Mavs introduce new head coach Jason Kidd and GM Nico Harrison
New Mavericks coach Jason Kidd and general manager Nico Harrison were introduced Thursday (15 July) by Mark Cuban, who called it “a new chapter” for a franchise that had not changed GMs under his 21-year ownership and has not won a playoff series since winning the 2011 NBA championship.
Kidd is a Hall of Fame guard who had two playing stints in Dallas during his 19-season NBA career that included the championship season. He was hired last month after Rick Carlisle resigned following 13 seasons with the Mavericks.
Harrison spent 19 years as an executive at Nike before he was hired a few weeks ago to replace Donnie Nelson, who left the organization a day before Carlisle’s resignation. Nelson joined the franchise in 1998 while his father, Don, coached the Mavericks and was promoted to general manager in 2002 under Cuban.
Kidd knows his primary task is to mentor and develop 22-year-old superstar guard Luka Doncic, whose flashy playing style reminds many of his new coach’s playing days. Harrison will need to build a roster around the talented Slovenian that will do more than go out in the first round of the playoffs, which Dallas has done in the past two seasons.
