The Dampier Trade Poll

So now that the Dampier for Chandler trade has gone down, much debate has ensued.  I know that everyone on this board would have loved to see the DUST chip go for a genuine star player, but that seems to have been impossible all along.  The debate now centers (pun intended?) around the question of whether this usage of Dampier's expiring contract was better than the acquisition of Al Jefferson.  I will state it right now, I believe that Dampier for Chandler was a better trade, but I would like to see who agrees with this and who feels differently.  So I present you with the two trade scenarios, and ask you to choose which you would prefer.

Scenario 1:  Dampier, two first round picks and filler for Al Jefferson.

The Jazz ended up giving up a TE for Jefferson, plus a guaranteed pick from Memphis (probably will end up being a lottery pick) and another first rounder.  Of course, both first round picks of theirs are more valuable than ours (since ours would be lower in the draft), so we may have had to sprinkle in some money and a second rounder to fill the gaps. 

The Good:  Jefferson has been a 20/10 player for much of his career; he's young; he fills two needs for the team (backup C, backup PF); and provides the low-post presence this team needs

The Bad:  Jefferson's contract is a bit much at $14mil/year (that's $28mil/year in Mark Cuban over-the-cap money); his knee injury is a concern that clearly hampered him last year but will hopefully heal over the next year; his defense is especially bad, which could be very unfortunate when paired he's paired with Dirk on the floor (see this article from DB.com for an interesting look at Jefferson's impact on his team: http://www.dallasbasketball.com/fullArchiveColumn.php?id=3274&yr=2010); the Mavs could use those draft picks to prevent this team from getting any older than it already is

Scenario 2:  Dampier, Carroll and Najera for Chandler, Alecis Ajinca, 6.8 million dollar trade exception

The Good:  Chandler is a solid option as a backup C, and has an expiring contract that can be added to Dallas' growing pool of expirings to trade for a good player in the next year; Dumping Carroll's and Najera's crappy contracts further assists the Mavs in this effort; Alecis Ajinca is an interesting prospect and a likely trade chip in the next year; the trade exception is obviously a very valuable trade asset; the Mavs keep their draft picks

The Bad:  The low-post problem is still unanswered; Chandler is an injury risk, Ajinca will likely not play for the Mavs, who now have three centers other than him

So basically, my opinion is that Chandler is not as sexy as Jefferson, but it may be just as good a fit for the Mavs.  Throw in the fact that Chandler can be had for a much lower cost and includes the dumping of crappy contracts, and I think we did fairly well with the Dust chip.  Most importantly, this trade facilitates future trades to fill other holes in our roster.

What do you think?