00:00The Masai Ujiri press conference, initial impressions from him, his delivery, his personality.
00:09As Chris Mannix and others yesterday, Chuck Cooperstein, voice of the Mavs, will join us at 8 o'clock.
00:13He was at the presser, but Chris Mannix said he was going to be engaging, he was going to capture
00:18the room, he was going to win the press conference.
00:20Yeah, I mean, all of that, exactly who you heard he was, that just in command, complete opposite of Nico
00:31Harrison, in terms of the way you talk about his approach, his style of, which I kind of had gotten
00:38a sense of already, because when we were Googling him around after he got hired and just trying to find
00:42out different things about him, I'd seen a couple different quotes where he was very direct about things in press
00:47conferences, or just talking about this or that.
00:50His story is really interesting in terms of how he got into basketball and how hard he worked, so there's
00:57nothing handed to him.
00:58He grinded through the process of getting into a personnel department.
01:02There was something about him being an unpaid, he basically got hired by Doc Rivers in Orlando to be an
01:09unpaid scout, so he would just work as a scout for free for years until Kiki Vandewa gave him a
01:15job.
01:15And so, he grinds hard, he's earned every spot that he has, and so I think impressive, commanding, all of
01:22that, that checks the boxes.
01:23Met with Patrick Dumont in Vegas at a restaurant that was owned by Dumont's friend.
01:29Well, I guess they needed to turn over for dinner.
01:32Not a coffee shop, they didn't meet there?
01:34They did not.
01:34By the way, I was told by a little birdie that the day when the Ujiri news broke, just the
01:40other day, Nico was hanging out at an establishment just about 40 yards away from the scene of the crime,
01:49and the guy who told me about it, I'll protect his name, he's like, man, what a ballsy thing to
01:55do.
01:55The day that they are sitting, the lack of conscience, the lack of conscience, it's RJ-esque.
02:05It is RJ-esque not to have moved out of here and then just to go and be out and
02:12about when this news breaks and to be out and about yards away from where you cuddled up to Rob
02:18Palenka for the crime.
02:19Why?
02:20Why are you still here?
02:23This is official.
02:24I know we've, like, joked about it before a little bit.
02:27There's some psychological thing off with him.
02:31Like, any normal human being would go, I need to get away from this town.
02:35Like, this is too negative and too toxic.
02:37He wants to stay.
02:38All the stuff about, like, his kids in school and that worry and that concern, I'd be like, I don't,
02:44I'm not trying to get into family stuff.
02:46I'm really not.
02:46No, but I get it.
02:47Honestly, I would think, like, top layer, I don't want my kids in this city.
02:52No.
02:52I don't want my kids growing up around Mavs fans.
02:55No, and it's not like he was born and raised here.
02:57And so it's like, well, this is home.
02:58Yeah.
02:58He can't leave.
02:58No, he's from the Northwest.
02:59Like, I know he lived here as a Nike field rep for one point and as an adult.
03:03But I'd be getting the hell out of here.
03:06Back to the replacement.
03:07As you could probably guess, one major reason why Masai Ujiri wanted to take this job.
03:13Okay.
03:13When I met with him, I also told my boy, Robbie, who was here, who works with me.
03:19And on my business and personal side, you got Wemba Yama for the next 15 years.
03:28Luca.
03:29You don't.
03:30Next 10, 12, 15 years.
03:33Anthony Edwards.
03:3410, 12, 15 years.
03:37Shay.
03:3810, 12, 15 years.
03:4210, 12, 15 years.
03:43Who else we got?
03:44Jokic.
03:45Five, seven.
03:46How many years?
03:47Okay.
03:48How many guys have I mentioned?
03:49I'm forgetting guys.
03:52Okay.
03:53Now you have to convince me that I have to beat all those guys?
03:58Okay.
03:59You got to come with something in your pocket.
04:02Okay.
04:03And in his pocket, he had Cooper flag.
04:06And I said yes.
04:08Yes.
04:09This is a tough league.
04:11It's a tough league with tough young players coming up.
04:14And we got one of them.
04:15We have to do a great job putting surrounding him and giving him the opportunities to be good.
04:21And he kept stressing how this, the Mavs have the most difficult thing to find in sports.
04:27Doesn't matter what sport it is.
04:29When you have a generational young talent like this, he was just looking at Cooper flag's locker yesterday.
04:34It looked like he's like, this is it.
04:36This is, this is my next 10 years.
04:37This is my meal ticket, which a lot of people around the NBA would obviously agree with.
04:42Yeah.
04:42Which he's clearly like basketball junkie.
04:45Like when you hear him talk.
04:47And so, somebody who has such an appreciation for the sport and how it's played.
04:53Yeah.
04:53You'd imagine it'd be, as soon as you get in the facility, you do want to kind of stare at
04:57it.
04:57It's a little bit like, you know, I can't believe I got this.
05:00I can't believe I have this toy to play with or whatever.
05:02And so, it's, it makes a ton of sense why if he was going to get back in.
05:08Which it sounds like he could have gotten back in, like the league would have been pursuing him and giving
05:13him opportunities elsewhere.
05:14Not necessarily he could have had any job, but like opportunities were going to be there.
05:17And this is one that he would have circled just because of that.
05:19Said he wanted to go ahead and take a year off to look and learn about the league and kind
05:25of go over some of the mistakes he made in Toronto.
05:28After they were talking in Dumont's friend's restaurant, they got kicked out of the restaurant.
05:34They're like, all right, get out of here.
05:35We need to turn over for dinner.
05:36So, they go and sit outside.
05:38And it lasted not four hours, but five hours.
05:40And the wives were texting each other and texting them.
05:43Where are you?
05:44This was to take an hour.
05:45Maybe two hours max.
05:47We know it ended up being apparently a five-hour discussion.
05:50And both he and Patrick Dumont said some uncomfortable things were brought up.
05:55Here's Dumont on what?
05:56By the way, Patrick Dumont opened this and scared me because how intense he was with his introduction of besides
06:03here, besides here, everybody, here we go.
06:07And I was like, oh, my God, this guy's really intense.
06:09Dumont on why this is the right guy.
06:11I have to tell you, we had a great relationship from the beginning.
06:14When you talk with someone for five hours, you get to know them really well.
06:18And the time flew by.
06:20And it was a great conversation.
06:22And our conversations continue to be like that all throughout, even through tough parts of the discussion.
06:26We were very open and very candid with each other.
06:29And I think that was really important.
06:30So in my mind, we did have a process.
06:33There were other people who called me.
06:35There were other people I spoke to.
06:37But for me, it was very clear.
06:39So that's Patrick Dumont wanted to keep things very short, very quick.
06:43You don't normally think of a job interview, especially for that one, as being like really tough parts of the
06:50conversation.
06:51And I assume it has to do with everything that's fallen out here in Dallas in the last year.
06:54But I'd love to know what he was thinking of in that second when he said, even through really tough
06:59parts of the conversation, like uncomfortable things.
07:01Like that got uncomfortable at times, which I'm sure was just like, what were you doing?
07:05Like, what have you been doing the last year?
07:06How did this happen that you guys got in this position that you're in?
07:08You know, philosophically, he didn't say anything that blew me away in terms of what he's looking for.
07:13You know, shooting and athleticism and youth and all that stuff.
07:17But I think the most interesting thing, maybe by far, was the status of Jason Kidd, who has four years
07:29left on the contract.
07:30And Masai was asked, can you definitively say that Jason is definitely the head coach next season?
07:37I had a conversation with Jason Kidd yesterday.
07:41I'm going to meet with Jason Kidd, hear his thoughts, you know, on everything.
07:47Another Hall of Fame player.
07:49He's done a great job.
07:51You know, but we're going to look at this thing from head to toe.
07:55You know, that's the right way to look at an organization, evaluate in every single way that we can.
08:03But, yeah, talk to him, and I'm going to hear his thoughts on where he sees this.
08:09All right, after he said that, my antennas went up, and I was like, uh-oh, Jason's in trouble.
08:14Because he said he did not say yes.
08:16He's definitely back.
08:18And he said, we're going to look at this from head to toe.
08:22I thought Mac Angle, and I side-texted Mac, and I was like, great follow-up.
08:26Because Mac, he'll just, he'll say it.
08:29Yeah.
08:32Mac will say it, and he goes, just so you know, many of us are going to interpret that as
08:39Jason could be in trouble.
08:42That's the way we're going to read it.
08:44Is that accurate?
08:46And I thought it was a nice job by Mac.
08:48And my antennas went back down a little bit after Masai said, look, there is no way to read it.
08:55Just go look at my history.
08:56When I was in Denver, I kept George Carl.
08:58And when I started off in Toronto, I kept Dwayne Casey.
09:03So if you go and look at my history, I kept the coaches, and I kept them for a number
09:08of years.
09:09So when he said that, I was like, okay, just doing due diligence and reviewing the entire operation.
09:14But I wasn't thinking that after the first kid response.
09:17So, no, definitely not after the first kid response.
09:20And even still after the second.
09:21Because for the defense to be of, like, guys, chill out.
09:26Other people before, I've kept them.
09:29Okay, but what about Jason?
09:30Like, what about Jason and how he looks at basketball?
09:33Do you, like, what are the things that would get?
09:35I'm not just going to go based off of, like, well, I didn't have a choice other places,
09:37so I'm just not going to change it here either.
09:39No, I got to know what you think of the guy.
09:41Okay, which, again, this is the, this is where the spectrum brain kicks in a little bit.
09:47I, it, my intent is go up in a situation like that.
09:52The first time, and then definitely the second, when you say Jason Kidd.
09:58Why don't you call it, like, I mean, it feels so informal and business-like,
10:01of just, like, removed, or just, like, not even Jason.
10:04Like, yeah, I talked to Jason, you know, I really like him.
10:06We've been in the league together for a long time.
10:07And so it's, I've talked to Jason Kidd.
10:09Look, Jason Kidd, I'm going to be interested to see what he has to do.
10:11It's like, that feels so business and removed of, like, hey, I'm not going to,
10:15I'm not personable with this guy yet.
10:17Well, he's just returning the favor, because The Athletic put out a little article
10:20that in 2014, Ujiri was a fresh-faced executive in his first year as GM in Toronto.
10:28Before their first-round playoff series, Ujiri got a little carried away at a fan rally in Toronto
10:33and cursed their opponent, the Brooklyn Nets.
10:37F Brooklyn, he yelled to the Toronto fans,
10:41well, Nets coach Jason Kidd was asked about the comments.
10:45He said, you got to tell me who the GM is.
10:48I don't even know that guy.
10:50I could care less, couldn't.
10:52What they think about Brooklyn, we have a job to do,
10:54and that's to play the game of basketball.
10:55And now Messiah is Jason's boss.
10:58So that was Jason saying, who?
11:01Who's that running their mouth and cursing us?
11:03Not for a Berkeley guy to say I could care less and not know the difference on that one.
11:07No, I think that in general, it's probably, like with a lot of the things I think you heard yesterday
11:11from Messiah Ujiri, I think a lot of it was, I'm taking a look at everything.
11:16Like, yeah, you know, everything's up for it, because it's like,
11:18he really doesn't know yet what he thinks about a lot of things,
11:21and so he is just saying, look, everything's up for evaluation.
11:24I don't want to speak definitively on anything until I can get a handle on, like,
11:29okay, why are y'all doing this?
11:30Why is this happening over here?
11:31Okay, this shouldn't be run like this.
11:33And then there will be other areas, I'm sure, where he looks at it and goes,
11:35yeah, y'all are on the right track.
11:36That's what we need.
11:36That's what I would be doing, so we can go forward with that.
11:39I think it genuinely just is not having a handle yet on what he thinks about
11:43how they've organizationally built everything.
11:46Give us your Mavs impressions on the Franco LaFranco fan text,
11:49877-881-1053.
11:52877-881-1053.
11:54He did start off saying, I hope to bring calm,
11:57and that really jumped out to me early on.
12:01He said the Mavs need to improve medically.
12:04He are shed by me for Casey Smith, dominating as you knew he would with the New York Knicks.
12:11He said the league needs to fix the tank issue.
12:14Some of the games for him to watch last year were not very fun to view at all,
12:19and that free agency has been a little bit dead.
12:23And then Patrick Dumont, at the end, was asked by Newey,
12:25what's your big lesson that you've learned?
12:28And he said communication and collaboration from within.
12:32I think that is the difference with separating.
12:35Yeah, where Nico's philosophy was talk to no one,
12:38throw people out of the arena for saying things,
12:41and make unilateral decisions where you consult no one.
12:43and get to the man on YouTube.
12:44and maybe I do not know if anyone wants to follow the chat yet.
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