What’s that? Trade Deadline’s past? March Malaise is setting in? Playoffs are on the horizon? Must be time for me start mailing in quick thoughts instead of fully developed ideas! Come on everybody! Everyone on board the bullets train! Whee! Next time I’m going to name it “Things I Think I Think!” Get it?!

• So Z’s bought “out” of DC. Can you be bought out of somewhere you never went to? I mean, he never left his house. That’s like saying I checked out of the grocery store because I looked at the pants I would wear if I were to go to the store, which of course I’m not going to. Anyway, I do have a cooky conspiracy theory to share with you (shocking, I know). I really feel like the whole “we’re not going to play you on the night you’re supposed to break the record, even though your family and friends are all here and it’s a really big deal to you” thing is getting underplayed. You’re telling me Z has zero feelings about a franchise burning him like that in front of his family and friends, then trading him to Washington for an upgrade, and then wanting him back? Here’s another thing. I asked Kurt if I was right in my opinion that Mike Brown runs essentially the most basic offensive sets on the planet. He agreed.  So you have Z, who’s been spurned by his home team, the team he’s bled for, on multiple occasions. Then you have other teams, who are willing to pay more money for him. And he can provide info like “when they run this place, Delonte will be in that corner. Yes, right there. Trust me.” Does this not have some Counte of Monte Cristo shiz going on?!
• Haha, just kidding, Z will be back in Cleveland in a month.
• Why ISN’T Shelden Williams playing?
• Jason Kidd, Caron Butler, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki, Brendan Haywood. Are you serious? With Terry, Beaubois, and Dampier off the bench? Are you serious? Why is this not a bigger deal? The Mavericks have to be the most under-the-radar made-the-playoffs-every-year-for-a-decade, loaded-with-All-Stars, holy-crap-they-match-up-with-anyone, division-leading team in the league. The fact that they won that game tonight without Butler is phenomenal to me. Butler is exactly the kind of guy you want to guard Bryant. He’s not going to shut him down, no one can. But it would allow Marion to guard Odom, Dirk to guard Pau, and so on. On Twitter, someone commented that Odom would kill Marion with the length, but I’m not entirely convinced of that given Odom’s um, problems with maintaining focus (though he’s been much better this year). But they won anyway! Kobe missed two dagger threes down the stretch and Nowitzki is having such a brilliant season that no one is noticing. Kidd’s also so good at running against LA. He pushes the ball to probe for a weakness in transition, but instead of forcing it into three talented transition defenders, he just backs it out and calmly sets the offense. They’ve got something considerable there. The Western Conference playoffs are going to brutal, and good. Even if LA still comes out on top, the field looks much tougher than it did at the start of the season.
• Anybody else notice Al Thornton is trying to do more than just shoot in Washington? No? Just me then? Okay.
• If you wanted to know what it was like watching O.J. Mayo play brilliantly for 45 minutes and then miss two clinching free throws and then the game winner, with Kobe nailing a three to win in-between, here’s the only comparison I could make, as I told Harper. I was fine after the game. A little shaken, but grabbed Paroxi-Wife and settled in to be thoroughly confused by LOST for the zillionth time. I went to the kitchen to fix a snack, and the thought just crossed my mind, the free throws, and I just doubled over. It wasn’t like a punch to the gut. It was like something devouring me from within. Later I got into bed, sat down to take off my reading glasses, paused, and then just facepalmed. Paroxi-Wife was concerned I was thinking about some sort of deep sadness. Then I just turned and said “OJAM missed.” So there you go, there’s some schadenfreude for you.
• By the way, the March Malaise is a very real thing. NBA Bloggers LOATHE the next month. You can’t start playoff previews because you have no idea what the seedings will look like. The games start to matter, but not like they do in April. The mediocre teams that were doing pretty well start to tail off as their opponents figure things out and the young guys get tired. Injuries take their toll. The luster of new rotations wear off. It’s horrendous. There will be about seven great, great games in the month of March and the rest is a damn death march. Pre-deadline, there’s the constant “Is this working? Should they trade?” lines. But now, you’re stuck. You are who you are. And for a lot of teams, that doesn’t amount to very much. It’s the death of hope.
• Everyone needs to chill out with all this “This preposterous trade sutff has to go!” in regards to Z. Every major team has or would do something like this. It harms no one. Everyone wins in this situation except Cleveland’s competitors. And that’s not a reason to say it’s not fair.

In related news, I’ve decided to rank the top five fanbases based on their own loathing of a starter.

1. Chicago Bulls- Taj Gibson

2. Atlanta Hawks- Joe Johnson

3. Indiana Pacers- Troy Murphy

4. San Antonio Spurs- Richard Jefferson

5. Memphis Grizzlies- Mike Conley (this is mostly just me. What makes it more impressive is the small size of the fanbase in relation to my unending disgust that Mike Conley is paid to play professional basketball.)