The Dallas Mavericks are in a bit of a hole right now. Barely one day after it was announced that the team had parted ways with the now-former general manager and president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson, it has now been reported that Rick Carlisle is also stepping down as the Mavs head coach.
Apparently, Luka Doncic may have had a lot to do with this recent development. As it turns out, the Mavs superstar did not exactly have the best of relationships with Carlisle. So much so, that Doncic once shouted at his coach during a game. This revelation was made by ESPN's NBA insider Zach Lowe in a recent episode of his podcast, The Lowe Post:
Luka yelled at Carlisle in the middle of a game once “who’s in charge, you or Bob?”
— Azaz (@AzazNYK) June 17, 2021
In this particular exchange, Doncic was referring to Bob Voulgaris who currently serves as the Mavs' Director of Quantitative Research and Development. It seems odd to think that — as Luka implied in his statement above — a guy in Voulgaris' role has such a significant say in the day-to-day operations of the team. Then again, it looks like the hierarchy and the associated roles within the Mavs organization isn't exactly well-defined:
“Here’s the thing you have to understand about the Mavericks….Marc Cuban makes all the basketball decisions”-@espn_macmahon
— Azaz (@AzazNYK) June 17, 2021
Says he’s basically the President of bball ops for all purposes and Donnie Nelson/Voulgaris etc are just diff people in the organization whose influence over him comes and goes. And that to be blunt “Voulgaris is very arrogant”, widely disliked within the org and by players.
— Azaz (@AzazNYK) June 17, 2021
It doesn't come as a surprise that team owner Marc Cuban is the one calling all the shots within the team. It's clear to see that he's heavily involved in the decision-making process within the organization, and based on these reports, it appears that he has a tendency to micr0-manage.
The last bit about Voulgaris is also something worth noting. The fact that he's rumored to be disliked within the organization, but is somehow still able to hold his position is certainly something that speaks volumes of his relationship with Cuban.
Whatever the case may be, what we can say for sure is that the Mavs are not in a very good place right now. More changes within the organization might be forthcoming.
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