06-15-2021, 04:28 PM
(06-15-2021, 03:23 PM)ClutchDirk Wrote: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=82qAFkZ6njY&feature=share
Highlights --
Question as to how this article got started, particularly since Bob has not been a highly visible figure with the Mavs. Tim started hearing about these issues months ago, both inside and outside the organization. He was hearing a lot of concern with so many competing interests involved in the front office, so much confusion about how they really operated, and a sense that the team seemed to be going in the wrong direction wrt Luka’s timeline. So he started digging, and the reporting led him in Bob's direction.
Comment that this type of mysterious character exists on most teams. Other team executives spend a certain amount of energy wrt to other teams trying to figure out who really has authority, whom they should really be talking to, etc. In some cases, like Bob's, a guy with a title that doesn't seem to imply authority will claim to have the owner's ear, and in this case, apparently actually did.
The piece adverted to the organization's possible re-evaluation of Rick. Cato clarified that no one is questioning whether or not Rick is a good basketball coach. Everyone agrees that he is. In fact, coaches of his quality are rare. It is more of a question as to how he is resonating with Luka.
With respect to Bob's getting into lineup issues, most analytics groups have input into such matters, but the coaches have control. Having said that, front-office "meddling" is not an uncommon occurrence, and it usually comes from the top. Sometimes, the front office has useful ideas, sometimes they're just a nuisance.
Rick is very good at reading the room, and discerning whose unsolicited opinions he needs to listen to. He knows he needs to care about what Luka thinks, because he is a generational superstar. He also knows that Bob has Mark's backing, and has been identified as a guy whose opinion Mark respects, so he at least seriously considers Bob's opinions, and probably actually agrees with most of them.
What was problematic about the Bob-Rick dynamic was not so much a clash between them as a perception by the players that the rigid rotations and decline in playing time for some was being determined by Bob, which was something they didn't understand. Players never want their roles assigned by someone who is not even on the coaching staff, and that perception, whether right or wrong, has created a locker-room problem.