Give me the NHL, which throws open the free-agency doors and starts swinging.

Detroit's Marion Hossa? Boom, Chicago signs him for 12 years.

Vancouver defenseman Mattias Ohlund? Bang, put him in a Lightning sweater for seven seasons.

But I think the toe-dipping, test-the-waters nature of the NBA system won't be as bothersome to local fans as the results for a Mavericks team that appears to be headed away from elite status in the Western Conference.

We've got reports of owner Mark Cuban meeting with point guard Jason Kidd in New York City to keep him from becoming a Knick. We've got Mavs management meeting with forward James Singleton and the Grizzlies' Quinton Ross (SMU and Kimball alum) locally.

Great.

Let's say all of this goes swimmingly for the Mavericks . Let's say they sign all of the above. And we're talking about a management team that already has mentioned the re-signing of Kidd as Priority No. 1 this summer.

Is any, or even all, of this going to fall into the "good news" category for Mavericks fans?

I am going to make a wild guess, based on the e-mails and comments I get for having supported the Kidd trade 16 months ago, and say, "uh, no."

The Mavericks have had Kidd for two postseasons now and they have one playoff series victory to show for it. And you would be hard-pressed to look at the team they beat and say that on paper the Mavericks are better than the Spurs going into next season.

Not with Richard Jefferson, Manu Ginobili and perhaps rookie forward DeJuan Blair of Pitt playing key roles in Spurs uniforms.

Now I don't think that with Devin Harris here and the Kidd trade having never been made, the team would have any more playoff victories than it managed the last two springs.

But that part of the equation is over. The deal isn't going to be undone. Harris and lost draft picks aren't coming back to Dallas.

The real question is what the return of Kidd accomplishes.

For sure, it makes the Mavericks a better team. Watching J. J. Barea start at point might be more fun, but it wouldn't make Dallas a better team.

Still, bringing Kidd back into the fold for another run with some reshuffled bench players isn't going to move a lot of season tickets over at American Airlines Center.

Not in this economy or any other kind.

The Mavericks may have lots of loyal fans, but NBA fans also know that their league is the most difficult to win. There are no Tampa Bay Rays or Colorado Rockies that rise up from nowhere to compete in the Finals.

Dallas fans know that the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets are superior to the Mavericks . They know that the Spurs are rising back up, and the Portland Trail Blazers are getting better in a hurry.

If you're going to argue that the Mavs next season rank ahead of the New Orleans Hornets and Utah Jazz, you're going to have to supply some reasons.

Those reasons (other than New Orleans' financial issues, which aren't really going to energize the Mavericks fan base) are going to have to come from new players. From fresh stories.

Even though the Mavericks turned a late first-round pick into a later first and a couple of seconds last week, that's not meaningful for the coming season. If ever.

So it's up to GM Donnie Nelson and Cuban to rewrite the script here through free agency and trades this off-season.

The league doesn't allow anything to happen of an official nature on the first day of free agency.

My guess is that most Mavericks fans are going to conclude that nothing approaching real change happens all summer.