You know those semi-inspirational quotes you see floating around social media occasionally? They sort of make sense, but they are mostly nonsense. They are always attributed to a person who definitely didn’t say it. They reach for profundity, but they mostly end up ringing a little hollow.
I’m thinking of that one that goes “luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity” or whatever. It’s the sort of thing basketball coaches/commentators love to say to emphasize the value of hard work and get players out of the habit of blaming bad bounces or calls. It means well, but it’s meaningless.
That has been ringing in my head ever since news broke about Kyrie Irving’s torn ACL. If luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity, what exactly is happening to the Dallas Mavericks?
Bad luck – at least bad luck on this scale – is what happens when unspeakable arrogance meets impossible ineptitude.
Did Kyrie Irving tear his ACL because of the Luka Doncic trade? No, but.
Did Anthony Davis injure his adductor in the middle of his Dallas debut because of the Luka Doncic trade? No, but.
Did Dereck Lively, Daniel Gafford, PJ Washington (am I missing anyone??) get injured because of the Luka Doncic trade?
You see where I’m going with this.
Something awful is happening in this organization right now. Injuries happen in all professional sports. It’s part of it. But it seems ironic at the very least that the organization that had such a problem with its star player’s conditioning/training habits can’t seem to keep anyone on the court for an extended period.
Hey, maybe it’s bad luck – a lot of bad luck.
But it’s not “unlucky” to announce a significant increase to its season ticket prices at a moment when trust in the front office is at an all-time low. It’s not “unlucky” to screw up the team’s local television rights and lose out on tens of millions of dollars.
It’s not “unlucky” to trade freaking Luka Doncic!
We don’t need to relitigate the trade here. It was already a terrible trade before Doncic quickly turned the Los Angeles Lakers into a stealth title contender and extended LeBron James’ already unprecedented late prime another couple seasons. What we have here is a franchise that seems incapable of understanding what fans want out of following sports in the first place.
Fandom is not a given. A professional sports franchise has to give people reasons to support it. Younger fans do not form the same allegiances to teams as they do individual players. I don’t live in Dallas, but I do know how kids follow basketball. They pick players, and then teams (based on the players). My son would ditch the Denver Nuggets in two seconds if they traded Nikola Jokic. Frankly, so would I.
The Lakers don’t need more fans, but Nico Harrison and the Dallas ownership group gave them an entire generation’s worth in exchange for Anthony Davis and Max Christie. Hope it was worth it.
As for that season-ticket hike, I truly can’t think of a more antagonizing thing to do to your already deeply antagonized fanbase. I don’t like rooting for anyone’s failure, but I do enjoy seeing consequences for staggering idiocy.
And 1’s:
• Are you excited for the MVP Bowl this weekend? Sunday/Monday, back-to-back games in Oklahoma City, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic going head-to-head for the sport’s biggest individual award. Obviously, it is insanely reductive to boil an entire 82-game race into two games, but I bet that is what most voters end up doing. SGA seems to have a slight edge in the public opinion polling, but my (admittedly biased) take is that Jokic is by far, without question, the single most important basketball player on Earth in terms of the value he adds to a roster. SGA is phenomenal – a deserving winner – but his team is loaded. I firmly believe Jokic could take any roster of NBA players – yes maybe even the Wizards – and have them fighting for a playoff spot. Either way, I can’t wait to see what happens in these two games.
• What’s going to happen at Arizona State? Bobby Hurley’s seat is hotter than a Sun Devil right now, but the program is looking at a significant cash infusion from James Harden’s increased interest in NIL activities and what that could mean for recruiting, both now and down the road. This is a program that should not struggle as badly as it does. If Hurley ends up on the outs, this is a prime job for any up-and-coming coaching prospect.
• This draft is so deep, y’all. Even if one of these NBA bottom-feeders ends up missing out on Cooper Flagg or the two Rutgers studs (Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey), they have to feel good ending up with VJ Edgecombe. There is no doubt in my mind that Edgecombe would have gone No. 1 last year and would be contending for the Rookie of the Year award. He has crazy springs and incredible quickness. He comps favorably to Jalen Green in my eyes.
