ATL - Nico gets the boot

[Ron Swanson]

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Yikes

[tedbrogen]

Beal kept saying he wanted to retire in the desert. I was unaware it was because he is actually 75.

[Ayt]

Understandably underrecognized part of the "Luka carried them to the Finals 6 months earlier" is that Nico very much built that team. The guy who did a remarkable job putting the appropriate pieces around Luka immediately got drunk on success and decided that the guy he had built around was actually *not* that important. Nobody ever went from GOAT to goat faster.

That's exactly why the brand-new **** owners trusted him. It is funny to see so many here bashing the owners while making excuses for Nico when they would overwhelming say that new owners who don't know the sport should trust "basketball people" after taking over the ownership of a team.

Nico Harrison is a **** moron who made one of the worst trades in NBA history. He has a massive ego. We are discussing the **** that somehow managed to alienate Dirk from the franchise!

I really don't get why so many are trying to make excuses for this guy.

[tedbrogen]

If anything Kidd shows you that coaching doesn’t truly matter THAT much. Certainly not nearly as much as talent. Bucks ascended once they put floor spacing around Giannis and got Brook to protect the rim. Mavs made the finals by simply surrounding Luka with good role players. Lakers won the Disney title because LeBron and healthy AD. Kidd being around was probably inconsequential to all those situation. All those teams had a top five guy.

I dont know anyone that would dissagree with the 2nd sentence

But there are reasons they went from fringe PO team to contender overnight when they went from Kidd to Bud



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Bud certainly put a much more favorable system in place because he understood spacing and was ahead of the curve on the spacing revolution. But it wasn’t like Bud was flawless. And it’s hard to give full credit to the coach when they also added Brook, Pat, Bobby, and Hill to the squad while Giannis also got a year closer to his prime.

[BUCKnation]

Don’t want to defend Kidd too much, but after getting canned in Milwaukee, he clearly learned stuff as an assistant and has done well for the most part in Dallas.

[Ron Swanson]

What we still don't really know is how much input Kidd had in the Luka stuff. It's wild to me that the Finals appearance two years ago somehow bought him more job security than both the GM and the franchise player did, and with all these reports about how he's now gained influence within the new front office, he really might have accomplished what he so desperately sought when he was here (and thankfully didn't).

[Plossum]

Seems the top 10 in the east is pretty much already settled. Only variable is Boston and how hard they try to stay relevant before inevitably shutting down their guys to maximise their pick.

[KidA24]

Lakers getting rolled by OKC. Luka looking human

[th87]

You don't have to hunt for grand conspiracies, fall guys, and mustache twirling. The smoke (much of it directly from Nico's own mouth) is all about ego, and interpersonal drama overwhelming the basketball decision-making.

In 2025, I don't think we can dismiss conspiracies. If something is beneficial to powerful parties, and they can get away with it, it will very likely be done.

[th87]

Understandably underrecognized part of the "Luka carried them to the Finals 6 months earlier" is that Nico very much built that team. The guy who did a remarkable job putting the appropriate pieces around Luka immediately got drunk on success and decided that the guy he had built around was actually *not* that important. Nobody ever went from GOAT to goat faster.

That's exactly why the brand-new **** owners trusted him. It is funny to see so many here bashing the owners while making excuses for Nico when they would overwhelming say that new owners who don't know the sport should trust "basketball people" after taking over the ownership of a team.

Nico Harrison is a **** moron who made one of the worst trades in NBA history. He has a massive ego. We are discussing the **** that somehow managed to alienate Dirk from the franchise!

I really don't get why so many are trying to make excuses for this guy.

Not an either/or thing at all. It could be a confluence of idiocy and corruption.

[th87]

so baffling.. of course it was a mistake. it was a mistake before it happened. it was a mistake in the opening conversations. it was a mistake prior to the final trigger pull, and it's a mistake for eternity. but when something is that stupid, it's actually not a mistake. it was a decision. we just dont know the why.

the equivalent of the luka trade is a husband having sex with 4 hookers at once and then live streaming it to his family group chat... on purpose. it is such a brain dead, no upside move that it cannot be bad judgment. it can only be something else.

Perfectly stated. No one is this stupid unless there's an ulterior motive.

Nico was the fall guy. Amazed some are still buying it was all his idea for ‘team building reasons to win a title’

Brings back discussions we had on here 15-20 years ago about how a Bucks GM needs to stand up to Kohl. Nico was never doing that to Miriam and Patrick.

True, but it very well could've been conjured up by Nico, and then used by the NBA and the Adelsons for their own agenda, or any combination thereof.

The whole secrecy aspect of it, keeping Cuban in the dark, the Lakers of course being the beneficiary, and then somehow winning the lottery (like the Pelicans mysteriously did under parallel circumstances) are all too absurd of coincidences for me to believe. Especially in this day and age.

A reminder that this is a league which had a ref popped by the FBI, the investigation of which they squashed to protect other actors (Foster for sure, who has more money than he probably should), which paid a star under the table, which is now embroiled in a gambling scandal, with hedge funds now getting in on the action.

It's become impossible to ignore at this point.

[HKPackFan]

so baffling.. of course it was a mistake. it was a mistake before it happened. it was a mistake in the opening conversations. it was a mistake prior to the final trigger pull, and it's a mistake for eternity. but when something is that stupid, it's actually not a mistake. it was a decision. we just dont know the why.

the equivalent of the luka trade is a husband having sex with 4 hookers at once and then live streaming it to his family group chat... on purpose. it is such a brain dead, no upside move that it cannot be bad judgment. it can only be something else.

And then a short while later a young single super model shows up at his door by pure chance. What are the odds?

[ReasonablySober]

Heat getting absolutely dusted by a Cavs team resting Mitchell, Garland, Mobley, and Strus made my night

[MickeyDavis]

Bulls losing their 4th straight to the Pistons without Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Tobias Harris, Ausar Thompson and Jaden Ivey and beef stew.

[KidA24]

Michael Finley. Interim Mavs GM.

[Dick Tate]

Understandably underrecognized part of the "Luka carried them to the Finals 6 months earlier" is that Nico very much built that team. The guy who did a remarkable job putting the appropriate pieces around Luka immediately got drunk on success and decided that the guy he had built around was actually *not* that important. Nobody ever went from GOAT to goat faster.

That's exactly why the brand-new **** owners trusted him. It is funny to see so many here bashing the owners while making excuses for Nico when they would overwhelming say that new owners who don't know the sport should trust "basketball people" after taking over the ownership of a team.

Nico Harrison is a **** moron who made one of the worst trades in NBA history. He has a massive ego. We are discussing the **** that somehow managed to alienate Dirk from the franchise!

I really don't get why so many are trying to make excuses for this guy.

Owners and “so many” should’ve been able to see into the future?

[KidA24]

Jokic the last ten games: 31/13/11, on 82% TS

73/50/86 shooting splits

[Sigra]

Nico Harrison is a **** moron who made one of the worst trades in NBA history.

Legit opinion. Before Mavs got #1 pick with "miracle"

Nico Harrison did what NBA told him to do. Simple as that.

[Plossum]

Wild how much better OKC is than everyone. JDub hasn’t played a game and they’re still whooping everyone.

[th87]

Michael Finley. Interim Mavs GM.

He should've tackled Nico before he could press the Submit button or whatever GMs use to finalize trades

I don't know how anyone can cope with the stench of even being associated with that.