Mavs Midnight Madness: Artest Or 'Sheed?

   ‘Tis the season to overrate, covet and gossip about everybody.

   I’ve got lunch with Avery Johnson, dinner with Adrian Peterson and late-night snacks with a million rumors from NBA Shopping Night – Midnight Madness! -- topped by a pesky suspicion that Rasheed Wallace has a crush on the Mavs – but that if the Mavs are going to fly over the Cuckoo’s Nest, they might as well chase Ron Artest. …

   *So, does Ron Artest go on the market now? Is a Rockets team without Yao Ming going to commit to Ron-Ron for $40 mil to be the best player on a middling contender? Or do they instead decide to have a Yen for ’10? The Artest story is right up there with the Kidd story as a sort of “first domino’’ for this shopping period.

   You will recall DallasBasketball.com reporting a year ago that the Mavs made what they thought was a legit bid on Artest … and that they were crushed when he instead went to Houston.

   A year has past. Artest mostly played nice in Houston. Rick Carlisle can deal with him. He’s a difference-maker … and unlike the similarly nutty ‘Sheed, he makes mistakes while playing hard through them.

   If Houston is a seller here – whether it’s Sign-and-Trade or simply the MLE – Dallas should be a buyer.

   *Word from the Magic regarding center Marcin Gortat: If anybody offers him in excess of an MLE-type deal, Orlando will be out of the bidding.

    “Klaatu Barada Nikto!’’

   *ESPN.com’s Chad Ford has different sources than I do. Better sources, I’m sure. But when Chad says the Mavs like Charlie Villanueva … well, Chad Ford has different sources than I do.

    Charlie V – a soft, offensive-minded 4 who can’t guard anybody – simply doesn’t fill a Dallas need.

   *Amare is a troublemaker. He’s apparently whispering that he doesn’t want the deal with Golden State to go through.
   *JR Smith will serve a month in jail. Good thing he didn’t kill a dog.

   *Newspapers that keep writing, “Our team should go get Bosh’’ … simply do not understand stuff.

   *Before Detroit or Minny go too far in their coaching search, they really ought to at least touch base with Del Harris. He’s guided veteran teams to championship contention and he’s helped baby teams to 50-win seasons. He’s gone from Frisco right now, vacationing with his sweetheart on the East Coast. Call him.

    *Charlotte’s Larry Brown might be the only guy willing to flirt with Allen Iverson, sez the gossip.

    *”Nuclear Winter’’? Exhibits A and B are Boozer and Okur, both deciding to stay in the bad city of Utah.

   *Somebody just wrote that Jason Kidd won’t sign with Dallas until he sees who else the Mavs sign. Um, sorry, bub. But it’s the other way around: People aren’t going to sign with Dallas until they see that the Mavs sign Kidd.

    *The 75-Member Staff had a burrito at Primo's tonight with Adrian Peterson. I know. ... lunch with Avery Johnson. ... dinner with Adrian Peterson. ... we are getting hungry for breakfast but we probably won't eat unless we can do it with a sports celeb.

    Spud Webb, meet me at IHOP!