Empty the Bench

By Brian Spencer

Two things we know in the aftermath of this past weekend’s trade between the Dallas Mavericks and Washington Wizards: first, the Dallas Mavericks are serious about competing for a title, now, or at least until the window closes on their core as presently constituted. More on that in a minute.

The second domino to fall in the deal that sent Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, and DeShawn Stevenson to Dallas for cap space and warm bodies is the Wizards’ long-harbored (delusional?) hope that they could be a winner, a contender, hell, even an Eastern Conference powerhouse with a team built around Butler, Antawn Jamison (who’s also on his way out), and Gilbert Arenas, whom you might have heard isn’t having such a great year. The Wiz, finally, conceded it was time to move on, cut bait, shift gears, and plunge into that nebulous NBA void that is “rebuilding.”

They’ll be essentially starting from scratch this summer, armed with ample salary-cap space, draft picks, an $80+ million debt to a player (Arenas) they’ve essentially disowned, and, um… Nick Young, Andray Blatche, and JaVale McGee. Good luck, Ernie Grunfeld. You’ll need it. Depending on how strongly his sales pitch resonates with this elite class of free agents, next year we could see the 2009-10 New Jersey Nets Redux.

But while we all debate the merits and foibles of this trade for both sides, lost in the shuffle are the two head coaches, both still new to these franchises, both relatively well paid, and both with semi-successful track records on their NBA resumes. Many similarities (including stints coaching the Detroit Pistons during their dominant run in the 00s), but now facing totally different challenges.

Much more on the post-trade Mavericks and Wizards after the break…

Now in his second season with the Mavericks, Carlisle has 2 years left on the 4-year, $17.5 million deal he signed in May ’08. He also has 2 more years (after this one) to win it all for an increasingly impatient Mark Cuban and to earn a new deal, if he wants one. Whether the Mavs make one more tweak before Thursday’s deadline or not (and some folks think they might), Cuban green-lighted this move because he feels it vaults his team into serious contention. Forget for a minute whether that’s a legit assessment or not: the boss thinks it’s a power move, so it’s on Carlisle and his players to make it so and prove him right.

We all knew Dirk Nowitzki wasn’t going anywhere, whether he opted out of his current deal or not this summer. Cuban will pay him, and Nowitzki has never given any indication that he’s looking to greener pastures. He remains the most important piece of the puzzle, and he’ll be around. Jason Kidd has 2 more years left on his contract; so does Jason Terry. Butler has 1, Shawn Marion (astoundingly) has 4, and Haywood becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Can they do it? They’re more loaded now than they were last week, and if all goes as planned (keyword “if”), they should push the Nuggets and Jazz for the West’s #2 playoff seed. Beyond that, honestly, who knows. The West is tight this season, again, and again I think it’ll all come down to matchups.

And coaching, maybe?

A Carlisle-coached team has never made it to the NBA Finals, and his teams haven’t made it further than the Conference Semifinals since the Indiana Pacers bowed out to the Detroit Pistons in the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals. This Mavericks team is, arguably and potentially, as talented a team as he’s ever coached. Cuban will be the first one to remind him of that, and this: he wasn’t hired to be a steward. He was hired to win a championship.

It clearly won’t be easy. He will personally be tested; at some point, he will need to outcoach a Jerry Sloan, or a George Karl, or a Phil Jackson. I’ve never considered his ability to make major in-series adjustments a strong suit, but perhaps he’s learned from past mistakes and matured in that area. We’ll find out soon enough.

Meanwhile, in Washington… sorry, Flip. This isn’t what he imagined unfolding when he joined the Wizards last summer on a 4-year, $18 million deal. Taking over a team carrying such high hopes, only to see it sunk by poor play, sabotaged by childish idiocy, and finally, mercifully, dismantled. What’s he left with? A 17-33 record—one which team brass would love to see get worse and worse as they enter the John Wall Sweepstakes—and a pathetic mishmash of veteran has-beens and young might-never-bes. Good times!

Like Carlisle, Saunders was hired to coach his team into championship contention; unlike Carlisle, he won’t get the chance to, at least not for awhile. Oh, job security isn’t really an issue at the moment: he’s just been handed a free pass that might be good not just for this season but also for a few more, but no established NBA head coach would want any part of this poor hand of cards that Saunders has been dealt. We’ve been tough critics of Saunders’ coaching acumen in the past, but he deserves better than this. The only marching orders in Washington are to rebuild, and even that always-murky goal has just now begun.

“Here, Flip: do what you can with Randy Foye, Mike Miller, Josh Howard, and Drew Gooden. Find some minutes for Blatche, Young, and McGee; we kinda sorta want to see what they can do in this less-than-ideal situation. Oh, and by the way, try not to win too many more games while you’re at. Cheers!”

Ugh.

Possibly Related Content:

1. What’s with the Flip Saunders Obsession?


2. The Washington Wizards Have Officially Become the Franchise of Misfit Toys


3. Flip Saunders to Stay with Officially Fired by Detroit Pistons


4. Mark Cuban is a Need4Sheed.com Fan


5. Dominic McGuire a Bright Spot in Washington Wizards’ Dismal Season