ESPN’s Marc Stein reported Thursday afternoon that the Dallas Mavericks agreed to a five-year extension with head coach Rick Carlisle.
ESPN sources say Carlisle will see out this season & team option Mavs held for next season before new deal takes him through 2021-22 season
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) November 5, 2015
ESPN sources: Rick Carlisle and the Dallas Mavericks have finalized a five-year, $35 million contract extension
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) November 5, 2015
Carlisle, who took the reins in Dallas in 2008, has had an incredibly impressive run with the organization, posting a 340-222 record over the last eight seasons, reaching the 50-win mark four times. In fact, since Carlisle became a head coach back in 2001, he’s had only one losing season, and sits eighth all-time in winning percentage among coaches with at least 600 wins (per USA Today‘s Sam Amick).
While Carlisle walked into a supremely ideal situation (the Mavs averaged 57.8 wins per season over the seven years prior to his arrival), his leadership and brilliance in creating offensive efficiency helped the Mavs and future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki win the championship it seemed they were never going to attain back in 2011.
Now that we’re done giving props to Carlisle for all that he’s achieved, let’s keep this in mind: In sports, you’re not supposed to be given your next contract for your accomplishments, but rather what you’re expected to accomplish moving forward. We’ve seen this Dallas team move farther out of the contending picture over the last couple of years, and with the whole DeAndre Jordan free agency fiasco from this past summer, combined with how stacked the Western Conference is, the Nowitzki-era Mavs may have seen their last playoff appearance.
Considering that Nowitzki’s 37 years old, that last sentence may not seem like a big deal, but what about life after Dirk? We’re seeing the Los Angeles Lakers stock up on young, high-upside prospects such as D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, and even Jordan Clarkson for the day when Kobe Bryant hangs up his Nikes. However, aside from drafting Justin Anderson last June, the Mavs haven’t done anything to gear up for the future. In fact, the team doesn’t even have its first-round pick for next year’s draft, which is a shame considering they’ll more than likely have their worst record in years. It’s even more of a shame that they gave up that pick last season when they acquired Rajon Rondo, who was a complete bust in Dallas.
I suppose signing Chandler Parsons in the 2014 offseason was a step towards re-tooling, but he and this summer’s prized signing, Wes Matthews (who, again, is coming off a bad Achilles injury), are the only two good pieces this team has to build around. That said, neither are go-to options, rather the third or maybe even fourth-best players on good teams.
Organizations are rarely fortunate enough to have a Nowitzki, who was a top 5-10 player over the course of a decade and helped his team consistently win 50-plus games. Today, this franchise doesn’t seem to have any kind of plan moving forward without him. I suppose you can say this is where Carlisle’s genius comes in, as he’s been able to not only squeeze every last bit of greatness out of Nowitzki as he deteriorates, but has also been able to maximize the talent around him — minus Rondo.
The problem is that when you look at the rest of the roster, the supporting players are also shaky at best. When the team was unable to pair Jordan with Matthews this past offseason, it settled for Zaza Pachulia, Deron Williams, and Javale McGee. While Pachulia’s a solid, even overlooked player, he’s 31 and not a cornerstone guy. Then you have Williams and McGee, who have struggled both mentally and physically to live up to expectations over the past couple of years, and by no means should be relied upon to help revitalize a franchise.
With Carlisle being signed through 2022, I know it isn’t fair to look at the current state of the Mavericks and think they can’t turn it around. However, I question how they’ll be able to do it. Where’s the roadmap? They’ll have plenty of cap room opening up over the next couple of years, but if the organization consistently missed on the LeBrons, Dwights, and even DAJs when they had Nowitzki, who’s to say they’ll be able to nail free agency moving forward?
An even scarier thought is that besides Anderson, a rookie who’s still a complete unknown in terms of what his NBA future will be, this organization hasn’t drafted well, or held onto its good draft picks. Before the 2015 NBA Draft, the Mavs’ most recent draft picks have been Kelly Olynyk, Mike Muscala, Tyler Zeller, Darius Johnson-Odom, and Jordan Hamilton. While a few of those guys have become solid contributors in good situations, NONE of them are Mavs, and none of them are really game-changers.
The Mavericks’ identity as a perennial playoff team understandably coincides with them not being able to build through the draft, but they’ve done very little to instill confidence that they’d be able to build from either the draft or free agency in the future.
Can Carlisle keep this team on the positive side of .500 once he loses the German Moses? Right now I’m feeling pretty skeptical.
