Not so fast, New York

You will read from New York this morning that the Knicks plan on meeting with Jason Kidd on Wednesday morning to begin their sales pitch for luring the Mavericks' point guard to New York. That confirms the Knicks' interest that we detailed on Monday to our loyal readers. And the Knicks will be late in their flirting with Kidd. Word has it that Mark Cuban will be in New York at midnight tonight to start the process of conveying the Mavericks' interest in retaining the free agent. Cuban has never been shy about making recruiting pitches in person. He did so in Miami with Alonzo Mourning a few years back. This should be viewed as a sign of just how important retaining Kidd is. The Mavericks are making him their No. 1 priority - before Rasheed Wallace or Charlie Villanueva or Ben Gordon or anybody else. Without Kidd, the chance of recruiting any of those others is diminished. There's an old rule of thumb in free agency. You raid and plunder as best you can, while making sure you don't get raided and plundered. That's what the Mavericks are trying to do. --Eddie Sefko