PHILADELPHIA — General manager Nico Harrison has developed an always-present, big-swing reputation during his two seasons leading the Dallas Mavericks.
Harrison travels to almost every road game. He watches nearly every shootaround and practice. He’s in constant communication with head coach Jason Kidd and superstars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.
That means he feels the mounting pressure, too.
Less than a year after the Mavericks upset run to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2011, they’re five games from missing this postseason altogether if they don’t win and receive help from other teams’ results to boost their current 11th-place standing to play-in tournament territory.
Before the loss Wednesday to the Philadelphia 76ers, Harrison discussed his team’s disappointing results since Irving’s blockbuster trade arrival — including his outlook on Doncic and Irving’s sporadic partnership and how the franchise’s leadership is working to help Doncic control his demeanor with officials.
Below are Harrison’s answers, lightly edited for length and clarity.
— Why do you think things haven’t clicked since the Kyrie trade?
— Harrison: When we made the trade, we expected those two guys — Kyrie and Luka — to jell by now, so that’s definitely below expectations. I’m not even saying they haven’t jelled, but the team — they haven’t had enough minutes together to jell. Kyrie was out, Luka was out, one played, the other played, so we’re behind where we wanted to be.
But those two work. Like, two guys at that level work. Then it’s how these guys around them — how do they fit in and play off them? That’s the tougher thing. You’ve got all this analytical data to say these lineups work, but guess what? Since the trade, we haven’t had consistent players out there, so it’s tough to say, like, absolute which lineups work because it’s very little minutes that they’ve all played together because it’s been change after change after change.
— From that small sample size with Luka and Kyrie both healthy, what do you think about their long-term potential together and whether the team actually fits around them?
— Harrison: The potential is limitless. I think you have a Ferrari and a monster truck, you know what I’m saying? Both amazing and awesome machines, but different styles, which makes us super dynamic. They can play off each other. They can play with each other. The combinations are limitless, really, and there’s not that many players in the league that are as good as those two are.
Then it’s like, ‘OK, how do these guys who are — I don’t want to say role players — but filling a role, how do they fit in?’ That’s really the other part.
— How long does that take to evaluate that? Do you have enough time to do so before the playoff clock runs out this season?
— Harrison: Everybody knows we’re fighting to get into this playoffs. I just think every game we’ve got to continue to make strides. Even if players aren’t healthy, we don’t have any choice. We have to go. That’s why I say we have high-character guys. Nobody’s feeling sorry for themselves. They’re positive guys, and they’re hard-working guys. They’re high-character guys, so we’ll figure it out. Hopefully we figure it out sooner or later. The clock’s on us.
— What did you think about the apparent lack of urgency in the two losses to the Hornets last weekend?
— Harrison: It was a tough weekend, and I think when you’re playing against a team that has nothing to lose and guys are getting opportunities [who] hadn’t got opportunities, it’s tough. I don’t want to make excuses, but we didn’t match their energy or their intensity. Sometimes that’s tough when their stars aren’t out there. We can’t afford to do that at this point. We’ve got to go.
— There’s been a lot of debate about Jason Kidd’s coaching and leadership this season. What do you think about how things have panned out since the trade in terms of players responding to him?
— Harrison: I think Jason’s done a great job, starting with the top, making sure Luka and Kyrie are communicating and on the same page, which he’s done well. I think it’s tough for a coach every day. A lot of times you guys think we’re being cute when you’re like ‘Hey, are they playing today?’ And we’re like ‘Yeah, we don’t know yet.’ You’re like ‘Yeah, they know,’ but we’re looking at each other like, ‘Hey, what do you think?’
If you’re Jason, how do you game plan when you don’t know who’s available? I think he’s been put in a tough position. I think what Jason’s done really well is he’s really dug into being positive with all the uncertainty. It’s easy to start pointing fingers. He’s really dug into being positive, and I think that’s super helpful. I think the guys can feel the positive energy and again, I think he’s been in a tough position.
Honestly, we weren’t playing good before the trade, so the trade was never going to be a magic pill all of a sudden, but we did expect those guys to play more games together to figure each other out. Again, I’m not really worried about those two figuring each other out. It’s the players around them.
— Speaking of that, Josh Green has been open about the difficulty of learning to play with two superstars. How do you think he’s handled more responsibility since the trade while dipping in efficiency and overall offensive production?
— Harrison: I think for him and for everybody else, it’s really like ‘Go hard.’ You don’t actually have to figure it out. No, those two guys [Luka and Kyrie] are so good they’ll figure it out for you, so you almost don’t have to overthink it or try to outthink it. Just go. The guys are so good. They’ll be able to figure it out for you. It’s hard because everybody hasn’t been here, so then you’re unsure.
— Kyrie obviously arrived with a reputation for drama to follow him, but all accounts so far have shown he’s fit in pretty seamlessly in the locker room. Did you expect that he’d be able to, given he made an unexpected trade request and prompted a big change midseason?
— Harrison: It might sound weird, but I expected it from Kyrie. Like, he’s a superstar. He’s super high-IQ, super cerebral, thoughtful. I knew him, so I’m not shocked at all, and I’m also not shocked that he and Luka have connected because two guys at that level, the mutual respect that they would have even before they met is at a high level. I think it’s easy for them to connect because they’re so talented.
— Luka has dealt with injuries the last couple months and almost cost himself another game before the NBA rescinded his suspension for 16 technical fouls. What are you and other leaders doing with him behind the scenes to address his maturity and demeanor with officials?
— Harrison: He knows he needs to focus on the game and not the refs. One of the things I’ve actually talked to some of the folks at the NBA about is every team has somebody that will beat him up for 60 feet down the floor, and then by the time he gets to the basket, it might seem like a touch foul, but from backcourt all the way up there, literally they’re allowed to beat him up.
The great thing is once we get these two together, [defenses] can’t actually do that because he can just get off the ball and have Kyrie handle it. So I think that will help him out. I honestly think it is tough when you’re allowed to get beat up all the way up the floor. Then by the time you get to the basket, even if it’s not a huge foul, you’re frustrated. But he has to learn to deal with that.
He’s a guy that has the ball in his hands most of the time. He’s a high-usage-rate guy. He’s one of the best players in the NBA, and he’s bigger than most of the people that guard him, so they’re going to hit him inside. It’s like when Shaq was playing. They used to beat up on Shaq all the time and wouldn’t give him fouls because like, ‘Oh, you’re big.’ It’s just something emotionally, he just has to go through it. You’ve seen when it’s gone too much that he’s been thoughtful and tried to control it, and he just needs to continue to do that.
— After the first Charlotte loss last weekend, Luka was as candid as he’s been willing to be publicly about his frustrations and unhappiness. I understand off-court personal matters contribute to that, too, but how have you approached helping him navigate the ups and downs that come when basketball and life aren’t flowing well?
— Harrison: It’s just being there for him, whether that means leaving him alone or whether that means having an open-door policy. I think just being there and available if and how he wants to engage. Giving him his space, but also not too much space. I really think that’s it. When you’re losing, everything is magnified — who played, who didn’t play, what somebody really meant when they say something. When you’re winning, you can say the exact same thing and it doesn’t matter, so I just think at the end of the day — even if the off-court stuff is not going well — when you’re winning, it’s tough to not have joy versus when you’re losing.
