Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[KillerLeft]

The more I think about it, the more pissed off I am with the Nico press conference.  Nico has always been an awkward speaker.  In fact, I really don't like listening to him because most of his answers have little substance.  He has never felt comfortable answering questions.  He has gotten better the last few years but has never seemed polished.  Sort of weird coming from where he was before the Mavericks.

Although, to have that press conference and try to joke is just really, really poor taste.  I have no idea if Kidd was on board, but you could tell Kidd understood the moment and wanted nothing to do with any jokes.  He can't give the real reasons why he made the trade, but that should have been a simple execution.  We would all still be just as pissed, but to think you can get up there an tell a joke is just tone deaf.

Totally. Night and day how the two GM's, Harrison and Pelinka, handled the press this week. One of them understands that shaping the narrative in a positive direction with carefully chosen words is part of his job because it affects how open the fans, the media and even the guys in the locker room are to embracing the possibilities of big change like this. The other is Nico Harrison. 

Total abject failure, showing an overt under qualification for the position he has been given. When he was hired, he was to have supervision. I'm not saying Mark Cuban represents GOOD supervision, necessarily, but what we're seeing is an ownership team that doesn't get it, and who is trusting their guy to do his job. Ordinarily, that would be GREAT - just what we've been asking for all these years. But, the GM has to be better at his job than this for it to work. The worst GM in the league (and I bet Harrison isn't that, tbh) wouldn't make this move IF his background was in the business of building a pro sports roster. There's a people side to this, too, not just a basketball/business side. This is one of those times when the owner/governor has to step in and say "Nico, go drink some warm milk and lie down for a while. You've lost the plot. We aren't trading Luka."

I blame Harrison. I blame Dumont. I blame Kidd (whether, like me, you think he was part of the motivation here, or if it's just that he should have raised hell about it at the last minute). I blame Mark Cuban for hiring those two clowns and then selling out.