Summer League Game 1: 7pm CST on ESPN

[mvossman]

I think it's more complex than that. 

I don't buy the "Lindsey good - Nico bad" narrative, at least not completely. I think there's a lot of talent here, and it's silly to deny Harrison any credit for that. I think they're forming a salary structure that, to Cuban's recent point, is looking pretty sustainable for a reasonably long period of the near future. That's no easy feat right now, as we're seeing. I think it's pretty clear that the type of player the team covets changed when Harrison got the job, and while I don't think he's always gotten things right (see McGee and the attempt at ending my life with Kuzma), we all love PJW and Gafford, and whether some are willing to give him credit for those deals or not, neither would've been Mavericks during the Cuban/Nelson era. I'm confident about that. This team values athletic ability and two-way play like we wish they would've through the entire Dirk era, frankly. The one time they backed into a roster full of two way players, they won the championship. 

Heck, I stand by the O-Max/Hardy draft picks, even. Sometimes players don't figure things out, but those were both good swings, imho. And, he has not shown the slightest hesitation to move on once he's made his mind up that something isn't working. Does anyone miss Porzingis? Josh Green? I know some miss Grimes, but I feel like that's going to play out badly for him, not for the Mavs. I think he should've accepted their offer and settled into the role they wanted for him. We'll see. 

Harrison is going to be wrong as much as or maybe more often than he's right, but I swear we'd be saying that about any GM the Mavs had. If I was an Utah fan (ugh, Utah) I'd LOATHE Danny Ainge, who has wasted years there with almost nothing to show for it. That's just one example. The reality is that the job is so much more difficult than it looks to backseat drivers. 

I'm not trying to defend the guy, I swear. I'm just saying that if the GM is why someone is out on the Mavs, they're very unlikely to ever be happy following the Mavs. If the team is good, it will be fun for us. If they're not, then maybe he'll get fired. Or he won't. Either way, we're so powerless to do anything about it. If the fan backlash the team withstood over the last several months didn't do the trick, no craft we fans possess has any bearing on his future. I want the Mavs to be good, and have little hope for a GM change anytime soon, so I'll choose to hope Harrison performs better in his role than others expect.

I get the argument that it was not 100% Lindsey, but its hard not to see the stark difference in direction and competence between when Linsey was here and when he was not.  I have beaten to death the difference in competence, but the difference in overall direction is even more stark.  Without Linsey the focus has been Nico guys and the team consistently got older.  They bring in Linsdey, and all of the sudden we add Lively, Williams, DJJ, Exum, PJ, Gafford and Grimes.  In one year this team got significantly younger (and all on good moves except for the Williams miss).  The second Linsey is out the door Nico lets DJJ walk and goes all in on a 34 year old Klay (Nico guy), trades Luka for 31 year old Davis (Nico guy), dumps Grimes for 29 year old Martin, signs a 33 year old Kyrie (Nico guy) and signs a 29 year old Dlo (Nico guy).  Its amazing how much older this team got in just a year.  Hopefully the next Nico guy actually fits the roster.  Regardless I have zero faith he can (or has any interest to) rebuild a young roster around Flagg timeline after the current one.

The Cuban/Nelson combination could be very frustrating, especially the whole plan powder stuff.  But Nelson had a good eye for European talent and I don't remember them making a catastrophic move the level of the Doncic trade.  You say they would not make the PJ/Gafford moves (I say what if Linsey was there) but I suggest there is a much bigger chance that Brunson and Dorian are still here (Nelson was a huge Brunson fan).  That team is probably better (and significantly younger) than the current team.  If its not, its only because Nico fell back asswards into Flagg.

I agree there are other bad GMs.  I agree that the job is hard and there are always going to be misses.  I don't agree that we should simply accept the current GM because nobody is perfect.  I tolerated Nelson, hated the early Nico years (mostly blaming Cuban for bringing in a figurehead) loved the Cuban/Nico/Linsey year and absolutely hate with a passion what we have gotten with Nico on his own.  I realize my dislike of the GM will have no effect on anyone, but I'm not capable of ignoring historical evidence.  I hope good moves are made, but I am going in with what I believe to be realistic expectations.