Jason Kidd OUT! Who will be the Mavs' next HC?

[hakeemfaan]

I agree with that first sentence, and it makes we wonder about Michael Finley. We won't ever know what any of staying or leaving means in regards to him, but I do wonder if they see him differently for a reason. Did I read somewhere that Finley spoke against the trade? I can't remember.

I read some report after Nico was gone how Fin was against it. I can understand some lower level employee staying quiet. Fin was a Mav and a fan favorite. He should have spoken out openly against such a ludicrous trade, consequences be damned. 

If he was afraid that he wouldn’t get a future FO job due to being a snitch, he also should have been smart enough to know that sitting quiet on the worst trade ever in the history of the NBA could have consequences when it came to future front office jobs. All these guys bet on Nico being here for years than call him out for his arrogance.

[Winter]

I read some report after Nico was gone how Fin was against it. I can understand some lower level employee staying quiet. Fin was a Mav and a fan favorite. He should have spoken out openly against such a ludicrous trade, consequences be damned. 

If he was afraid that he wouldn’t get a future FO job due to being a snitch, he also should have been smart enough to know that sitting quiet on the worst trade ever in the history of the NBA could have consequences when it came to future front office jobs. All these guys bet on Nico being here for years than call him out for his arrogance.

Just listened to a Stein podcast where he said he would not be surprised if Finley stayed on, so I'm not sure what anyone is really thinking here. Maybe Masai isn't weighing the Luca thing too heavily - or sees Finley as a net positive to the culture. Stein did say a lot of people are getting phones calls today, and there's some really serious house cleaning going on. A couple of coaches like Phil Handy may be asked to stay, but this a pretty wide net.

[Knutsen]

Eh.  Jerry has a much better knowledge foundation of the sport he is in and does learn some even if he can be very stubborn in some areas.  Can't believe I'm defending Jerry, but I'd take him every day of the week and twice on Sunday over Dumont or Cuban.

Defending Jerry is wild, so congrats for that! 

Honestly the actual sports expertise as an owner wasn’t my point - my point is the narcissism to think that you can outsmart and outmaneuver absolute experts and geniuses in their discipline as an owner or top decider who comes from another business. 

Cuban couldn’t do that, Harrison couldn’t do that, Dumont wouldn’t be able to do that - and understood it fast - and Jerry also wasn’t able to that in the last decades.

[mvossman]

Defending Jerry is wild, so congrats for that! 

Honestly the actual sports expertise as an owner wasn’t my point - my point is the narcissism to think that you can outsmart and outmaneuver absolute experts and geniuses in their discipline as an owner or top decider who comes from another business. 

Cuban couldn’t do that, Harrison couldn’t do that, Dumont wouldn’t be able to do that - and understood it fast - and Jerry also wasn’t able to that in the last decades.

Jerry wasn't ever able to do it.  It was Jimmy who built that roster.  There is a reason they have gone nowhere since.  Jimmy was a good coach, but a better GM.  To Jerry credit, he has somehow turned a franchise that has not won anything in 30 years into the most valuable on the planet.  But the football success has always been inversely proportional to Jerry's involvement.

[cow]

Jerry wasn't ever able to do it.  It was Jimmy who built that roster.  There is a reason they have gone nowhere since.  Jimmy was a good coach, but a better GM.  To Jerry credit, he has somehow turned a franchise that has not won anything in 30 years into the most valuable on the planet.  But the football success has always been inversely proportional to Jerry's involvement.

I love Jimmy to death and while I think he deserves a ton of credit, I do tend to believe people oversell his influence as a way to diminish Jerry's role.  Jerry is easy enough to dunk on without doing that.  And as good as Jimmy was, his ways wouldn't work today and were diminished greatly with the advent of free agency in '93.  In a perfect world, I'd rather have a different owner/GM and for that to be two different roles, but where Dumont was asleep at the wheel, Jerry has the opposite problem of being two involved and between those two, give me Jerry.  Jerry wants to win, but he also wants to do it his way.  And as bad as Jerry often is, I do think it's going to get much worse when Stephen finally takes over who has the media presence of Jason Kidd.  This isn't a could be worse situation, it's a will be worse situation.

Now that I've defended Jerry twice in the last few days, I'm going to go take another shower.

[mvossman]

I love Jimmy to death and while I think he deserves a ton of credit, I do tend to believe people oversell his influence as a way to diminish Jerry's role.  Jerry is easy enough to dunk on without doing that.  And as good as Jimmy was, his ways wouldn't work today and were diminished greatly with the advent of free agency in '93.  In a perfect world, I'd rather have a different owner/GM and for that to be two different roles, but where Dumont was asleep at the wheel, Jerry has the opposite problem of being two involved and between those two, give me Jerry.  Jerry wants to win, but he also wants to do it his way.  And as bad as Jerry often is, I do think it's going to get much worse when Stephen finally takes over who has the media presence of Jason Kidd.  This isn't a could be worse situation, it's a will be worse situation.

Now that I've defended Jerry twice in the last few days, I'm going to go take another shower.

Based on all of the evidence, I am fairly confident Jimmy is the one that orchestrated the Hershal Walker trade, including cutting the players traded to get the draft picks.  He had a tight control over that roster (including cutting a guy in the middle of a game).

[cow]

Based on all of the evidence, I am fairly confident Jimmy is the one that orchestrated the Hershal Walker trade, including cutting the players traded to get the draft picks.  He had a tight control over that roster (including cutting a guy in the middle of a game).

And who hired Jimmy?  The question of who deserves the credit is what created the rift in the first place as both Jimmy and Jerry had massive egos which is understandable.  While I'd argue Jimmy deserves more credit, it's not a zero sum game. And neither could replicate the success they both created in Dallas (Jimmy with the Dolphins and Jerry with the post-Superbowl XXX Cowboys). How the league and roster building largely passed them both by which we are constantly reminded of with how Jerry and crew fail to get ahead of contract extensions.

[Smitty]

@Ary_Report
I do not know whether the Mavericks are considering Spurs lead assistant Sean Sweeney — formerly on Dallas’ staff — as a candidate following Kidd's ousting, as reports link him to the job. But it is worth noting that Sweeney and Masai Ujiri share the same agent: Andy Miller.

[Smitty]

The Mavericks' decision to fire Jason Kidd was about eliminating a "potential power struggle" before it became an issue, per @SIChrisMannix

"More likely, the decision to can Kidd was about eliminating a potential power struggle. As Sports Illustrated has reported, Kidd wanted the top front office job. He’s also influential with ownership, specifically team governor Patrick Dumont, and has the support of Cooper Flagg, Dallas’s franchise star, and Kyrie Irving, its All-Star point guard. By moving on from Kidd, Ujiri may believe he is excising a potential problem before it becomes one."

[HoosierDaddyKid]

The Mavericks' decision to fire Jason Kidd was about eliminating a "potential power struggle" before it became an issue, per @SIChrisMannix

"More likely, the decision to can Kidd was about eliminating a potential power struggle. As Sports Illustrated has reported, Kidd wanted the top front office job. He’s also influential with ownership, specifically team governor Patrick Dumont, and has the support of Cooper Flagg, Dallas’s franchise star, and Kyrie Irving, its All-Star point guard. By moving on from Kidd, Ujiri may believe he is excising a potential problem before it becomes one."

That is a very good assumption.

[Winter]

There was actually a moment in the Masai press conference where he said that Jason and I had discussions and he was very honest with me. I thought the word "honest" was pretty interesting. Why wouldn't it be honest? What admission did Kidd make? And I did think at the time that Jason likely mentioned something about wanting the GM job - or something to that effect.

[Knutsen]

@Ary_Report
I do not know whether the Mavericks are considering Spurs lead assistant Sean Sweeney — formerly on Dallas’ staff — as a candidate following Kidd's ousting, as reports link him to the job. But it is worth noting that Sweeney and Masai Ujiri share the same agent: Andy Miller.

There’s a great writeup about Sweeney and his special relationships to Luka, Giannis and Wemby and how he ticks on a German sports outlet. Makes sense to make him Flagg’s next coach when you read how these very different generational players think of him. 

You should be able to easily translate it in your browser I hope: https://www.spox.com/nba/listen/victor-w...4987a6e91a

[RasheedsBigWhiteSpot]

A name that I've also heard thrown around is Sam Cassell.

Casuals and Gen Zers may not know or appreciate that once upon a time, before Luka was even born, let alone traded, Mavs' fans were blindsided when their young PG, Jason Kidd, was dealt for Michael Finley and Cassell (plus gheri curl havin', virgin AC Green).

It would be ironic if Kidd and Finley were let go and Cassell came back.

[cow]

A name that I've also heard thrown around is Sam Cassell.

Casuals and Gen Zers may not know or appreciate that once upon a time, before Luka was even born, let alone traded, Mavs' fans were blindsided when their young PG, Jason Kidd, was dealt for Michael Finley and Cassell (plus gheri curl havin', virgin AC Green).

It would be ironic if Kidd and Finley were let go and Cassell came back.

Feels like I always see Sam on the sidelines as an assistant but I'll be damned if I can place with which team.

[Mavs2021]

There’s a great writeup about Sweeney and his special relationships to Luka, Giannis and Wemby and how he ticks on a German sports outlet. Makes sense to make him Flagg’s next coach when you read how these very different generational players think of him. 

You should be able to easily translate it in your browser I hope: https://www.spox.com/nba/listen/victor-w...4987a6e91a

So basically he´s a great coach and every young superstar he ever worked with loves him. It´s refreshing to feel like your front office actually has a multi-faceted plan to rebuild around a young superstar, while still maintaining a set-up (cap flexibility, employ well-liked professionals, fire well-disliked unprofessionals, do not allow power ambiguity) that could be inviting to multiple superstars projected to be on the market in the next 12-18 months. Astonishing new feeling around Dallas and that despite the owner being completely clueless about basketball, but probably with a Nico-sized chip on his shoulder.

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

The big question mark with Sweeney would be who he could get as offensive coordinator.

[Mavs2021]

The big question mark with Sweeney would be who he could get as offensive coordinator.

Luka Doncic.  

Seriously though don´t think offense is the main reason that he has not been given a head coaching job. I assume he´s an excellent assistant coach that can challenge players on a personal/individual level and set-up a defense, but being a head coach means you are more of a "superior" manager of all players and team dynamics than a personal assistant to key players on a "buddy" level. I assume that´s why he has not been given a head coaching job yet, despite numerous interviews. 

I definitely think they´ll get a younger head coach in the mold of Sweeney that Ujiri rates and brings the "prove yourself"-energy to the job and wants to develop with the younger core.

[RasheedsBigWhiteSpot]

The big question mark with Sweeney would be who he could get as offensive coordinator.

I thought Sweeney's specialty was offense. Under Kidd, Moseley was the D-coordinator and, I think, Sweeney did the offense. I could be wrong.

[dirkfansince1998]

I thought Sweeney's specialty was offense. Under Kidd, Moseley was the D-coordinator and, I think, Sweeney did the offense. I could be wrong.

He was the D-coordinator in 2024. Overload the strong side. Leave the weak side corner open. Drop and funnel the ballhandler into the rim protector. Spurs are doing more or less the same thing. Just with Wemby instead of Lively/Gafford.

[F Gump]

And I did think at the time that Jason likely mentioned something about wanting the GM job - or something to that effect.

That wouldn't be much of an "admission" since it was clear that Kidd was interested, and had been considered. 

However, I figure Kidd was frank about wanting a GM (or upper exec) job - one of those somewhere, someday - which would mean that even if he was no longer a candidate in Dallas, he would keep having his eye on opportunities elsewhere. And of course, if he could land one, he could freely leave at any time (in any offseason), since it would be a higher level job. That eliminates any assurance of continuity Masai is seeking.