2021-2022 ROSTER TALK: [ARCHIVED]

[KillerLeft]

How much was Carlisle affecting the draft importance? I am under the impression that he really, really did not want to play rookies or early-career players (Luka excepting). If the coach is philosophically against them, the why should the rest of the organization even bother with putting much thought or energy into getting the pick right?

Well, there's little to no doubt Carlisle was involved in the forming of this philosophy to some extent. And, I don't think any established coach is ever thrilled about playing an 18-21 year old they don't believe is ready for the challenge.

But, if your point is that the entire organization felt powerless to value the draft because they couldn't convince the coach to follow through with their plan, then that's something I'd have a hard time buying. If Cuban/Nelson felt it was time to force a youth movement at any point, philosophically, and felt Carlisle was working against that, he'd have been fired. I have no doubt about that. 

A more likely scenario, in my opinion, is that the trio agreed that the best approach is always to try to win, to shoot for the playoffs, and that they agreed in general that building through the draft was contrary to that aim in the short term, at least in their collective view of the Mavs' specific circumstances each year. Whether we agree with this thinking or not, it's something I can understand.

In addition to Luka, he was all-in on DSJ, too. I think that's a sign of organizational strategy and alignment, for what it's worth.