Game 62: Sacramento Kings (31-28) vs. Dallas Mavericks (32-29)

[OBX Maverick]

irony is Klay, whom we thought the oldest and most prone in our starting five at the beginning of season, is the only one now that stands. (not counting luka of course)

Yeah, i was thinking the exact same thing….

I guess we’ll find out soon whether we need to put up the white flag for Flagg.  

And the night started out with a glimmer of hope as Kai Jones came to play.  

Too bad that Mavs fans can’t have anything nice…..

[nicholasthefan]

-32 in plus minus. Tank commanding like a true veteran! The spirit of Wes Matthews lives!

I forgot about Wes Matthews. God. It's like we were destined to be back in complete mediocrity. 

Last year was so much fun. I will just try and hold onto that and the WCF trip.

[nicholasthefan]

Yeah, i was thinking the exact same thing….

I guess we’ll find out soon whether we need to put up the white flag for Flagg.  

And the night started out with a glimmer of hope as Kai Jones came to play.  

Too bad that Mavs fans can’t have anything nice…..

Yes, we need to lose every game from here on out. Shouldn't be too hard.

[LukaMVP]

lose all the games remaining and we may still get out competed by those full time tankers. we have already won too many games to get the best lottery odds.

[mvossman]

I know not all of these injuries are due to the training staff, but not a good look when you fire one of the most respected trainers in the NBA (Casey Smith) and then set records on injuries.

[Smitty]

We only have 9 healthy players at the moment and Exum looked like he was playing through a sore Achilles still. Must have a minimum of 8 players active for a game. Getting interesting..

[DanSchwartzgan]

We only have 9 healthy players at the moment and Exum looked like he was playing through a sore Achilles still. Must have a minimum of 8 players active for a game. Getting interesting..

Edwards runs out of games in (I believe) nine games.  If they don’t get someone back healthy and he hits his 50th active game, we might have to replace him just to keep the required number of available players.

[Smitty]

Edwards runs out of games in (I believe) nine games.  If they don’t get someone back healthy and he hits his 50th active game, we might have to replace him just to keep the required number of available players.

I think Kai Jones can only play in 11 more as well.

[Knutsen]

Our highest scoring starter had 7 points - Kyrie in his 9 minutes. Could this be an NBA record?
I‘m just searching for special achievements in a special season…

[audiosway]

Edwards runs out of games in (I believe) nine games.  If they don’t get someone back healthy and he hits his 50th active game, we might have to replace him just to keep the required number of available players.

Yeah. It's getting pretty ridiculous at this point. This has been a horrible season, as if the Boston beat down in the finals wasn't enough.

[audiosway]

I know not all of these injuries are due to the training staff, but not a good look when you fire one of the most respected trainers in the NBA (Casey Smith) and then set records on injuries.

That was the dumbest thing. I mentioned that a couple of weeks ago. Of all of the stupid things to do...firing Casey Smith was in the top 3 of things that led to the downfall this year.

[OBX Maverick]

I know not all of these injuries are due to the training staff, but not a good look when you fire one of the most respected trainers in the NBA (Casey Smith) and then set records on injuries.

Definitely not a good look, but i doubt it has anything to do with what’s taking place this season.

On that subject, however…..has there ever been any more info on why Dallas moved on from Smith? The Mavs kept it quiet, whatever went down.

[omahen]

Definitely not a good look, but i doubt it has anything to do with what’s taking place this season.

On that subject, however…..has there ever been any more info on why Dallas moved on from Smith? The Mavs kept it quiet, whatever went down.

Of course it all could be just a series of unfortunate events, but Mavs have been already one of most injured teams last seasons, which was even surpassed this season.

Casey Smith case was covered by both Cato and Stein last season. I didn't pay too much attention, because naturally I am not that familiar with inner workings of the organisation. But looking at it now, it is obvious there was a reason they were reporting it which is likely known to inner circles of the league. It all started by his reduced role (removed from team) beginning of last season, which ended by him leaving to NY at the end of last season.

I am no longer The Athletic subscriber, but the article below probably has more details. 

Dallas Mavericks’ athletic trainer Casey Smith won’t continue in longtime role: Sources - The Athletic

Aggregated source with a brief summary of the case (no details):
Mavs: Dallas makes intriguing coaching decision that will surprise Luka Doncic

MacMahon was also on this, throwing some foggy comments not everything was ok with this
https://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/...ith/621764
https://www.reddit.com/r/Mavericks/comme..._with_the/

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Definitely not a good look, but i doubt it has anything to do with what’s taking place this season.

On that subject, however…..has there ever been any more info on why Dallas moved on from Smith? The Mavs kept it quiet, whatever went down.

I was wondering the same thing. I always thought he was one of the best athletic trainers in the league as far as a very low injury rate for players on the team. Did he have some sort of disagreement with ownership? They've been very good keeping whatever happened internally.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Thanks for the link Omahen. I need to delete the above post, but it won't allow me.

[OBX Maverick]

Of course it all could be just a series of unfortunate events, but Mavs have been already one of most injured teams last seasons, which was even surpassed this season.

Casey Smith case was covered by both Cato and Stein last season. I didn't pay too much attention, because naturally I am not that familiar with inner workings of the organisation. But looking at it now, it is obvious there was a reason they were reporting it which is likely known to inner circles of the league. It all started by his reduced role (removed from team) beginning of last season, which ended by him leaving to NY at the end of last season.

I am no longer The Athletic subscriber, but the article below probably has more details. 

Dallas Mavericks’ athletic trainer Casey Smith won’t continue in longtime role: Sources - The Athletic

Aggregated source with a brief summary of the case (no details):
Mavs: Dallas makes intriguing coaching decision that will surprise Luka Doncic

MacMahon was also on this, throwing some foggy comments not everything was ok with this
https://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/...ith/621764
https://www.reddit.com/r/Mavericks/comme..._with_the/

Thanks for sharing, i had forgotten about that Athletic piece.  If it’s the season for throwing daggers at Nico, he could be blamed for Smith’s departure as well lol.  Per the article, Nico felt that CS was too intertwined in organizational things not related to player health and in general was trying to create a more traditional front office structure as opposed to what had been going on under Donnie. 

There is still no indication if something happened or if there was a falling out of sorts.  CS may have simply decided he didn’t want to be in Dallas anymore after the organizational changes…who knows…

[BolsDamols]

Karma hits hard. and fast!

[mvossman]

Definitely not a good look, but i doubt it has anything to do with what’s taking place this season.

On that subject, however…..has there ever been any more info on why Dallas moved on from Smith? The Mavs kept it quiet, whatever went down.

Are you sure?  We brought AD back earlier than LA was planning on, and we were going to play him 38 minutes on his first game back (per Kidd).  I don't think there is any chance Casey lets that happen.  

There was an article that mentioned Nico got rid of Casey and the strength coach (and somebody else).  It was implied that he got rid of them because of their strong ties to Luka.

[cow]

Karma hits hard. and fast!

Too bad the players and fans are on the receiving end of said karma and not leadership.