Golden State Warriors GM Chris Mullin is very happy with the recent acquisition of Manhattan point guard and Dominican Republic native Louis Flores from Dallas.

"I like his talent. I like his toughness," Mullin said. "He definitely can score the ball. His learning curve will be learning to distribute the ball and be a playmaker."

Flores is a two time winner of the Haggerty Award given to the best player in the city of New York.  It comes as no coincidence that Mullin is considered by some as on of the best players to come out of NYC.

Flores will have his work cut out for him as he will have to compete with the Warriors two established point guards, Speedy Claxton and newly acquired Derek Fisher for playing time.

While analyzing his current roster, Chris Mullin ommitted mention of newly acquired forward Christian Laettner.  It could have been a mere oversight, or it could be a subtle indication that with Warriors advancing their youth movement, they intend on buying Laettner's final year of his contract.  If he wants to continue playing, he may find himself on the injured reserve come the beginning of the season until a roster spot opens due to injury, which with the significant amount of time that was missed due to injury in the Warriors frontcourt last season, shouldn't be especially long.  Both Troy Murphy and Adonal Foyle spent significant time on the injured reserved.

Last season, Brian "The Custodian" Cardinal contributed heavily for the Warriors as a hard nosed hustler.  With Cardinal signing a lucrative contract with Memphis this summer, there was an apparent void on the Warriors roster of such a player.  With the trade of Erick Dampier, the Warriors acquired a player very similar to Cardinal in Eduardo Najera.

Najera has become known in the NBA as a man who plays the game with great enthusiasum and is constantly doing the little things to make his team better.  The Warriors have a crowded frontcourt, but Najera expects to have an increased role with Golden State, where there are no obvious superstars.

Avery Johnson has yet to sign a contract as a player-coach, becoming an official part of the Maverick organization, but during this entire summer, he has been a strong influence on player movement decisions.  He was especially vital to the Dallas decision to bring over Erick Dampier in the sign and trade deal.  There have been an abundance of suspicions whether the Dampier that played so impressively last season was merely a man playing for a contract in his walk year.  

Johnson and Dampier played together last year with Golden State and the elder point guard became the center's biggest advocate.  Johnson expects similar production with a rearranged Dallas club.  

The burden of whether or not Johnson vouched for the right guy will ultimately fall on him, as he has been publicly ear marked to become Don Nelson's successor, whenever the former Celtic great decides it is time to go permanently to Maui.

In a sign-and-trade deal that involves seven players and a pair of draft picks, the Mavericks have agreed to ship forward Eduardo Najera, forward Christian Laettner, rookie guard Luis Flores, forward Mladen Sekularac and two first-round picks to the Golden State Warriors for Dampier, center Evan Eschmeyer and guard Dan Dickau. Donnie Nelson, Mavericks president of basketball operations, said the deal will be finalized today.

The trade was momentarily postponed because of the 60 day wait required when trading a player recently traded for, in this scenario Christian Laettner.

This trade marks the second consecutive summer when the Mavericks and Warriors complete a multi-player deal.  Last year Antawan Jamison, Danny Fortson and others were exchanged for Nick Van Exel and others.  

The Mavericks have undergone significant change this offseason, as they have traded away Jamison, Antoine Walker, Najera and loss Steve Nash to free agency and they have acquired Jerry Stackhouse, Jason Terry and Dampier.  The Nelson's expect this to be a more balanced team than the run and gun teams they have fielded in past years, centered around the Big 3 of Nash, Finley and Nowitzki.

With the impending Erick Dampier trade, Chris Mullin will complete a very active summer of multiple trades, free agent signings and an optimistic draft.  He has untitied his cap hand and has reshaped virtually everything around the core trio of Jason Richardson, Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy, and suddenly, there are no obvious holes anywhere.  

This Warrior team, with no bonafide superstar, is built to play defense in the model of the Detroit Pistons.  Cliff Robinson, Mickael Pietrus, Adonal Foyle, Derek Fisher, Dale Davis, Eduardo Najera and rookie Andris Biedrins are all known to play a gritty East Coast style of defense, which will keep games close versus any opponent.  With all the roster transformations that have taken place in Southern California and the ongoing Peja/Webber turmoil in Sacramento, the Warriors might become the best Californian team this year, and sneak into the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

Today marks 60 days since Christian Laettner and Jerry Stackhouse were acquired from the Washington Wizards, so their trade restrictions are removed and they can be aggregated for trade purposes.

Laettner, Eduardo Najera, cash and two future first-round draft picks will go to the Warriors for Erick Dampier, Evan Eschmeyer and Dan Dickau.

The deal may be made official today.

Dampier's contract is expected to start at about $7 million per season.

Cavs center Zydrunas Ilgauskas will be a free agent following this season and Roger Brown of the Cleveland Plain Dealer is already speculating that there will be few suitors who will be able to sign him.  Amongst the teams with suitable cap room will likely be Golden State and Atlanta, but neither have proved terribly attractive to free agents in past seasons.  With the lack of options, combined with the Cavs losing Carlos Boozer this past offseason, Cleveland GM Jim Paxson will likely do all that is possible to resign his center.

According to ESPN, the Warriors and the Mavericks have agreed in principle to a deal sending Erick Dampier to Dallas.  

Eduardo Najera, Christian Laettner, two future first-round picks and cash would go to Golden State.  In return, the Mavericks would acquire Dampier, center Evan Eschmeyer and guard Dan Dickau.

The deal cannot become official until trade restrictions on Laettner and Dickau expire later this summer.  Both have recently been acquired so the deal can only be agreed upon in principle now.

Dampier is passing up the Hawks' $50 million offer over six years.  The Knicks and Pacers also pursued the big man.

Dampier averaged 12.3 points and 12.0 rebounds last season and finished third in the league in field-goal percentage at 53.5 percent.

For the last two months, Knicks' president Isiah Thomas has been trying to work a sign-and-trade with Golden State to land center Erick Dampier.  This week Thomas is expected to talk with Dampier and his agent Dan Fegan, in a last-ditch effort to make a deal.

Many sources say that Dampier will not be able to pass up on the four-year, $40-million offer that the Hawks are offering.  Thomas will be trying to convince Dampier to take a mid-level exception, starting at around $5 million per season.

If the Knicks fail to land Dampier, they may be forced to use the sluggish Baker at center, giving them few options for defending against Shaqille O'Neal in Miami.  

Baker is expected to sign within the next two days.