Haralabos Voulgaris, a well-known sports gambler who was hired by the Mavericks in 2018 as the team’s director of quantitative research and development, has gained an outsized influence in the front office, Tim Cato and Sam Amick write in a fascinating new report for The Athletic.
Multiple team and league sources tell Cato and Amick that Voulgaris has either initiated or approved virtually every one of Dallas’ roster moves within the last two years and has had input on Rick Carlisle‘s lineups and rotations. Although president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson continued to take the lead on major transactions, Voulgaris’ influence has been virtually on par with Nelson’s, The Athletic duo suggests.
“We had two general managers,” one team source told Cato and Amick.
Voulgaris’ relationship with team owner Mark Cuban paved the way for him to become a significant voice in the Mavs’ front office, and Cuban told The Athletic that he “really” likes what Voulgaris brings to the table, downplaying the idea that he has more influence than “any other data source on the team.” However, Voulgaris’ personality and decision-making has bothered other members of the front office during his tenure with the club.
“What did (he) sell to Mark to make him believe (he) can do this? Nobody knows,” one source with “intimate knowledge” of the situation told The Athletic. That same source added: “He doesn’t know how to talk to people.”
Earlier this year, Voulgaris appeared poised to gain further control in the front office, but now his contract is set to expire and his future with the Mavs is uncertain, according to Cato and Amick. One major factor the team must consider is the fact that superstar Luka Doncic doesn’t seem to be on particular good terms with Voulgaris — The Athletic’s report describes the pair as having a “strained relationship.”
Here’s more on the Mavs:
- Cato and Amick point to the 2020 draft as a “particularly egregious example” of Voulgaris’ front office power, reporting that members of the scouting department – who were part of the team’s war room via Zoom – were surprised when they weren’t consulted for the Mavs’ selections of Josh Green and Tyrell Terry. The club’s scouts disagreed with Voulgaris on at least one of those players, per The Athletic.
- Despite the fact that Doncic isn’t on great terms with some members of the Mavericks organization, including Voulgaris, the two-time All-Star has a “healthy relationship” with the organization at large, per Cato and Amick. Multiple sources tell The Athletic that Luka intends to sign a super-max contract extension with the Mavs once he’s eligible this offseason. Still, the franchise is starting to feel some urgency to upgrade the roster to make it a legit title contender, and to ensure Doncic will want to stick around beyond his second contract.
- Some of Cato’s and Amick’s sources were surprised to see Cuban publicly endorse head coach Rick Carlisle so quickly – and so forcefully – after Dallas’ first-round exit. According to The Athletic’s report, there was a sense during the season that Carlisle’s future might be in the air beyond this season, and that some players were frustrated with his rotation decisions. However, Carlisle proved to be adaptable and made modifications to relieve that tension, presumably giving the Mavs the confidence to stick with him going forward.
Carlisle rubs a lot of players the wrong way, but you can’t deny his qualifications. Unless Luka says he won’t sign the supermax without a new coach, Carlisle has at least another season. But this Voulgaris guy is toast – if Luka doesn’t like you, you’re out.
Carlisle didn’t do bad with Luka + a bunch of role players, but Dallas has got to find a way to trade “the unicorn” this offseason . Either turn him into a better player (seems highly unlikely to me) or turn him into draft assets they can use in other trades.
Carlise is one of the best coaches in a league where coaches make little difference.
Luka staying will depend more on talent around him vs. coaching and FO
Turning Porzingas into a better player when he turned a season of 20 and 9 on a .476/.376/.855 does seem highly unlikely. Few bugs put up those kind of numbers.
Like I said, seems highly unlikely. But they could have sat him and done about as well this year, which means he’s more valuable traded than on the team.
Luka will sign the max, then request a trade about a year into it.
The good ol’ Captain Jack move
Eh. Where would he want to go?
The usual suspects are LA and NY. But LA has LeBron and AD. And NY has the worst ownership in the league, along with a coach that burns out his players.
You can make a pretty good case for Denver (Jokic and Doncic are close friends) , Milwaukee (Giannis would be as good as a compliment to Luka as AD is to LeBron), and of course you can name all the fun spots like Brooklyn or Miami or LA (Clippers), but those would all be lateral moves or worse.
Meanwhile, he’s got a great owner and a solid coach in Dallas, he’s the king of his current team, and he’s still building up his brand. The smart money is to stay in Dallas a few years, no?
Owners heavily involved in personnel decisions will get you every time. No matter the team, no matter the sport.
Winning heals all wounds. Get Luka a couple spot-up shooters that don’t have broken wheels and you’re good.
When a team puts something like this out there it usually means they’re about to fire the guy. And that’s all it usually means. Teams need to do their table setting work, but its not required that others rise to the bait. I don’t know who this clown is, or how influential he REALLY is within the organization. Sounds more like a Cuban party buddy, who’s smarts of a nature that they’re more likely to make him annoying than influential. Certainly, he’s not as influential as the FO person (or owner) who authorized putting this stuff out there.
Ever wonder how paywalls get their eyeballs. Certainly, by writing about shadowly characters and innuendos.
Josh Green was actually a fit for them, and I thought Terry would potentially go to Orlando earlier in the 1st round, but I had them taking Paul Reed in that first pick of the 2nd round, and there were multiple pieces at that position available there. They did also end up grabbing Tyler Bey though, and Green and Bey were the 2 main fits I had to them at 18, so I thought they had a strong draft
The fact this guy had effect on rotations answers my earlier questions about uncharacteristic things we saw from Carlisle, so I stand by my belief that Carlisle is usually one of the best coaches in the league
Why do you keep talking about who you were going to pick? You’re not a consensus to compare against, if that was it.
I think you’re guessing Carlisle would have done it your way without Vulgaris. That darn Vulgaris. But the source does not say.
I doubt a successful gambler would advocate relying on rookies but, no specifics reported.
Rick Carlisle has to go.
Luka holding the ball for 90% of the time for the MAVS, won’t cut it for them in the playoffs.
That is true. Cant run isolation, and such a perimeter based, flat offense. That has been an issue for many teams, like Toronto before Kawhi, Portland, OKC before KD left, etc. They need to get easier baskets in half court situations, outside of using someone like Boban. Getting Porzingis catches closer to the rim needs to happen. I’m not sure if that’s entirely on Carlisle. He knows those things, although his rotation decisions were questionable this season, and in the matchup against the Clippers. That being said, there might not have been trust in their young guys, which may have been the reason for that, but that then brings the question where if that’s true, they probably shouldnt have moved James Johnson and Wes Iwundu for guys that didnt play
Mike, this is why I would like to see Hardaway replaced. Surrounding the star with shooters, like so many seem to like, is not enough.
For instance, The Cavs with LJ traded for Korver then went nuts trying to avoid the star+4shooters syndrome and did not play Korver as planned.
I seem to agree with formerlyz in questioning this tactic. Looks fine if it works lol.
Iwundu & JJohnson were traded for Melli & Redick, but they did not help either. Is this trade to be credited to Valgoris too?
About Voulgaris… Sounds like a Cuban idea, to bring onboard someone he has a hunch on. He may be as smart as he probably advertises, but… The article had the quote “He doesn’t know how to talk to people”. So that makes him doomed I guess. What a name for dubious fame.
Green and Terry have not played enough to judge, but I bet Voulgaris is a PAC12 fan.
The funny thing is that Voulgaris is probably MUCH better at making personnel decisions than the vast majority of traditional “eye test” and “instinct” types who usually manage NBA rosters, yet suspicion is directed at him because he’s different from the norm. He famously predicted the 67-15 Mavs’ 1st-round loss to the 41-41 Warriors many years ago & bet millions of dollars on that outcome. I’ve heard other analysis and commentary by him that seemed very well reasoned and logical. He’s not just some gambler that Cuban claims is a genius, he’s legitimately super-smart and he tests and refines his analysis by tracking the results and (before being employed by a NBA team) betting large amounts of money. Maybe he has personality issues that come out in private interactions, but I’ve listened to him talk about both poker and basketball at some length and he seemed entirely reasonable and calm in those settings. My guess is that this was a planned leak by somebody in a power struggle with Voulgaris. After all, articles like this are almost never the result of organic, widespread dissatisfaction bubbling up and spilling over into the press… they usually come from a single, disgruntled source with an agenda to push. All you need to understand to know that the article is taking sides is that Voulgaris was a very successful high-stakes poker player and advantage bettor. The latter term refers to somebody who spots and exploits suboptimal betting lines, such as in that Mavs/Warriors series. Very few people do this successfully. Vegas oddsmakers are good at their jobs & the “juice” handicaps bettors significantly. (Juice AKA vigorish or vig = the extra cost of placing the bet that gives the sportsbook a comfortable profit margin and, of course, does exactly the opposite for bettors. For example, if two teams are considered equally likely to win a game, it’s common for bettors to still have to risk $115 to win $100… this makes it VERY hard, almost impossible, really, for casual gamblers to make money betting sports in the long run.) When an article refers to somebody smart and disciplined enough to make millions of dollars beating this system as if that person is just an eccentric rich guy who is enjoys gambling, don’t trust anything else in the article. I’m not saying Voulgaris is necessarily right about basketball decisions or that he’s not abrasive in private… I have no personal knowledge on either question. However, the way this article frames him is totally wrong & the odds that whoever is feuding with him (or the writer) could match his success at predicting basketball games is virtually zero.
Mike, this is why I would like to see Hardaway replaced. Surrounding the star with shooters, like so many seem to like, is not enough.
For instance, The Cavs with LJ traded for Korver then went nuts trying to avoid the star+4shooters syndrome and did not play Korver as planned.
I seem to agree with formerlyz in questioning this tactic that inevitably leads to iso. Looks fine if it works lol, but probably not in the playoffs.
About Voulgaris… Sounds like a Cuban idea, to bring onboard someone he has a hunch on. He may be as smart as he probably advertises, but… The article had the quote “He doesn’t know how to talk to people”. So that makes him doomed I guess. What a name for a dubious fame.
Green and Terry have not played enough to judge, but I bet Voulgaris is a PAC12 fan.
Iwundu & JJohnson were traded for Melli & Redick, but they did not help either. Is this trade to be credited to Valgoris too?