The Dallas Mavericks have become like everybody else, except that they're not everybody else. Getting dumped out of the first round is a big deal, and having the Jason Kidd trade go splat is a very big deal as they run out of options for a solution.
The real problem is, it's not just a bad moment. It's a three-year run for the ages of playoff-red asphalt. They blew a 2-0 lead in the 2006 Finals and a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter of Game 3, finished 67-15 the next regular season and lost to the 42-40 Warriors in the '07 opening round, and went 51-31 the next regular season and lost 4-1 to the Hornets in the '08 opening round.
Coach Avery Johnson, predictably, was fired. Any chance of coming off in the sympathetic role as fall guy because players failed to deliver ended the moment the Golden State series began and he changed his starting lineup to match up with the smaller Warriors.
Johnson allowed the huge underdogs to dictate to him.
The news of the moment is that Rick Carlisle, the former Pistons and Pacers coach, will replace Johnson. The real Mavericks development of the offseason, though, is whether they take a hammer to the roster as well, with a new man in charge and a new atmosphere in the locker room but also enough evidence after three seasons of massive letdown to suggest the problem wasn't just on the sideline.
It's just that they don't have many more substantial moves to make...
