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

[cow]

Is this job that attractive to interest the top coaches?

I'd lean towards no.  Cooper is a bright spot of course, but with all that has gone down recently and a long/difficult rebuild ahead, they'd probably not want to deal with this mess.

[Winter]

The job is attractive to any assistant looking to be a head coach.

Maybe an older Terry Stotts-type might wait for another offer in year where teams are looking, but assistants are clawing to be a head coach.

[Scott41theMavs]

I'd lean towards no.  Cooper is a bright spot of course, but with all that has gone down recently and a long/difficult rebuild ahead, they'd probably not want to deal with this mess.

There's no salary cap on coach's salary. Dumont and co.'s wallets should be wiiiiiiiide open given the recent past.

[KillerLeft]

The job is attractive to any assistant looking to be a head coach.

Maybe an older Terry Stotts-type might wait for another offer in year where teams are looking, but assistants are clawing to be a head coach.

I agree with this. Whether or not the job should be viewed as "entry level" by the league is something we can debate, but for a first timer who'd likely have to jump at any opportunity it's close to the top of the best case scenario spectrum.

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

I don't think it's an unattractive job, but if you want to build for 3-5 years from now, are we looking for more of a developmental coach? I don't know if the big names (like Nick Nurse) are interested in that type of job.

[mvossman]

I don't think it's an unattractive job, but if you want to build for 3-5 years from now, are we looking for more of a developmental coach?  I don't know if the big names (like Nick Nurse) are interested in that type of job.

It doesn't seem like they are looking at big names.  It seems like they are looking at assistant coaches (which has been Masai MO in the past).  Probably a very attractive opportunity for one of those guys.

[KillerLeft]

I don't think it's an unattractive job, but if you want to build for 3-5 years from now, are we looking for more of a developmental coach?  I don't know if the big names (like Nick Nurse) are interested in that type of job.

I've always hated the idea of a "developmental coach" who's trying to learn on the job, build the team up and all the while everyone knows he'll get fired and replaced once the team is legitimately ready to compete. It goes down that way a ton in the NBA, but I think that's more about the established coaches not wanting to do that dirty work, to your fine point. Also, I think at times it's about ownership groups trying to squeeze in a few years of lowered coaching salary, which is obviously an option.

But, if you CAN snag a real mastermind, I'd imagine "building for 3-5 years from now" might very easily turn into "building for 2 years from now." Idk, I just respect great coaching so much. I hope we get to enjoy some around here soon.

[KillerLeft]

It doesn't seem like they are looking at big names.  It seems like they are looking at assistant coaches (which has been Masai MO in the past).  Probably a very attractive opportunity for one of those guys.

I'm not meaning to push back on this particular point, but generally speaking I think we're overthinking with all of this "Ujiri MO" stuff...who's "an Ujiri guy," etc.

1) He's been out of the game for a while, watching, learning, reinventing himself. 

2) It's not a one-man job. Unless it's the ENTIRE Toronto front office, it's probably not a good idea to assume we understand how he/they are thinking. I'm sure their process is collaborative, at least to an extent. 

3) Maybe most importantly, Dallas is not Toronto. Some Americans would be thrilled for an opportunity to live there, and I'd guess a lot Europeans hoping to get into the NBA might find it really attractive as a lifestyle, but the vast majority of players and even coaches don't really want to go there, honestly. Even something as simple as getting in an out of the country on road trips adds a level of ball ache to their lives that they'd much rather avoid, if possible. Plus, it's cold there, and basketball is a winter/spring sport. 

Point being: I really, really don't think any of us have the foggiest of notions what happens next, with any of this stuff. Smart guys like you will figure out how the new front office thinks after a while, but I'd be careful making predictions based on anything that happened in Toronto. Ujiri very likely made choices from a smaller pool of people he thought he could get to be semi-happy to liver there at every turn.

[Winter]

I'm not meaning to push back on this particular point, but generally speaking I think we're overthinking with all of this "Ujiri MO" stuff...who's "an Ujiri guy," etc.

1) He's been out of the game for a while, watching, learning, reinventing himself. 

2) It's not a one-man job. Unless it's the ENTIRE Toronto front office, it's probably not a good idea to assume we understand how he/they are thinking. I'm sure their process is collaborative, at least to an extent. 

3) Maybe most importantly, Dallas is not Toronto. Some Americans would be thrilled for an opportunity to live there, and I'd guess a lot Europeans hoping to get into the NBA might find it really attractive as a lifestyle, but the vast majority of players and even coaches don't really want to go there, honestly. Even something as simple as getting in an out of the country on road trips adds a level of ball ache to their lives that they'd much rather avoid, if possible. Plus, it's cold there, and basketball is a winter/spring sport. 

Point being: I really, really don't think any of us have the foggiest of notions what happens next, with any of this stuff. Smart guys like you will figure out how the new front office thinks after a while, but I'd be careful making predictions based on anything that happened in Toronto. Ujiri very likely made choices from a smaller pool of people he thought he could get to be semi-happy to liver there at every turn.

Agreed. I posted a similar thought weeks ago I think.

I think a "Ujiri guy" is insinuating that a basketball player with a certain set of metrics is at an advantage if Ujiri is your GM. While this may be true if all things are equal, most things simply aren't equal. Besides all the qualifiers you just mentioned in 1-3, the makeup of teams can be very different. Building around Flagg with the Mavericks roster, for example, would be very different selection process from Utah's roster.

Players are individuals. For instance, maybe you might weight someone like Yaxel a little different if you have concerns about his maturity. He fits your metrics mold, but is he the guy to run with Flagg? Is Peterson? We can easily over-think this kind of thing, but I don't think you can't entirely dismiss it either.

[mvossman]

I'm not meaning to push back on this particular point, but generally speaking I think we're overthinking with all of this "Ujiri MO" stuff...who's "an Ujiri guy," etc.

1) He's been out of the game for a while, watching, learning, reinventing himself. 

2) It's not a one-man job. Unless it's the ENTIRE Toronto front office, it's probably not a good idea to assume we understand how he/they are thinking. I'm sure their process is collaborative, at least to an extent. 

3) Maybe most importantly, Dallas is not Toronto. Some Americans would be thrilled for an opportunity to live there, and I'd guess a lot Europeans hoping to get into the NBA might find it really attractive as a lifestyle, but the vast majority of players and even coaches don't really want to go there, honestly. Even something as simple as getting in an out of the country on road trips adds a level of ball ache to their lives that they'd much rather avoid, if possible. Plus, it's cold there, and basketball is a winter/spring sport. 

Point being: I really, really don't think any of us have the foggiest of notions what happens next, with any of this stuff. Smart guys like you will figure out how the new front office thinks after a while, but I'd be careful making predictions based on anything that happened in Toronto. Ujiri very likely made choices from a smaller pool of people he thought he could get to be semi-happy to liver there at every turn.

You could be right.  I certainly don't claim to know what he is going to do.  But we do have 15 years of sample with him being the man, and he has been out of the game less than a year.  That's enough to lean my guesses in a given direction.  I have made comments about players being a Masai kind of guy, but that area is a little murkier with Schmitz being the GM.  Just for grins, I will make two predictions based on Masai history and we will see if they hold up:

Masai hires an assistant coach (not a huge reach as a lot of rumors point in this direction)

The Mavs do not move from #9 in the draft

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Marc Stein: On the Mavericks' HC search: There is a persistent belief in coaching circles that Toronto's Jama Mahlalela, along with Minnesota's Micah Nori and Houston's Royal Ivey as covered yesterday, continues to factor into Masai Ujiri's thinking if he opts to a hire a current assistant Marc Stein: Mahlalela, first reported by @TheSteinLine as a Dallas contender along with Nori, Ivey and Terry Stotts on June 4, has worked the closest with Ujiri to date among known candidates for the post. TBD whether new names emerge.



x.com

[Chicagojk]

Stein is all over the place. First it was Nori and Ivey. Next day it was Jama. Now he is saying the wait is because they are giving Scheyer every opp to take the job. I think he is throwing stuff out there.

They can’t be waiting for Scheyer right? Dickens his dream job and has only been there for a few years. Surely he is not the target. I would be disappointed if he was because he was never going anywhere this stage in his career. I think stein is missing candidates. I still think they eventually go with a young Assitant but I don’t think anyone has an idea on who yet.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Stein is all over the place.  First it was Nori and Ivey.  Next day it was Jama.  Now he is saying the wait is because they are giving Scheyer every opp to take the job.  I think he is throwing stuff out there.

They can’t be waiting for Scheyer right?  Dickens his dream job and has only been there for a few years.  Surely he is not the target.  I would be disappointed if he was because he was never going anywhere this stage in his career.  I think stein is missing candidates.  I still think they eventually go with a young Assitant but I don’t think anyone has an idea on who yet.

Stein used to be well-connected on Maverick's intel. Is he losing or lost his touch? Is it because Cuban isn't the placeholder anymore?

[khaled1987]

Stein used to be well-connected on Maverick's intel. Is he losing or lost his touch? Is it because Cuban isn't the placeholder anymore?

Who says that he is losing his touch?
There is nothing contradictory on what he said, he named the names of assistants and also mentioned someone they really like who is a top target for them but unlikely. 
It is similar to all process and rumours every other franchises had. 
If tomorrow they announced Nurse or Jasikevičius as new coach, we can have this discussion about Stein sources. 

This seems to come from fans not liking the name he mentioned.

[KillerLeft]

Who says that he is losing his touch?
There is nothing contradictory on what he said, he named the names of assistants and also mentioned someone they really like who is a top target for them but unlikely. 
It is similar to all process and rumours every other franchises had. 
If tomorrow they announced Nurse or Jasikevičius as new coach, we can have this discussion about Stein sources. 

This seems to come from fans not liking the name he mentioned.

Agreed. I think it's pretty clear that "sources" from within the Mavs organization are in a state of transition, but that doesn't mean Stein is suddenly going to throw out guesses. He might have less information than he used to enjoy, at least temporarily, but that's manifested in him providing us with less info. He's still one of the last, truly professional journalists, in the old school sense. I wouldn't assume the little info he has provided us isn't sourced and vetted to his usual standard.

[KillerLeft]

Just for grins, I will make two predictions based on Masai history and we will see if they hold up:

Masai hires an assistant coach (not a huge reach as a lot of rumors point in this direction)

The Mavs do not move from #9 in the draft

I missed this the other day. 

These are the most likely outcomes, and would be regardless of who is in the job. I don't think these predictions are aided in any way by anything that happened while the Mavs' boss worked for a team based in Canada.

[mvossman]

I missed this the other day. 

These are the most likely outcomes, and would be regardless of who is in the job. I don't think these predictions are aided in any way by anything that happened while the Mavs' boss worked for a team based in Canada.

That was mostly tongue in cheek.  I will say that I don't think operating in Canada had much impact on his player (or coach) preferences.  It probably did have a factor in his de-emphasizing of free agency vs draft and trades (which has been a general trend).

[KillerLeft]

That was mostly tongue in cheek.  I will say that I don't think operating in Canada had much impact on his player (or coach) preferences.  It probably did have a factor in his de-emphasizing of free agency vs draft and trades (which has been a general trend).

Idk, man. I think that sells the uphill battle short. 

Truly great coaches can decide to go anywhere. If you were Eric Spoelstra, would you even consider moving to Toronto when you factually know you'd get offers from at least five other cities? If you were Nick Nurse NOW, would you even consider going back? I wouldn't, but maybe you would. I'm sure there's a "case by case" element to it, but I'd bet it's tougher than you think to get someone excited to go. Much less so when the opportunity you're offering is the applicant's first chance to coach in the league. 

And, agreed on free agency, but I think it factors into the draft, even. We see guys at the top of the draft class attempt to maneuver their way to certain places each year. I bet that kind of thing goes on much more than we know, and there's also the angles of "who can I get to stay after his rookie contract" or "who's going to be so miserable here they won't even work hard" to consider. 

Seriously, I'm not trying to overthink, but I believe there are NBA franchises/cities where building is easier than others, for a variety of reasons. TOR is one of the more difficult jobs in the league, I believe.

All I'm saying is this: Ujiri's success in Toronto proves that he's qualified, and in some ways it might even be more impressive than we realize, but this opportunity in Dallas is next level for him, even with the fan emotional baggage and lack of draft capital. It's a clean cap sheet with some decent players on reasonable contracts, with the main piece already identified. AND, last but certainly not least, this is a place where people want to live and play. Maybe not like LA or Miami, but it's on the short list of "easy" franchises to build, imo. We MIGHT see an entirely new chapter of Ujiri's playbook.

[Chicagojk]

Well we will see if this has any legs or just fan fiction. Sarunas team just won their championship today. Were they waiting for him?

https://x.com/bsphere_/status/2068045478483124376?s=46

[KillerLeft]

Well we will see if this has any legs or just fan fiction.  Sarunas team just won their championship today.  Were they waiting for him?

https://x.com/bsphere_/status/2068045478483124376?s=46

I'm missing the "fan fiction" part. Has he been linked to the Mavs somewhere else?