The Dallas Mavericks are slumping thanks to Jason Kidd's lack of urgency
The Dallas Mavericks are 2-3 in the last five games, and Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd continues to avoid taking the blame.
DALLAS — Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd is a far cry from the coach he was one season ago. It's concerning.
The Mavericks pushed all of the organization's chips into the table, trading for Kyrie Irving at the trade deadline to replenish offensive help around Luka Doncic following Jalen Brunson's departure for New York last summer. It was supposed to be a move that vaulted the middling Mavericks into contention in a Western Conference that is as wide open as it's ever been in recent memory.
Instead, the Mavericks slumped since adding Irving. He and Doncic have struggled to win close games together. Now they are both injured. And many of the Mavericks' losses with their new dynamic duo come in the form of a familiar story: Blown leads, wayward fourth quarters, and most glaring of all, bad coaching.
The only problem is coach Kidd, ready to admit when players have to play better, won't admit that his coaching hasn't been what it was just a year ago. In the 2022-23 season, he opts for excuses that sound eerily similar to his disappointing seasons in Milwaukee.
Exhibit A:
"Just understand, our health – this is what we have, these are the cards we're dealt," Kidd said following Monday's loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. "Just like anybody in this league, we've got to play with the cards that we had. We played a good half of basketball with a young backcourt that's learning how to play the NBA game. Put that in perspective against a very good defensive team."
The lack of urgency in the message was clear. And if that wasn't enough, his last comment was the cherry on top of the incredibly disappointing stretch for the Mavericks.
"Understand, we're getting better – it's just a matter of whether we can be healthy in time to make a stretch run?" Kidd asked. "If not, that's just the season. No one is dying."
Then insert Wednesday night's glorified G League matchup with the San Antonio Spurs. The Mavericks found a way to nearly blow that game, despite having the ball with one second to go. A turnover gave the Spurs possession back, and Maxi Kleber gave up the basket that sent the game to overtime.
A loss to the tanking Spurs, after leading in the final moments, would have sent the Mavericks' season into a complete tailspin — if it's not already there.
Uncertainty still surrounds when Doncic and Irving will return to the floor. Dallas is running out of games to find consistency between its two stars. And the Mavericks are looking at a play-in situation as opposed to a top-six seed.
And though it's on the players to execute, a good portion of this season's disappointment has to fall on the shoulders of Kidd, who, at every turn, has made an excuse for his coaching while imploring his players to be better.
Queue his "I am not the savior" comments from a few weeks ago.
The NBA is a players league. That is a fact. But great coaching gets the most out of a roster, even when the players don't necessarily fit perfectly together like neat puzzle pieces. Average coaching produces results on par with what someone should expect out of a roster. And bad coaching can take talent and find a way to undermine it.
Yes, the Mavericks haven't been fully healthy. Yet, a 3-6 record when both Doncic and Irving play speaks more to the leadership on the sideline than the lack of on-court execution.
So, yeah, no one is dying — as Kidd said earlier this week. But the Mavericks appear to be slipping into a coma, and the life support machines are being rolled into the room. The rest is a mere formality.
Last season, Kidd's player-first approach was Dallas' biggest strength. Somehow, with the addition of a superstar in Irving, it has become the team's greatest weakness.
