NEWS: Donnie out | Nico Harrison (Nike) as Pres/GM | Fin as VP | Dirk as Advisor

[dirkfansince1998]

This reasoning seems flawed. Sure, the scheduled trips seem to indicate that Donnie and Rick didn’t know there was a planned move. But they don’t indicate there was no planned move.

In combination with Cuban´s reaction and the mentioned remarks about RC it makes sense. Well...at least to me.

[mavsluvr]

This reasoning seems flawed. Sure, the scheduled trips seem to indicate that Donnie and Rick didn’t know there was a planned move. But they don’t indicate there was no planned move.

It seems to me that Rick and Donnie being in exit interviews and being scheduled to go to Slovenia were pretty clear indications that Mark did not have an intention of immediately firing them at the time the interviews were held and the Slovenia visit was scheduled. Has there been any reporting that Cuban was lying behind the log?

Perhaps more interestingly, I wonder why you are determined to believe that Cubes planned to fire Donnie and Rick months in advance, and just waited until the eleventh hour to spring it on them. I mean, I think it's fine that you believe that, of course, but why is that so important? Maybe I'm missing something.

[Jommybone]

In combination with Cuban´s reaction and the mentioned remarks about RC it makes sense. Well...at least to me.

Yes. It makes sense. And your conclusion may be right. But I don’t think you necessarily tell your coach and GM when you retain a search firm to replace them.

[VintagePejav2]

Not sure if this has been posted here, but I found it noteworthy that on the Hoop Collective podcast either MacMahon or Windhorst mentioned that Harrison was under consideration for the asst GM position with the Spurs back in 2016. The Spurs ended up hiring Brian Wright, who has since been promoted to GM.

Also, here’s a great write-up on Harrison’s background from Montana State when he was inducted into their hall of fame in 2016: https://www.montana.edu/news/15961/msu-h...op-at-nike
-started at West Point
-studied biology and thought he’d be a doctor
-was the Nike rep for the southwest region, mentions the relationship with the Spurs big 3
-then became Kobe’s rep after the sexual assault case

[Jommybone]

It seems to me that Rick and Donnie being in exit interviews and being scheduled to go to Slovenia were pretty clear indications that Mark did not have an intention of immediately firing them at the time the interviews were held and the Slovenia visit was scheduled. Has there been any reporting that Cuban was lying behind the log?

Perhaps more interestingly, I wonder why you are determined to believe that Cubes planned to fire Donnie and Rick months in advance, and just waited until the eleventh hour to spring it on them. I mean, I think it's fine that you believe that, of course, but why is that so important? Maybe I'm missing something.

Wait, what??? My post starts out by saying I don’t know. Then it merely states what I do and don’t “find easy” to believe. You interpret that as me being determined to believe something? 

Or was it my post pointing out a flaw in reasoning that Donnie & Rick’s Slovenian travel plans evidence the lack of a plan to replace them? Again, not pretending to know. Just saying Donnie & Rick’s not knowing about it doesn’t evidence that there wasn’t something already cooking.

[mavsluvr]

Wait, what??? My post starts out by saying I don’t know. Then it merely states what I do and don’t “find easy” to believe. You interpret that as me being determined to believe something? 

Or was it my post pointing out a flaw in reasoning that Donnie & Rick’s Slovenian travel plans evidence the lack of a plan to replace them? Again, not pretending to know. Just saying Donnie & Rick’s not knowing about it doesn’t evidence that there wasn’t something already cooking.

Yes, I didn't think that you were pretending to know what actually happened. 

I did think that you wanted to believe that Mark intended to fire Donnie and Rick months ago, and that Forde had been hired way back and had found Harrison independently of Mark. Maybe to the point of constructing a story to justify that belief. (Not a lie, just a supposition.)

My question was just a question -- why that state of affairs being the facts seems important. If you're saying it doesn't, my mistake.

[mavsluvr]

To be clear, my resistance is simply to the part where Cato implies that unless Cuban truly considered giving up decision-making power, then the entire Sportsology process was a sham. It's a classic strawman argument that formulates a conclusion dependent on an obviously incorrect assumption of Cuban's goals. 

I don't read it as saying anything like that. I mean, that isn't the wording he used, and  I've never heard of anyone giving up decision-making power to a search firm. I think he did suggest that he had been told that the firm's actual role might have been a little smaller than advertised. 

Assuming Cato is just repeating what he's been told, my best guess is that he got that from one or more of the candidate executives on the list who never got a callback. But if they were under the impression that they'd be calling the shots in Dallas over the owner, their lack of situational awareness is probably a contributing factor to why they didn't make the cut. After all, Sportsology's entire business model is about matching candidates to a particular culture.

My guess would be that Cato's sources were mostly in the Mavericks' front office. I don't know if the "candidate" executives were even aware they were on the list, or what they would have sourced that is contained in the story. Neither of us knows for sure, of course. 

Now maybe it's true that the Sportsology process was just a PR thing and that Cuban had his guy lined up from the start. That's fine with me because I think Nico is a great choice. It's just that to my eyes Cato's article offers no actual evidence to support that claim. But please correct me if I'm wrong!

The evidence offered was his "league sources," which we can believe or not. Another reporter (McMahon, I think) reported that the Harrison hire had been in the works for the last week or so before it happened. I get why Cuban might have wanted to announce the retention of the search firm as a PR matter, if that's what happened, and agree that having a PR purpose doesn't mean that he necessarily intended that they would never do anything.

As you point out, whatever the underlying issues were or were not, we have Nico now!

[mavsluvr]

Totally agree, only...he's just not very likable, imo. I believe that he believes he's doing everything he can, and I hope he gets it all done.

Re Cuban. 

I am sorry to say that I think there is something to this. I think Cuban has done many good things for the team and the community, and I do like him. But I think, as Mavs fans, we tend to assume that he is regarded around the league as a cool guy who is one of the best owners in sports. That hasn't been my experience, talking to people outside the MFFL orbit over time and distance. People more have the impression that he is kooky, obnoxious, brash to the point of offensiveness, kind of an embarrassment, etc. Not saying that I agree with that, but I'm not too sure Cuban is a particular positive when it comes to attracting outsiders to the organization.

[juanc]

I don't know if this has already been posted here, but I think I like whatI'mseeing here.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Mavericks/comme...r_against/

A new hit dropping next summer: Dame Dolla ft. Trigga Don - Ring chasin' in big D  

[omahen]

Unfortunately I just don't see a lot of positives in latest moves and I agree with most from Cato article. Basically Cuban replaced two advisors with two new ones - not much of a change really. Main strength of new guys seem to be relationship building while there is a lot left to desire in other fields. Kidd resume is not really shining and filled with bridge burning, backstabbing stuff. Harrison might be liked by players but lacks any experience in the FO business. Mavs were not creative regarding cap space and team building as it was and current moves don't really address those issues. Sure this guys can bring in personnel to help them, but why really. They were brought in to advise Cuban, not to work independently.

They doubled down on FA in a season where there are really no top FA available. Are you guys comfortable if the plan is plan powder again? I am not. Do you trust their ability to execute? I do not.

[SleepingHero]

I really hope we look back on this thread in 5 years and think 

"Wow I can't believe we were so hesitant. Mavs have become a powerhouse after this change"

[Chicagojk]

Ok, after my top notch investigative work I noticed Nico's people he is following is mostly Mav related (55 total).   He is following Dame (I believe the only non mav related player).   He is also following Mavrillo

The only Mavs I don't see him following are Hardaway, Tyler Bey, JJ Reddick, Burke, and Mello.   He is following Josh Richardson.    

Probably nothing but Hardaway sort of stuck out a little.

[Kammrath]

RE: Did Cuban have a plan?

I have clearly stated that I do NOT believe Cuban knew RC was gone (though he must have known it could have been fall out from all this), but knew Donnie was gone. There is no way Cuban would let Donnie know months in advance and make him a lame duck in the organization. He hired a firm in advance so he wouldn't have a huge lag time between Donnie's exit and the new guy. RC leaving was a result of Cuban leveling with him about the changes at the top. I bet it both surprised and did NOT surprise Cuban that RC left. 

If the only "evidence" that Cuban wasn't working ahead of time to replace Donnie is that Donnie had a scheduled trip, then I 100% don't buy that. I have known TONS of employees who had scheduled trips at the time of their firing. I will need some other sort of evidence.

[Kammrath]

Do you have reason to believe that other players around the league had a huge problem with Donnie? I didn't even think they knew him very well, but I could have missed something. 

No. But no evidence or reason to believe he was liked and respected by players around the league. A combination of a "meh" GM like Donnie and a coach that had a horrible reputation with players is not a good combo for getting free agents into town.

[ItsGoTime]

So regarding hiring the firm well in advance. A scenario I could get behind is he hired them to find a supplement GM FOR Donnie’s shortcomings, then after the firm got down into the organizations deep and dark places discovered Donnie himself needed to be replaced. Donnie caught wind of this and the power struggle surfaced culminating in what transpired starting on the first day these happenings were reported (it’s reported that Donnie knew as soon as the Sunday before the article came out).

[Jommybone]

Yes, I didn't think that you were pretending to know what actually happened. 

I did think that you wanted to believe that Mark intended to fire Donnie and Rick months ago, and that Forde had been hired way back and had found Harrison independently of Mark. Maybe to the point of constructing a story to justify that belief. (Not a lie, just a supposition.)

My question was just a question -- why that state of affairs being the facts seems important. If you're saying it doesn't, my mistake.

To me, it seems easy to believe—likely even—that Cuban’s dissatisfaction with Donnie started earlier in the year. Rick too. That’s my point. It’s not important to me that this is true. 

But it seems significant, if true, in light of all the Cuban criticism here. I suspect he had a plan and executed it. That suspicion may be wrong, but it’s believable. 

What evidence supports that suspicion? Cuban had a 200 million dollar player without an adequate supporting cast, front-office whiffs in back to back summers, a boneheaded error at the trade deadline, and an untenable coach/team relationship. If those situations failed to prompt him to earlier action, I’d be surprised. If instead it was Cato’s reporting that led to his finally, reluctantly taking action, I’d be even more surprised.

[Jommybone]

So regarding hiring the firm well in advance. A scenario I could get behind is he hired them to find a supplement GM FOR Donnie’s shortcomings, then after the firm got down into the organizations deep and dark places discovered Donnie himself needed to be replaced. Donnie caught wind of this and the power struggle surfaced culminating in what transpired starting on the first day these happenings were reported (it’s reported that Donnie knew as soon as the Sunday before the article came out).

Sure. Or some variation that had Donnie’s power further eroding but keeping his title. Lots of ways it could have developed.

[ItsGoTime]

Sure. Or some variation that had Donnie’s power further eroding but keeping his title. Lots of ways it could have developed.

The main point is hiring the firm earlier than reported was more innocent than what has been talked about.

[Chicagojk]

Unfortunately I just don't see a lot of positives in latest moves and I agree with most from Cato article. Basically Cuban replaced two advisors with two new ones - not much of a change really. Main strength of new guys seem to be relationship building while there is a lot left to desire in other fields. Kidd resume is not really shining and filled with bridge burning, backstabbing stuff. Harrison might be liked by players but lacks any experience in the FO business. Mavs were not creative regarding cap space and team building as it was and current moves don't really address those issues. Sure this guys can bring in personnel to help them, but why really. They were brought in to advise Cuban, not to work independently.

They doubled down on FA in a season where there are really no top FA available. Are you guys comfortable if the plan is plan powder again? I am not. Do you trust their ability to execute? I do not.

It may be proven right.   I am willing to give it some time.  I wanted a new voice/new direction within the franchise .   My hope is for Niko to leave his current job at Nike he is going to be given a lot of authority and not a voice of many making decisions.   Whether that is a good thing or not, time will tell.  In the end, the GM role is a talent evaluation business/talent acquisition business.   He may have great relationships with players/agents, and that is a good thing.  But in the end, the best GM's can identify talent on all levels.    I also hope he is a good listener and has a rock solid plan he can execute, and  not jump around and constantly change directions when the wind changes.

As much as I like Dame, I hope our plan is not to wait until Dame is moved in the future.  To me that would be the worst case scenario.   

For Kidd, I hope we spend the money and Kidd is willing to hire a great staff.  Sort of mimic Brooklyn.   They had Mike D'Antoni (proven head coach), Jacque Vaughn(Young coach who has some head coaching experience), Ime Udoka (young coach who just was hired by Boston).    I would like to see something similar.   JJB may be too inexperienced for the third seat.   If he is hired though, the other two need to have a lot of experience.

As far as Cuban, I wonder if I will hear one interview in the next 3 years where he doesn't mention Luka's name.   I know he is the franchise, but man does he mention him everytime he speaks.  LOL.

[DallasBasketball]

What if;

Nico was in the process of being recruited for a *new* GM role not to replace Donnie but to succeed him, leaving Donnie as President of Basketball operations and out of the business of relationships and strictly in the business of basketball personnel. 

Carlisle wasn’t supposed to leave, but when Donnie went *full charge* Rick kinda looked at the whole scenario and thought it was time.

Cuban was left to scramble. He worked with Carlisle before he left to help determine the direction the franchise would go. He hired a search firm as a form of due diligence. He called a meeting between his closest basketball officiants to discuss all the happenings. 

Then:

Donnie was out. Nico was in. Not in the exact role they had planned for him but in an expanded one, with Finley taking on greater responsibilities and Dirk filling out other ones.

Carlisle was out. Kidd was in. The officiants and Nico, but also Carlisle contributed to this decision. Carlisle giving his input on the way out, and Nico giving his input on the way in. 

Everything WAS chaos for about a week. But it wasn’t as bad as it looked on the outside. Donnie going scorched earth and the black eye on Harlelom were really the only fire’s burning. Carlisle left on good terms. In the end less has changed than it appears. An upgrade to the brain trust was met with a setback, and a downgrade at coach brought with it some MFFL help. 

This is just what I think may have happened.