I am going to try again with the podcast summaries, and will put this one in its own thread and see how it goes.
Brian Dameris and Mark Followill offered their impressions of the press conference.
Mark also interviewed Nico and Kidd one-on-one.
They prefaced their conclusions by saying that there is a limit to what you can read into this type of press event. Hard news is rarely broken. The point is to conduct a rah-rah PR type event introducing the new guys, not to give out any information that isn’t already public.
But with that disclaimer, here are their takeaways —
Organizational Structure
They believe it may have been very significant that Cuban admitted that there has been very little structure in the past. Management guys were just thrown into the mix. There was no traditional pyramidal structure. It was more a matter of several fiefdoms, with Cuban making decisions here and there, with or without regard to what else was going on in the organization. BD and MF observed that that led to a lot of confusion, dysfunction, and lack of communication.
Mark noted that part of Nico’s attraction was his managerial experience. BD and MF hope that he will establish clear roles and responsibilities within a more traditional structure.
As a sort of "cabinet," the MBT will continue on, including Cuban, Kidd, Nico, Dirk, Kalkstein (sports psychologist), Finley, and Keith Grant. The hope for that group is to begin a tradition of open communication and address issues as they happen, rather than letting problems fester.
However that may be, Cuban made very clear that he is still the decision-maker, and Nico acknowledged that publicly. Followill said that that principle limited the people that were available to hire as GM here, and Nico appears to have accepted that arrangement. In that regard, Cuban also came out and revealed that he had let Donnie go because he thought it was time for a new voice, and that Rick had indeed resigned on his own.
BD and MF think the system can work with Cuban making the decisions, but hope that they can get away from the situation where the rest of the brain trust were working hard on taking things in a certain direction, and were surprised when Cuban derailed them at the eleventh hour, seemingly out of nowhere.
NICO
Nico’s relationships don’t begin and end with the big stars. He has a huge network of relationships with all kinds of people across the basketball spectrum — NBA, college, AAU, international; players, coaches, agents, scouts, front offices, the whole nine yards. He has experience in evaluating talent of both players and staff, and has experience managing a large group of people. In that regard, it is possible that we will see a broad changing of the guard across the Mavericks organization, maybe after a season or so. Nico lives in Dallas, and that was part of the attraction on both sides.
KIDD
Kidd gave evidence of wanting to establish a little more relaxed atmosphere. There was a lot of tension with Rick, which was intentional. Rick did not believe it was a good idea for people to get too comfortable, but after 13 years, that style may have worn a little thin.
The press conference probably didn’t do justice to Kidd, as he is not a particularly good public speaker. He comes across much better in small groups or one-on-one.
A big draw of the Kidd hire is his anticipated ability to relate to Luka. Example — the refs. Rick never liked Luka’s complaining to the refs. And indeed it often wasn’t working well. Followill thinks that, by the end of the season, some of the refs were looking for reasons to tee Luka up. Kidd, on the other hand, is okay with complaining to the refs as a tool, but thinks it has to be done in a respectful way. Hopefully, he can help Luka shape this tool to be more successful.
As another example, Rick was not fond of angry outbursts from his players. Kidd understands that players will feel passion in the moment, and actually likes that, but thinks that everyone must be able to move past it and let it go very quickly. So, he may be able to help Luka in that respect.
BD and MF think that Kidd is approaching the job with humility and a sense that he had best make the most of this chance. Kidd said he learned a great deal at the Lakers, both in terms of coaching and in terms of dealing with stars. He has wanted to come to Dallas ever since his Milwaukee stint ended, and that played into the appeal of hiring him.
BD and MF thought it was a good thing that Kidd’s past wasn’t just swept under the rug and reporters were allowed to ask their questions. As to whether the questioners felt like they got satisfactory answers, that probably varies with the listener.
Kidd is busy assembling his staff. It looks like Luka’s former national team coach is going to be the lead assistant. Doesn’t look likely that Barea is going to make it on the staff this season, at least not in a front row capacity.
Porzingis
The Mavs’ ideal scenario is not to trade KP, but to rebuild his confidence and swag, and get him back to being a true second star. So they say, anyway.
A spoonful of salt?
At the end of the day, having said all of the above, BD and MF reminded us that this was just a press conference. The participants were not supposed to break any news at this type of PR event, and they didn’t. What was said was interesting, but what will be far more important is what is actually done. And as for that, only time will tell.
Brian Dameris and Mark Followill offered their impressions of the press conference.
Mark also interviewed Nico and Kidd one-on-one.
They prefaced their conclusions by saying that there is a limit to what you can read into this type of press event. Hard news is rarely broken. The point is to conduct a rah-rah PR type event introducing the new guys, not to give out any information that isn’t already public.
But with that disclaimer, here are their takeaways —
Organizational Structure
They believe it may have been very significant that Cuban admitted that there has been very little structure in the past. Management guys were just thrown into the mix. There was no traditional pyramidal structure. It was more a matter of several fiefdoms, with Cuban making decisions here and there, with or without regard to what else was going on in the organization. BD and MF observed that that led to a lot of confusion, dysfunction, and lack of communication.
Mark noted that part of Nico’s attraction was his managerial experience. BD and MF hope that he will establish clear roles and responsibilities within a more traditional structure.
As a sort of "cabinet," the MBT will continue on, including Cuban, Kidd, Nico, Dirk, Kalkstein (sports psychologist), Finley, and Keith Grant. The hope for that group is to begin a tradition of open communication and address issues as they happen, rather than letting problems fester.
However that may be, Cuban made very clear that he is still the decision-maker, and Nico acknowledged that publicly. Followill said that that principle limited the people that were available to hire as GM here, and Nico appears to have accepted that arrangement. In that regard, Cuban also came out and revealed that he had let Donnie go because he thought it was time for a new voice, and that Rick had indeed resigned on his own.
BD and MF think the system can work with Cuban making the decisions, but hope that they can get away from the situation where the rest of the brain trust were working hard on taking things in a certain direction, and were surprised when Cuban derailed them at the eleventh hour, seemingly out of nowhere.
NICO
Nico’s relationships don’t begin and end with the big stars. He has a huge network of relationships with all kinds of people across the basketball spectrum — NBA, college, AAU, international; players, coaches, agents, scouts, front offices, the whole nine yards. He has experience in evaluating talent of both players and staff, and has experience managing a large group of people. In that regard, it is possible that we will see a broad changing of the guard across the Mavericks organization, maybe after a season or so. Nico lives in Dallas, and that was part of the attraction on both sides.
KIDD
Kidd gave evidence of wanting to establish a little more relaxed atmosphere. There was a lot of tension with Rick, which was intentional. Rick did not believe it was a good idea for people to get too comfortable, but after 13 years, that style may have worn a little thin.
The press conference probably didn’t do justice to Kidd, as he is not a particularly good public speaker. He comes across much better in small groups or one-on-one.
A big draw of the Kidd hire is his anticipated ability to relate to Luka. Example — the refs. Rick never liked Luka’s complaining to the refs. And indeed it often wasn’t working well. Followill thinks that, by the end of the season, some of the refs were looking for reasons to tee Luka up. Kidd, on the other hand, is okay with complaining to the refs as a tool, but thinks it has to be done in a respectful way. Hopefully, he can help Luka shape this tool to be more successful.
As another example, Rick was not fond of angry outbursts from his players. Kidd understands that players will feel passion in the moment, and actually likes that, but thinks that everyone must be able to move past it and let it go very quickly. So, he may be able to help Luka in that respect.
BD and MF think that Kidd is approaching the job with humility and a sense that he had best make the most of this chance. Kidd said he learned a great deal at the Lakers, both in terms of coaching and in terms of dealing with stars. He has wanted to come to Dallas ever since his Milwaukee stint ended, and that played into the appeal of hiring him.
BD and MF thought it was a good thing that Kidd’s past wasn’t just swept under the rug and reporters were allowed to ask their questions. As to whether the questioners felt like they got satisfactory answers, that probably varies with the listener.
Kidd is busy assembling his staff. It looks like Luka’s former national team coach is going to be the lead assistant. Doesn’t look likely that Barea is going to make it on the staff this season, at least not in a front row capacity.
Porzingis
The Mavs’ ideal scenario is not to trade KP, but to rebuild his confidence and swag, and get him back to being a true second star. So they say, anyway.
A spoonful of salt?
At the end of the day, having said all of the above, BD and MF reminded us that this was just a press conference. The participants were not supposed to break any news at this type of PR event, and they didn’t. What was said was interesting, but what will be far more important is what is actually done. And as for that, only time will tell.
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