NEWS: RC out | Kidd hired as head coach & assembling staff

[Kammrath]

After listening to Tim McMahon on Zach Lowe's podcast I'm coming more convinced that regardless of the "optics", everything that has been done this week ultimately had to be done.    This week is the bloodletting, but the problem ultimately isn't the bloodletting it's the festering infection that has built up over years in the franchise.    Carlisle is an extremely high level Xs and Os coach, but his people skills suck.   They sucked long before Luka got here.   Just listen to any interview with him, he's a bully and a jackass.   And, sorry, the human relationship side is an essential part of the job of a head coach in the NBA, just like the Xs and Os.   And in this day and age, they probably matter more than the Xs and Os.   The Luka and KP relationship should have never deteriorated to this level.   There is too much at stake between those two for the franchise.   The head coach is the manager of the lockerroom, and he should have gotten KP and Luka in a room together a long time ago and nipped this thing in the bud .. but we know that's not who Rick is or what he does.  

Rick was essentially going to be on the "hot seat" even if he stayed because he couldn't get along with Luka.  Just like he couldn't get along with so many other previously players,  particularly ball handlers.   He also would have inevitably clashed with the new GM because he's accustomed to his "33% share of the decision making".  So as long as we're bringing in a new General Manager,  we might as well go all the way and have the new GM involved in the hiring process for the new head coach.    No need to prolong the inevitable, and better to do it now than in midseason next year and waste another year of Luka under contract with some interim head coach in the playoffs.    I really am indifferent about Mosely, but whoever the next Mavs Head Coach is he better have extremely high level people skills.  You can find veteran coaches to fill out as assistant coaching staff to do Xs and Os and gameplan implementation  stuff (that's also what analytics departments are for).  

Donnie isn't some hapless victim of a "usurper" the way his good buddies in the Dallas media want to create that narrative.   He's been in his share of behind the scnees power wars over the years (Rosas), this is just the first time he came up on the losing end.   Voulgaris became the "shadow GM", because Cuban lost faith in Donnie ... simple as that.    And with good reason, because his last 3 years as a GM have been a miserable failure.   He decided to go scorched earth on the way out the door by feeding dirty secrets to Cato, either through him or his proxies, which is Bush League.   I have no doubt that Carlisle will find find a new employer in quick work because of his reputation around the league, but I would be surprised if Donnie ever gets another GM opportunity in the NBA and that should tell you all you need to know about his reputation in the league.    

I really don't care if Voulgaris stays or goes ... frankly I think a lot of these analytics guys are a dime a dozen and analytics is just table stakes these days in the NBA rather than an edge.   That will be up for the new GM to decide.   But I think  Voulgaris is a convenient scapegoat bad guy because he's an arrogant jackass and probably has a lot of enemies in the building, but Rick and Donnie have more than played their parts in this mess too and responsible for their own undoings, not Voulgaris.

MUST READ. Fantastic synthesis. 

The bolded part above in your post is so key. We have now learned the reason Mosley was so integral alongside RC was because RC is so bad at personal relationships and player treatment. RC in a sense was just another version of Voulgaris. I think in this day and age the single most important coaching skill is interpersonal relationships. RC is a good coach in so many ways, but his greatest weakness was what is needed most here with Luka (a sensitive people person) and KP (a sensitive introvert).