Group Eastern Europe Combination Paid $56 Million Luxury Tax and Didn't Make the Playoffs Who should the Lone Ranger hold responsible for the defeat

Although there is still a very small chance of making the play-offs and the flame of hope has not been extinguished, the Lone Ranger decides to blow out the flames himself.

On April 8, Beijing time, in the penultimate game of the regular season, the Lone Ranger only let Luka Doncic play 13 minutes, rotating five main players including Kyrie Irving, and the intention to give up was already obvious. Although the Lone Ranger once established a 15-point advantage, and Kidd said before the game that "all the players on the court will go all out to win", the Lone Ranger still "acted" a wave in the fourth quarter, and finally lost 112-115 at home to the Bulls, officially missing the playoffs.

The lone ranger cannot be blamed for choosing to give up early, this is the most realistic choice. Fate has long been out of their hands, and they must meet the precondition of "winning the last two games and counting on the Thunder to lose" if they want to enter the play-offs. And making the playoffs is likely to come at a huge price, as the Mavericks' 2023 first-round pick is with the Knicks, and in the Porzingis trade, the Mavericks sent the top 10 picks. Once the Mavericks make the playoffs, there's an 80 percent chance that the first-round pick will go to the Knicks.

The Lone Ranger is extremely entangled:

Fight to the last two games, you may still miss the play-offs, but at least there is a high probability of retaining the first-round pick.

Abandoning the last two games, high investment to play the play-offs.

Even, if the Lone Ranger is unlucky, he may have the worst result, not only missing the play-offs, but also suffering bad luck in the lottery draw, and after the 10th pick, watching the Knicks take this first-round pick.

The Lone Ranger chose the second route, giving up play-off hopes, keeping the first-round pick with the best chance, and setting his sights on the offseason and next season.

It was definitely a season for the Lone Ranger, which disappointed them. The Mavericks reached the Western Conference Finals last season, and this season they aim to take it to the next level. The Lone Ranger's record before the trade deadline, although average, is barely a playoff team. After the trade deadline, the Lone Ranger's payouts went up, but his record fell.

After switching to Irving, the Lone Ranger's luxury tax rose to $56.02 million, compared with $29 million before the deal. The last time Mark Cuban paid a luxury tax was back in 2012.

Kuban was generous, but in exchange for all the money, he didn't even hear a sound.

A cruel fact: 9 teams paid the luxury tax this season, and the Mavericks ranked 5th in terms of luxury tax, but only the Lone Ranger, who didn't even make the playoffs.

Who exactly is to blame for this failed season? Failure is the superposition of all problems, not a result of a mistake, and from top to bottom, the Lone Ranger has too many people to take responsibility.

Boss Cuban is responsible.

In recent years, there have been various problems in the management culture of the Lone Ranger, with office sexual harassment scandals and management infighting scandals emerging one after another. When the Lone Ranger was investigated, Cuban prevaricated with the phrase "I had no idea." But as the owner of the team, does Cuban really not know anything about these internal problems? In 2021, the Lone Ranger management shuffled, Cuban made a lot of remedial measures, and donated money to quell the bad impact of the scandal on the team, and changed management, the last two years The Lone Ranger has been bought out to some extent for the problems that arose in the previous management culture.

Managing director Nick Harrison is responsible.

Nelson Jr. left and Harrison became his successor. The Lone Ranger hoped that Harrison could use his connections to help the Lone Ranger introduce big names, but the real big stars did not join, and the Lone Ranger's salary situation was even worse, Harrison blocked the Lone Ranger's salary space one after another, and the team's defense was gone.

Doncic, the core of the team, should be responsible.

Of course, Doncic can use "I played several consecutive seasons in the offseason and have no time off" as a reason, but Doncic's size problems, emotional control problems, defensive problems, each of which are time bombs for the Lone Ranger, I don't know which game and which problem will appear.

Coach Kidd is responsible.

Kidd had said he would help Doncic take the load off through tactical adjustments, but in the end his idea didn't come to fruition. McGee and Wood had high hopes from management, but Kidd didn't use the two pieces of the puzzle well. After Irving joined, Kidd did not take any steps in terms of how to make the Eastern European combination play the effect of 1+1>2.

In the end, you will find that Irving is the one with the least responsibility, which is not to excuse Irving, the so-called "team breaking expert" can only be regarded as a bad terrier in the case of the lone ranger, and various high-level data can also prove that Irving is still good when he is present.

This offseason, the Lone Ranger faces infinite unknowns. Wood will most likely leave, but after he leaves, the lone ranger's salary space is still locked. The Lone Ranger lacks a chance to unpack, Irving extends his contract to stay on the team offseason, and the Lone Ranger has no room to strengthen other positions. Owen leaving? The Lone Rangers are back in Doncic's single-core mode, and they can't bring in stars of the same caliber. The Lone Ranger management claims to strengthen the defense, but what should they take to make up for it? You know, 3D players are the hardest to get in the market.

The Lone Ranger has about an 80% chance of retaining the 2023 first-round pick, but the Mavericks are followed by Hardy and Josh Green waiting to be developed, and they don't have time to develop a rookie. If this first-round pick is kept, how should the Lone Ranger make a trade? What if the Lone Ranger Lotto draw is unlucky and can't stay? And what about them?

Missing the play-offs is not the end of the Lone Ranger's tragedy, but the beginning.