DALLAS, Texas — Hitting the reset button isn’t always warranted, but when a team has the talent like the Mavericks have on their roster, first round exits aren’t the right ingredients to keep fans and players for that matter satisfied.
Rick Carlisle coached the Mavericks for 13 seasons and captured the franchises first ever NBA championship in 2011, but since then the teams he coached have been inconsistent and unbalanced with early exits in consecutive years. The writing was on the wall and like owner Mark Cuban said “it was just time for a new voice”.
The Mavericks haven’t experienced a personnel overhaul in sometime and the last time they did so the baton was passed from Don Nelson who was the head coach and general manager, to his son Donnie Nelson and the Mavericks only cycled through two head coaches in that time period first hiring Avery Johnson who helped the Mavericks reach the finals in 2006 and eventually gave the keys to the castle to Rick Carlisle and his coaching helped elevate the team because of his experience.
It’s true, sometimes a new voice is needed to accomplish new things. When the Mavericks won the NBA championship back in 2011, the NBA was not the same NBA we are witnessing today, so it makes sense that the Mavericks hired a coach that understands the shift that has taken place over the past decade in the league and it also helps that the new coach is a former player that was drafted by the franchise and reach the highest of heights during his time with the organization.
Jason Kidd underwhelmed in his first two head coaching stints, first with the Brooklyn Nets and second with the Milwaukee Bucks, but there should be more context added to why he struggled in Brooklyn and Milwaukee. There aren’t many head coaches that were former players that have had breakout seasons in their first head coaching jobs.
Yes, Steve Kerr is an aboration and like we saw in Brooklyn this year with Steve Nash, talent can’t save you and alleviate coaching responsibilities. In his lone season as head coach of the Nets, Kidd and his team compiled a record of 44-38 and reached the conference semifinals before ultimately losing the series to the Miami Heat 4-1.
Keep in mind the Nets just relocated from New Jersey to Brooklyn when they hired Jason Kidd as head coach and the roster may have seemed talented because of the number of marquee players they had under contract like Deron Williams and Kevin Garnett, but it was clear those players were on the back nine of their careers respectively. The following year the Bucks retained Kidd’s rights as head coach in exchange for two second round picks.
In Milwaukee, Kidd had the opportunity to coach another budding superstar in Giannis Antetokounmpo and helped nurture Giannis into the superstar he is today. His assistance in developing Giannis is what made him an intriguing hire for the Mavericks amongst many other reasons because of the leaps he took from the time Kidd arrived in Milwaukee and departed, it’s hard to deny that Kidd’s presence played a role in his overall development. During his time with the Bucks Kidd reached the playoffs twice, losing in the first round in both appearances and missed the playoffs once.
Former baller and new Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison made his bones a different way and took an unorthodox route. Harrison became a NBA Nike representative in 2002 and began his career as a Southwest US marketing rep and then eventually became the marketing liaison for Kobe Bryant in his second year with the company. The Harrison hire stands out because of the relationships he has built with the new generation of NBA players and his influence.
That is a key component the Mavericks have lacked for some time now failing to reel in the big free agency fish. Dallas is the perfect place for a player looking for a new home and the benefits of playing and living in Dallas are mostly understated. No state income tax, big market persona, and player friendly ownership should be reasons why players should flock to Dallas, and Harrison will enlist his relationship skills to influence pending free agents.
This isn’t back to the drawing board in my honest opinion. The Mavericks aren’t blowing up their roster and they aren’t rebuilding. This is a retool year and currently the Mavericks have choices to make about their roster and what they can do to get the best out of a team that features Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis.
Early expectations shouldn’t be lofty and in a shortened offseason it will be interesting to see with the hires of Jason Kidd and Nico Harrison how influential their presence will be in building a contender not in the next two years but when the new season tips off in fall of this year.
