DETROIT — The Mavericks’ most noticeable gap this season is about to take the spotlight.
A few hours after their Thursday night loss in Detroit, Luka Doncic and Co. arrived in New York ahead of Saturday afternoon’s national TV tip-off against the Knicks and Jalen Brunson in Madison Square Garden.
En route to a 10-11 start, many fans have lamented the Mavericks’ failure to re-sign Brunson in free agency or replace his production as one of two established ball-handlers next to Doncic in the drive-and-kick offensive scheme.
Brunson — who’s scoring (21.3 points a game) and assisting (6.5) at a career-best rate, but shooting below last season’s averages — is still friends with many of the Mavericks players and staff members, but don’t expect him to take it easy Saturday on Dallas’ roster voids.
The Mavericks aren’t stewing, either.
In a conversation Thursday morning with The Dallas Morning News, Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison discussed the biggest storylines his team has faced over the first quarter of the season.
From whether the front office regrets the fallout from Brunson’s departure to Josh Green’s development to Christian Wood’s acclimation and future as the sixth-man center, here are Harrison’s thoughts, lightly edited for clarity.
— Dallas Morning News: A quarter of the way through the season, what are your thoughts about how the first 20 or so games have played out versus your expectations before the season started?
— Nico Harrison: I don’t know that I put, like expectations in terms of, like, where we would be at this point in wins and losses. But you know, it’s no secret — we’ve lost some bad games, and we haven’t played good on the road, and our guys who shoot the ball well haven’t shot well. If you add those three up, I’m not surprised where we’re at, but I wouldn’t have expected all three of those things to happen.
— DMN: There was talk this summer about keeping the 15th roster spot open, then a late signing with Facundo Campazzo, then another roll of the dice with Kemba Walker — when did it become clear to you all that additional ball-handling depth was necessary after Jalen’s departure?
— Harrison: I just think it’s one of those things that you’re just constantly evaluating the team. When you see that there’s a hole, then you’ve got to try to fill it. I mean, you say lack of ball-handling, but at the end of the day, whoever that person is that we bring in, whether it was Facu or whether it was whoever, it’s not like they’re in the regular rotation. If we have one of the best, one of the best point guards in the league who’s one of the highest usage rates, it’s kind of a gift and a curse.
— DMN: With Kemba, what are realistic expectations for him? Maybe on a scale of Facu’s limited spurts to an every-night guy, what do you hope to see?
— Harrison: I don’t think there’s any expectations, really. One, I hope his body holds up. I think that’s the first and foremost thing. I hope his body holds up. If it does, he’s a veteran guy. One, he’s an amazing person — I think that’s the point. He’s an amazing person. He’s been through everything in the league. He obviously can handle the ball and everybody knows he’s an ex-All-Star. I won’t even say ex-All-Star. He’s an All-Star. He’s a scorer. Adding that veteran presence for if and when we need it ready will be helpful.
— DMN: You mention Luka’s workload at the current rate he’s going, what have you thought about the way he’s handled the load so far and what might need to be tweaked going forward for him to be able to sustain this kind of dominance?
— Harrison: Really, it just comes back to us doing what we’re supposed to do in terms of making shots. Honestly, it’s really simple. If we make shots, there’s games he should be on the bench and not having to play. When he’s in the game, he’s going to have a high usage rate. That’s just the nature. But we could make it easier on him by finishing and making shots for the team. I think if you look at last year, we probably were doing the same thing, so in that regard, it’s not surprising, but it all turns around. Law of averages, they all equal out.
— DMN: Do you regret or reflect as management on not making a stronger push during the thick of free agency to re-sign Jalen or add another point guard, especially knowing how crucial three ball handlers was to the playoff run last spring?
— Harrison: One, us not re-signing [Jalen] wasn’t our choice.
— DMN: Right, but do you regret any part of the response in free agency by not pursuing Goran Dragic as a back-up point guard who’s now part of the Bulls’ regular rotation or a more established, reliable third option?
— Harrison: You can look back at it and say that, but I also have faith in the guys that we have here. Again, guys haven’t made shots, but we’ve seen them do it, and I have faith in them. I think if guys make shots just at the rate or slightly below what they normally do, we’re not even having this conversation. I think that erases a lot of the doubt or the feeling that we’re not quite achieving what the expectations would’ve been. The law of averages, they eventually equal out, and guys will make shots.
— DMN: Speaking of swinging the opposite direction, Josh Green has taken that step. Did you see this coming from him — just how much he improved in one offseason?
— Harrison: It was a big offseason for him. I don’t know that I saw it coming. I hoped because I know he’s put the work in. [Michael] Finley calls him the MVP of the summer. He clearly, like, he lost weight, he was in the gym working hard, and you can see. You see the production that he’s had. Not surprised. Happy for him. Happy for us, too, but more for him.
— DMN: Another big focus so far has been Christian Wood. What have you thought about how he’s acclimated so far, how he’s approached his role through 20 or so games and his overall usage patterns?
— Harrison: One, I think it’s been great having him. Having someone that can score at that position is really good. The way he’s been able to hold the second unit down to give us scoring off the bench has been huge for us.
— DMN: How have his big-man-passer abilities factored into keeping him in this sixth-man role?
— Harrison: I think it rounds the team out in terms of not only getting scoring from the guards, having a guy at a different position who can score.
— DMN: With him and the rest of the NBA, mid-December is a big mark for when a lot of contract extension and trade talk starts to heat up — what have you sensed from him and his management with his overall satisfaction with the team and his openness to being here long term?
— Harrison: Honestly, that’s not even something that I would even comment on, just because a lot of it is private between us and them. But I think the best way I would describe it is if you look at him and see him smiling with the players and the guys, to me, that says everything. If you see him off by himself, not interacting with the guys, then you probably have a problem. If you see him smiling and joking, he’s probably not too unhappy.
— DMN: Last year, a lot of the team pointed to the COVID outbreak and then the trade deadline as key points when everyone communicated, settled in and really took off. What do you think might spark such a turnaround this year after another slow start? Can something or someone already here be the catalyst for that, or might another external factor be necessary?
— Harrison: I don’t think it’s an external thing. Our team — they’re connected, they’re together. Like, they’re still, even though it’s a different team than last year, there’s still a lot of remnants from last year. They’re still very connected. There’s not a lot of decisiveness, so I think it’s just a matter of us turning the corner, and I think it’s going to happen sooner than later.
