Mavs beat the Bucks in preseason game three last night, but the big news was the departure of Eddie Jones and arrival of Shawne Williams.  The details:

The Mavericks acquired him for 36-year-old Eddie Jones, second-round draft choices next summer and in either 2010 or 2011 and cash roughly equal to Jones' salary, about $1.9 million.

When I first heard Jone was traded I figured it was mainly about dumping Jones, but it sounds like it was just as much about acquiring Williams on the cheap.

Williams has had offcourt issues, but Cuban was more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Wrong place, wrong time," Cuban said. "He actually hasn't done anything [wrong]."

Asked about the multiple citings of marijuana in Williams' vehicle, Cuban said: "There's just as many journalism students' cars or reporter's cars with it."

I don't really care either.  I'm more interested on whether it helps the Mavs, and Rick Carlisle believes it will.

"He’s a good-hearted, hard-working kid and it just increases our young talent pool," Carlisle said. "I believe he has the ability to help us some this year, but this is a move that’s addressing our future and I think it sends a good message of fans that we’re thinking ahead."

Williams is 14 years younger than Jones and the Mavs have a team option for his contract next year.  I say that makes it a win, although Pacers fans aren't sad to see Williams go.  And this is a little worrisome...

Reports out of summer league in July, however, were not flattering, suggesting Williams was out of shape and appeared sluggish.

Larry Bird explains the trade from the other side.

I was very reluctant to (trade Williams) because of the talent, but when it came down to it, we felt we could get a couple of second-round picks, get off some money next year," Bird said.

"I was at a crossroad whether we were going to pick up his option next year, and if we didn't do that we figured it might not be a good season for him. It was probably best to do the deal and move on."

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Quote of the Day:

"I talked to him about that and he assured me those things are in the past," Carlisle said. "I told him that was good to hear, but if any of that stuff ever came up again, his [carcass] would be grass and me, Donnie and Mark would be the lawn mowers."

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Jones offered coaching position before trade?

"He was first class and we had talked about him coming on the coaching staff and then this opportunity came up and hopefully we'll get to work with Eddie again in the future as he goes on to his next career.''

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Josh Howard should probably get used to this.

In the 5,785-seat arena, the boos could be clearly heard and the Mavericks’ Josh Howard took the brunt of it. One group booed him almost every time he touched the ball.

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This Day in Mavs History

1980 Start of the 1980-81 season. Dallas would finish the season with a record of 15-67. It was their first season in the league.