Newly-hired Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison hopes to make Dallas a compelling free-agent destination, Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News writes. The goal, Harrison said, is to instill a culture that players want to be a part of.
“My approach is really simple,” he explained. “It’s going to be about servant leadership that kind of empowers the team and the staff to be at their best.”
Harrison understands that leadership must start at the top of an organization. Dallas lost longtime president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson and head coach Rick Carlisle this offseason, replacing them with Harrison and new coach Jason Kidd.
The team finished with a 42-30 record this season and has an All-NBA superstar in Luka Doncic, a 22-year-old wunderkind that could aid in Harrison’s mission to entice players and build a culture.
There’s more from the Southwest Division tonight:
- Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News examined the Mavericks‘ plan for Doncic next season. “It’s tough to nitpick an All-NBA player,” Harrison said. “The best thing you can do is surround him by a Hall of Fame coach (Kidd) who played his position and let those two vibe off each other. I think that’s going to help him tremendously.” Doncic averaged 27.7 points, eight rebounds and 8.6 assists per game this season.
- Christian Clark, Rod Walker and Scott Kushner of The Times-Picayune grade the Pelicans‘ hire of Willie Green as head coach. Green, a former NBA player, will finish the season as an assistant coach with the Suns before reporting for New Orleans.
- Jason Kidd has been in discussions with former Mavericks players Jason Terry, Tyson Chandler and J.J. Barea about joining his coaching staff, according to Mavs.com. All three players hold several years of playing experience and were on the team’s 2011 championship roster with Kidd.
I guess this is the off-season that we discover Luka is a cream puff wanna be GM who cries because no one is ever good enough around him.
Isn’t the part about no one around him being good enough true?
Get over yourself Andy.
At one time in the nba, a single star could carry a team all the way but with the amount of talent in the nba, it takes more than one guy.
Look at the teams truly competing.
Bucks: Giannis, Middleton, Holiday
Suns: Paul, Booker, Aston
Nets: Durant, Irving, Harden
Clippers: Leonard, George
Lakers: Lebron, Davis
There’s even more than this: jazz, 76ers, nuggets, Celtics
But look at teams who aren’t really competing that have a better number 2 guy than the Mavericks have.
Blazers have McCollum
Wizards have Westbrook
Pacers, Knicks, hawks, etc.
Luka is amazing, but he absolutely cannot do it by himself in this league. Every winning teams needs at the very least 2 star/stud players
I don’t mean to say the hawks aren’t really competing, just lumping them in talent wise
Even the great Michael Jordan never won a ring before Scottie Pippen arrived.
Bulls were a team. They went ten deep. They had three centers at all times to throw at Ewing. Grant was all-star. Rodman was all-star. Tony was all-star even Harper with Cavs. Bulls were a deep team always. But more important were a team. Cause of MJ and Scottie they all bought in. That’s how you win with a real team built around star talent.
As Scottie Pippen will be the first to tell you these days.
Luka is just another version of Westbrook, all the personal stats, flameout in the playoffs when having a team matters. It’s the Luka and 14 other guys show, players like him exit the playoffs in the first or second round, even if they get all kinds of regular season hardware.
If Luka was 29 maybe I’d agree, although Luka is already a better shooter.
But the kid is barely 22 — what he’s doing on the offensive end at his age basically has no precedent save for LeBron, who I think most would agree is either the 2nd or 1st best player to play the game.
Spot on surfer. Not to mention Luka had a bum shoulder for two of the playoff games against the Clippers. If he was at full health the Mavs might have made it past the Clippers in the first round. Injuries dictated the entire NBA playoffs as much as anything.
Luka needs help. But he is too much for himself right now. Maybe he don’t trust anyone else.
@Andycard69… Boy, oh boy!
Luka has won everything in his career… Euroleague, Liga ACB, Euro Cup… and always as the main guy, he was a very experienced and mature winner at age 18… your point don’t stand, guys like Kawhi have won less in their career despite his extra decade of playing!!!
If anyone is open to investigative journalism…Jason Kidd never passed his SAT’s yet played for Cal? Look it up
You don’t “pass” your SAT’s
is that like passing an iq score?
It is if there is a requirement to get entry. It would be more accurate to say the athlete’s score was below minimum (but he was accepted anyway). Not really news
Lol this is the 2nd time you’ve brought this up, and the 2nd time you’ve been told the SATs are not pass fail.
Study harder?
Should Mavs keep Hardaway?
They can go over the cap to keep Hardaway they can’t if they let him go. They also have the Mid level too if they sign Hardway to use to bring I someone.
No
Nico, evaluate players (amateurs, pros, your guys, other guys) well. Do it, and nobody will care about your style of leadership. Don’t, the same.
So execs will use a model of listening just to make sure they hear Doncic and whoever it is that complains about Doncic being so empowered.
What sort of mood will this this post take?— IDK, I can’t believe I just typed “empowered”.
i read it more as catering too. thus the exodus of leadership.
DFS, Brunson, Kleiber, Hardaway, Powell – Dallas has some solid role players. The Richardson thing hurts but the real issue is Porzingis. This team is a move away. They just need an upgrade to their 2nd best player. Easier said than done though.
Is Cuban longing for the part? Let’s just bring back the entire 2011 championship team and have them around. Surely their presence will win a championship for Luka ♂️