Having lost trust in general manager Nico Harrison, Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont decided overnight on Monday that there was no reason to put off a front office change that seemed inevitable, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
[RELATED: Mavericks Dismiss GM Nico Harrison]
In making the decision to fire Harrison on Tuesday, Dumont may appease some fans in Dallas, who have frequently chanted “fire Nico” at home games since last season’s Luka Doncic trade. According to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link), several Mavericks players actually preferred to play away from home this fall, since there was far less vitriol related to Harrison on the road. MacMahon makes a similar point, noting that there has been no home court advantage to speak of for the Mavs so far this season.
“These people don’t want us to win,” one player griped, according to a source who spoke to ESPN.
While Harrison’s exit may improve the vibes in Dallas to some extent, there’s still no quick fix for the 3-8 club, which has a significant hole at the point guard spot until Kyrie Irving is able to return from his torn ACL.
“There’s no point guard. You don’t have a floor leader,” an Eastern Conference scout told MacMahon. “That’s the first problem. Then you’re trying to make a guy who isn’t a point guard (Cooper Flagg) a point guard. The coach doesn’t trust the guy you signed this summer (D’Angelo Russell). That’s obvious. They don’t trust him enough to make him the floor leader, and that’s in line with the consensus around the league. They don’t have shooting, and they don’t have creation. Those are things you need to be a good offensive team.”
Russell, who was replaced in the starting lineup by Brandon Williams on Monday, has come off the bench in eight of 11 games so far and is posting career-worst shooting percentages. The Mavericks’ cap situation meant they had limited tools at their disposal this past offseason to upgrade their roster — they used their full taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Russell. Still, there presumably would’ve been more options available to Dallas on the trade market if the team had been willing to move some of its frontcourt depth to address the backcourt.
“Remarkable that Nico did not acquire a good guard this summer so they could win some games,” an Eastern Conference executive said to ESPN. “That was such low-hanging fruit.”
We have more on the Mavs:
- One big question in Dallas now will be whether the team looks to move star big man Anthony Davis. John Hollinger of The Athletic argues that a Davis trade is the best path forward for the club and believes the 32-year-old would still command a haul of draft picks and/or young players, despite his injury history. According to MacMahon, several sources around the NBA agree with Hollinger and believe that the Mavs must at least gauge Davis’ trade value in the coming months. “You have Flagg, but you’re old and you don’t own your picks,” a Western Conference decision-maker told ESPN. “[They have to] be comfortable with taking two steps back if that’s the necessary path. Be patient. They need to lose this year, but I don’t see Dumont being comfortable with taking a step back. It’s not natural as a new owner.”
- Former Mavericks majority owner – and current minority shareholder – Mark Cuban was involved in a meeting on Monday with Dumont and team president Rick Welts before Harrison was let go, according to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link). MacMahon, meanwhile, hears that Cuban and Dumont have talked more frequently in recent months and that Cuban is the one in favor of targeting former Mavs advisor Dennis Lindsey to replace Harrison. It remains to be seen how open Dumont will be to Cuban’s suggestions, MacMahon adds.
- According to Stein, Dumont is expected to “lean heavily” on head coach Jason Kidd during this transition period. Kidd has signed contract extensions in each of the past two offseasons and is clearly in no danger of following Harrison out the door.
- Despite the 3-8 start, there have been some bright spots in Dallas as of late. As MacMahon writes for ESPN, Flagg had his best all-around game on Monday, with 26 points and nine rebounds, and tied LeBron James as the youngest player in NBA history to score at least 25 points in a game. Additionally, two-way rookie big man Moussa Cisse seems to be finding his footing at the NBA level, having held his own in a rotation role with Davis sidelined, notes Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal. Cisse has averaged 7.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks in 17.7 minutes per game in his past three outings — the Mavs outscored opponents by 18 points in his 53 minutes on the court during that stretch.
If Mavericks end up with either Nate Ament or AJ Dybantsa, then sacrificing Nico to the hounds will be worth it. I can see it happening too.
It will happen. And the rest of the league will hate them. Because they had an unbelievable talent, the kind everyone dreams of having, made a disastrous trade, but got incredibly lucky, and now instead of reaping what they sowed (watching the team decompose with AD and Kyrie, while they don’t have their own picks until 2031) they will have 2 amazing players. And truly amazing, not Zaccharie Risacher or somebody like that, but again players that everyone dreams of.
Why would it happen?
There’s no reason to think the Mavs will get a top 3 pick in the draft after this season.
The game time I’ve seen of Dallas, they desperately need D-Lo to start. Offensive end is much smoother with D lo running the show. This isn’t a Houston type situation where you have two guys you can give the rock to and go to work. Dallas aren’t constructed like that, They need a floor general.
I been saying that Mavs offense is bad offense. They play one on one offense. Why Thompson looks so bad in his minutes he never been a one on one player. They need to pass the ball for a better shot.
They pass the ball so much more now than they ever have in the past 5 years at least. One reason they have so many turnovers.
They desperately need a PG. That’s true with or without him starting. D-Lo is not the answer. He’s not even a bandaid it seems.
Low hanging fruit! Going with all those bigs when you need a pg was sheer folly. You got to work with what you got. Great roster “if healthy” don’t mean nothing. Wins are all that you can take to the bank and Nico did not make those deposits.
Davis to the Lakers for Rui, Vincent and a 1st lol.
xD
No way the Mavs will get “a haul” for AD, that ship has sailed.
Really a crazy spectacle this all is. From Nico saying you can’t win with Luka and defense wins championships just to be in a rut and lose your job. Egos clashing led to this. Years down the line we’ll get the full story. But so far, Luka is looking okay from all this.
Mavericks are as screwed as Brooklyn, only worse with no draft picks until another “lucky” (fixed) draft gets them another 1st overall pick. Even if that happens the team shouldn’t even dream of ever contending for 5+ years minimum. The only thing dumber that they could do is trade AD for an albatross contract player like Embiid as an “upgrade” when both are overpaid and hurt all the time.
The amount of times I’ve seen the word “vibes” in stories over the last week and a half is very interesting.
Pretty insane that Bron and Flagg had the same exact age when they first scored 25