By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
      It was an unusual and probably coincidental aligning of the stars: On the same night that Dirk Nowitzki addressed Don Nelson-related conflicts in the Mavs organization, Miami Heat boss Pat Riley addressed rumors about someday being Nellie’s successor.
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      The stories of Riley and Mavs owner Mark Cuban communicating were crushed by DallasBasketball.com long ago; outside the context of the two of them being in the same gyms for games between their teams, Cuban and Riley have literally never spoken. But if the Sam Smiths of the yellowing world of journalism want more grist for their fantasy mill, they’ve got it – courtesy of Dallas’ recent play and Dirk Nowitzki’s analysis of it.
      Even after Sunday’s 118-88 win at Orlando, Dirk was still in an emotional funk over a five-game road trip that ended with the club managing to win just two games.
      It's been a disaster," Nowitzki said.
      Still, any stories of major changes at this point are premature. Hey, we’re not even buying as a long-term commitment Nellie’s promise to play SmallBall as he did against Orlando, so how are we going to give any credence at this time to something as major as a change in coach/GM?
      As Riley said on Friday as the Mavs were preparing to play the Heat, "It is absolutely irresponsible journalism. If anybody throws my name out there, like that, for any team, any organization, it's absolutely irresponsible and it's wrong. It's irresponsible because there's nothing to it, absolutely nothing to it. I have to deal with it, we have to deal with it, but when my owner looks at it, he's wondering and it's not fair."
      Riley has a year left on his contract to run Miami’s front office. Nelson has a long-term commitment to coach and then to also be part of the Mavs’ front office.
      The stories of contact between the Mavs and Riley were wrong a few months ago. The regurgitation of those stories is wrong now.
      But that doesn’t mean such a thought is without future merit.
      Nowitzki called for “change’’ of some sort. If change of attitude among the players is enough to make the Mavs the title contenders they should be, terrific. If people finally wake up to realize that Nick Van Exel is suddenly being elevated to godlike status in his absence, and that he was flawed, too, and that there are other people on this roster more than capable of saying ‘F ‘Em!,’ that’d be terrific, too.
      But we’re not changing too many bodies on this roster. And we’re not changing owners.
      That leaves Nellie – and, should the Mavs not fix this thing, it leaves a coming media volcano of potential replacement names, Riley’s simply being the first fireball.
      Because what if Nellie has reached the point – as most coaches eventually do – where he’s pushing all the buttons he can push and still got receiving the desired effect?
      Mark Cuban is too smart to concern himself with this issue at this time. He’s got a good horse in Nellie, and he needs to ride him. … at least to this year’s finish line.
      This organization has a history of making the mistake of “anointing’’ future coaches – from Kip Motta to Brad Davis to Donnie Nelson to Sidney Moncrief and now to Avery Johnson – a silly concept given that it takes away from the work that must be done by the people presently in charge.
      There will be a time and a place to consider the futures of Nellie, Riley, Avery, whomever. That time might be coming. But that time is not now.