(11-13-2025, 03:03 AM)SleepingHero Wrote: @noahweber00

Cooper Flagg on his relationship with Dirk Nowitzki:

“I’ve met up with Dirk a couple times. He’s just voiced to me if I ever need anything he’ll be around and he wants to be in my corner and be there for me…I would love to be able to meet up with him soon and grow our relationship. Obviously he’s a legend here in Dallas, so that would be amazing for me…”

(11-13-2025, 02:54 AM)SleepingHero Wrote: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6800940/2025/11/12/dallas-mavericks-gm-nico-harrison-culture-workplace/

With the losing, the injuries and the negativity mounting, league sources said Dumont was hearing from the man whose choice to sell the team to him opened the door to this disaster in the first place. Cuban, who still owns 27 percent of the team, was known to be frustrated with Harrison for freezing him out after the sale and not consulting him on the choice to trade Luka Doncic. League sources say he made his case to Dumont over the last several months that Harrison was steering the franchise in the wrong direction.

Last summer, Kidd contemplated leaving the Mavericks to go coach the New York Knicks. There was mutual interest between the two sides, league sources said, but the Mavericks refused to let Kidd leave and rewarded him with an extension. That gave Kidd power in any disagreement with his front office. He had more years on his contract than any of them.

If only they hadn’t said goodbye to a generational talent who was one of the best of all time at that very thing. “It’s the losing,” said a league source who spoke with Dumont about why Harrison was fired. “Can’t get off to a start like this (after making a trade like that) and survive.”

Multiple team sources told The Athletic it was illustrative of part of a larger pattern of Harrison’s poor hiring practices and perceived lack of accountability. In May, Harrison was forced to fire athletic performance director Keith Belton, who did not have proper certification from the National Strength and Conditioning Association, as first reported by ESPN. Earlier in the season, Belton had gotten into a heated argument with one of his superiors over the handling of Dereck Lively II’s return to the court. The incident was serious enough that it required the involvement of the human resources department.

Besides hiring unqualified people for important roles, Harrison also didn’t have much tolerance for anyone who disagreed with his way of doing things, multiple team employees told The Athletic. Casey Smith, the Mavericks’ long-time director of health and performance, was let go weeks before the start of the 2023-24 season. Smith was widely respected throughout the NBA and had strong relationships up and down the Mavericks’ roster. But he wasn’t retained, team sources said, in part because he sometimes pushed back on Harrison’s rigid way of doing things.

(11-13-2025, 11:25 AM)KillerLeft Wrote: Thanks for posting this, SH!

I worry that the emboldened portion will turn out to be the last of Harrison's major blunders, the effects of which might last almost as long as the Luka trade. I wish they had let Kidd go to NY and gotten picks for him, frankly.

(11-13-2025, 10:52 AM)JamesConway912 Wrote: Maybe with Dirk‘s help they can get it done one day. It’s certainly a longshot but man that would be sweet.

(11-13-2025, 11:35 AM)RasheedsBigWhiteSpot Wrote: I would bet it's 100% that Luka returns to the Mavs someday. It may not be in his prime, but at the very least, in the twilight of his career, he'll finish out as a Mav. Players tend to, once egos disapate, find their way home, one way or another. Whenever he does return, the homecoming will be glorious. Janitors will be on standby with massive buckets and squeegees because there will be so many tears. 

"WHO THE F--- IS CHOPPIN' ONIONS UP IN THIS THREAD??!!??!!??"

(11-13-2025, 11:16 AM)KillerLeft Wrote: Wow, an 18-year old kid already understands how to get on DFW's good side better than any of the adults who've been running this team recently.

(11-13-2025, 11:50 AM)mvossman Wrote: Really hard to see that happening if Dumont is still here.  That bridge was burned to the ground.

(11-13-2025, 11:28 AM)BigDirk41 Wrote: I don't know Kidd's new contract details, but at least the new owners are rich enough to eat the money if the new GM decides he isn't the best coach moving forward. Kidd is the perfect coach to tank, but if the plan is to win, he needs to go imo.

(11-13-2025, 11:50 AM)mvossman Wrote: Really hard to see that happening if Dumont is still here.  That bridge was burned to the ground.

(11-13-2025, 12:31 PM)Jmaciscool Wrote: Could be, but then again I thought the bridge between LeBron and Cleveland was thoroughly burned as well.

(11-13-2025, 01:16 PM)mvossman Wrote: That was a very different situation though.  It was the Cleveland owner who was pissed at LeBron.  Not that surprised he got over his angst to bring back the best player in the NBA.

Is there even a precedent for what Dumont did?  Has there ever been a case where an owner traded a superstar without warning and then trashed him in the media afterwords?

(11-13-2025, 12:07 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: I agree, but if the implications of that article are true, it could be deeper than that. 

Does Kidd's contractual status (and the faith in him that prompted the extension offer) mean he's going to have a voice in the search for the next GM? Is that guy going to start his new job knowing he has to wrestle control of the organization from Kidd? Or worse, do they hire someone Kidd knows he can bully into doing everything his way?

Lots of potential for extension of the same old Dallas Mavericks problems.

(11-13-2025, 02:04 PM)F Gump Wrote: You hate Kidd. You've made that clear. Got it. But I think he's part of the solution, rather than the problem.

(11-13-2025, 02:12 PM)FireNicoHarrison Wrote: Our window is closed for at least 4/5 years so Kidd can't do so much damage.

(11-13-2025, 02:04 PM)F Gump Wrote: If you are tired of the incessant negativity in this forum, maybe look in the mirror to see where it is coming from? 

Kidd has coached the Mavs to WCF twice and NBA Finals once, in a very short time. Yet you are on a post-after-post crusade to vilify him. I think your extreme hatred is misplaced and has you looking desperately for negatives, in the innocuous and in the normalities of the NBA world. 

If you don't believe me, then at least put a little faith in the acumen of people who evaluate coaches for a living. NY Knicks front office has been fairly astute in recent years, and Kidd was the guy they wanted. And Kidd is HIGHLY respected around the league. 

You hate Kidd. You've made that clear. Got it. But I think he's part of the solution, rather than the problem.

(11-13-2025, 02:04 PM)F Gump Wrote: If you are tired of the incessant negativity in this forum, maybe look in the mirror to see where it is coming from? 

Kidd has coached the Mavs to WCF twice and NBA Finals once, in a very short time. Yet you are on a post-after-post crusade to vilify him. I think your extreme hatred is misplaced and has you looking desperately for negatives, in the innocuous and in the normalities of the NBA world. 

If you don't believe me, then at least put a little faith in the acumen of people who evaluate coaches for a living. NY Knicks front office has been fairly astute in recent years, and Kidd was the guy they wanted. And Kidd is HIGHLY respected around the league. 

You hate Kidd. You've made that clear. Got it. But I think he's part of the solution, rather than the problem.

(11-13-2025, 02:13 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: Oh, my goodness. I sure hope that's not true. I don't think it is, necessarily