Fire Donnie Nelson

This alone should get Donnie Nelson canned

Yesterday, the Dallas Mavericks fired coach Avery Johnson.

Today, the Dallas Mavericks should fire GM Donnie Nelson.

If you put a gun to my head and forced me to blame one person for the current state of the Mavs, I would point to Nelson. Frankly, you could not put a gun to my head and just ask me and I'd say the same thing. It's tough blaming one guy, but if there was a blame pie and everyone got a slice and the size of the slice was determined by their involvement with the mess, Nelson's piece would be the biggest.

It's clear why. Look at the drafts, for one. What draft picks they didn't trade away like wampum they wasted on European projects, Greek gay unicorns and Mo Ager. Nelson has two great draft success stories: Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard. Now, Howard's a crackpot. So that leaves Dirk. A giant feather in the cap, but just that -- one feather.

Then there's the player development. What young guys were kept and developed by the team. Howard, yes. But what about the Marquis Danielses, Josh Powells and Devin Harrises of the world. What is this team missing again? Youth, quickness and athleticism? Hmm. Doesn't Daniels, Powell and Harris exemplify all of that?

OK, skip to free agents. Who's the last impact free agent the Mavs have signed? If you're thinking Doug Christie, Eddie Jones, Juwan Howard, Devean George and the host of rabble Nelson's brought in, then you're wrong. The only two I can think of is DeSagana Diop and Brandon Bass. And one of those guys is not here (for better or for worse).

It seems, with all these bad decisions that it's possible that Nelson didn't make a decision on his own but followed the wants and desires of Johnson and possibly owner Mark Cuban. The difference between those two guys and Nelson is that the latter is the general manager of the team and the other two are not. The general manager should know better, should steer the team based on their knowledge and deftness of the game and not let the coach or owner meddle.

I pin the signings of Jones and Christie on Johnson. I pin the give up on Harris and Diop on Johnson. I pin the trade for Jason Kidd on Johnson. All moves he wanted and instead of the general manager saying no based on the fact that, say, Doug Christie is an invalid, he signed him anyway.

And you know what, I'm not even going to mention the Michael Finley, Raef LaFrentz and Shawn Bradley contracts. What gives the Mavs fanbase any confidence that if the Mavs should trade Josh Howard, Dirk Nowitzki and others that Nelson would do it right?

This team's a mess and I think if Cuban is really going to change things and make them better, the places you start are head coach and general manager.

As he was at a Cubs game yesterday, Cuban, so far, is one for two.