UPDATE
Windhorst, MacMahon and Tim Bontemps elaborate on the original story in Windy's pod --
Why did McMahon use incidents before Luka was even drafted to prove his case against Rick?
They indicate that Rick had a long history of being abrasive, demanding, and mistreating people.
For example, Dennis Smith. Luka was not upset that Smith was traded. He has not so far tried to throw his weight around on personnel matters, and by the time DSJ was traded, everyone thought he needed to go. Carlisle was right in his assessment of DSJ, but he didn't have to treat DSJ so poorly, and the fact that he did soured Luka on Carlisle.
The point isn't so much the merits of the Carlisle-DSJ situation, it's that the Carlisle-Luka relationship was "cracked," trust was broken, and respect was lost in the first few weeks that Luka was here.
Is it possible that Luka just has a problem with authority of any sort, not just Carlisle?
That wouldn't be an uncommon issue with stars coming into the NBA, but thinks Carlisle broke the mold in terms of being hard to get along with. Besides, Luka didn't necessarily have a problem with how Carlisle treated
him -- it was more how he treated other people.
Luka is a very young guy. He still has some growing up to do. Yes, Luka was partly at fault in the Rick-Luka relationship, but Rick started it, Rick was the adult in the room, and it was Rick's control-freak, abrasive, rude nature that was the main problem.
Is the fracture of that relationship indicative of organization-wide problems?
There is no question that the Mavs had one of the worst cultures in the league over the last ten years. TM refers to it as a Game of Thrones type atmosphere, with everyone trying to stab someone else in the back.
They are trying for a cultural reset. Nico and Kidd as a coach didn't have anything to do with the prior culture. But this would be a tough job for the most experienced of GMs and coaches. Nico has never done this before, and things haven't gone great for Kidd so far.
There is one constant in the situation -- Cuban. Nico is respected by people around the league, and is a very good communicator/connector. Kidd is prioritizing communication to the point of being a punchline, perhaps prioritizing psychology over on-court strategy, but at least he's trying. The Luka-KP relationship has been a little better this season, but the on-court product has not improved. In the final analysis, it's Cuban's job to clean stuff like this up.
Is the decline in team performance Luka's fault?
Luka came in out of shape and is still bickering with referees. He is also defending very poorly. Luka doesn't need to become a stopper, but he can't perform
this badly on the defensive end.
Windy -- Is Luka really all that, anyway? Isn't he about the same player he was in his rookie year?
TMac -- Seriously? The guy has the talent to be one of the all-time greats. In fairness, he can probably have a multi-All-Star career playing his way into shape every year. But he won't be an all-time great that way. The roster around Luka is pretty bad, but Luka doesn't get a pass for their mediocre performance. He bears some of the responsibility.
Do the Mavs appear to be on the way to getting back on track?
They wanted a cultural reset. They're getting it. But in terms of basketball performance, it's not at all clear that they're going in the right direction.
How frustrating is this for MFFLs?
Windy --
It must be so depressing to be a Mavs fan.
TMac -- It's an unhappy story. No one involved wanted me to write it.
Bontemps -- The Mavs have Luka Doncic. They almost beat the Clippers in both of the last two first rounds. Cry me a river.
https://www.espn.com/radio/play/_/id/32887844