Mavs swap draft picks for Blazers' Fernandez

DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks executed what general manager Donnie Nelson called their "A scenario" by swapping both of their picks in Thursday's NBA draft to Portland for rotation-level player Rudy Fernandez and Finnish point guard Petteri Kopenen.

"thanks all blazers fans for ur support this 3 years!!" Fernandez tweeted. "So happy to be in the best team in the nba!!!dallas!!!"

The trade, which means the Mavericks gave up the Nos. 26 and 57 picks in the draft, provides Dallas with "a chance to have our cake and eat it, too," Nelson said.

Nelson was referring specifically to the acquisition of Fernandez, the 6-foot-6 Spanish shooting guard who is 26 but has three years of NBA experience.

The deal is actually a three-team swap that also involves Denver giving up Raymond Felton to get Portland's Andre Miller. Technically, the Mavs gave the picks to Denver to move to Portland.

The first-round draftee Dallas moved in the swap is Jordan Hamilton of Texas.

At No. 57, the Mavericks selected forward Tanguy Ngombo of Qatar for Portland. The pickup in exchange for that pick is the 6-4 Koponen, who was selected by Portland in the 2007 draft and has starred in Italy while waiting his big league turn.

Fernandez has shown terrific athleticism at points in his career. He has averaged 9.1 points per game in his career and was labeled by Nelson as a "potential" starter.

That seems unlikely given Dallas' wish to retain free agent Caron Butler and the return to health of premium prospect Roddy Beaubois, both of whom can play shooting guard. Fernandez' acquisition would seem to serve as insurance should the Mavs lose DeShawn Stevenson and Peja Stojakovic (and maybe J.J. Barea) from their NBA title roster.

"The balance," said Nelson, is that the Mavs pass on a draftee who "is a young one versus one that's been around the league for a few years and can help us win right away.

Fernandez has experienced some dubious moments in Portland, more than once publicly announcing his desire to break his contract. (He has one guaranteed year left on his deal at $2.18 million and then a $3.2 million qualifying-offer deal for 2012).

The move positions Dallas even more as a team with a mind-set of repeating as NBA champion.

"We're in a championship-push mode," Nelson said, just weeks after using "championship-push mode" to win one.