The Dallas breakup was caused by Rick Carlisle hating Dennis Smith?

[Kblaze8855]

The Mavs were quick to market their new guard tandem. Doncic and Smith posed together during media day, smiling for pictures; they were promoted heavily on the team's website. Along with soon-to-retire legend Dirk Nowitzki, the young lottery picks were the players featured on billboards around the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.
While a friendship blossomed in Dallas' newly formed backcourt, coach Rick Carlisle and the front office were planning to blow it up, sources involved with the franchise's decision-making said, never really believing the duo had staying power.
The Mavs knew Doncic would need to be the primary ball handler to fulfill his immense potential, and they didn't believe Smith, who they had determined was a high-usage, ball-dominant guard with a suspect jumper, could complement him.
Carlisle, for his part, doubted Smith could be a productive NBA starter, team sources said. He had wanted the Mavs to draft guard Donovan Mitchell (https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/3908809/donovan-mitchell), and had completely soured on Smith midway through his rookie campaign.
Seven months later, Smith was traded to the New York Knicks (https://www.espn.com/nba/team/_/name/ny/new-york-knicks), an afterthought in a deal that brought Kristaps Porzingis (https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/3102531/kristaps-porzingis) midway through Doncic's rookie season.
It might not have been a basketball fit, but Doncic and Smith had formed a bond. And Carlisle's apparent determination to make Smith miserable during their brief time as teammates was appalling to Doncic, several former players and staffers told ESPN.

[Kblaze8855]

Multiple players were shocked during one early-season team meeting when Carlisle accused Smith of being jealous of Doncic, sources said. The players considered it incredibly unfair to Smith, who wasn't playing well but was making an honest effort to mesh with Doncic on the court.
Doncic particularly resented what he perceived as Carlisle's attempt to pit him against his friend and teammate, team sources said.
It's an early chapter in the Luka Doncic (https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/3945274/luka-doncic) story, an origin point for rising distrust and tension between the team's young star and his coach -- and an indication the relationship would have an expiration date.
"He brought a championship to Dallas," Doncic said after a win in Memphis on Dec. 8, "and everybody respects him."
Those are the most extensive comments Doncic, who declined to be interviewed for this story, has made about Carlisle since the coach's resignation from Dallas (https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31654042/rick-carlisle-says-return-dallas-mavericks-coach-13-seasons) in June. Carlisle, now the Indiana Pacers (https://www.espn.com/nba/team/_/name/ind/indiana-pacers)' coach, missed Friday's Mavericks-Pacers game after testing positive for COVID-19.
New coach Jason Kidd and the Mavericks are 27 games into an effort to clear three seasons' worth of dysfunction, disillusionment and blowups that cracked the foundation of a franchise built around a superstar who has yet to win a playoff series.
"It wasn't really about how Rick treated Luka," a Mavs player on the 2018-19 team said. "Luka hated how Rick treated other people."

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32861454/luka-doncic-rick-carlisle-dissolution-their-relationship-comes-next-dallas-mavericks



^

It continues. Long long long story short Rick was threatened by popular assistant coaches, hated Dennis Smith, and treated Luka better than everyone which Luka himself didn’t appreciate.

[RRR3]

Carlisle must really be an ass because I keep hearing he is over and over again. Luka can be annoying sometimes but he sounds like a really good teammate.

[LiLharvard]

So Rick Carlisle was correct - Dennis Smith was and still is a bum.

[90sgoat]

I believe it.

It would explain why Luka has disliked KP from day one as well.

Carlisle was absolutely right though, DSJ was a bum who was jealous of Luka and who created division within the team leading Mavs to have to trade away half the roster.

Carlisle was also right to be hard on this team, in particular Luka.

[red1]

OP you're the GOAT


Im not on here a lot I'll be back when the season starts heating up - I just want to remind you kblaze :applause:

[iamgine]

They should thank Dennis Smith Jr because if they had drafted Donovan Mitchell, they'd likely not be in the position to get Luka Doncic.

[insight]

Why is this story popping up now? Is it to deflect on Luka's recent struggles? Rick Carlise was a offensive genius when Dallas was the highest scoring team in the league now stories emerge he was a brutal dictator even though he is the only coach to win a championship in Dallas.
Who knows, but the timing is fishy.

[BarberSchool]

Without Carlisle, the Mavericks will never set offensive efficiency records again.

Carlisle has his issues in regards to lacking the ability to meaningfully connect with a significant demographic in the league. It’s not his fault, he’s an incredible coach. There are just certain personality types that lots of young, culturally-isolated bamma dudes cannot ever feel comfortable taking direction from. And Carlisle himself can’t all of a sudden add that ability to connect to that demographic, like Phil Jackson could over a :pimp:sesh, or like Poppabitch/Thibbs can just due to sheer brutal honesty and grit, or Snyder can with his yola/hooker/gambling stories.

Carlisle got too much boring science teacher in him, so did Hoiberg, so does Brad Stevens. Them’s the brakes; polite Midwest Protestant america. Until you get more rude, insensitive and more brutally honest like your ancestors, the hood ain’t giving you a certain type of locker room respect.

So back to the Mavericks, As great as Doncic can be, and as much as everyone hoped Kidd would be for him, in terms of adding defensive ability, conditioning, championship influence on more of a peer level than carlisle’s “old man” personality allowed him to translate influence-wise….

….it doesn’t look like this coaching move will make the Mavs better than they could have been under Carlisle.

The Mavs will be a worse team under Kidd.

I expect Doncic to ask for a trade next year.
Sad times for Mavericks fans.

[FireDavidKahn]

Well he was right about Smith,

[BarberSchool]

Well he was right about Smith,
He definitely was.
And very right about Mitchell.
But no matter how much intelligence and foresight and offensive genius and predictive career-trajectory-ceiling-detection genius Carlisle has, he’ll never get his due respect from many.

He’s just too “low sodium saltine”.