06-29-2021, 01:24 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-29-2021, 01:42 PM by HanspardsShowerVoice.)
(06-26-2021, 04:55 PM)Jommybone Wrote: Two possibilities come to mind (though there may be others):
1. Ford was the PR move and the Dirk/Finley/others committee did the real decisionmaking.
2. Ford was already doing work and the Dirk/Finley/others committee was the PR move.
The committee thing smells more like a PR move to me. But certainly I don’t know. Cato’s stuff seems to suggest “league sources” think otherwise. And I really liked him with Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther movies.
I'm guessing it's #1.
The more the time passes, the more I think Finley might be low-key a real power player in the Nico hiring.
Finley was one of the original 5 players to sign with the Jordan Brand in 1997 when Nike spun it off as a sub-brand.
Quote:Michael Finley of the Dallas Mavericks began hearing rumors swirling around the league about a master plan that Nike and Jordan had cooking.
“My agent called me,” Finley remembered, “and said, ‘Michael Jordan and his reps are starting their own Jordan Brand and want to know if you want to be a part of it.’ I was like, ‘C’mon, man. That’s a no-brainer. Of course.’ To have M.J. pick you as one of the originals, that’s an honor. It was just us five … our own little fraternity.” (These days, Finley, an assistant vice president of basketball operations for the Dallas Mavericks, is something of a film producer.)
Nico's first job with Nike was as a regional marketing rep in 2002 as a regional marketing rep (basically as a personal intermediary between Nike and their players). Which region specifically? Texas and the Southwest.
Quote:After a seven-year career playing professional hoops throughout Europe, Harrison landed what would become his defining entry-point role in sports business in the spring of 2002. A regional Nike rep covering the southwest market, he was assigned to manage the company’s partnerships with the San Antonio Spurs’ core trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili.
Nike, whose footwear is now typically worn in games by nearly 70% of the NBA, has sports marketing reps all throughout the country assigned to several key regions. As Harrison found out early on, that meant regularly attending games and checking in often with players to make sure they were comfortable with new footwear, updated on current marketing campaigns, and continually strengthening their relationship with the brand.
If Harrison's job was to personally interact and work with Nike Clients in the Southwest, and Finley an All Star and one of the "Original 5" of the Jordan Brand playing in Texas, sounds like it's very likely that Finley and Harrison had a personal working relationship through Nike dating back almost 20 years. Also, there is the Dirk connection too. Dirk was a Nike client. Though I don't think Dirk was ever concerned enough about being a "brand" that he was one of their premiere clients, they were at least close enough that Nico attended Dirk's final home game in Dallas. Jared Dudley implied that a lot of franchises have tried to hire Nico in their front office. The familiarity with Finley and Kidd might have been what won him over.
Quote:Harrison was by Kobe’s side at essentially all times throughout the 2000s, ushering him around packed meeting days on Nike’s Beaverton campus, touring around Asia for annual promotional tours to extend Bryant’s reach globally, and even attending the 2008 Olympics as their friendship extended well beyond work.
That year’s “Redeem Team” in Beijing was led by two of the oldest and longest-tenured players on the USA Basketball roster in Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd – who by that time had also established a strong relationship with Harrison.
https://boardroom.tv/who-is-nico-harrison-mavericks-gm/
https://theundefeated.com/features/micha...kers-nike/