RealGM

The Dallas Mavericks season has gotten off to a terrible start. That has many questioning the roster that GM Nico Harrison has put together. And those questions are leading many to wonder if Harrison's job with the Mavs is safe.

"I don't have a firm answer for you right now. That's as much as I can tell you. But it is absolutely a legitimate question," ESPN's Tim MacMahon said about Harrison's job security. "When you talk to people about the Mavericks around the league, it is the first question that people are asking."

Harrison has been under fire since trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers last season. The Mavs GM then put together a roster this offseason that was light on ballhandling and playmaking, while being stuffed with frontcourt players.

Via Tim MacMahon/ESPN

Can't imagine why

Who is the source of this assumption? Other GMs? They work in the different league with different KPIs. Niko is safe. He usurped the power in Mavs corporation, his rule will continue.

maverick_41 wrote:Who is the source of this assumption? Other GMs? They work in the different league with different KPIs. Niko is safe. He usurped the power in Mavs corporation, his rule will continue.

Even if I personally think he has done a terrible job, I also generally agree with you.

All of the other would-be decision makers are gone. Who would they quickly pivot to having make basketball related decisions? While I would agree that keeping him in charge through the trade deadline is a legit risk, it's not like they're going to hire a long-term replacement mid-season, and no temporary replacement could actually make impactful changes mid-season. And it's not just Harrison that has been making bad decisions, but rather that bad decision-making flows all the way to the top, especially as the decision to trade Luka was truly an ownership decision as they didn't want to give him that huge max extension. That huge extension would have locked them into the luxury tax for the future, and they clearly didn't want that. They instead pivoted to having their best players on smaller and shorter contracts (compared to Luka's potential extension), which sounds nice in theory, except when the reality on the basketball court is that you're trading a reasonably young MVP candidate for an older all-star with a history of lingering injuries. And you didn't even get much else in the deal. Everyone else knew it was **** stupid.

Sure, Luka isn't good at defense, and he is one of the most annoying players in the league with his constant whining, but he is still a fairly big positive on the floor. They should have made moves to get solid defenders who give max effort to put around him, folks like Steven Adams, GP II, Alex Caruso, etc and look for folks like Taj Gibson to draft. That's the route decision makers at other franchises likely would have proceeded with (while keeping Luka). Instead he targeted getting his man-crush Anthony Davis and got low-balled for his top asset in the process.

Separately, that last sentence of the "article" -

The Mavs GM then put together a roster this offseason that was light on ballhandling and playmaking

- is pretty unfair for a team that has an injured Kyrie Irving. Sure, every team would like more depth, but if Kyrie is healthy they would be excelling in ballhandling and playmaking.

The damage is done

He should be fired just for the Luka trade alone. It's the only way their fans will ever start the healing process because this is the dip stick that did it.

So the owner gets rid of Luka and now the lack of ball handling is a problem with Kyrie out and AD out so scoring is terrible.

Now is the time to fire Nico? Ruin his name throw him under the bus the same year

The owners wanted to trade Luka. Nico -- as stupid as he may be -- was always the fall guy. He just so happens to fall into millions.

Silver wants him gone before someone looks a little harder into the Luka trade and the draft lottery.

god damn

NoStatsGuy wrote:

god damn

Haha. That was worth trading for an injury prone Davis. I think not.

Flagg also would have been a better fit with the Spurs than Mavericks, just my 2 cents.

maverick_41 wrote:Who is the source of this assumption? Other GMs? They work in the different league with different KPIs. Niko is safe. He usurped the power in Mavs corporation, his rule will continue.

The goons in the chat know nothing about KPIs and they certainly don't understand the incredible job Nico has done with this Mavericks org. He has completely gutted the culture and is in the process of constructing anew brick by brick. I'm glad people like you are starting to see the vision, and I'm sure others will eventually get there. This isn't about wins and losses, guys. It's about building a new culture. That's going to take time. If the Mavs haven't made the playoffs 5 years from now, then we can start talking. But we're talking about a man who learned about winning from Kobe Bryant. He has Kobe's charisma and Mamba Mentality. It's sad that people are threatened by a winner like Nico. The Mavs will be lucky if he doesn't leave for another franchise and build an inevitable dynasty.

bullsaficianado wrote:

NoStatsGuy wrote:

god damn

Haha. That was worth trading for an injury prone Davis. I think not.

Flagg also would have been a better fit with the Spurs than Mavericks, just my 2 cents.

If you aren't starting to see the vision by now, I don't know what to tell you. You're blind. Nico flipped the expiring contract of an overweight guard in exchange for a HOF, elite defensive center in Davis and a generational rookie in Flagg. It honestly might go down as the biggest heist in NBA history.

Ok he traded Luka but imagine he got Austin Reeves in that trade that would of basically solved their issues

Future Coach wrote:

maverick_41 wrote:Who is the source of this assumption? Other GMs? They work in the different league with different KPIs. Niko is safe. He usurped the power in Mavs corporation, his rule will continue.

Even if I personally think he has done a terrible job, I also generally agree with you.

All of the other would-be decision makers are gone. Who would they quickly pivot to having make basketball related decisions? While I would agree that keeping him in charge through the trade deadline is a legit risk, it's not like they're going to hire a long-term replacement mid-season, and no temporary replacement could actually make impactful changes mid-season. And it's not just Harrison that has been making bad decisions, but rather that bad decision-making flows all the way to the top, especially as the decision to trade Luka was truly an ownership decision as they didn't want to give him that huge max extension. That huge extension would have locked them into the luxury tax for the future, and they clearly didn't want that. They instead pivoted to having their best players on smaller and shorter contracts (compared to Luka's potential extension), which sounds nice in theory, except when the reality on the basketball court is that you're trading a reasonably young MVP candidate for an older all-star with a history of lingering injuries. And you didn't even get much else in the deal. Everyone else knew it was **** stupid.

Sure, Luka isn't good at defense, and he is one of the most annoying players in the league with his constant whining, but he is still a fairly big positive on the floor. They should have made moves to get solid defenders who give max effort to put around him, folks like Steven Adams, GP II, Alex Caruso, etc and look for folks like Taj Gibson to draft. That's the route decision makers at other franchises likely would have proceeded with (while keeping Luka). Instead he targeted getting his man-crush Anthony Davis and got low-balled for his top asset in the process.

Separately, that last sentence of the "article" -

The Mavs GM then put together a roster this offseason that was light on ballhandling and playmaking

- is pretty unfair for a team that has an injured Kyrie Irving. Sure, every team would like more depth, but if Kyrie is healthy they would be excelling in ballhandling and playmaking.

Kyrie is more an SG than PG he doesn't solve the playmaking but imagine Nico got Austin Reeves in the trade this is a non issue.

Cole_Miner wrote:

maverick_41 wrote:Who is the source of this assumption? Other GMs? They work in the different league with different KPIs. Niko is safe. He usurped the power in Mavs corporation, his rule will continue.

The goons in the chat know nothing about KPIs and they certainly don't understand the incredible job Nico has done with this Mavericks org. He has completely gutted the culture and is in the process of constructing anew brick by brick. I'm glad people like you are starting to see the vision, and I'm sure others will eventually get there. This isn't about wins and losses, guys. It's about building a new culture. That's going to take time. If the Mavs haven't made the playoffs 5 years from now, then we can start talking. But we're talking about a man who learned about winning from Kobe Bryant. He has Kobe's charisma and Mamba Mentality. It's sad that people are threatened by a winner like Nico. The Mavs will be lucky if he doesn't leave for another franchise and build an inevitable dynasty.

This is sarcasm I hope

So what can you do when Adam Silver calls you and forces you to trade Doncic to the Lakers or facing the consequences and he offers te nb 1?
It has been like that forever: Kareem, Shaq, Howard, Pau, Kobe, Doncic...
They need the team from the woke city to be on top.

Cole_Miner wrote:

bullsaficianado wrote:

NoStatsGuy wrote:

god damn

Haha. That was worth trading for an injury prone Davis. I think not.

Flagg also would have been a better fit with the Spurs than Mavericks, just my 2 cents.

If you aren't starting to see the vision by now, I don't know what to tell you. You're blind. Nico flipped the expiring contract of an overweight guard in exchange for a HOF, elite defensive center in Davis and a generational rookie in Flagg. It honestly might go down as the biggest heist in NBA history.

describing luka as just another overweight, expiring guard is so freaking wild

and cooper flagg also does not look like a generational rookie so far to be quite honest. plus nico did not flip luka into flagg and AD. They got lucky in the lottery.

unless you are trolling and rage baiting, i cant believe thats actually the reality you live in

The idea that Nico still has a job is amazing.

Next thing they are going to say is Ken Griffin is under investigation by the FBI or Sean Combs is now seen as a troublemaker!

SHOCKING!