Just … what a disaster, man. It’s been months since the Luka Dončić trade, and somehow things still manage to get worse.
It’s difficult to put any trust in the Mavericks as a whole at all these days. The public got its first look at just how messed up everything was in Dallas the day the night Luka was traded.
For anyone unaware, the way news typically breaks in the NBA is one of a few trusted “journalists” post an announcement (sourced from team execs, or agents, or sometimes players themselves) online, usually on Twitter. Usually this amounts to a low level trade or an injury update, but sometimes it’s something bigger.
It’s hard to remember a bigger reaction than what happened with the Luka trade. People thought the person who made the announcement had his account hacked and someone else with access to his Twitter login made a fake announcement. But then more and more sources confirmed it.
Luka through his phone at the wall.
Months later, we arrive at Tim MacMahon’s article on ESPN describing a much grimmer picture of Mavs management. I’m just going to give you a few of the highlights.
1. Nico Harrison did not care at all about the Mav’s legacy
Dirk Nowitzki and the team surrounding him, not just players but management and experts with deep ties to the organization that brought the Mavericks their only championship, were either ousted or left to the side and not given any respect.
Casey Smith, Dallas’ director of health and performance for 15 years, was just let go. Because Nico thought he knew better. We know what Nico knows now. It’s not much.
But it’s not just what he did, it’s how he did it.
2. Nico Harrison did not care about people
I’m not sure if this qualifies as “embarrassing” more than actively heinous, but the manner in which Nico fired Smith was astounding. Not long after Dirk’s Hall of Fame induction, Nico tried to call Smith in for an in-person meeting. Smith said he could not do that, as he was not in town to be at his dying mother’s bedside. A video meeting was had instead.
While Casey Smith was visiting his mother in the last moments of her life, Nico could not wait, and he could not give Smith or his mother respect or space. Nico fired him over a video call.
After almost 20 years. Dying mom. Nico Harrison. Video Call.
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!
3. Nico was threatened by people who were there before him
Here is a quote from the article from a team source: “He was 100 percent threatened by him." That could be about anyone. This was about Smith in particular.
This is disastrous, unnecessary, and really h*cking stupid mindset to have. You only find yourself threatened in these kinds of positions of power if you suck. It doesn’t have to be a specific kind of suck. There are many kinds of suck that could be at work here:
- You realize you suck so anyone who is good is a problem.
- You don’t realize collaboration is the point of an organization like this and people together are better at coming to a good conclusion that one person alone, no matter how capable.
- You are filled with so, so many bad ideas and so much self-confidence that anyone with good ideas looks like an idiot to you.
- You’re scared all the time and know you shouldn’t be in the position you are.
Who knows what applies to Nico. Could be one. Could be them all. Could be another 10 I haven’t thought of.
Regardless, this is unserious behavior.
4. The sudden increase in injuries just so happened to coincide with Nico’s overhaul of the medical and training staff
Nico would like you to know that many of these injuries were freak contact injuries and out of training or medical’s control.
However, other injuries could be said to be a direct result of returning too soon. Nico’s staff had, to put it in a kind way, eager expectations of player’s return dates. Then players would get reinjured and miss more time. This was a common theme.
5. Nico’s team completely missed Dereck Lively’s stress fracture
Dereck Lively was being ramped up to return to games when, shockingly, someone in the organization had a second thought and sent Lively for a CT scan. To quote MacMahon:
“It revealed a stress fracture in his right ankle that sidelined the center for the next 2½ months. 'Somebody should be fired for that,' a team source said then.”
6. Dirk has been to only two NBA games since the beginning of February
Those games were Doncic’s Lakers debut in LA in February, and Doncic’s return to Dallas on April 9.
The team built a statue for this man, and this is how he feels about them. I’m not saying that to say Dirk is ungrateful. Far from it. He’s earned his legacy. It’s just incredible how quickly his relationship with the Mavs has disintegrated.
7. Two employees whose names I don't remember and refuse to check were constantly having a mid-off
We’ll call them Bilbo and Burton. They didn’t like each other. Neither were any good at what they did, it seems, but they certainly had differing opinions on a whole bunch of stuff. And they were vocal about it. For whatever reason.
People in your employ constantly acting like children certainly is a black mark.
8. The aforementioned Barton does not have the necessary certifications to hold his job
But it’s okay because he’s going to get them soon. To quote the article again:
“According to the National Strength Coaches Association database, Belton does not have either of the certifications from the association that are required for NBA strength coaches, per Article XXII of the collective bargaining agreement. The CBA states that an individual hired as a head strength and conditioning coach must have at least three years of experience since receiving those certifications.”
Yeah. Britain doesn’t have that. But the NBA is saying it’s okay because he promises to get them during summer school.
9. The people run off by the Mavs because they were talented and respected have all seemed to land quite well
I don’t know if Nico was hoping to hurt these people’s feelings or livelihoods or whatever. Like, I don’t know if he is a person who revels in doing bad things. But if he was trying to do that, it looks like he failed. People are now employed and respected in better places than the Dallas Mavs. They weren’t fired. They were unbound.
10. Nico was too proud to accept Cuban’s help even after shutting Cuban out from basketball decisions
As things were going from bad to worse, here is what transpired. From the article:
“Sources said Cuban, who had made Doncic's happiness his top priority since Dallas acquired the draft rights to the prodigy in 2018 and worked closely with Seager for years before that, volunteered to serve as an intermediary. But Harrison had succeeded in pushing Cuban completely out of basketball operations since Patrick Dumont took over as the team's governor and didn't want to cede any ground, sources said.”
11. Some Dallas staff were ashamed of Luka
I don’t know how else to read this paragraph. What other emotion leads you to act this way? And what kind of person experiences that kind of emotion in this circumstance? Here’s what I mean:
“On Nov. 29, a day before the fifth and final game he sat out, a television in the media room at the Mavs' practice facility was tuned into the closed-circuit feed of Dončić scrimmaging with low minutes players and staffers, launching long jumpers on almost every offensive possession. When a team employee noticed the feed, they changed the channel quickly, saying they were unsure how it became available. The feed has not been shown in the media room since.”
???
?????????????
12. Nico Harrison’s entire existence
British comedy is great for this, but have you ever watched a show and just cringed from second-hand embarrassment? I am so, so weak to that. The way some people curl up in a ball watching scary movies, I do that in moments when I’m watching a character about to do something really, really awkward.
Nico is making me do that now. I cringe thinking about him. Somewhere out there, this guy, an actual human being with thoughts and feelings just like me is managing to dress and feed himself and otherwise survive in an ever evolving, massive world while still having a mind capable of doing the things he did. And does. And will keep doing.
Gah. I hate it. I don’t want to think about it anymore.