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Tuesday, February 18, 1997

Mavs, Nets swap nine players in major deal

By CHARLES RICHARDS

Associated Press

DALLAS - The Dallas Mavericks made another major trade Monday night, this one a nine-player deal that sent Jim Jackson and All-Star Chris Gatling to the New Jersey Nets for center Shawn Bradley.

The Mavericks also traded Sam Cassell, George McCloud and Eric Montross to the Nets. New Jersey also sent guards Khalid Reeves and Robert Pack and forward Ed O'Bannon to Dallas.

The trade was believed to be the largest between two NBA teams in the last 25 years, league spokesman Chris Brienza said.

Both teams are struggling this season. Dallas is 16-31 under first-year coach Jim Cleamons and New Jersey is 15-36 under first-year coach John Calipari.

For the Mavericks, it culminates nearly an entire turnover of the roster since the start of the season. Don Nelson alone has added eight new players to the roster since he was hired as general manager Feb. 7.

Dallas sent former first-round draft pick Jamal Mashburn to Miami last Friday in exchange for Sasha Danilovic, Kurt Thomas and Martin Muursepp.

The only regulars remaining from Dallas' opening day roster are rookie forward Samaki Walker, who has been injured much of the season, and veteran guard Derek Harper. No players remain from last year's roster.

"I haven't seen a team made over in this short of time," Nelson said. "It's just that as it happened, the deals I was able to make were major deals."

Though he didn't name players, Nelson said several bad attitudes in the Mavericks' locker room prompted his swift moves.

"There were just so many negative things about this ball club," he said. "This locker room shocked me. It's not acceptable and will not be acceptable from this point on ... I observed it, watched it and basically got sick about it."

Jackson's departure also means the official end of the Three J's era. The three-player combo of Jackson, Mashburn and Jason Kidd had been expected to anchor the Mavericks for years, but personality conflicts and injuries ended that plan.

Kidd, who didn't get along with some teammates and Cleamons, was traded to Phoenix in December.

The Mavericks were in Vancouver Monday night to play the Grizzlies and had to activate rookie forward Samaki Walker from the injured list just so they'd have the requisite eight players in uniform to start the game.

Walker wasn't expected to play, so Dallas had to take on Vancouver with only seven players.

The Mavericks traded their top four scorers - Jackson, Gatling, Cassell and McCloud. Those four averaged 62 of Dallas' 93.4 points per game.

"When you look at what has to be done, what needed to be done, and then it happens all at once, it kind of takes your breath away," Cleamons said before the Vancouver game. "But you have to look at the positives behind it."

The Dallas-bound Nets players found out about the deal after a 108-101 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday.

The 7-foot-6 Bradley, who was also involved in the trade that sent Derrick Coleman to Philadelphia last season, did not record a single rebound in 32 minutes against the Cavs. He leads the NBA in blocked shots.

Bradley, 24, is averaging 12 points and 8 rebounds this season.

Pack, 28, is a sixth-year guard who is averaging 15.9 points and 9.6 assists per game. He has been on the injured list since Feb. 11 with a sprained ankle and is expected to be out at least another week.

Reeves, 24, is averaging 8.3 points and 3.4 assists in his third NBA season. He had 23 points Saturday against the Bullets.

O'Bannon, 24, is averaging 4.2 points and 2.5 rebounds in 45 games.

"This was a hard decision based on the fact of what we're giving up, but Dallas was really active and wanting to make this happen," Calipari said. "They made it really tough for us to say no. The players are players I know very well and can help us get where we want to be."

"This team is playing well. They're maxing out, but it'd still be hard for us to win, but we had to increase our talent and flexibility."

The deal will free up $14 million under the salary for the Nets in the next two years.

The four new Mavericks were expected to join the club in Dallas in time for Thursday's game against Milwaukee.

Cleamons said the team would do its best to put a hurried game plan into place.

"We'll find out when our new teammates meet us," he said. "We'll just start. The game won't change, what we'll need to do is find out how each other can play, what we can do to help each other."

Not so fast. Nelson said he might not be done shaking up the Mavericks.

"Who knows? I'm going to continue to be active and see what's out there," Nelson said. "If something comes up, we'll look at it."Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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