Dallas holds course during quiet deadline

As the deadline patted, it became clear the Dallas Mavericks were standing pass.

Or, y'know, something.  You know what I mean.

In what was perhaps the quietest trade deadline in recent memory(unless you're a really big fan of 2nd round draft picks and tax relief), the Dallas Mavericks decided to proceed as is, and, to quote Dirk Nowitzki, "go to war with the guys we've got".

That decision becomes defensible when examined in league-wide context, where teams clearly prized draft picks and were no longer desperate to shed bad contracts or take back expiring ones.  To give you an indication of just how leery teams were to make moves, consider that the best player traded Thursday was probably either 37-year-old Andre Miller or Spencer Hawes.

Yeah, it was that bad.

EDITORIAL NOTE: This was written prior to news leaking about the Danny Granger trade.

As the day progressed, it looked as though the asking price for Cavaliers forward Luol Deng might have started to drop down into range for Dallas:

The Cavs have shifted away from trying to secure a first-round pick for Luol Deng and are scanning the market for a veteran, sources say.

— Ken Berger (@KBergCBS) February 20, 2014

But, as it turned out, teams were not wiling to take Deng without a guarantee that the impending free agent would resign.

I am not completely sold on the notion of Deng as a top priority come this summer, but he is certainly on the short list of names I expect Dallas to actively pursue when free agency begins.

Also staying put for the next few months is Houston Rockets backup center Omer Asik.  It will be extremely interesting to see how that situation evolves over the summer.  Asik will be due close to $15 million next year, and conventional wisdom would lead you believe that the Rockets had the best chance of getting significant value in a trade for Asik prior to today's 3 P.M trade deadline.

That isn't to say Houston won't get a substantial offer in the future, but not every team will be capable(or willing) to take back that kind of salary and pay handsomely in the process.  Dallas will surely check back in on that front in the summer, as well.

For now, however, the 2013-14 Mavericks appear to be fully-formed.  For better or worse, this is the team that will try to stay in the playoff hunt.  At the very least, one can take solace in the fact that their rivals(including, much to my surprise, the Phoenix Suns) also stood pat at the deadline.

So, what do we say, Mavs fans?  Was this pretty much what we expected?  Are you disappointed, happy, apathetic, etc?