FanHouse DonnieNelson

The D-League today. The NBA tomorrow.

Why not?

If there ever will be a female NBA head coach in my lifetime, I'm thinking Nancy Lieberman has got a shot. Lieberman took the first step toward that Thursday when she was named head coach of the Dallas Mavericks' D-League team in Frisco, Texas, that will begin play next year.

"If I am successful, I'm sure that I will be looked at (by the NBA),'' Lieberman, while on her way to her press conference to be introduced, told FanHouse by phone. "If I'm not successful, I won't be.''

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There's a report this morning -- backed up by an NBA TV talking head last night -- saying Rick Carlisle has been chosen as the next coach of the Dallas Mavericks. We'd accept this as fact if the source weren't Peter Vescey, who in the past week has retracted a column and errantly reported Derrick Coleman needs a heart transplant.

Vescey reports in the New York Post that Carlisle has interviewed with the Knicks on Wednesday, but has since wowed Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson down in Big D. Vescey parroted the same report on NBA TV's postgame festivities last night (via HoopsHype). ESPN.com's Marc Stein (the most plugged-in national reporter when it comes to Dallas) offers Carlisle only as a favorite in the job hunt, one of five candidates Cuban will consider. The Dallas Morning News, for its part, have nothing on the potential hire.

My only concern for the Mavs here: You need some creativity on offense, right? You need a coach who will, at the very least, turn the reins over to Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki and let the points fly, yes? Carlisle spent four seasons in Indiana; here are the Pacers' ranks in leaguewide offensive efficiency each of those seasons, chronologically: 9th, 18th, 21st, 30th. Yep, worst offense in the league in 2006-07. What did Jim O'Brien do with basically the same roster in 2007-08? 19th in the league.

Carlisle can coach defense, and he's not likely to grate on Kidd like Avery Johnson did. But this sure as heck doesn't seem like your typical magical elixir.

There was some confusion last night, so let's clear up what allowed Devean George to block the Jason Kidd trade: George is on a one-year deal, and Dallas has his Bird rights, which means the Mavericks would not be limited by the salary cap in terms of resigning him this summer. If George is traded midseason, Dallas nor New Jersey would have his Bird rights, and George would just be an unrestricted free agent. Thus, he can decline a trade. (Vlad Radmanovic was in a similar situation a few years ago; he could have blocked his trade to the Clippers, but did not. Despite no one having his Bird rights, he got the full midlevel from the Lakers.)

For Devean's Bird rights to matter, he'd need to be a good player. He is making $2 million this year. I think that is a good sign his skills are not in terrible demand around the league. With no Bird rights, any team over the cap can still sign George to either a portion of the midlevel exception (up to about $6 million) or the bi-annual veteran's exception (less than $2 million). Very few teams used their entire midlevel last summer. Even Isiah Thomas didn't use his midlevel! So basically, just about any team who wanted George this summer could pay him a starting salary between $2-6 million.

Devean George will not be getting offers in excess of $6 million a year. The middle of the free agent pack is light this year; I'd expect very few teams to dole out midlevels fast and easy (especially considering the big FA classes of 2009 and 2010). As the Dallas Morning News' Eddie Sefko mentions, this whole debacle could hurt George's earning power in the long run. With his Bird rights intact, that helps only in a) getting an unrestricted offer from Dallas, or b) working out a sign-and-trade with Dallas. Something tells me Donnie Nelson isn't going to rush the get Devean in his preferred locale...

Yes, George has the right to block this thing. And yes, it's Mark Bartelstein's responsibility to do what's best for Devean. But their argument that the trade hurts George in free agency is woefully misguided, and I'd expect them to realize that sometime this weekend.