Nico Harrison’s Dallas downfall

'Defense wins championships!' The fired Mavericks GM failed to deliver after trading Luka Doncic to the Lakers

Transcript

00:00The leadership that we have is really elite, and you'll see next year when our team comes

00:06back we're going to be competing for a championship.

00:14You guys all know Luka and you see the way he moves, like he was hurting, but he's a

00:18warrior, he's going to fight through all those injuries, that's just who he is.

00:30We're proud of the way this season went, you know, we're committed to building a winning

00:34organization that has championships aspirations.

00:47I had to check, it was April 1st, I didn't really believe it at first, and it was a big shock.

00:54It is part of the business, it is a little shocking, but like in a sense we have to push forward.

01:00Jake and I, we've had a vision in the culture that we want to create since we've been here.

01:03Defense wins championships.

01:05I think my initial reaction was, it came from a fake account.

01:08Is this a joke? Like, is this trade real? Is this a joke?

01:11I can't even imagine why they did this. It feels like they just blew up the team.

01:14It makes me nauseous, it makes me nauseous.

01:17For me, it's one of those things, it's just, why? Why?

01:20One of the dumbest, most ridiculous trades I can imagine.

01:24It just feels like we were robbed.

01:26I'm sorry they're frustrated, but it's something that we believe in as an organization.

01:32It's going to make us better.

01:33I get, you know, who Luka was to this franchise, to this city.

01:37I'm never, you know, going to downplay that.

01:38I thought I was going to spend my whole career there,

01:41because I think loyalty is a big word for me.

01:44When we win, I believe the frustration will go away.

01:54You're standing there and there's thousands of people chanting for you to be fired.

02:01Why shouldn't you be fired?

02:05I don't think I can be judged by the injuries this year.

02:08You have to judge from totality, from beginning to end.

02:13I did know that Luka was important to the fan base.

02:17I didn't quite know it to what level.

02:19We're just super excited, you know, to get Cooper.

02:31It's a, you know, it's generational talent, once in a lifetime chance.

02:37I'm looking forward to being successful and, you know, winning a lot of games for sure.

02:41Things happen.

02:43Fortune favors the bold.

02:44So exciting, exciting things fell our way.

02:49My job is to make decisions that I feel in the best interest of this organization.

03:00And I got to stand by the decision that some of them weren't going to be unpopular.

03:03And this was clearly one that's unpopular.

03:05They got their point across, the fans.

03:08But we have to move forward.

03:11Defense wins championships.