The Athletic: Inside the Mavericks front office, Mark Cuban’s shadow GM…

[burekemde]

It is a term that describes a circle of Cuban, Carlisle and Donnie who are supposed to work closely together and are (were?) behind all important decisions.

Thanks O. I guess there is one more member of that Brain Trust now.

[omahen]

So as I read the first KP idea in this thread (was slightly busy yesterday so really hard to keep up with the pace of this thread and try to contribute), my mind went to…this is all a rouge to get pressure off of KP in the media. What better way to do that than a FO scandal?

Interesting way of thinking. I guess it is just too boring for us to accept that it might just be as Cato is saying and there is no agenda behind it  Caused a new run of thoughts in my head I am writing down. 

Thinking more about it, The Athletic made an extremely smart move to get maximum attention to Dallas troubles on a national level. First a piece focusing on (alleged) problem with Voulgaris that got everyone talking. Than a series of podcasts where the focus went from Voulgaris to - "Cuban, this is just no good enough. We are not accepting a usual excuse line if yet another failure follows. You are a failure if you not deliver". If he would start just with the second part, no one would really listen, usual whining. This way a big pressure was put on Cuban. Of course there is still plenty of time till trade season and free agency and people tend to forget quickly this days. 

I am wondering how this will affect perhaps crucial offseason. The "crucial" part of it has been blown up to epic proportion and I guess every team/player will blackmail Dallas as they know/think how desperate Dallas is. On the other hand players, especially win now guys, might look at Dallas and think to themselves - "this is not a serious franchise, I am not winning here". Especially if nothing changes. So another level of pressure for Cuban to show he is serious. Signing a guy like Ujiri would be a huge message to everyone, Dallas is serious. Of course guys like that don't come if they are not given free reign, which would require a lot from Cuban.

Cuban bought himself a great "toy" 20 years ago. If I would be him I would be "playing with my toy" *. "Screw you all, it costed me a lot and I will play my real life fantasy GM game and I couldn't care less what you think about me and how I do it." But if one cares about what others think about him, he could be in some dilemmas now. However, if one is convinced he is the smartest guy in the world, I guess you can write 1000 Cato pieces and it will change nothing for him. He is the smartest and there is always an excuse why failure was caused by some outside factor.

*By toy I mean the team, not some other toys men own and play with 

[ItsGoTime]

It is a term that describes a circle of Cuban, Carlisle and Donnie who are supposed to work closely together and are (were?) behind all important decisions.

It also started from a Fish article. Both MBT and triangle of trust are from our fish roots. I use FO purposely now-a-days.

[ItsGoTime]

Interesting way of thinking. I guess it is just too boring for us to accept that it might just be as Cato is saying and there is no agenda behind it  Caused a new run of thoughts in my head I am writing down. 

I don’t really believe it, but I wouldn’t put it past this group from a damage control point of view. Drawing negative attention away from players would be in their best interest. Also, Cato would probably be the unknowing/unsuspecting catalyst to this sort of thing. If he’s not, it was a deal to increase his exposure as a headline reporter!


Again, I don’t actually believe this is the case, but, I wouldn’t  be surprised if it was either. Not that we would ever really know though.

[DanSchwartzgan]

What I learned was Duffy is responsible for trading Seth for JRich.   

Note, the idea here was to bring JRich here one year before becoming a FA.  The interest isn't to gather a bunch of the agent's clients on one team.  But, to put the Agent's client in position to receive a good deal a year later because of the agent's leverage with that team.  I've brought up Chicago for JRich because the Bulls are another place where Duffy has influence given that they have Vucevic and Duffy on the roster.  The trick there is figuring out a deal that creates room for Chicago.

Most people know that Myles Turner, Beverley and Dragic are clients.  Out of those, only Dragic needs a contract any time soon.  Mo Harkless, Stanley Johnson and Dellavedova are also free this summer.  Avery Bradley has a $5.9mm PO which he should pick up.  Diallo is restricted as is Vanderbilt.  Vanderbilt started 30 games this year and is a plus defender and rebounder but doesn't shoot outside of 3 feet...not that we really need defense or rebounding .  

If you are looking for guys who will be getting paid a year from now, those include Aaron Holiday, Anfernee Simons, DaQuan Jeffries and Robert Williams of the Celtics.

[Mavs2021]

I don’t really believe it, but I wouldn’t put it past this group from a damage control point of view. Drawing negative attention away from players would be in their best interest. Also, Cato would probably be the unknowing/unsuspecting catalyst to this sort of thing. If he’s not, it was a deal to increase his exposure as a headline reporter!


Again, I don’t actually believe this is the case, but, I wouldn’t  be surprised if it was either. Not that we would ever really know though.

Yes no better way to attract FAs than making yourself look like a complete mess at the FO level. That´s what stars look for: no structure in the organization, the advanced metrics leader telling you and the head coach what to do on the court.

[ClutchDirk]

https://youtu.be/WkjiroTnPFg

[Mavs2021]

Note, the idea here was to bring JRich here one year before becoming a FA.  The interest isn't to gather a bunch of the agent's clients on one team.  But, to put the Agent's client in position to receive a good deal a year later because of the agent's leverage with that team.  I've brought up Chicago for JRich because the Bulls are another place where Duffy has influence given that they have Vucevic and Duffy on the roster.  The trick there is figuring out a deal that creates room for Chicago.

Most people know that Myles Turner, Beverley and Dragic are clients.  Out of those, only Dragic needs a contract any time soon.  Mo Harkless, Stanley Johnson and Dellavedova are also free this summer.  Avery Bradley has a $5.9mm PO which he should pick up.  Diallo is restricted as is Vanderbilt. 

Hmmmmmmm. Now that is an interesting one. I have brought him up before. Didn´t know he was with Duffy.

[ItsGoTime]

Yes no better way to attract FAs than making yourself look like a complete mess at the FO level. That´s what stars look for: no structure in the organization, the advanced metrics leader telling you and the head coach what to do on the court.

Part of why I don’t believe it is what is going on. However, with this group, do you put it past them to see that as an outcome and still go through with it? Esp MC?

[mavsluvr]

Wow, thank you guys for this thread!

Glad you could join us, meister!

[ItsGoTime]

https://youtu.be/WkjiroTnPFg

Is Donnie’s contract expiring or Bob’s? That is pretty much the only information I got out if this clip. Interesting information.

[ItsGoTime]

Just had a thought. Bob is a combining of the 2 Bobs in Office Space and this is a retaliatory piece from Donnie who just found out that someone stole his red swingline stapler after Bob “fixed the glitch”. MC might need the bomb squad’s phone # on speed dial!

[Mavs2021]

Part of why I don’t believe it is what is going on. However, with this group, do you put it past them to see that as an outcome and still go through with it? Esp MC?

True. I guess....

What could be the reaction of free agents be: Now I REALLY REALLY don´t sign there.

[michaeltex]

So imagine a team where you have:

A supernova star on the LBJ, MJ, Bird level
A "unicorn" who's skills don't match his size
A streaky shooter who's not much on defense
A handful of so-so 3-D guys
A couple of bench bigs that are situational
A bunch of rookies nobody know what to do with

Further, imagine that you got the first three (because KP+THJ were a package) by mortgaging every asset you could get your hands on which resulted in only being able to get everything below those two.

So, now you have the challenge of increasing your success levels with not much in the way of resources. One path is to uncover hidden advantages through statistical analysis, which may not work but is worth trying. Problem is you eventually run into matchups where either the opposing talent pool is too deep or their strengths wedge right into the weaknesses you are trying to hide.

So modern math can help find advanatages, but eventually talent is going to win games.

Maybe DAL overachieved this year? Probably attributable to Luka's transformation into a basketball demi-god? But the team needs a talent infusion to take the next step and the statistical personnel decisions haven't been effective the last two seasons. So maybe it's time to get some experience back in the room.

[Hypermav]

If Rich Paul or the NBA is behind any of this, I will...well, actually I can't do anything.

[ItsGoTime]

When you get caught between the moon and Luka Doncic

The best that you can do

The best that you can do

Is fall in love

[Mavs2021]

So imagine a team where you have:

A supernova star on the LBJ, MJ, Bird level
A "unicorn" who's skills don't match his size
A streaky shooter who's not much on defense
A handful of so-so 3-D guys
A couple of bench bigs that are situational
A bunch of rookies nobody know what to do with

Further, imagine that you got the first three (because KP+THJ were a package) by mortgaging every asset you could get your hands on which resulted in only being able to get everything below those two.

So, now you have the challenge of increasing your success levels with not much in the way of resources. One path is to uncover hidden advantages through statistical analysis, which may not work but is worth trying. Problem is you eventually run into matchups where either the opposing talent pool is too deep or their strengths wedge right into the weaknesses you are trying to hide.

So modern math can help find advanatages, but eventually talent is going to win games.

Maybe DAL overachieved this year? Probably attributable to Luka's transformation into a basketball demi-god? But the team needs a talent infusion to take the next step and the statistical personnel decisions haven't been effective the last two seasons. So maybe it's time to get some experience back in the room.

It´s not nearly as dramatic as people make it out to be, cause most of the asset transfer will be behind us in two months.

We have already established some capspace + talent trades for Porzingis like

Bridges (Monk) + Carey Jr. + X
Turner + Lamb
Harris + Bamba + X
Hield + Bagley III

that can free up maximum capspace next summer.

We can S&T THJ to a contender for a small asset.

Richardson + WCS + Brunson expire next summer. DFS has only a $7.6M caphold. Kleber has a fully non-guaranteed final year and is a trade asset. Powell + Burke enter the last year of their contracts next summer.

We can easily come away with...

Doncic
Lamb
DFS
Markkanen
Turner

....as a starting five for next year and maintain max capspace for 2022. I hardly find that dramatic.

Of course we can also make decisions that mess everything up for the next three years, but we are not at that stage yet.

Let´s just not make excuses for the MBT already.

[ClutchDirk]

When you get caught between the moon and Luka Doncic

The best that you can do

The best that you can do

Is fall in love

I love the Luka's Theme song...

[fifteenth]

15th - Thanks a lot for explanation for what the letters stand for. Could I ask what this MBT is, in Mavericks team and organisation, and why is there such a term? I see it often written here on forum, but have no clue what it is.

Sorry for the delayed response. Someone may have already answered this. For years "MBT" has been used here to refere to Mark, Donnie and Rick. We used to consider Dirk to be part it back in the day. You could lump folks like Michael Finley and Keigh Grant (is he still there?) into the mix. It's just the term we started using to refer to the Mavs decesion makers.

[ItsGoTime]

I love the Luka's Theme song...

I'm just glad someone knows Christopher Cross other than me!

I actually currently have "Sailing" as my ringtone. Love that song!