Luka Doncic to Mavericks

cheke64 · Feb 26, 2019

ipaman said: ↑

Young had a career night.
Click to expand...

I think he will be an all-star.

omgTHEpotential · Feb 26, 2019

cheke64 said: ↑

I think he will be an all-star.
Click to expand...

It's not a big surprise that he's not a complete bust offensively, in fact he's pretty damn good on that end. But defensively, he's a huge liability... And he will stay the same. Can't really teach height/size.

sealclubber1016 · Feb 26, 2019

Young got off to an abysmal start, but he has been extremely good over the last 2 months.

I think this will end up being one of the best draft classes in a while. The top 5 all look great, and even Sexton with Cleveland is starting to play really well. I still think Doncic looks the best though.

YOLO · Feb 26, 2019

omgTHEpotential said: ↑

It's not a big surprise that he's not a complete bust offensively, in fact he's pretty damn good on that end. But defensively, he's a huge liability... And he will stay the same. Can't really teach height/size.
Click to expand...

Boston had IT and they were still a top defensive team overall. You can surround Young with the right people and make it work in their favor. alot of people called for him being a bust and atl being just stupid. my how things have changed.

Reeko · Mar 2, 2019

yeah, the Hawks missed out on Doncic, but I’m sorry, they still did pretty good for themselves by nabbing Trey Young

this dude is gonna be a problem in this league

When was the last time u saw a rookie drop 49 and 16?!? He nearly had a 50 point triple double! In his last 5 games he’s dropped 30 and 10, 23 and 8, 36 and 8, 36 and 10, and now 49 and 16 . He has excellent court vision. He’s great off the PnR already as a rookie, and the kid has RANGE. He’s fun to watch as well. The Hawks got a good one.

tinman · Mar 3, 2019

Reeko said: ↑

yeah, the Hawks missed out on Doncic, but I’m sorry, they still did pretty good for themselves by nabbing Trey Young

this dude is gonna be a problem in this league

When was the last time u saw a rookie drop 49 and 16?!? He nearly had a 50 point triple double! In his last 5 games he’s dropped 30 and 10, 23 and 8, 36 and 8, 36 and 10, and now 49 and 16 . He has excellent court vision. He’s great off the PnR already as a rookie, and the kid has RANGE. He’s fun to watch as well. The Hawks got a good one.
Click to expand...

he's playing way better since Atlanta got rid off their backup point guard

J.R. · Mar 4, 2019

Zboy · Mar 5, 2019

J.R. said: ↑

Click to expand...

Fat boy lost the game by 38 points. Maybe he was going for a 40 point play from half court? lulz...

Anyways, bum got his ankle broken by another fat boy in the same game.

zeeshan2 · Jun 14, 2021

Haralobos=Jack Easterby

In early February, during the second quarter of a home game against the Golden State Warriors, Luka Doncic carelessly turned over the ball and received feedback from a Dallas Mavericks employee he didn’t care for: Haralabos Voulgaris, a well-known sports gambler hired by team owner Mark Cuban in 2018.

Voulgaris, sitting with an open laptop in his typical courtside seat across from the Mavericks’ bench, motioned downward with his hands, which Doncic specifically interpreted as Voulgaris telling him to calm down, multiple team and league sources tell The Athletic. Doncic snapped back, telling Voulgaris, according to one source’s recollection, “Don’t **** tell me to calm down.” The same sources say Voulgaris later professed that his motion wasn’t solely directed at Doncic, but regardless of intent, it only worsened an already inflamed relationship between the two.

Doncic, multiple league sources say, intends to sign the supermax extension — which he will be eligible for once named to this season’s All-NBA team — with Dallas, worth more than $200 million over five seasons after his rookie contract expires next summer. “I think you know the answer,” he said, smiling, when asked whether he would at last week’s exit interview. But a high-level power broker within the league says the Mavericks recognize that there’s urgency to build a contending team around Doncic after losing in the first round in each of the past two seasons. The clock is ticking.

Internally, there are concerns the front office’s dysfunction has hurt its ability to do so — and that poor relationships Doncic has with key members of the franchise, including Voulgaris, could impact his current desire to remain in Dallas long-term. The team’s most recent postseason defeat against the LA Clippers served as a direct indictment on the roster constructed around him. Can Mavericks management remedy that in time? Or, as some team sources fear, will they pay the price for the dysfunctional dynamics that exist in some corners of the organization?

Dallas announced Voulgaris’ hiring in the fall of 2018 with a title — director of quantitative research and development — that vastly understated his actual role. Multiple league and team sources tell The Athletic that Voulgaris has been the most influential voice within the Mavericks front office since joining the team, either initiating or approving virtually every transaction made over the past two seasons. Those same sources add that Voulgaris has frequently gone as far as scripting the starting lineups and rotations for longtime head coach Rick Carlisle.

That influence has spanned Doncic’s three seasons in Dallas. While he had been drafted prior to Voulgaris’ arrival — Donnie Nelson, the team’s longtime president of basketball operations, was the driving force behind trading up to acquire the Slovenian wunderkind, a process he described in detail to The Athletic last year — Cuban had sought out Voulgaris’ basketball advice in the years before putting him on the team’s payroll. As one team source says, “Mark Cuban is the most powerful person in the organization, but whoever he’s listening to is second.” Cuban was won over by Voulgaris’ vision: an analytics-driven spread pick-and-roll offense with Doncic as the focal point which he has tried implementing in the past seasons.

It’s unclear when the Cuban and Voulgaris relationship began, but their coming together is perhaps unsurprising given Cuban’s origin as a self-made tech billionaire whose first major purchase was the Mavericks. Voulgaris has never been shy about his desire to run a team. In an ESPN feature from 2013, Voulgaris is quoted as saying, “The whole process (of becoming a highly successful gambler) has led me to believe that I’d be able to put together a better team than almost any general manager in the league. If not maybe all.”

Voulgaris spent a limited amount of time around the Mavericks during his first season of employment, attending about one-quarter of the team’s games. He attended fewer games the following season, but his imprint on the team’s roster grew substantially that offseason. It was Voulgaris who initiated the team’s acquisitions of Seth Curry and Delon Wright, with multiple sources telling The Athletic that Voulgaris believed Wright should start next to Doncic. “He was the only person that believed that,” one team source says. Wright did start the season opener before being moved to a full-time bench role the following game, barely playing in the team’s first-round defeat in the 2020 postseason. He was traded that offseason.

Because Voulgaris’ influence was greater than his official role, those within the front office — and executives around the league who interacted with them — were often confused about who actually held power. “We had two general managers,” a team source says. Nelson remained the team’s president of basketball operations, a role he has held since 2005, and other executives and agents continued largely communicating with him or Cuban regarding personnel matters. Nelson continued to spearhead major moves, including trades for Kristaps Porzingis and Tim Hardaway Jr. in 2019, Josh Richardson in 2020 and J.J. Redick in 2021. But team sources say Voulgaris was supportive of the transactions — or explicitly approved them.

Multiple league and team sources point to the 2020 draft as a particularly egregious example of Voulgaris’ power, an evening one source described as “embarrassing.” Most members of the scouting department joined the team’s war room remotely through Zoom and were surprised when Voulgaris, attending in person, didn’t consult them for either of the team’s first two selections (Josh Green and Tyrell Terry) despite disagreements they held with at least one of the players he picked.

“What did (he) sell to Mark to make him believe (he) can do this?” asks one source with an intimate knowledge of the situation. “Nobody knows.”

It marked another throughline of Voulgaris’ tenure with the Mavericks: that his personality and decision making has steadily irritated and exasperated the team’s front office employees and players with both his decision making and personality over the course of the three seasons he’s been employed. “He doesn’t know how to talk to people,” that same source says.

That’s best exemplified by Dallas’ franchise player disliking him. Doncic’s strained relationship with Voulgaris predated their incident in February, multiple sources say. It wasn’t the only incident, either. This season, Voulgaris attended his first game in mid January, frequently appearing courtside at home and also traveling with them on the road in the months that followed. In mid-April, during the final minute of a home defeat to the New York Knicks, Voulgaris was seen on the game’s broadcast footage standing up and leaving with about 45 seconds remaining. While the Mavericks were trailing by 10 points at the time, they cut the deficit to six and extended the game seven more possessions before eventually losing.

Doncic noticed Voulgaris’ early departure. In the locker room after the game, multiple league and team sources say he told teammates he viewed Voulgaris leaving before the game’s conclusion as him quitting on them. Voulgaris would not attend another game the rest of the year.
Click to expand...

https://theathletic.com/2649806/202...-with-luka-doncic/?source=user_shared_article

zeeshan2 · Jun 14, 2021

Multiple team sources confirm Voulgaris remained involved in the team’s gameplans and in-game adjustments in a remote role. But Voulgaris, who earlier this season appeared likelier than not to wrest further control over the front office and perhaps even drive out Nelson entirely, now heads into a summer with his contract set to expire and uncertainty surrounding his future.

When reached for comment on Monday, Cuban defended Voulgaris’ involvement. “I really like what Bob brings to the table. He does a great job of supporting Rick and the front office with unique data insights.”

Cuban added: “Bob has a great grasp of AI and the opportunities it create for gaining an advantage. Which is important to me. But he isn’t any more influential than any other data source on the team.”

Voulgaris declined to comment for this story when reached on Sunday.

Doncic’s relationship with his head coach, Rick Carlisle, has been publicly scrutinized since joining his team. It’s expected Carlisle will return next season, multiple league sources say, something Cuban publicly voiced support for last week shortly after the first round defeat.

“Let me tell you how I look at coaching,” he told ESPN. “You don’t make a change to make a change. Unless you have someone that you know is much, much, much better, the grass is rarely greener on the other side.”

Multiple sources were surprised to see Cuban’s prompt backing of Carlisle, however, even though Cuban’s support for Carlisle has hardly wavered over the past decade. During the season, it was believed Carlisle’s future could be reconsidered following the season, partly due to a belief Doncic had tuned him out.

“It was very much up in the air,” one source with intimate knowledge of the situation said.

Sources say some players have been frustrated with Carlisle after they lost playing time despite doing exactly what they felt he had asked of them, and for stiff rotation patterns, the latter of which they viewed — correctly, team sources confirm — as being dictated directly to him by Voulgaris. Early on, Doncic also disliked Carlisle’s timeouts and frequent calling of plays.

But Carlisle, who’s “adaptable as a ****,” as one league source put it, began to modify his coaching style as a way of relieving some of the pressure from this sensitive situation. Beyond Carlisle’s obvious coaching acumen, he has always been able and willing to, in essence, read the room when it came to which personal battles he could win and which ones he couldn’t. This was no different.

Doncic’s greatness, so evident so early on, clearly compelled Carlisle to consider the changing hoops politics at hand. Since being hired in May of 2008, Carlisle has had his fair share of friction with key players, in large part because of his well-known tendency to be controlling. But Rajon Rondo, this was not.

In truth, it was far closer to the difficult dynamic that he’d successfully navigated with then-point guard Jason Kidd en route to winning the franchise’s first and only title in 2011. It took an intervention of sorts to get through that friction back then, when then-Mavericks assistant coaches Tim Grgurich, Dwane Casey and Terry Stotts stepped in to tell Carlisle that he needed to loosen the reins on Kidd. In the end, of course, it was a wise and necessary move.

The championship took Carlisle’s credibility to another level in those coming years. He was, with good reason, virtually untouchable when it came to the job insecurities that most coaches face. Such is life when you reach the NBA’s mountaintop for a franchise that has never been there before.

But as Doncic started to look more and more like a modern-day Dirk Nowitzki these past three seasons — the kind of once-in-a-generation player who the Mavericks could build around for the next two decades — the landscape that surrounded Carlisle began to change. And Carlisle, quite clearly, decided to change along with it.

“You can’t win against the next Nowitzki,” one source said.

Doncic has a healthy relationship with the Mavericks organization at large. League sources say he angled to be drafted by the team in 2018, and he has been particularly complimentary of his relationship with Nowitzki, whose final season coincided with Doncic’s first. Those feelings could change if the team’s postseason struggles continue, as the Mavericks haven’t advanced past the first round since their 2011 championship run. It’s not that Doncic’s situation with the team is at a critical inflection point right now. Multiple team sources simply fear that it’s heading that direction.

Those concerns mostly center on Cuban and the decisions he makes regarding who he trusts and imbues with power. Sometimes, it’s examples like Voulgaris, a sports gambler with no league experience being given near total control of the team’s roster. Other times, it’s the relationships he doesn’t sever: The Mavericks’ front office has come to be known around the league for its long-existing power structure that, Voulgaris aside, has barely changed.
Click to expand...

King1 · Jun 14, 2021

Hopefully Luka leaves so I can root for him

Os Trigonum · Jun 14, 2021

this is a great thread and a great bump

showa13 · Jun 14, 2021

I know this is in the NBA dish, but Luka is supposedly VERY CLOSE to Stephen Silas, like more than what it appears on the surface. Me thinks he’d love to play for him

ExTexanNowEastCoast · Jun 14, 2021

The issue is that the Mavs have never been able to attract high quality, top notch free agents. I am not talking about Chandler Parsons or Wes Matthews, but the Kahwi Leonard's, Paul George's, James Harden's, Durant's and Anthony Davis' of the world. As such, unless they get those players via a trade or through the draft, it will be difficult for the Mavs to compete for a title with a single superstar.

And, Luka needs to get rid of that baby fat and lose about 25 lbs. Otherwise he will start getting pulled muscles, knee strains, and other ongoing injuries.

J.R. · Jun 14, 2021

King1 · Jun 14, 2021

Lol we wish

DaBeard · Jun 14, 2021

KPJ and the #1 pick for Luka, who says no?

astrosrule · Jun 14, 2021

DaBeard said: ↑

KPJ and the #1 pick for Luka, who says no?
Click to expand...

dallas wouldn't trade luka for the rockets entire roster and all future picks

i3artow i3aller · Jun 14, 2021

Zboy · Jun 14, 2021

Mavs should listen to the gambler.

American gambler over an Euro any day.

This is America, not Polandia.

Forums

Luka Doncic to Mavericks

cheke64 Member

omgTHEpotential Member

sealclubber1016 Member
Supporting Member

YOLO Member

Reeko Member

tinman Contributing Member
Supporting Member

J.R. Member

Zboy Contributing Member

zeeshan2 Member

zeeshan2 Member

King1 Contributing Member

Os Trigonum Contributing Member
Supporting Member

showa13 Member

ExTexanNowEastCoast Member

J.R. Member

King1 Contributing Member

DaBeard Member

astrosrule Member

i3artow i3aller Member

Zboy Contributing Member

Share This Page

About ClutchFans

Rockets Content

Support ClutchFans!

Luka Doncic to Mavericks

cheke64 Member

omgTHEpotential Member

sealclubber1016 Member Supporting Member

YOLO Member

Reeko Member

tinman Contributing Member Supporting Member

J.R. Member

Zboy Contributing Member

zeeshan2 Member

zeeshan2 Member

King1 Contributing Member

Os Trigonum Contributing Member Supporting Member

showa13 Member

ExTexanNowEastCoast Member

J.R. Member

King1 Contributing Member

DaBeard Member

astrosrule Member

i3artow i3aller Member

Zboy Contributing Member

Share This Page

sealclubber1016 Member
Supporting Member

tinman Contributing Member
Supporting Member

Os Trigonum Contributing Member
Supporting Member