In the worst of his 10 seasons in Dallas, Rick Carlisle's coaching genius has not been tarnished, simply redefined. A man praised for coaching the Mavs up to 50 wins is busily piloting this team down to perhaps 25.

After years of getting the most out of what he was handed, Carlisle has willingly gone the other direction. He doesn't broadcast it. There's no joy in announcing that an entire season is a lost cause, just in case fans didn't figure it out when Dallas lost its first two games to Atlanta and Sacramento back in October.

The mighty Kings took down the local squad again Tuesday in a one-sided game that was close only at the finish, 114-109, allowing the Mavericks to hit the All-Star break tied with the Hawks and Phoenix Suns for the worst record at 18-40.

The No. 1 pick in the draft goes to the team that gets luckiest in the May lottery, but the worst record gives that team a 25 percent chance. Next year the worst record will be worth just a 14 percent chance.

For a team hoping to build around Dennis Smith Jr. and Harrison Barnes and more, the time to strike is now. That means losing is paramount the rest of the way.

"I don't think about things like that," Carlisle said after the most recent defeat. "We have a strategy and an approach. Clearly if games are winnable, we'll win them like we did three nights ago."

But that's not entirely clear. In fact, that's not the case at all for these Mavericks.

Dallas has been masterful at finding ways to lose this season, often with bizarre fourth-quarter lineups. Entering the game, the Mavericks' 5-14 record in close games -- those decided by five points or less -- was the worst in the league. A late meaningless rush of points helped the Mavs make it 5-15.

In the more obscure but not insignificant category of "losses after leading by 10 points," the Mavs again rank No. 1.

It was never a roster built for success, even if Seth Curry had played 82 games instead of zero or if Nerlens Noel hadn't encountered attitude problems, injury problems or Carlisle problems. But combine those absences with a current roster of 10 undrafted players, and the Mavs are about as hot mess as it gets in the NBA.

Even if you figure there wasn't much difference between the teams that played Tuesday night -- each coming in at 21 games under .500 -- well, there was. Sacramento is 13-9 in games decided by seven points or less. The Mavericks are a league worst 8-27 -- and that's league worst by a long shot.

So it appears Sacramento wins games when it has a chance. The Mavericks win when they must.

I don't think there's really anything wrong with this, and we all understand why Carlisle doesn't high-five fans leaving the court after each defeat. There's honor among thieves, too, you know.

Carlisle is doing the only thing he can, given the roster he was presented by owner Mark Cuban and president Donnie Nelson. This is a crappy team. It was going to be a crappy team. Heck, the club has actually been fortunate that its four cornerstone players for this season -- Dirk Nowitzki, Wes Matthews, Barnes and Smith -- have been available for 260 of 272 man-games.

And chances are that next season, even if Dallas is fortunate enough to add the top pick for the first time in Mavs history, it's most likely going to remain a crappy team.

Teams that get built by lottery picks do it more by luck than skill. Golden State lands Steph Curry with the seventh pick, Klay Thompson with the 11th and Draymond Green with the 35th. Try duplicating that.

Look how hard and how long Sacramento has been playing the lottery game.

If it's true that the Mavericks are counting on getting a higher pick than they earned a year ago, when Smith was chosen ninth, well, the Kings have had a pick higher than that in nine straight years.

Somehow, since 2009, Sacramento has picked fourth, fifth, seventh, fifth, seventh, eighth, sixth, eighth and fifth and for all that, the Kings were tied with the Mavs until Tuesday night. They have even picked good players at times -- DeMarcus Cousins, Tyreke Evans, and they stumbled into Isaiah Thomas at the end of the second round.

Still no good. Still searching.

Unless the Mavericks land that elusive big fish in the summer --an injured Cousins perhaps? -- lottery picks are a brick-by-brick approach that can take just about forever. Which is precisely how long ago the title Nowitzki and Carlisle captured seems these days.