Mavs have a leadership problem | Cuban and Harlabob argue on Twitter

[cow]

1) The bottom line is that, if the Mavs or Mavs' fans don't appreciate Luka, warts and all, there are 29 other franchises who would salivate for the opportunity to take on all of those Luka problems. Not saying that Luka doesn't need to mature, grow, and improve at all, so don't strawman me, just saying, careful what you wish for, and what your attitude and perspective is.

While I think everyone here appreciates Luka, warts and all, if you want to wax poetic a little bit, what is the best comp to Luka in the league right now?  I'd argue it is James Harden.  James is a little bit more of a gunner and Luka is a little bit more of a giver.  They are both transcendent on one side of the floor and sieves on the other end.  Houston could never build a winner around Luka and their GM was a hell of lot more creative and capable than anyone who has collected a check for the Mavs.  The Nets don't really scare me either though KD is transcendent enough to make them a true contender.  I guess that's all to say, it's going to take a very special front office to build a team around Luka to make us contenders and you are going to need the right coach.  Both of our new hires are stumbling out of the blocks to say the least.

-THJ at 20m is a huge mistake (NAILED IT)
-Bullock is another 3D guy that can't hit threes or play D.  
-Kidd playing THJ, Brunson and Luka together in the crunch is ridiculous.  

I guess you could argue that the flipside to Harden is Curry.  The skillsets are much difference but they are both all offense, no defense players.  Golden State did a good job building a team around their generational talent and still has them as legitimate contenders through a bunch of ups and downs.  

How much confidence do you have in a Mark Cuban run organization to do that with Luka?  I'm somewhere between 0-1%.  They had a hard enough time with Dirk and as I've been saying a lot these days, the average level of competency from front offices is way higher these days and the MBT have entrenched themselves as one of the worst in the league. 

What does it all mean?  I have no idea.  It's a frustrating situation that I don't see getting any better.  Our first test is coming up shortly though.  This is a mediocre team and I think a big win for the front office would be to not make any panic trades that further sacrifice future flexibility.