star-telegram.com: Randy Galloway

Randy Galloway: Will Rangers manage to mess it up again?

Sun, 11 May 2008 08:17 CDT

By Randy Galloway

Scanning the job security situation in local jockdom, there's some weirdness to consider.

The Mavericks ousted Avery Johnson and now they have hired Avery Johnson. The new guy goes by a different name, but his NBA rap sheet says he's accused of the exact alleged basketball sins that made Avery unacceptable to the Cubans.

The Cowboys, of course, have the head coach in waiting peering daily over the shoulder of the seated head coach.

Meanwhile, the Rangers have in the dugout a dead-skipper-still-walking two seasons into his expected burial, and a manager who last week received one of the strangest "vote of confidence" messages ever uttered anywhere.

Ron Washington, we were told, might or might not have his job security addressed "at the All-Star break [mid-July]."

Congratulations, Mr. Washington. You will survive Mother's Day, Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Father's Day and Independence Day.

Frankly, I'm shocked Washington wasn't gone by May Day.

Owner Tom Hicks admitted last week on Babe Laufenberg's Channel 11 show that a managerial firing had been "very close." By the way, it still is. One long losing streak, even before July, and he can be whacked.

If I'm Ron, however, I'm insulted enough to tell the guy behind that All-Star game quote, general manager Jon Daniels, where to stick it. But that's one of Ron's problems. Apparently, he doesn't tell Daniels where to stick it.

Daniels, for the record, has already admitted he doesn't have the final say on Washington's job. Nolan Ryan will make that call, and while Nolan's patience has been tested, there figures to be a good reason he's moving slowly on Washington, particularly after a gruesome April for the Rangers.

Ryan doesn't have a managerial replacement ready to take over. And he may not until the fall. This time of year, they are hard to find. Plus, Ryan has said repeatedly he wants to be fair in evaluating all team employees. He definitely has been. Too much so, in my opinion.

Two points, however:

(1) Leaving Washington hanging out there is chicken-spit. Nolan needs to either fire this man or guarantee him the full season. Daniels made a youthful GM blunder by going public with a possible execution date. You don't do that!

(2) And if Washington is fired, then please do the right thing and also fire Daniels, who hired Ron, and the way I continually hear it, also calls the shots on roster moves, along with giving the manager orders on who should be in the lineup.

Despite what it looks like from here, and here's what it's looked like the last 18 months:

Ron was the wrong hire to start with; he's way in over his head; and he's simply a yes-man for Daniels.

I've got to admit, Washington amuses me with his survival skills. Actually, I'm about to become a "Wash" fan.

A season ago, he seemed buried by the end of May, only to have a grab-butt collection of talent respond with one of the best records in baseball over the final 3 1/2 months. That saved Washington's job at the time.

But a new season opened in April, with Nolan as the team's new sheriff, and the Rangers were the worst team in baseball for the first month. With, however, another grab-butt collection of talent, the club has suddenly rebounded. They've won five straight series. Good stuff, even if it might only delay the inevitable.

If nothing else, here's what it also looks like from here:

Cuban has an opportunity he can't afford to let pass

Thu, 08 May 2008 12:10 CDT

By RANDY GALLOWAY

Before Mark Cuban does anything stupid -- I'm not being redundant here -- there's one final suggestion that will save him the embarrassment of trying to explain Rick Carlisle.

Go back to Donnie. Make a deal Donnie Nelson cannot refuse this time. Little Nellie turned down the head coaching job last week. I blame Cuban for that, and Dirk, too.

Dirk wants Donnie. Cuban wants Donnie.

Don't men of wealth and power always get what they want? Well, why not this time?

Since Avery Johnson's departure last week, local media rip jobs, particularly in this newspaper, have told us Avery had to go because he did or didn't do this, this and this.

Take that same list of this, this and this, apply them to the NBA coaching career of Carlisle, and this guy makes Avery look as loose and cool as Big Nellie. If you are going to change out a head coach, at least do something drastically different when it comes to personality and philosophy.

Or maybe wait on Coach Pop in San Antonio to be fired Monday once the New Orleans Hornets sweep his Spurs by Sunday. OK, it's a joke. But watching those Spurs get Big Easy chain-sawed in the first two games of that series suggests a much better team ousted the Mavs this time. Ya think?

The truth is, Avery is now in a better place. He's not here. He needed to go. The Mavs needed him to go.

But what about the theory that you hire Carlisle simply because he wants the job, and because the slate of potential candidates is very limited? Ridiculous.

First, anyone who now measures the future of the Mavs against what the Western Conference has become, and still campaigns to work here, then you know he definitely needs a paycheck.

That's what I like the most about Donnie as the next head coach. He was smart enough NOT to want the job. Nobody knows the Mavs better than him. He works here.

Granted, there are those who blame Little Nellie for the franchise's fall from elite status, right along with Avery and Cuban. And that criticism is valid. As president of basketball operations, it is Donnie's job to secure talent, one way or the other, but mainly through the draft or Europe.

About January of this season, the West exploded with better teams who had better talent. The Mavs are now looking at a long line of conference taillights, and that's not going to change anytime soon.

But when a team strings together this many 50-plus win seasons, the drafting odds become limited. Donnie also didn't find the Euro hot shot. But trades? Over the years, either his dad and Cuban, or Avery and Cuban, handled the deals and the free-agent signings.

I'm not giving Donnie a pass. I'm just saying consider all the circumstances.

Now, as a head coach, who knows? But when he served as Big Nellie's assistant, Donnie had his opportunities to sit in the big chair and manage games alone. He has Dad's offensive philosophy, but he's much more defensive-minded.

More than anything, Donnie has Don's personality, and obviously, Avery's hard-driving ways did become an issue here.

But just because he said no last week, did Donnie really mean no?

I talked to him about that. It sounded like he meant it.

But in one last shot, Cuban can offer an open-ended coaching contract, with the stipulation that once Donnie wants off the bench, he is guaranteed the long-term right to return to his current job.

Stars' Morrow is raising the bar for any would-be stars

Sun, 11 May 2008 09:09 CDT

By Randy Galloway

For those not paying attention, for those who will tend to dismiss it with a smug shrug (it's just hockey, who cares?), it might be best if you consider the current case of Brenden Morrow.

Where else around here are you going to find that?

That one player who can personally hoist a team above and beyond all postseason expectations, the one player who not only takes over a playoff game, but a complete playoff series, doing it already not once, but twice...

Shock me, shock even Tom Hicks, the owner who catches so much grief on not one, but two continents (actually, I think they hate Tom more in Liverpool), now actually has a team on a New York football Giants kind of postseason amazement trip.

One disclaimer: What the Stars have accomplished thus far, it's a given this begins with Marty Turco. Pitching, quarterbacking and goalies are where you win or lose.

But for delivering hell, fire and damnation on an opponent, it's been a long while locally -- Cowboys, Mavericks or Rangers included -- since we've seen anything like what Morrow has suddenly become. And the next question is obvious:

Do our other teams have anybody who might be capable of the same?

While disrupting a couple of good hockey clubs (Anaheim and San Jose) with muscle and mayhem, Morrow also repeatedly provides the big-moment scoring touch.

Next up, the conference finals, the last step before the sainted Stanley Cup Finals, begins Thursday night in Detroit. Again, the Stars are a huge underdog.

But the best advice I can give you is:

(1) Watch.

(2) Watch No. 10 in the Stars sweater.

To make it real elementary, Morrow is a forward, or in his case a "power forward." Forwards are on the ice in 3-man shifts. The physical toll is such that ice time is supposed to be 50 seconds a shift. Anything over 60 seconds, and a player is condemned for cheating his team.

Can Morrow take over a game, or a series against the top-seeded Red Wings? That's questionable, but any local sports fan is cheating himself if he's not tuning in for shift after shift involving this guy.

Let's be blunt, but honest. Normally our teams go playoff punk. As underdogs, they don't deliver. As favorites, they choke. The Stars have been involved on both counts, going back to the turn of this century.

But now? Morrow, along with Turco, has provided the long-awaited wow.

And seeing it from Morrow, who in his ninth season with the Stars has never had anything close to this on his résumé, made me wonder if the Cowboys, the Mavericks or the Rangers had the player who some postseason soon can suddenly emerge into a Brenden Morrow.

Maybe. Maybe not.

Actually, the Rangers are the longest shot of all to ever even make the playoffs again, but center fielder Josh Hamilton, with only a brief glimpse thus far, might come the closest to fitting the Morrow profile. And that includes all the players on both the Cowboys and Mavs.

But, of course, Hamilton also has the smallest collection of talent around him, plus Josh is still very green.

Galloway & Hate: Stars shine in Loserville

Tue, 06 May 2008 15:52 CDT

I hate to have to say it, but I didn't tell you so

Wed, 07 May 2008 08:47 CDT

By RANDY GALLOWAY

Rick Carlisle? Give me until Monday to stop laughing if this is actually Mark Cuban's idea of a loose, creative offensive mind for a next head coach.

The Mavericks are an on-going mess that won't be solved by Avery taking the fall, or certainly by the likes of a Carlisle taking over.

But while waiting for Dirk to hire the next head coach, excuse me at the moment for not caring. Bigger personal problems linger.

No place to run, no place to hide, it's not easy being permanently scarred by this gruesome misjudgment from early March:

I loved the Jason Kidd trade.

As my worthless life continues, I've got names and I've got quotes, so don't attempt to use the backdoor exit on this one. Living now in shame, I'm taking everybody down with me.

Avery?

On his way out of town last week, the former Mavericks' coach never came out and said it, but he definitely dropped hints intended to remove his name from the tainted list of those who supported doing the Kidd deal.

My ears go deaf.

Whatever was said, and by whom in Mavsville, it makes no difference. Avery shares the blame, regardless. Certainly he had the power within the organization to simply say "No." Since he didn't -- for whatever reason, it doesn't matter -- then this was a trade that sticks on Avery's portfolio.

Locally, millions now gloat they knew from Day One the Kidd trade was a disaster. I've heard from all of you, and thanks for the ongoing pokes at me with a sharp stick.

My only rebuttal is this: Devin Harris was/is Josh Howard's best friend. That makes him guilty by association.

So with my mistaken approval of Harris being shipped out of town, it was actually an humanitarian gesture. I was trying to save Devin from the dangers of second-hand smoke. Or save his front door from being knocked off the hinges by Dallas SWAT.

Not that you want to hear it, but I do applaud myself (it's the old one-hand clapping joke) for at least admitting a mistake in opinion. Admitted it a good month ago, long before the Mavs make the first-round exit in New Orleans. Admitted I totally blew it for loving the Kidd deal.

Despite being a slow-learner, I do watch the damn games.

Then there's more one-hand clapping by me:

Devin Harris being here was not going to change anything in the Hornets' series. He didn't in the Golden State series. He didn't in the Finals against Miami. This team was on a downward spiral, with or without him.

The Mavericks needed to be blown up a year ago, like within 24 hours of being disgraced by the Warriors. Research will prove I wrote that -- oh, maybe, 50 times.

But it's not like Donnie, Avery, Cuban, etc., disagreed. They had many grand schemes working all last summer and into the fall. Big names such as Kobe and Garnett were involved.

The most telling factor on what the rest of the league thought about the Mavs' talent was when the Timberwolves flat laughed at a package topped by Howard and Harris for Kevin Garnett. The two best young players on the team, including Howard being an All-Star, drew nothing but chuckles from the T-wolves.

Who's next Mavericks' coach? Avery's replacement is up to Dirk

Fri, 02 May 2008 23:27 CDT

By RANDY GALLOWAY

Much speculation swirls on the next head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, and while admitting you won't be reading that name here today, I know where to eventually find out.

Tell me who Dirk wants, and then I will break the news.

OK, Mr. Nowitzki won't exactly be leaking this info to me, but Dirk is the power broker in all this, as he was in the two major Mavericks' moves of 2008.

Jason Kidd is here because Dirk wanted him here, and Mark Cuban, who interestingly enough handled all those trade negotiations, waded though hell, high water and even some leaguewide humiliation to get that done.

As of this week, Avery Johnson is gone as head coach because Dirk wanted him gone.

Look, there is no intention to paint Dirk as some kind of power-crazed assassin. The Big German is good people. He plays hard, plays hurt and believes in a team concept.

Speaking of power-crazed, you can have a Cuban as owner, and you can have a hammer as a head coach, which Avery was, but in a team concept in any sport, your star player had better be happy.

All this current local media garbage about "Avery lost the team" comes down to one thing:

Avery lost Dirk. Nobody else really matters. Avery didn't develop that fine line a coach must have with his star player.

To quote the late, great Gordon Wood of Texas high school coaching fame, "I never had many team rules because my best player might have broken one."

The rules are different when it's a Dirk. In private quarters, Avery was as hard on Dirk as he was, say, on Jason Terry. Maybe you can say he didn't play favorites. But in doing it this way, what had to develop was a partnership between the star and the coach.

Avery might have thought Dirk understood the partnership concept, but it wasn't the case. Word of Dirk's displeasure with Avery went back to almost midseason.

What Avery needed to happen was something like this:

A story out of San Antonio a couple of weeks ago was about the Spurs' final road game of this season in Sacramento. The team was struggling a bit to close the regular season, although there was a win that night.

Coach Pop was displeased, however, with what he had seen. So on the way out of town, Pop told the bus driver to stop. Then he proceeded to unleash a verbal tirade at the team, but a majority of it was aimed right at Tim Duncan.

With most clubs, that would be an extremely risky coaching move. But after immense success and championships, Pop and Tim are partners. Duncan didn't take the tongue-torture in a personal way. And in the first round of the playoffs against the Suns, the Spurs looked like their usual postseason selves.

Because of the collection of rings, maybe comparing San Antonio to the Mavs is a far stretch. Maybe comparing Dirk's personality to Duncan's is also a stretch. But Pop is Avery's mentor and hero. And while Avery's hard-butt ways here came naturally, there is also a lot of Pop mixed in. Pop is a hammer. A hammer with banners hanging from the rafters.

Until, of course, the Mavericks win titles (not you, but your grandchildren may see it), then the star player will have more power here than the head coach. Dirk has that. He used that. And he will be using it again on the hiring of the next head coach.

Suddenly, meaning yesterday, Donnie Nelson's name surfaced. Not a surprise at all, and you can bet he's Dirk's No. 1 choice.

Six weeks ago, after that well-chronicled postgame blowup between Avery and Cuban, I was told Donnie would be the next head coach, moving from the general manager's chair to the bench. Two weeks later, I was told Donnie did NOT want the job.

Avery goes out like a true winner

Thu, 01 May 2008 12:14 CDT

By RANDY GALLOWAY

Here's what I love about Avery Johnson:

Even to the bitter end, knowing his job was on the line, he took no spit from any owner or any player, particularly a stupid weasel like Josh Howard.

Excuse me, but the Averys of the world can inhabit my planet anytime.

Sure, that coach-called-off-practice-but-the- players practiced-anyway scene from earlier this week was totally mis-reported (I'm still intrigued by Roger Clemens' infamous "mis-remembered"), and the local media -- count me as guilty -- looked like fools once the real story broke.

Regardless, Avery turned out to be right.

And speaking of right, so was his firing, or contractual settlement, or both, on Wednesday. Immediate splitsville between Avery and Mark Cuban was the quick, easy and ultimate solution.

Gentlemen, thanks to both of you for making it so simple.

Avery had to go, if nothing else, for his own good, and his own career.

Cuban, for his ego, needed a change. The man, until Wednesday, had never hired or fired a head coach (Don Nelson named Avery as his successor) and Mark, like Jerry Jones, wanted someone willing to provide an ear for his X's and O's ideas.

Big Nellie didn't want to hear him on that subject. Neither did Avery. Much hate happened.

Since Cuban bought the team on Jan. 4, 2000, the Cowboys have had four head coaches and the Rangers four managers. It's easy to see Cuban wanting his own guy as head coach, therefore allowing the owner to put his stamp on all things Maverick, including in-game decisions.

Avery was criticized for being a control freak. It's true. But Cuban is a carbon copy in this area. Actually, there is no bigger control freak than Mark. A personality clash was bound to happen, and did.

Whatever the means of Avery's departure -- fired or a settlement -- he had no gripe coming, and in an interview on local ESPN radio Wednesday, Johnson obviously agreed.

He praised Cuban. With a guaranteed amount of something around $14 million in Avery's hip pocket (for the final three years of the contract), why the heck not?

Johnson's teams won a lot of games here, but they also lost at the wrong time. Lost in the playoffs. Losing at the wrong time on a consistent basis is always a legitimate reason to make a coaching change.

In this case, however, I would change the players, not the coach, but it doesn't work that way, of course. Never has, never will.

Avery is a good head coach, with a chance to be great. He will learn from this experience, learn from his stubborn, hard-butt ways. The first time around for any head coach is always an educational process, and he will be better the second time, which will come by next season, if Johnson decides to jump right back in with a new team.

That's the real prize for Avery. His respect factor in the NBA remains strong, so he can pick and choose his next job, which is interesting, particularly if you read local opinion that Avery was "out-coached" in playoff losses to Pat Riley, Big Nellie and now Byron Scott.

Was he? Or was he "out-playered?"

The perception that Avery has been blessed with great talent is laughable, including the Finals club two years ago. Ask Big Nellie, who left him most of this talent. Outside of Dirk, you will hear a hoot from Nelson, who timed his brilliant exit as soon as possible after Steve Nash jumped to Phoenix.

Galloway & Hate: Wrong back for the Cowboys?

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:37 CDT

Mavericks refuse to play game so necessary to winning

Thu, 01 May 2008 09:21 CDT

By RANDY GALLOWAY

Summer is coming for the Mavericks, coming in a hurry. Like probably within 48 hours.

On the bright side, this early end to the season will mean extra days, weeks and months to work on those beloved jump shots. It was obvious once again Sunday night -- this is a team that needs plenty of perimeter practice.

Meanwhile, Josh Howard can also relax with his smoke of choice -- his radio words last week.

And then there's Avery Johnson, the head coach who almost certainly won't be by next weekend, barring some kind of miracle revival by his team. Big changes are on the way for the Cubans, changes that guarantee nothing, except the Mavs we once knew will be no more.

So much went wrong for the Mavericks in a pivotal Game 4 Sunday night, it's difficult to pinpoint the blame in what was a 97-84 blowout win by the New Orleans Hornets.

But one thing is certain. The Hornets were much the better team in this one, the third time in four games that's been the case. And there's no reason that trend figures to change in an elimination Game 5 on Tuesday night back down south.

In dealing, however, with strictly the facts from Game 4, this we know:

The Hornets don't need Chris Paul to be all-world, not when it comes to beating the Mavs, or even when it comes to doing so under blowout conditions.

Shock me, shock Avery, that Paul could have a docile evening (16 points) and the Hornets still breezed.

It's amazing -- and it's mandatory to also say gutless -- the way the Mavericks can suddenly shrink in heart and in other vital man parts when it comes to the No. 1 rule of playoff basketball:

Either go to the paint or go home.

The Mavericks had that paint payoff with a strong first quarter (14 points inside) and appeared to be picking up right where they left off in the aggressive Game 3 victory Friday night.

But ...

Here came the Js in the second quarter. Jump-jump-jump shots galore. Credit some of this foolishness to the Hornets defensive intensity after trailing by seven points after the first quarter.

Mainly, however, it was a lack of desire to drive the hole by a team that repeatedly over the last three seasons has displayed that same terrible tendency.

Get this:

From late in the first quarter, to near the halfway point in the third, the Mavs did NOT shoot a free throw. Zero, nada, zip. That AWOL stretch at the line went 22 un-bleeping-believable minutes.

If you don't have the desire to drive the hole, then you won't be going to the line. It's an indictment, however, that is ongoing with this group of players.

"We went back to our old habits of not being consistent penetrators," a sad Avery said.

And it's also a team going back to its old habits of getting bounced out of the playoffs at the least likely times, although if it's any consolation, the Hornets winning this series would not be an upset.

Contrary to his nature, Jerry quietly makes safe, 'need' picks

Thu, 01 May 2008 09:21 CDT

By Randy Galloway

IRVING -- At this time of year, the man loves his gambling, rambling image, and definitely has the draft-day scars that go along with the risk-taking.

But on Saturday, Jerry Jones found football religion.

Either that, or Jerry's new acquisition of PacRat Jones has finally scared him straight.

Call it boring, call it safe, or call it accurate long-ranging planning, but the Dallas Cowboys took a first-round April course that had been charted at Valley Ranch going back to early March.

Despite national and even local suggestions that the Cowboys were prepared to make a bold move into the top five of the NFL Draft, or at least the top 10, Jones denied it strongly seven weeks ago.

And what the Cowboys came away with in the first round Saturday -- running back Felix Jones of Arkansas and cornerback Mike Jenkins of South Florida -- were exactly the two positions Jerry had circled in early March.

"Need" positions, by the way, but neither Felix Jones nor Jenkins was a reach, based on every mock draft in the country. Plus, going back seven weeks, Jerry indicated Felix was the Cowboys' top RB choice at that time, based on the 22nd pick.

So, all this suggests what?

Certainly not that it was a successful draft. Give us all a couple of years to make that decision. But with Jerry large and in charge of all things football at Valley Ranch, it can be said he was in tune Saturday with what his scouting department had determined about this draft nearly two months earlier.

If nothing else, the Cowboys ended a three-year run of taking outside linebackers in the first round, and Felix Jones became the first offensive player taken by Dallas in the first round since David LaFleur in 1997. Hopefully, LaFleur's bust status won't bring Felix bad hoodoo voodoo.

But for controversy and disappointment, there was also some of that Saturday. Not much, but some.

The disappointment is Jerry didn't deliver on his "wow" promise, which meant he was attempting to acquire a much-needed veteran wide receiver via trade and was hoping to parlay a deal with one of his two first-rounders. Yet, no Roy Williams (Detroit), no Chad Johnson (Cincinnati) and no Anquan Boldin (Cardinals).

"Still working the phones, however," Jones said Saturday.

Or "wow" could have signaled bulldozing into the top five of the draft to take the top-shelf Arkansas running back, Darren McFadden. Again, Jerry had denied any interest in moving up that far, but when his old pal Al Davis landed McFadden with the fourth pick, you could somehow picture Jerry making an immediate call to Oakland.

But for anything of that nature to happen, Jerry said, Davis "would have had to make the first call." Al wasn't interested, even if Jerry possibly might have been tempted.

Asked if there was any temptation or opportunity to move into the top 10, Jones' answer was "no." But he indicated he had been working last week on a three-team transaction "just in case."

For mild controversy, the Cowboys found the right kind when it came time to pull the trigger on the 22nd pick.

Felix Jones was there, as expected, but due to slippage, so was Rashard Mendenhall out of Illinois, who outranked Felix Jones on most draft boards. Two totally different RBs, for sure, with Felix the breakaway, speed threat and Mendenhall the Marion Barber type of bruiser.

"Felix Jones gave us dimensions we didn't have," said coach Wade Phillips, who shared the draft-day podium with Jerry.

That explanation makes football sense, particularly in a shared running back situation. But Mendenhall is considered more of an every-down back, unlike Felix.