2020-2021 Dallas Mavericks Will Miss The Playoffs

[KillerLeft]

So, if you take out all the other variables of this year, which other teams are all facing to a large extent as well, then the spectrum of the debate is this:


BAD TALENT, GOOD COACHING <---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> GOOD TALENT, BAD COACHING


I think people on this board vacillate (sometimes wildly and often irrationally) on this spectrum, trying to put their finger on whatever is happening. Folks will call for Donnie to be fired for incompetence at assembling talent, or RC to be fired for incompetence at getting the talent to play together.



@"KillerLeft" it seems like you might be about here:

BAD TALENT, GOOD COACHING <---------------X----------------------------------------------------------------------------> GOOD TALENT, BAD COACHING



I am probably here:

BAD TALENT, GOOD COACHING <-----------------------------------------------------------------------X---------------------> GOOD TALENT, BAD COACHING


I basically think Luka is so good that there is no way this should be an under 0.500 team. I think the players around Luka also aren't total scrubs. So I think more of the blame is on coaching rather than talent. It is important to note that I put chemistry issues squarely in the coaching column (which I know isn't always the coaches fault, but I still think that is generally where it should fall). I think a huge part of the task of NBA coaching is developing a chemistry like Quinn Snyder has developed in UTA, getting players to 1) buy in to the schemes/gameplan, 2) work together, and 3) give consistent effort.

Great post. 

I'm not sure where I am on that line, tbh. Like you, I don't subscribe to the idea that the role players here are total scrubs, but I definitely give the coaching a lot of credit for developing them and building a system that fits their talents. I suppose that would put me pretty close to the dead center. 

I'm simply suggesting that what made the team successful last season MIGHT have had a lot to do with the Mavs' coaching staff doing more with their practice time than other teams. Some credit for that, if true, would belong to the players, too, btw. They're the ones accepting the coaching and working hard. 

Especially for YOUNG teams, I think it's possible that coaching and the consistency of reinforcing things on a daily basis matters quite a bit. Guys like Durrant, James, Harden, etc, might even be BETTER off with less practice at their age, in some ways.

As someone involved with teaching young, world class performers as a career, I can tell you that once you find something that works, you build a method around it. It becomes part of the foundation of what you do to get results. I can totally see how the combination of an OLD coach, used to doing what works for him,  a YOUNG team and the moved goal posts of a pandemic season might be a troubling mix. I think we're seeing that now. 

I agree that the chemistry issues fall on the coaching staff and GM at the end of the day. I don't think it's even possible that the coaches CAUSED them, but the front office (coaches included) had damn well better be proactive about solving them, if in fact that's what's going on. 

There are so many things going on right now that it's tough to put your finger on just what THE problem might be. And, maybe there isn't just one major problem. 

I am definitely on board with the idea that Carlisle needs to be integral in pulling them out of this, as are Luka, KP (lol) and Nelson. Should the season keep traveling down this disappointing path, I'm certainly aware of who is most likely to fall scapegoat at the end of it.