17 hours Ago
In a secret roundtable with 10-15 select Dallas media members, Dallas Mavericks General Manager Nico Harrison said the phrase "defense wins championships" eight times, and the word "defense" 16 times. That was the entire rationale behind the already infamous Luka Doncic trade. Not only did the defense not win a championship this season after trading Doncic for Anthony Davis, it couldn't even get the Mavericks into the playoffs.
READ MORE: Mavericks season ends with 120-106 loss to Grizzlies despite strong effort from Anthony Davis The Mavericks' season came to an end on Friday night in the Play-In Tournament in blow-out fashion, as the Memphis Grizzlies started the game on a 7-0 run and never looked back, leading wire-to-wire on their way to a 120-106 win to advance to the playoffs. They scored 66 points on Dallas' "vaunted" defense in the first half on 50% shooting despite Ja Morant playing on one ankle. A lot of that came in the first quarter when the Grizzlies shot out to a 20-point lead while shooting 56% from the floor.
But that has been a theme of the entire second half of the season. Since the Mavericks traded away Luka Doncic, they've had the 24th-ranked defensive rating. If you want to blame the injury of Anthony Davis on Dallas' defense, fine, the Mavericks had the 17th-ranked defense since he returned to the floor on March 24th against the Brooklyn Nets.
Just as bad as the defense, though, was the offense. Luka Doncic is an all-time great offensive hub, and while Anthony Davis has great offensive moments, he doesn't elevate everyone around him like Doncic does. Since the trade, the Mavericks have the 23rd-ranked offensive rating, and before Kyrie Irving went down with his ACL injury, they had the 24th-ranked offense.
Irving is a great player and he has revived his career in Dallas, but he's not the floor-raiser Doncic is. He struggled in the NBA Finals against his former Boston Celtics and the OKC Thunder in the second round last season as the second option. What proof is there that he could be the number one option on a title contender? And that was just part of the extremely flawed logic that Nico Harrison said he used for the trade.
It's hard to find a rhythm on offense when the defense is consistently having to take the ball out of the basket, and the defense is constantly on their heels because they can't score. This problem will only get worse if Nico Harrison continues to run this franchise. There is no present or future with the current construction of the roster because he traded away a 25-year-old megastar for an oft-injured 31-year-old getting close to exiting his prime.
There's a reason people have called it the worst trade in NBA history, from the idea of the trade itself to the on-court product after the trade. It's inexcusable to be in this position ten months after making the Finals. And it's all Nico Harrison's fault.
READ MORE: ESPN hilariously cuts to Nico Harrison for viral moment in Mavericks-Grizzlies Stick with MavericksGameday for more FREE coverage of the Dallas Mavericks throughout the 2024-25 Season Follow MavericksGameday on Twitter and Austin Veazey on Twitter More Dallas Mavericks News Mark Cuban fires back at Mavericks' Nico Harrison after Dirk Nowitzki disrespect Mavericks receive positive Kyrie Irving injury update NBA analyst takes vicious shot at Mavericks’ Nico Harrison Full transcript from Mavericks GM Nico Harrison's polarizing secret media conference.
