The Short List

DB.com Scoop: It's Carlisle, D'Antoni, JVG

Mike Fisher -- DB.com

The Mavs have quickly narrowed their search for Avery's heir as the next “Miracle Worker’’ to a three-candidate short list featuring Rick Carlisle, Mike D’Antoni and the reluctant Jeff Van Gundy, according to information acquired exclusively by DallasBasketball.com late Thursday.

Phoenix’ D’Antoni is the only one of the veteran NBA coaches with a team. But despite reports in the Arizona papers that he’s “planning to meet with Suns officials’’ on Friday, we’ve confirmed SI’s initial report: D’Antoni will soon be free to interview with the Mavs and elsewhere.

Assorted other facts from the  shakedown-and-search that you’ll read only on DallasBasketball.com:

ITEM: Carlisle is likely to be first up in the interview process. The Mavs are concerned about the former Pistons and Pacers coach’s reputation as a guy who can quickly burn out a team; in terms of his grinding style, he is somewhat Avery-like. If the Mavs settle on him, they will try to do so with a shorter-term contract (say, two years rather than four years), believing that his defense-first approach can be helpful but will have a short shelf life.

ITEM: Van Gundy, of late a popular ABC analyst, is a classic defense-first candidate but has been successful in various venues and with various personnel. He is infinitely more astute when it comes to the intricacies of the game than Avery, and the Mavs think he could combine a “taskmaster’’ approach with a rather lovable personality. There are reports that he is not interested in returning to the sideline; some in the Mavs organization believe he’ll at least visit unofficial with Cuban before closing that door.

ITEM: Very important to note: If you survey Mavs insiders as to which of the three is “the best pure coach,’’ Jeff Van Gundy is your winner.

ITEM: Very important to note II: This ain’t JVG’s first rodeo. Feigning disinterest might be a handy negotiating tactic.

ITEM: As of Thursday night, D’Antoni  privately knew his fate. So did the Mavs. And so did we: Despite winning 58 games a year in Phoenix, they’ve parted ways. It may even cost D’Antoni money to buy his way out of the desert, but his bags are packed; $8.5 mil hangs in the balance. But he's done. Book it. Because the Mavs have.

ITEM: D’Antoni’s presence on the short list, why intriguing and undeniably sexy, is curious in two ways: 1) Dallas GM Donnie Nelson is on record as saying the Mavs don’t want a coach focused on “scoring 140 points a game,’’  and if he wasn’t talking about D’Antoni, we can’t figure out who else he could have meant. 2) Dirk has said publicly and privately that he would prefer to not return to “NellieBall,’’ that the Mavs need more balance than that.

As Dirk told the media: "We've got to bring a coach in that brings the best out of what he's got here. Open up the offense a lot more, run ... but still a guy that knows how to coach defense. Basically you don't want to go back to the Nellie days where we just run-and-gun and have fun and get scored on every time down."

We would argue – and so will Mike, when he interviews here – that his shift in style when Shaq came to town is evidence that he’s more than just a run-and-gun guy.

ITEM: More on D’Antoni: There might be wisdom in him wanting the Chicago job over the Dallas job. Consider the demands: If the Bulls (who have young talent) win 50, he’ll win Coach of the Year and be a contender in the East. If the Mavs (who have older talent) win 50, he’ll be considered a lukewarm success as a second-tier seed. D’Antoni has advisors who are understandably steering him to Chicago. Meanwhile, the Colangelo connection could lure him to Toronto.

ITEM: One more important D’Antoni note: At some point during this process, Dirk Nowitzki will seek the opinion of Steve Nash, and will pass that knowledge on to Cuban. No, the inmates aren’t running the asylum. But this is an information-gathering business, and if Nash can’t give D’Antoni a high grade, would you hire him?

ITEM: There is an unlikely wildcard in here somewhere: Mark Jackson. The Mavs believe the Knicks job is his to lose. But if for some reason he turns down the opportunity to take over his hometown team, and Dallas hasn’t filled the vacancy, they could speak to Jackson. His downside: For all the hubbub surrounding the ABC analyst, he’s never coached before. The Mavs are very uncomfortable with the idea of hiring an “Avery Jr.,’’ a guy who – no matter how promising – will need on-the-job training.

ITEM: A different sort of wildcard: Del Harris. He’s not a candidate to become the Mavs’ head coach; Cuban believes his players need to hear a completely different voice than anybody who has been associated with Avery’s staffs. But he is willing to join the staff of whichever man lands the job, and he does have friendly relationships with all three of the short-listers, Van Gundy, D’Antoni and Carlisle. Of those three, D’Antoni seems the most likely to want to bring in his own brand-new staff. If that’s the case, Harris can, if he desires, remain upstairs as a “consultant for life’’ to the team.

ITEM: As we understand it, Del Harris sent an email to three news outlets: ESPN, the Dallas Morning News and DallasBasketball.com.  (We’re humbled!) In the missive he wrote, "I will be looking to be more active in coaching next year somewhere in the NBA. Having said that, while I would like to try head coaching again, I do not think that changing roles from assistant to head coaching here in Dallas would be in my or the Mavs' best interests. My entire relationship with players would have to change, and I have found that to be a difficult proposition in the past."

ITEM: Harris has another opportunity out there somewhere with another team. We don’t know the details of that opportunity, but we do know that Cuban will offer the moon and the stars to retain “The Professor’’ in some capacity. We also know that Del wants back in, if he is wanted. And finally, we also know that everyone in the NBA agrees that if the new head coach in Dallas wants Del as a “defensive coordinator,’’ he’s ideal – and that if he wants him as an “offensive coordinator,’’ he’s ideal for that, too.

Still, we read his email as a hint that there might be something out there somewhere in the NBA. And we say that Del should be on the short list of that mystery team.

ITEM: We’re not sure why we need to continue clarifying this, but here goes: Avery Johnson joined Mark Cuban as being 100-percent in favor of the acquisition of Jason Kidd. ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT. Our sources tell us that Del Harris voiced some concern over “giving up too much young talent’’ in Devin Harris and ‘Gana Diop, and that Donnie fought hard against losing Diop. Donnie has since done the correct/politically-correct thing and taken responsibility by saying the Triangle of Authority was “unanimous’’ in favor of the Kidd trade. (Good for him.) Avery, of course, has shown his flaws as a manager by distancing himself from his support, and from the truth. (Bad for him.)

Here's what the Dallas braintrust thought then, and thinks now: The Mavs took a big swing. They gave up two quality players in their mid-20’s and they gave up two first-rounders. That’s a way to get good fast, and/or a way to get old fast. There is an argument to be made (and it was made, in-house) that a short-term commitment to Sam Cassell as Devin’s backup would have been wiser. But in the end, every single person in this organization – especially Avery – signed off on Kidd and understood the ramifications.

And now, Cuban, Nelson and company are committed to going forward with KIDDIRK, Josh and Bass as the core. “They are in their prime, and they are prime-time,’’  said one source, who assures DallasBasketball.com that the organization still believes in Josh Howard “as a good person.’’

ITEM: A P.S. to Avery’s after-the-fact love for Devin Harris’s game: Somewhere around here, DB.com has Devin’s cellphone number. We’re dying to ask him if he knew that he “was like a son’’ to Avery and that Avery was against dealing him.

ITEM: Mavs management is disappointed in assistant Paul Westphal’s inability to inject any influence on the staff or on the team. Avery blocked him from doing so, therefore it is ironic that he will be dismissed as part of “Avery’s staff’’ and “Avery’s failure.’’  In fact, Westphal was the brainchild of Donnie, who’d known him during successful seasons in Phoenix. None of that translated here.

Westphal apparently told some in the media that he was “removing his name’’ from the list of Mavs candidates. Paul has the right to save face, we suppose.

ITEM: Flip Saunders of Detroit and Eddie Jordan of Washington are not on the Mavs’ short list at this time. Dallas’ braintrust works on the assumption that they won’t be available – no, not even Jordan, who is in conflict with GM Ernie Grunfeld and is a Kidd guy from way back. In one conversation with other NBA execs, Grunfeld recently said a GM and a coach don’t have to like each other; the Mavs are taking stock in that remark and not spending too much time anticipating Jordan’s availability.

When Donnie Nelson talks of “taking his time,’’ though, we assume he’s got one eye on these situations.

ITEM: What of the rest of the staff beyond Westphal? Said Avery: “I know those men on my staff this year, Paul Westphal, Joe Prunty is up-and-coming, Mario Ellie, Popeye Jones. … if Mark wants to keep any of those guys in a head coach or as coach capacity, I would be in favor of it.’’

The quote is meant to be polite, but it may also demonstrate how out of touch Avery is with reality. Westphal is very gone. Prunty is Avery’s guy, and while he might be the next Lawrence Frank, that seems a ways off. (We believe Avery’s first hire at what he assumes will be an inevitable job offer will be Joe.) Elle has a future in coaching, but the new head coach will have to have ties with him to keep him. (Van Gundy and Elle may be Houstonian enough to make that work.) Popeye may be enough of a “MFFL’’ to retain a position in some capacity.

ITEM: Mark Cuban is leaving no doubt as to his focus. In an email to the DMNews, he wrote: "I can spend time talking, or I can spend time doing. I prefer doing. Which is exactly what Donnie and I are doing." Translated: We’ve got all summer for press conferences. He's got his various business interests (and apparently looooves Cubs baseball), but there is a sense of urgency to hire a coach.

ITEM: Our man “Stereolith’’ and the rest of The 75-Member Staff will be flattered to know that many members of the Mavs organization are getting a big kick out of DB.com’s “The Miracle Worker’’ graphic. At the same time, they are shaking their heads at the Avery Johnson behavior that begged to be parodied.

ITEM: Though we are reminded that Mark Cuban once engaged in a friendly flirtation with Pat Riley, we get no indication that he is a serious candidate for the post.

ITEM: Speaking of Cuban, and his learning process: There will be no Nellie-like future tussle with Avery over money. As we suggested Thursday, Avery gets a $12 mil severance. But if Avery takes another job, Cuban will only have to pay him the difference between his new salary and his old severance.

ITEM: Whichever media member insisted that Cuban’s ties with Indiana University combined with Dallas’ proximity to Lubbock mean that the Mavs will hire Bobby Knight should have his press pass revoked.

No, better. He should be shot – ideally, by the hunter-who-couldn’-shoot-straight Knight himself. 

ITEM: ESPN’s Marc Stein (terrific in his work on this story) is correct in noting that Cuban toyed with the idea of Donnie Nelson as head coach. Nelson, though, is no dummy. For one thing, he’s needed as much in the front office as he is needed on the bench. And two, coaches in this league get burned out faster and get fired faster than GMs.

ITEM: Avery Johnson is absolutely convinced that he can be a head coach next year. We don’t see him in Phoenix, we think D’Antoni and Mark Jackson can beat him out in Chicago and New York respectively, and we wonder if other teams will see him as an upgrade over incumbants. But his former employers in Dallas echo Avery’s confident sentiment. So we’ll not bet against it.

ITEM: If the Dallas search drags at some point, look for the name of Mike Fratello to be floated. Not hired. Just floated. He’s not on the short list – but maybe the best way of saying it is that “The Czar of the Telestrator,’’ who once made his name on defense but for quite some time has made his name on TV, is on the “emergency list.’’

ITEM: With some dust having settled as we prepare to file this story at 2:35 a.m. Friday, we are left with the distinct impression that we should get to know Richard Preston Carlisle.

Carlisle is not the idea replacement for Avery, if you accept our belief that “taskmasters’’ should be replaced by “lovable uncles,’’ and vice-versa. He is, however, a high-energy guy, a young guy at 47, who in two seasons in Detroit went 100-64 and won NBA Coach of the Year honors. (For what that’s worth.)  He was fired in favor of Larry Brown (who won a title with “Carlisle’s team’’) and immediately moved  to Indiana, where he led the team to a 61-21 record before losing to the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals. Then in Indiana came injuries to Jermaine O'Neal, the retirement of Reggie Miller and the bizarre challenges of coaching Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson, which culminated in the 2006 Pistons-Pacers brawl and Carlisle’s departure from Indy the next season.

 Carlisle sat the bench on a Bird-led Celtics title team, is a protégé of Chuck Daly, and in his TV work this season for ESPN came across as knowledgeable and affable.

ITEM: Donnie Nelson is spearheading the search, and to some degree is “keeping his powder dry (to use JerryJonesSpeak.) That means being open-minded enough to watch the playoffs unfold, to consider options beyond the definition described, to be prepared if D’Antoni falls in love with an “easier’’ job in Chicago and if JVG opts to bite his fingernails on TV. That would leave Rick Carlisle, a short-term contract offer, and. … some Plan B’s the Mavs do not want to have to use.

233am april 2 2008