games he appeared in for Dallas in 2007-08, Diop continued to be a force on the defensive interior, an excellent offensive rebounder and a good shot-blocker.

The Mavs' defensive efficiency was consistently much better with Diop on the court than off it during his prior tenure in Dallas, and his return will likely provide a boost so long as he isn't counted on to be any great shakes offensively.

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Bad signing

The money isn’t bad if the fit is correct. If it were a team with no size in the middle and desperate for a shotblocker/defender … and also had enough scoring elsewhere to live with Diop’s limitations … then the money is fine. Dallas isn’t that.

Dallas doesn’t have the scoring options to live with a poor offensive center. They’re lacking in scoring options once you get past Dirk and Howard in a huge way, and Josh Howard isn’t good enough to be your second option anyway. Dallas also have a center earning huge money who’s very similar to him. Diop doesn’t provide enough variation in potential lineups (because of Damp and to a lesser degree Dirk) to push Dallas ahead of where they are. Brandon Bass is now on the outside looking in with very few minutes for him to possibly earn come playoff time.

Dallas needed to spend this money on their wings. They desperately needed more athleticism, more players who can operate in the open court, more shooters, more scoring, more defense. They didn’t land that. That was far more valuable than Diop.

by Who on Jul 10, 2008 12:59 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs