A Question for Mark Cuban: Now What?

After a second consecutive first round exit from the playoffs Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has decided to run Head Coach Avery Johnson. Was the teams demise entirely his fault?

I don’t think so, but as always when the team loses the coach is always the first to go. Avery Johnson was known as the ‘little general’ during his playing days and won a championship playing for the Spurs.

He was the fastest coach to 150 wins and amassed a four year 194-70 (.735) regular season record which is impressive. The problem was his post-season record 23-24 (.489) which includes 12 losses in the last 15 games.

He was brought to the team to bring toughness to this team which is really tough when your franchise player, Dirk Nowitski has been labeled as soft. Having an opposing player touch his face didn't help to remove the label.

Former Mavericks coach Avery Johnson does have to shoulder some of the blame for his part but the Mavericks failures was a group effort.

Avery knew this was coming and he owned it and handled the firing with class and dignity. He is a class guy who went out with his head up in a classy way without any animosity and knowing that the team needed to go in a different direction. He will land another coaching job soon. A question for Mark Cuban; Now What?

Firing the coach will not solve the Mavericks problems. The late season trade of PG Devin Harris, C DeSagana Diop, Trenton Hassell, Maurice Ager, Keith Van Horn and a first round pick for PG Jason Kidd, PF Malik Allen and Antoine Wright was a reactionary move to the Lakers acquiring Pau Gasol and the Suns acquiring Shaquille O’Neal.

The move was also a mistake. The move made the team slower and ruined the chemistry the team developed from training camp until the trade.

It was painfully obvious that everything Avery threw at Chris Paul of the Hornets wasn’t working. The Mavericks are a team that is devoid of defense and that is their achilles heal. Jason Kidd and whoever attempted to check him were abused by CP3 the entire series. I wonder how Trenton Hassell & Devin Harris would have fared being younger players.

Cuban felt that former coach Johnson wasn’t reaching the players or pressing the right buttons for the team to mesh. He is under the impression that the pieces to win are in Dallas right now. Maverick’s owner Mark Cuban is convinced that when he looks at his roster he see’s a championship team.

I disagree with Mark Cuban that the pieces are in place for a championship run. This team has no shot at competing against the top teams in the league next season. I don’t see this team beating any of the elite teams in the west.

I don’t see them doing well against the Warriors or Trailblazers either. The Mavericks have to move G/F Josh Howard, G Jason Terry or both due to these guys having the most trade value. C Erik Dampier isn’t the answer at the position either. The pieces don’t fit and the team needs to get younger fast.

Josh Howard is a talented basketball player who chose to party after a game four loss after his coach told the team not to as oppose to showing some focus on basketball and his team about getting back into the series.

The “I smoke marijuana on my own time and most of the guys in the association due as well” blast didn’t help either. It reminds me of the infamous joke by Dave Chappelle when he said “this is when keeping it real goes wrong”.

I've no problem with someone doing a radio interview and Josh was just being Josh and spoke his mind but at who’s expense? The timing of the statement was yet another distraction for a struggling team.

Way to put every other NBA player in the league on blast. It was also a good three punch combination landed on the image of the NBA player that didn't need to be beat down any further. You could easily throw a flag for piling on.

Perhaps Mark Cuban will make a move to acquire Coach Mike D’Antoni if he is fired by the Suns. Until the roster changes this team isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The roster has too many guys on it that are near the end of their career and can’t keep up with today’s younger players.

The Mavericks will have to be extremely creative because they’ve painted themselves into a corner with the above mentioned trade and being up against the luxury tax. The question remains Mark Cuban; now what?