LaFrentz

With Nick Van Exel agreeing to defer a small portion of the $26.5 million due him over the final two years of his contract (to be returned within four years after the deal ends), the deal to bring VE and several of his friends to Big D fell into place rather quickly. The Mavericks now have severe firepower at every position. They'll play Van Exel and Steve Nash together in the backcourt, creating major mismatches. They'll play Michael Finley, Dirk Nowitzki and Raef LaFrentz up front, and dare opponents to stay singled up on any of them. They'll use Mark Cuban's International House of Bench Jocks in reserve: Wang Zhi Zhi, Eduardo Najera, et. al. They will score. They will not defend. They won't care.

ALDRIDGE'S RANKINGS

THE TOP 10 1. Sacramento 2. Dallas 3. Minnesota 4. L.A. Lakers 5. New Jersey 6. San Antonio 7. Boston 8. Milwaukee 9. Utah 10. Philadelphia THE BOTTOM FIVE 25. Memphis 26. Houston 27. Denver 28. Golden State 29. Chicago THE MIDDLE FOURTEEN 11. Detroit 12. Portland 13. Toronto 14. Washington 15. Seattle 16. Charlotte 17. Indiana 18. Orlando 19. L.A. Clippers 20. Phoenix 21. New York 22. Miami 23. Cleveland 24. Atlanta

"Isiah's rebuilding the Bad Boys," said an Eastern Conference admirer this week. And how could you see it any other way?

Ron Artest takes over the Joe Dumars role, taking on the opposition's best perimeter scorer. Freed from a nightly pounding in the post, power forward Jermaine O'Neal can now come over to help on defense and block shots like a certain Spider Salley. Brad Miller, Bill Laimbeer. Lam, Mill. (When he returns next season, Al Harrington will take on the Dennis Rodman low-post duties, without the lunacy.)

Featuring Ron Mercer as the Microwave.

And starring Isiah Thomas as ... Isiah Thomas. With all due respect to Reggie Miller, there's no question as to who the boss of Indiana is now, and will be in the years to come.

The Pacers didn't want to wait until the trade deadline was all up on them to make a move. So they were proactive in calling the Bulls and trying to make something happen for Jalen Rose. And now, Indiana has some toughness where it only had height and scoring before.

Of course, David Falk, Rose's agent, had a problem with the deal, ripping Thomas just like he has for the last 17 years. "I think it's despicable what happened," Falk concluded, after trashing Thomas for 20 minutes to reporters. "Unprofessional. And what goes around, comes around." Falk accused Thomas for instigating the trade, conveniently forgetting that Donnie Walsh, the Pacers' president, is nobody's fool. "I made the trade," Walsh told me on Wednesday, and when Donnie Walsh tells you something, you damn well better listen.

And even after all the dealing, the Pacers still will have some flexibility to make other trades this summer and next. Artest, Miller and Kevin Ollie are all up after next season. Yes, Indiana will have to max out O'Neal in the summer of '03, but the Pacers will also have a half-dozen young guns that they can mix and match in potential packages, leaving them more than enough room to make a credible run at Tim Duncan.

Paul Gaston laid down the law to Chris Wallace and Celtics management: no tax. And that's a strong possibility, with seven guys already on the books for more than $50 million in 2003. So the Celtics subtracted Joe Johnson's rookie deal as well as three more guaranteed years they would have had to pay next year's first-round pick. They bring back Rodney Rogers, who's up after this season, and Tony Delk, who's got four years left on his deal, but at an average of $2.5 million per. Delk solidifies their scoring from the point; Rogers is the X factor. If he competes at his Sixth Man level of a couple of years ago, he can help Boston immensely on the glass and in the low post. In a wide-open east, the Celtics added two veterans who've been in the playoffs and could give them a boost.

The Wolves steal some precious low-post offense in Marc Jackson for almost nothing. For a team that's currently 25th in the league in free throw attempts, getting a big body who can draw fouls is critical. And they almost were able to get rid of Terrell Brandon and his chronic injuries, even though he has three years and $33.45 million left on his deal after this season. The Nuggets nearly sent Van Exel to the Land O'Lakes for Brandon -- even though Brandon's latest injury may threaten his career -- because they hoped that Brandon would retire. That would have given Denver a nice fat injury exception ($5.1 million, if my math is right) for him. Now, that exception will come the Wolves' way if Brandon's career is over.

THE HAVE NOTS

And Why Not? It's going to be a tough sell for Kiki Vandeweghe in the Mile High. Fans that have watched a team that's stunk for 10 years are now being told ... that their team is going to stink for a few more years, but in the meantime, why don't you pay top dollar for season tickets? But the Nuggets, like the Wizards last season, took one big step back in order to someday go forward again. Until Thursday, Denver was a contract-heavy mess, with Dan Issel's departing gift preposterous contracts for Van Exel ($77 million), Tariq Abdul-Wahad ($43 million) and Avery Johnson ($15 million). With one trade, Vandeweghe got rid of all that dead weight. True, he had to give up the much-coveted LaFrentz, but where, exactly, was this team going with LaFrentz -- who was likely to bolt via free agency in a year anyway?

The Nuggets chopped $17 million off their 2003 payroll with the trade -- and that's probably going to increase if Denver buys out Hardaway's last two seasons for $1 million this summer. Right now there are only five players signed for 2003, which gives the Nuggets a chance at some choice free agents -- and more realistically, makes Denver a conduit for future trades. It's not exactly a blueprint for a championship, but it's a start.

	Marion

And why not? The Suns are the Prom King and Queen, coming to the 20th reunion. They used to be so glamorous. It was a good run. But now they have to get into the gym and get back in shape. The Penny Hardaway-Tom Gugliotta-Jason Kidd troika has broken down and is no longer contender material. So the Suns are turning the ship. They're hoping they can calm Shawn Marion, who thinks he's not getting as many passes from Stephon Marbury as he got from Kidd, and build their new nucleus around Marbury, Marion and Joe Johnson. It's going to take a while; Phoenix is capped out and luxury-tax vulnerable.

And why not? Same reason it's been for four years. The Bulls were never going to get a big-time free agent to take their substantial cap room, so they traded for one who can't leave in Rose. It says here that this is going to be great for Jalen. He will get all the shots he wants. He will be a leader if he wants to be for young players desperate for some mentoring. He will make a ton of endorsement dollars in Chicago. And he's just two years into a $93 million deal that spends just as well in the Second City as it did three hours southeast. That's not to say that Rose won't get frustrated or look to get out soon, but the Bulls can placate their fans for a little while at least with a few more wins.