Rick Carlisle on his Dallas Mavericks: 'We don't play hard all of the time'
Nobody seems to be able to agree as to what’s gone wrong with the Dallas Mavericks.
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There’s no great shame in losing to outfits from Memphis and Phoenix, the Grizzlies have acted as the Western Conference’s second-best team for most of the season, and the Suns could wind up in the postseason even after dealing lead guard Goran Dragic in February. It was how the Mavs lost to those teams, if you’ll pardon the sportswriter-ese, that worries. Dallas came out slow to start the first half of Sunday’s loss to the Suns, half-heartedly stepping through offensive sets, falling down by 17 prior to nearly clawing their way back to a win.
Mavs coach Rick Carlisle was rather direct in his summation of why, exactly, his team fell so hard before righting the ship on Sunday, telling the press that his team doesn’t “play hard all the time,” before putting the onus on reporters to go find out why this appears to be the case.
From Tim Cato at Mavs Moneyball:
“That's a question you have to ask them. I have my theories but I'm not going to air them out publicly," he said. "In terms of the soul of the team, you have to ask those guys."
One reporter who is not afraid to mix it up with Rick Carlisle is ESPN Dallas’ Tim McMahon, who then ventured into the Mavericks’ locker room to find an uncommunicative Monta Ellis, who was coming off of a listless 4-22 shooting night in the loss:
Ellis had nothing to say, refusing to stop to talk to reporters as he exited the locker room with headphones covering his ears. Ellis often bucks NBA rules by blowing off the media, particularly after poor performances.
We haven’t heard much from Ellis lately.
[…]
Regardless of whether anyone will admit it on the record, Ellis is a big part of that problem. Folks in the Mavs organization have been fretting for weeks about the impact Ellis’ moodiness has on the team’s soul.
Now, before you start to think that McMahon is going a little over the top in his reaction to Ellis’ media blow-off, understand that Ellis was absolutely miserable in the loss – missing eight shots in the fourth quarter alone, acting as the lone destructive element even as the Mavs eventually fell to Phoenix. Monta missed all seven of his attempts in the game’s final seven minutes, adding a crucial turnover. Ellis is shooting 38 percent on the month, and 31 percent in fourth quarters as the Mavs have watched as the white-hot San Antonio Spurs ascend back into championship contention, taking Dallas’ sixth seed in the West along the way.
This is part of the reason why Andrew Kreighbaum, writing at Mavs Moneyball, wants Rick Carlisle to sit Ellis when things go pear-shaped:
Whatever the explanation, it should be enough for the Mavericks and Carlisle to question his value as a featured player on the team. Ellis has held down the starting off guard spot since the beginning of last season. But if he can't consistently make shots, make plays for others or defend, he shouldn't be the team's starting shooting guard and he shouldn't be paid like one either. The second point is more relevant to the upcoming offseason, in which Ellis is expected to opt out of the last year of his contract.
For the remaining 11 games of the season, however, his role in closing lineups should reflect his recent struggles. There's no reason Ellis should get a longer leash than the bigger, more athletic and more versatile [Chandler] Parsons, who was benched for most of the fourth quarter against Orlando last week. Whether Ellis continues to start or not is besides the point. He simply shouldn't be in Carlisle's finishing lineup while he continues to play like this.
Carlisle, however, does not want to lean on his go-to guy out for singular criticism:
"Look, this is not a Monta Ellis shooting problem. This is a Dallas Maverick hard play problem. We don't play hard all of the time. That's the problem. It's pretty clear that's where our inconsistency is. That's where we have to get better. We have to be a more together team. I believe that we can do it. We did it in the second half."
Monta Ellis did, for at least part of the second half on Sunday, do “it.” He managed nine points on seven shots while playing the entire third quarter as the Mavs outscored Phoenix 33-19. Those aren’t spectacular numbers, but they’re certainly better than the overall package, which saw Ellis needing 22 shots to score 11 points. Carlisle cited Ellis’ ability to create shots as key for Dallas’ offense, but what’s the point of usage if the ball isn’t going in?
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It’s not going to get any easier for the Mavericks moving forward. The team’s next two games are against that suddenly-dominant Spurs squad, they’ll have to take on two desperate teams in Indiana and Oklahoma City following that, and they have contests against the Warriors, a Rockets team likely featuring Dwight Howard, these same Suns, the Trail Blazers, and the righteous defense of the Utah Jazz before the season wraps up.
Dallas doesn’t have to worry about falling out of the playoff bracket, or even dipping down to the eighth seed, but the Spurs could damn the Mavs to the seventh seed with two wins this week, pairing them up in the first round with a Grizzlies team they have last three of four to this season.
Monta Ellis could be a free agent this summer if he opts out of his $8.7 million contract for next season, something he might decline to do given the likelihood of a significant salary cap rise in 2016. With Rajon Rondo (who most rightfully blame for the Mavericks’ relative dip in offense) likely on his way elsewhere as a free agent this offseason, the Mavs have a whole lot to figure out with a player that is now clashing with his third NBA team.
They’ll have to start by identifying the problem. It’s not a nice thing to agree on, but it has to be a start.
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is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
