Cato Addresses New Mavs Structure
Highlights
There are some new faces at the Mavericks, but the “new” organizational structure is very much unchanged. New roles will be filled by old friends — Dirk, Kidd, Barea, maybe Jet. Even Harrison, who was largely unknown to the public, has iong been a familiar face at the AAC.
Cuban is still the man in charge. The search firm was more of a PR ploy than a decision-making resource. A search was not conducted for either Harrison or Kidd.
Harrison fits easily into the power structure as the POBO-GM, where an established league or agency executive might have chafed. He has certain skills that transfer well, and has relationships with players around the league. With the team evidently continuing to prize free agency as their primary path to team-building, despite their lack of success with it, Harrison may be able to be helpful.
To the extent Harrison's job really requires running the organization, or being responsible for on-court results, he will have a steeper learning curve than an experienced guy would, and he himself downplays his skills as a talent evaluator. However, it is not clear that his role will require exercise of those responsibilities, which may continue to be performed by Finley, who is expected to have a greater role in player transactions and interaction with other front offices. What each person does will depend on Cuban. Both men are respected around the league.
Kidd is a bigger question mark. He has recently gone through being the lead assistant coach for the Lakers, a phase he himself thinks he “skipped” when he went straight from player to head coach. He was a stellar point guard, and has worked with superstars Giannis and LeBron in a coaching capacity. Still, his head coaching resume is not strong, and his personal/professional history raises serious questions. Players seem to like him, but that was also true of Mosley, who is expected to leave after not receiving the serious head coaching consideration that he thought he would.
More peripheral shakeups are expected, particularly in the coaching staff, but the main pieces are in place, for now, and the overall structure continues to be business as usual.
https://theathletic.com/2672469/
Highlights
There are some new faces at the Mavericks, but the “new” organizational structure is very much unchanged. New roles will be filled by old friends — Dirk, Kidd, Barea, maybe Jet. Even Harrison, who was largely unknown to the public, has iong been a familiar face at the AAC.
Cuban is still the man in charge. The search firm was more of a PR ploy than a decision-making resource. A search was not conducted for either Harrison or Kidd.
Harrison fits easily into the power structure as the POBO-GM, where an established league or agency executive might have chafed. He has certain skills that transfer well, and has relationships with players around the league. With the team evidently continuing to prize free agency as their primary path to team-building, despite their lack of success with it, Harrison may be able to be helpful.
To the extent Harrison's job really requires running the organization, or being responsible for on-court results, he will have a steeper learning curve than an experienced guy would, and he himself downplays his skills as a talent evaluator. However, it is not clear that his role will require exercise of those responsibilities, which may continue to be performed by Finley, who is expected to have a greater role in player transactions and interaction with other front offices. What each person does will depend on Cuban. Both men are respected around the league.
Kidd is a bigger question mark. He has recently gone through being the lead assistant coach for the Lakers, a phase he himself thinks he “skipped” when he went straight from player to head coach. He was a stellar point guard, and has worked with superstars Giannis and LeBron in a coaching capacity. Still, his head coaching resume is not strong, and his personal/professional history raises serious questions. Players seem to like him, but that was also true of Mosley, who is expected to leave after not receiving the serious head coaching consideration that he thought he would.
More peripheral shakeups are expected, particularly in the coaching staff, but the main pieces are in place, for now, and the overall structure continues to be business as usual.
https://theathletic.com/2672469/