A deal involving Russell Westbrook and Kendrick Perkins for Rondo and Jeff Green was ultimately declined by OKC’s front office.

Though Westbrook is a young point guard with tremendous upside, his erratic shot selection in last year’s playoffs proved his unwillingness to play in Scott Brook’s system.

While he huffed and puffed on the sidelines, further icing out teammates, team chemistry was shot. The result was a five-game ousting in the Western Conference Finals.

Not only does his personality clash with franchise face and superstar Kevin Durant, but Westbrook’s disregard for professionalism at league negotiations was paralyzing. His red sweatshirt attire was a childish miscalculation that ultimately defined the direction the young star is choosing to take.

Call it an act of youth or a competitor’s fire, I’ll call it a bad case of the me-first-gimme-gimmes and something that ultimately will result in the disbanding of a young core in OKC.

This was a prime opportunity for Thunder management to land a 25-year-old champion point guard with a pedigree for greatness. Rondo’s league-leading 11.2 assists and 2.3 steals per game were a perfect fit in Brook’s defensive-minded system.

The move would maximize team chemistry by adding a real point guard. It allows Durant to be the tell-all go-to guy late in games and balances the floor with a fluid mix of personalities.

Re-inserting Jeff Green counters loss in offensive production without Westbrook, while further balancing the team with an unselfish approach on offense.

This misstep will be a point of memory in the coming years. If Westbrook cannot correct his indifference with team play, Thunder management will look back on this trade and lament.

As for Rondo, his luck of the Irish is officially dead.

Kidd turned the Mavericks, a perpetual doormat of a franchise, into an instant threat to win any game on any night. He was the main facilitator for wing scorers Jamal Mashburn and Jim Jackson. What Kidd could do with the ball from the outlet hadn’t been seen since Magic Johnson in his prime.

The 1994-95 Dallas squad Kidd was drafted by, along with the following year’s 1995-96 team, also featured current Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Scott Brooks. Brooks was Kidd’s backup at point guard during both seasons. I’m surprised the telecast of the Western Conference Finals hasn’t spewed this connection ad nauseum. They usually eat this kind of stuff up?

Kidd is third all-time in regular season triple-doubles with 107 and is first in playoff triple-doubles with 11.  The primary taste of finals action Kidd saw came when he lead the Nets to back to back finals in 2002 and 2003.  Amidst both ascensions, he ultimately fell short of the pinnacle.

The most amazing reality is that Kidd has played the most post season games of any active player that hasn’t won a championship, while taking his team to the playoffs the last 14 years straight.  The odds of so many close opportunities missed puts the Atlanta Braves to shame.

All this being said, the point being asserted is that Kidd has come full circle.  Before this recent playoff run, the easy argument could have been made that Kidd was simply a shell of what he once was.  This can no longer be debated, as he can at age 38, amazingly still do a lot of the same things that made him such a hot commodity when he was drafted.

His decision-making is still at a level that is so elite, that I defy you to find anyone in the league that has the ability to captain the way Kidd is still able to.

Derrick Rose, while immensely talented with an NBA MVP under his belt at the youngest age there has ever been one, still has room to grow and makes far more mistakes running the point than Kidd has on average over his illustrious career.  This is not to say Rose won’t eventually go down in history as encompassingly superior, but it is to say that Kidd currently is a better overall manager of his team on the floor, with his cunning acumen and his refined awareness.

Russell Westbrook, another up-and-coming combo guard, can’t even be mentioned in the same sentence, due to his immaturity, defiance and selfishness.  Westbrook has a long way to go to be that true floor general everyone expects, and after viewing his latest chapter, I lead myself to believe he could eventually become a bust, based on his current potential, coupled with his deflation of a true winner’s attitude.

Chris Paul can be thrown in the mix, but he hasn’t reached the NBA elite.  It can be debated that the best help he has ever had is David West, but Paul’s skill set is not the same as Kidd’s.  Yes, Paul may be able to weave mismatches with slightly more efficiency and haste, but a player Paul’s size can’t match-up on defense versus a 6’4″ one guard.  Defense is where the advantage lies.  It can never be forgotten that they term one’s position based on their defensive match-up foremost and certainly.

Steve Nash may rival Kidd, as he features a couple of MVP’s, but his lack of size and defense has always been a liability.  The chemistry value that Nash has brought to every team he has ever suited up for cannot be glossed over, and his outside shooting, as well as his one-handed, floater game cannot be discounted.  The fact of the matter is, Kidd has lasted at an exclusive level longer than Nash in their shared, dwindling years.  Maybe if Nash and Dirk had stayed together, I’d be singing a different tune.

Kidd’s defense might not be as athletic as it used to be, but he has made up for that with the experience and savvy of anticipation and being in the right place at the right time.  His penetration skills might have regressed in his latter years, but he has made up for that with his exceptional three-point shooting, which has been near the top of the league during the last 5 years.

Kidd has now lead Dallas to the point of the only once charted, and that as an extremely less experienced team.  He is one step away from leading the team he was originally drafted by back to the Finals.  It would be only Dallas’ second Finals appearance, and the first in which they would be potentially favored.

*       *       *       *       *       *       *

Let the attention now move from the great story of Kidd to the even greater story of these NBA Playoffs, Dirk Nowitzki.

In 2006, The Heat toppled the Mavericks in the NBA Finals.  If this same match-up ends up unfolding in about a week, no doubt the Mavericks will be looking to avenge, regardless of the star power of “the big three.”  You can boast three all-stars, but no one is going to guard the skill-set that Dirk boasts.  This much cannot be disputed.

Good luck with that, “Heatles.”  You can bring John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to the stage, but everyone will rally and cry in populous that no one has the game to match Elvis.

Durant has been brilliant, averaging 32.0 points in the series on 68.5% shooting. Last night the oft’ quiet star, played with an abandon necessary to drive his team to victory. A dunk late in the first quarter with his team down nine, swung the momentum back in the Thunder’s favor.

Durant’s teammates have been the same. Last night Jeff Harden continued his maturation into  the Thunder’s third option offensively,contributing 23 points and is now averaging 17.5 points per game in the series, 13.2 in the postseason.  Eric Maynor chipped in 13,  and the bench as a whole scored 50.

But where was Russel Westbrook?

The intangibles rest in Westbrook’s physique and explosive speed. The twenty two year old former UCLA Bruin, has garnered praise all year for his quick maturation into a perennial point guard. His feisty fear-none mentality, and lengthy 6’5 size, have placed his name among the elite point guards with Derick Rose, Chris Paul, Rajon Rondo, and Steve Nash.

So where was he?

Benched late in the third quarter after another ridiculous turnover, Westbrook blabbed the rest of the game while his Thunder went +7 without him. His backup Eric Maynor, a four year starter at Virginia Commonwealth, played poised and far beyond Westbrook’s years: swinging the ball, running Scott Brooks half-court set schemes, and solid defense.

Maynor did what he had to do to win a ballgame. Things are not pretty in the postseason with the slowness of half-court basketball and the physicality of the defensive sets. It seems Westbrook has not figured this out yet. As great as he has been all season and as explosive here in the postseason (23.6 pts, 6.7 ast, 5.4 reb), the natural shoot first–pass second two guard, is better fit as a scorer for now.

Maynor clearly benefited from four years of college basketball, including three straight years in the March tournament. The twentieth pick in the 2008 draft, Maynor has a comfortability at the point guard position–something Westbrook, a one and done collegiate athlete is lacking.

In a closeout game against Denver in the first round, Westbrook shot 30 times to Durant’s 18 and the Thunder lost. Game four of a three overtime round two loss to the Grizzlies, Westbrook shot 33 times to Durant’s 20, and in a game six collapse, Westbrook took 22 to Durant’s 14.

The pattern is simple, get Durant the ball. Westbrook is better fit as the Robin to Durant’s Batman, but is aloof to this reality. It will be a interesting postseason for both OKC and Westbrook to see how their relationship either builds or begins to fragment.

And if fragmented, there is always Chris Paul (hmmmmm….).