Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[KillerLeft]

“A person close to the situation described this trade as the ultimate Harrison power trip, calling him a power-hungry man. Another observer said Harrison removed anyone who held a different view.“

This is absolutely wild.

From @iztok_franko latest piece.

To be honest, I doubt that this perspective has much validity. I like Iztok Franco's basketball knowledge, and he has given us a lot of good content, but he's basically to Luka what Windhorst was to LeBron, at least in a Europe/America crossover sort of way. It's not at all surprising that his coverage of this is almost totally from the perspective of Luka's camp. It's quite literally his livelihood. 

It's not shocking that a GM would try to change the culture of his team, especially given the culture of the Mavs he inherited. I, personally, do not fall into the group that believes when you have a player like Luka "you do whatever he wants." I think that has been proven again and again not to be the way to go, and have said so since before Carlisle left. 

For example, the best period of LeBron's career was the brief stint in Miami, the only organization able to operate above needing to satisfy his every whim on a day to day basis while he played there. 

Harrison being willing to do what he thinks right, even when it rubs his superstar wrong, isn't what's wrong here. It's the potential that what he thinks right won't work, and that we'll all be left dealing with it long after he's gone if so. It's not just that he gave up on Luka, it's that he chose to do it in a way that had never crossed the mind of even one person. 

Again, I think the choices were to either continue to try to make it work with Luka, hoping he matured, or to START OVER, using Luka's departure as a lifeline to the next era. You can rationalize this weekend's events by saying "well, they didn't want picks. They didn't want to start over. Given that set of goals, Anthony Davis is the best we reasonably could've expected." And, you'd be right about that. But, without Luka, I don't believe trying to win right now is the right goal. That's what it comes down to, for me.