These are dire times to be a Dallas Mavericks fan.
In the latest chapter of the post-Luka Doncic saga, Mavs general manager Nico Harrison reportedly held a a roundtable discussion with selected members of the Dallas media to talk about the state of the team.
Tim Cato of DLLS Sports was among those in the room, and he debriefed the whole discussion in a live podcast stream on Tuesday. Cato revealed that there were around 12 members of the media in attendance for the closed-off press conference, which curiously didn't allow cameras or audio devices.
Cato admitted that part was strange but figured it was so that Harrison and the media would feel comfortable exchanging their honest thoughts on life after Doncic.
But that didn't turn out to be the case. Cato ripped Harrison for what he believed was a lack of transparency on the GM's part:
"At the end, I didn't feel it was that transparent," Cato said while reading his notes from the discussion. "That's the thing that most stood out, is that if you're going to do it in this way, if you're going to have a very select number of media members, you're not going to film it, you're not going to televise it, at this point why not be more transparent?... If you're just going to say the same thing over and over again... that's not transparency."
Cato then drilled down into the specifics of some of the questions he asked Harrison during the hour-long discussion.
When asked what he thought the Mavericks fans' biggest misunderstanding of the Doncic trade was, Harrison said, "I think the biggest misunderstanding why this trade happened is that we feel defense wins championships."
Harrison would reportedly repeat that cliché phrase, "defense wins championships," several more times throughout the presser.
Harrison was also asked a question about his obligation to the Mavs fan base.
"Nico, you keep saying that the fans will come back if the team wins. What do you feel is your responsibility to the fanbase when there is a player as beloved as Luka?" Cato said.
"My responsibility to the fanbase is to put a championship-caliber team on the floor," Harrison said. "We’re going to be judged by wins and losses.
“My obligation is to the Dallas Mavericks, it's what's the best interest of the Dallas Mavericks, and that's the most important thing. Some of those decisions are going to be unpopular maybe to Dirk and maybe to the fans, but my obligation is to the Dallas Mavericks.”
Sounds like a lot of repeated jargon and doubled-down messaging from Harrison, who still stubbornly insists he has zero regrets over the trade. One has to think that the timer on his four-years-and-counting tenure with the Mavs is steadily ticking away.
More NBA on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mavs Reporter Blasts Nico Harrison for Lack of Transparency in Closed-Off Presser.
