11-13-2025, 05:53 PM
(11-13-2025, 04:02 PM)RoyTarpleysGhost Wrote: You can tell from Luka's reaction to Kidd when he made his return whether Kidd was involved or not. It's not that difficult to figure out.
People are free to believe what they want, but I've always assumed Kidd was involved in the decision, at least on a "I'm so sick of this guy's act" peripheral level (which, as I've said 1,000 times, I can understand, especially at the time). Most of the things that have come out over the past 48 hours have further cemented my opinion on that, honestly.
I heard a guy talk recently about a conversation he had with someone in the Mavs organization (not Harrison) that referenced how Kobe reacted to losing one finals as well as how Lebron reacted to losing to the Mavs in 2011. One example given was how Kobe used the song that played when the confetti dropped for the other team every day for a year as his workout music - he wanted to do anything he could to remember that feeling and be motivated by it. In contrast, the source told this guy that Luka showed up the year after losing to BOS in the same shape he always did, arguably worse, and "that's when WE started to feel like maybe this wasn't going to work with this guy."
Now, to be clear, Luka is a psychotically competitive individual, so I think that was a premature judgement (though kind of defendable at the time), but my point is that it sure doesn't seem to me like Nico Harrison (or even just Harrison and Dumont) went completely rogue on this one. It seems like a fair amount of the Mavs Brain Trust (which I'd bet any amount of money included Kidd) was kind of questioning Luka's future here.
This is all covered ground at this point and the last thing I want to do is hash it all out again, but...idk, if we think everyone who was in favor of that trade is gone, I'm pretty sure they're not, and they're probably not gonna be for a while. Harrison being fired this early is more closure than I expected, frankly, and more than enough for me. The organization is already admitting that the trade was a total fiasco and mistake, in more ways than one.
None of that has anything to do with my desire to see Kidd go. I just want a coach who can design an offense, a defense and maybe draw up some creative ATO's every now and again. I don't think that's too much to ask.