(02-02-2021, 08:54 PM)Kammrath Wrote: Thanks for sharing this and compiling the notes.
This is exactly been my theory for the last month plus. I have been beating the "leadership" drum for awhile as maybe the most central issue on the team and that Luka hasn't been able to fill that void as the Mavs and as RC have been asking.
Here are my previous thoughts to add to this conversation:
From Dec 29...
From Jan 23...
Wow. Looks like you may have called it.
When Rick was selling the media on the idea that Luka was the team leader before the season began, Tim thought it might be more that Rick wanted people to start talking about and thinking about Luka in that way. But maybe not necessarily that he really thought Luka would be able to lead the team through a season like this turned out to be.
The way it has turned out, Luka no longer has a mentor, and is being represented as the mentor for his teammates, all in a season where everyone is just feeling his way through.
I remember early in the season, when a reporter asked James Johnson to comment on what kind of leader Luka is. Johnson looked as if he were trying to decide how to put something tactfully, and came up with the word "emerging." He further explained that it's just not realistic to lead an NBA team when you've been in the league for only two years, but he thought Luka would be a great leader in time.
I hadn't focused on this very specifically before now. I wonder what kinds of differences it makes on a granular basis. This seems like an un-Carlisle-like move. Color me a little confused at why they would try to force this issue with a 21-year-old, rather than letting it happen naturally. I believe that they did, just doesn't seem much like the Mavs. It's possible that I don't really know who the Mavs are at this point, of course.
Also, if they consider it a mistake in hindsight, just how they would go about transitioning to something different.