Is Nico Harrison’s job in JEOPARDY as Mavs’ struggles continue? 👀 | Howdy Partners

Is Nico Harrison’s job in JEOPARDY as Mavs’ struggles continue? 👀 | Howdy Partners

Howdy partners. Welcome to the show that takes a weekly look at the league through a lonear lens. Ban McMahon here with my pal Michael country. Right, Mike? How you doing? I’m great, man. A little tired, but we won’t give sleep updates right now. No, no, not that’s a windy thing. This is We’re a little We’re California cool. We both attended uh Spurs Lakers last night in LA. Mike’s just I don’t know which floor you’re on, but you’re a few floors away from me. uh right now early on a uh on a Pacific time morning. Uh nice win for the Rockets last night against the mess that is the uh quit and wine, not grit and grind Memphis Grizzlies. But Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike Mike, we got to start at the bottom, buddy. Might as well get it out the way. We got to start at the bottom of the Western Conference. We’ve got to start at the bottom of the offensive efficiency ratings. We got to start with the Dallas Mavericks fresh off a home loss to the New Orleans Pelicans who were on a backto back and missing Zion Williamson. Mike, if this ain’t rock bottom, they better have a hell of a drill. Well, didn’t you think that them playing Clay Thompson off the bench would have been like the solution? I think they thought that’s was what was going to happen. Uh I think them so you know that we can start there. Look, okay, dead last and offense. Clay had really struggled so far this season and you knew I knew there were at least discussions about possibly pulling trigger of bringing him off the bench, but it’s it’s a you know they had not done that a single time uh since he had been in Dallas. You knew how much he was upset by that when the Warriors did it. Um, they recruited him to Dallas with the promise of a starting job uh a couple of summers ago, but they did it last night and I didn’t think that was going to solve everything, but it was certainly a sign of they were desperate to get this thing turned around. So, they bring Klay Thompson off the bench. Um they start D’Angelo Russell and and you know Jay Kidd’s explanation uh essentially was that they had been a lot better with the point guard on the floor which is you know that that is factual and he said he talked to Clay and basically said hey this isn’t going to be a permanent thing but you know are you okay with giving it a shot? Clay uh you know interviewed by the Dallas Morning News after the game said the right things. Clay actually was I mean if there’s such a thing as a bright spot in a home loss, right, for the Pelicans like Clay did he shot it well off the bench last night. Daniel Russell did not shoot it well on the starting line. By the way, he’s only had one good shooting game this season. That was in the loss to Detroit and Mexico City. Um the offense has flowed better with him on the floor. But man, Mike, dude, they’re scrambling for solutions. And look, you can say, “Well, no, Anthony Davis is hurt. Derrick W is hurt. Wait till Kyrie comes back.” First of all, you knew Kyrie was going to miss a large chunk of the season. You had all summer to try to figure out a plan. You know, unfortunately, Anthony Davis has durability issues. He’s had durability issues for a long time. He was hurt when you made the trade to go get him. Like, you don’t get a pass because Anthony Davis is going to miss time. Uh, you know, they’re they’re continuing to call him dayto-day. He’s been day to day for a week now. Uh I guess Lively is probably more Yeah, they’re hoping to get him back next week. And again, Lively gets hurt a lot. Simple fact of the matter, Mike, this is a roster that is constructed to be bad offensively and they are underachieving a at that. They are not just bad offensively, they are horrific. like they’re miserable offensively and man, you know, you make a you make a change that uh has some significance about it uh with Clay Thompson, I think there’s going to be bigger changes coming down the road. I I don’t know what you can do, Tim. I really don’t know what you can do. Like you can’t be losing games when you get 29 points from like PJ Washington, which was the case the other night. Right. Like you you can’t squander those those types of games because you you can’t expect that type of production from a player like PJ. Now I love PJ. He stands on business obviously. I love him. But he does. But you got a complimentary player. Yeah. But you have to take advantage of those nights when you get those those, you know, those big those big games that were sort of unexpected. So, I don’t know what they can do. I mean, just looking up and down the roster, like, you know, I hate to say it, but like Nico, he should have done a better job there, man. Like, yeah, you got to have sort of contingency plan on top of contingency plan, and they don’t have that at all. They scored 99 points last night against the Pellets, Mike. 99 points when I say big changes might be coming legitimate question right now is is Nico Erison’s job in serious jeopardy. That is an absolutely legitimate question. Uh it’s the question obviously Mavericks fans have been hoping uh would be answered with an affirmative for you know since early February. Um, I don’t have a firm answer for you right now that, you know, that that’s as much as I can tell you, but it is absolutely a legitimate question. When you talk to people about the Mavericks around the league, it is the first question uh that people are asking. And hey, he stuck his neck out by making the most unpopular trade in NBA history. And you and I sat there last night. It wasn’t, you know, by Lucas standards, it wasn’t a spectacularly pretty performance against the Lakers, but the man had 35 points and 13 assists. You know, he is he is generating more points per game than any player in the NBA right now. He is an elite offense unto himself. And hey, you can tell me defense wins championships. That’s cool. It even fits on t-shirts. It’s a nice tight little slogan. dead last offense gets people fired. That’s just the simple fact of the matter. Mike, I ju I just want to put into perspective how much of a mess they are offensively right now. We have not seen an offense and they are scoring. I got to look this up. They are scoring. I think it’s 103. Uh, I got a lot of windows open. I probably should close some of these, Mike. Yeah, you probably should. So, you should just pull out your phone like I have right here looking at at That’s what I’m doing. But it’s it’s it’s early in the morning and, you know, I don’t operate well in these early morning hours, clearly. So, these guys are scoring and, you know, we measure offense uh points per 100 possessions. I scroll all the way down to the Mavericks at 103.2 points per 100 possessions. That is 2.5 points worse than any other team in the league. That is 2.5 points worse than the rebuilding Washington Wizards. You have to go back to 202021 to find an offense that was worse in the NBA for a season. That was the the you know that’s back when I was calling him the OKC tanker. I’m looking at it. They’ve scored in the 90s in three games, man. Yeah. And what a worse five times. And and here’s the thing, it’s not been a murderer’s role of a schedule. No, they are two and six and which is the worst record tied for the worst in the Western Conference. The Pelicans obviously uh have the tiebreaker because they beat them last night. They have played one true road game in Houston. You know, the other time they played away from the AAC was against the Pistons in Mexico City. Like they’ve lost to the Wizards at home. They’ve lost to the Pelicans at home if not for Aaron Nmith missing a butt naked wideopen three-pointer at the buzzer. They would have lost to the Pacers at home. I’m I’m just, you know, laying out some, you know, they they’ve had some what should have been uh gimme type of wins. And I looked last night out of curiosity like, dude, when’s the last time the worst offense in the league won even 30 games? This might bring up good memories. It was the Mavericks championship season, 20101. Yeah. The Milwaukee Bucks. But, you know, the Wizards last year, 18 wins. the the Grizzlies when job played only nine games 27 Hornets when the Melberry play barely played 27 Thunder 24 Thunder 22 Warriors without Steph 15. Do does Dumont have the stomach to make a move like that with him? Does I mean what is it about a year and some change into it and or does he get a pass? I don’t know. Does he get a pass for all the the injuries? No, because you can’t give him a pass. You know, it sucks that Kyrie tore his ACL last year. You got to pass for that last year. You had a summer or two plan for Kyrie missing, you know, likely at least the first half of the season. And, you know, you it has not been, you know, it hadn’t been done. I mean, you you brought in D’Angelo Russell and you know, now like it’s a if D’Angelo Russell’s the solution, you’ve got real problems. Um, you know, I Jay Kidd clearly wanted to just rely on him as kind of a an option off the bench. Uh, he’s in the starting lineup for now. You know, we’ll see how long they they stick with that. I do think like the Cooper flag at point guard as an 18-year-old playing the position for the first time thing was an experiment that you know ran its course probably um pretty quickly but again DLO shot the lights out in uh in Mexico City and he’s shooting 36% from the floor and 31% from three-point range and and the other thing is like no you don’t get that pass because it also goes back to just the lack of value you’ve got is the trade was going to be unpopular regardless. But dude, you you let the Lakers walk away with a lot of stuff still in their pocket. And again, Anthony Davis has durability issues. He was hurt when you made the trade. He rushed back and got hurt in his first game of the Mavericks. He came into camp in the season heavy and got hurt with his calf strain early this season. He wants to be on the floor, but boy, you’ve got to be careful of that. Um, you had all summer to figure out you’ve got a topheavy roster in terms of bigs. You didn’t address that. There’s a go for Dant, you know, that there’s a lot of things going on there. Dumont put his blind trust into Nico and it’s blowing up uh in his face. Um, I don’t know, man. I you know I it’s a rough situation. Is it really really I mean this let’s talk about something else man. I was just about to say I Yeah. I was about to say how much longer are we going to talk like this is Yeah. It’s pretty bad man. This ain’t the way we want to wake up. We just had to we just had to get it out there. We had to we had to address Let’s talk about something that’s uh Well, we can’t talk about the Spurs right now. They’ve lost two straight. If we want to pump some sunshine, let’s talk about those red hot leading we’ll go from worst to first. leading the league in offense, Houston Rockets. Mike, there’s some good things going on down in Houston. Too much. I mean, it’s it’s it’s all over the place, man. And the thing is, Tim, is that defensively they are not playing the way that, you know, a typical EA Udoka coach team plays. They’re not there yet. And they I think they will be. They will be. And when that happens, it’s going to be scary. like you get in the single digits in terms of rank uh offensive and defensive rating now you’re cooking with grease and I think that’s kind of what is sort of it’s coming for the Houston Rockets because they’re still getting used to everything you know with with the personnel being what it is with Fred Van Bleed out but man amen Thompson oh my gosh like we could we could do a whole podcast just on like some of the highlights that I’ve seen from him just this week it’s ridiculous Man, well, how about the play against the Mavericks where he is a free throw? Yes. Slash the rebound, you know, gives it to Alpie, cuts back to the basket. Alpie throws him a lob, grabs a thing, and throws it down over his head. I mean, he he just he might be the most athletic player in the NBA or tied. I mean, Assar obviously, you know, right right there with him, who, by the way, Assar is also off to a great start with the Pistons. Um, not that we go that far north on this particular show. Uh, but, you know, you mentioned defense and look, you trade Dylan Brooks, he was a tone setter. You make that deal a thousand times out of a thousand to get KD, which is a massive reason that this offense is has soared to number one in the league early in the early going. um you lose Fred Vanble Vleet and those are the two tone setters on that end of the floor, you know, uh they they that’s where they miss Van Bleet. What they miss Van Vleet offensively is limiting turnovers, right? And those turnovers obviously impact your defense. They miss him all over the place defensively. They they miss the voice as much as anything. He was the quarterback of defense. He was the soundtrack, you know, the voice uh of that defense. in addition to just being a guy who would get into whoever he was guarding and you know do whatever you dive on the floor and and all those kind of things and they are I I would say the biggest criticism I have of the Rockets and I know you know people have told you this as well they are a quiet team and you know it’s hard to be great defensively if if you’re not a great communicating team. Yes. And that was one of the like just even going into that season opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder. That was one of the concerns is that hey we don’t we’re too quiet. We don’t talk enough. And that’s where you miss Fred Van Vleet. But you know like we’re sort of soft criticizing Houston defensively. But I think they’re not bad. Yeah. Right. And and I think they’re going to get better when a guy like uh Dorian Finny Smith when he gets back. I think that’s going to make a difference. And again, it’s just one of those things that, you know, you got to play some games and and sort of get some chemistry and get all those guys on the string like it’s going to happen. I just don’t know exactly when, but I think it’ll be way before All-Star break. Like, I think they’ll come together. Well, and you know, when I I was talking to folks when I went through Houston earlier this week, and it was pointed out to me that if you go back and look at EA’s uh Celtics team, they were drastically better defense in the second half than they were to start. You look at that his first and again he took over a team that had bottomed out and was in a complete rebuild. They get Van Vleet, they get Dylan obviously, but they were a lot better in the second half than they were uh in the first half on the defensive end. And they, you know, there’s certainly optimism that they’re going to that there’s going to be a similar trend here. And you know, in some ways they are uh kind of starting over defensively because look, I mean Thompson’s their best defensive player, but the tone setters, the the communicators, uh those guys are, you know, one is out for the the season and you know, one’s wearing a Phoenix Suns uniform. But look, man, hey, offensively right now, the these guys are uh leading the league. I mean, 122.4 points per 100 possessions. And and by the way, they are up to six defensively now. Um it helps that they they just got done playing the Mavericks and the mess that is the uh moping Memphis Grizzlies. Yeah. Yeah. But you know what it it’s you got to give some some respect some props to Appar. Wow. Yeah, like yo, hey, superstar. This guy’s on a superstar trajectory. I thought that his ceiling was like a Damonte Sabonis. He He’s better right now than Tamontis Bonus is ever. I listen, I was not alone in that opinion. It was formed the eyeballs and ears. Shingun’s on a superstar trajectory. And Mike, the thing that’s so exciting, like again, KD has turbo boosted this offense, but even the last couple games, he had a couple of offshooting nights. Yes. And Shingun and the men led them to wins over over the Mavericks and the Grizzies. And I was talking to a men after that Mavericks game and you know, he said, “Hey, KD told us you young guys got to be leaders.” like Katie told him that going into camp and dude those two are ascending stars if not superstars and I love the chemistry that the young guys have light up when they’re talking about each other and you know hem talks about unconventional what other point guard brings the ball up the floor goes and relocates to the dunker spot lets the center run the show from the you know the elbow or you know whatever he’s doing short whatever it is and ends up catching lobs. Like that chemistry that they have is it’s unconventionable. It’s also spectacular. It’s fun to watch. Absolutely. And then you like that for instance that Mavericks game. You get 53 points combined between a men and Alen Shenon. Hey KD can afford to have an off night and you know he’s a veteran. What is he 37 years old at this point? So, you know, he can have those nights where, you know, he’s not, you know, on his game and they’re going to be just fine. And we got to mention Tari E, too. I mean, last night he wasn’t as good, but going into the game last night, man, I think he was shooting close to 58% or something like that from three. I was worried about him because, you know, in that season opener against the Thunder, you remember he was talking about the contract situation because he didn’t get the deal, the the, you know, the new contract and everything. He said all the right things and then I felt like he went out and laid an egg against the Thunder. So, I was worried about him, but ever since then, he’s really come on and played well for them. So, I the Rockets are they’re right where they need to be and they’re only going to get better, man. I mean, yeah. And and their two young rising stars are only going to get better. And look, another off night for Katie and Memphis. Yep. They’re not going to happen often, but he had another one. Uh Shingun and Thompson combined for 48 points. 26 rebounds, 14 assists, and you know the the biggest bucket against Dallas down the stretch there. K went to the corner, spaced the for operating, he’s got Daniel Gaff, there ain’t a lot of bigs who can guard Alpie off the dribble. Gaffford definitely is not one of them. I tell you that made a beautiful spin move finish. And you know, I was thinking last night my uh I you know, I had the the Grizzlies game on. Actually, I was sitting with next to Bob Marx. We had a good setup. We had Grizzlies Rockets on my screen. We had Mass Pelicans on his screen. We had Spurs Lakers in front of us. It was a nice deal. Um but I’m sitting there watching uh a men and Alpie and I’m like, “Dude, is there a better under 20 or 23 and under duo in the NBA?” And I looked up past my screen and I saw Victor Wimyammen’s Stefon But is it better? You know what I mean? Like I No, I would say it’s not better at this point. You know that the the one in San Antonio, they’re still learning. The one in San Antonio is what I’m saying. Like they’re still figuring it out and it’s going to take We’ll get to San Antonio later, but Well, let’s get to him now. And I Wimi is Wimby’s just so good that I think him and Castle are the best duo of that age, but they’re they hit a little speed bump here. Uh and and you know, he admitted last after last night’s loss to the Lakes like the game feels very fast for him right now. And Mike, we’ve seen now, you know, they’ve dropped a couple games after the uh after the run of wins to open the season, and it’s been the same script in terms of the way these teams are guarding Wimi, you know, be very physical on him with a smaller defender, hide the center uh on someone else, and be very aggressive with the double teams, and he hadn’t figured it out. And he’s, you know, it’s pretty clear he’s been frustrated. Well, you know what? That is only going to happen for so long because I would anticipate by the end of this week De’arren Fox is going to be back in that lineup. And I don’t know that you can play San Antonio that way. If you got a guy in De’Aran Fox and that can give you 30, 40 points, I gotta go back and look at it, but I think he had a really big night last year against I believe the Minnesota Timberwolves. Big night. And if you remember, his finger was kind of curved like that, you know, where and you know, he played all season like that, but he had that big game against them. I want to say he dropped something like 50 or something. Got to go back and look at that. As a matter of fact, let me pull it up right now. But I just don’t think you can play the San Antonio Spurs the same way when De’Arren is in the game. It’s just it it like I said, if you you key too much in on Victor Winyama, Darren Fox is gonna give you 30 easy. And you know, we were talking last night, we and they’re like, “Y’all, did y’all forget who that guy is?” And I think people have because they haven’t seen him on the floor. Yeah. And he’s also he’s an experienced true point guard. And Stefan Castle is an amazing young player. He’s more of a combo guard than a pure point guard. You know, the turnovers have have been an issue. The turnovers the last couple games for Wimi have been an issue. They they’ve got to be able to make teams pay for selling out to show that much attention uh to Wimi. And I definitely think that Fox uh helps fix a a lot of those issues um from a from a scoring and playmaking standpoint and also just from a uh you know knowing how to uh counterattack that type of uh look. Um, and you know, as much as Wimby really kind of focused on the mental aspect when he when he was talking to the media last night, you know, like I said, talked about how the game was playing fast, talk about how they they’ve got to figure it out. Um, I thought that Mitch Johnson and, you know, other people in the organization that that I talked to focus more on the physical aspect. You know, Mitch mentioned like, hey, you know, they’re not going to give him whistles. He mentioned one player in the first half where he put his shoulder down and, you know, created contact and and went up and and finished through it. You know, he talked about um, you know, having to be stronger in in in getting his position, getting to his spots. And, you know, it’s not like there’s only one or two spots. There’s a lot of spots, but it’s the elbow and not four feet past the elbow. It’s the nail, you know, right there in the middle of the free throw line and not bumped out to the top of the key. Um, you know, it’s it’s the block or a little bit above the block, not bumped out to be uh on on the corner. These guys, they’re going to get under him. Now, you know, Wimby put his shoulder down and got a six foul, too. Yeah, he got two two offensive fouls two offensive fouls last night just doing that. And so, he’s got to be he’s got to be sort of aware of that. like it’s it’s it’s he’s going to figure it out. And by the way, Darren had 60 against the Timberwolves last year. Not 50, 60. There you go. So, yeah. And he’s definitely a guy who if if you want to sell out to stop a teammate of his, he he can take advantage of that. And, you know, but they’re also going to have to develop chemistry. He’s only played five games within uh you know, since that trade. You know, the other thing that people were talking to me about is Wimby has to do work. That means, you know, you got to get you got to get into into the sets early, you got to establish your position. Yes. Early. you know, it it’s if you’re trying if if if you’re getting into things a little bit late and the defender’s already got a chance to, you know, get, you know, get there, get set up, get leverage, then it’s it’s a different deal than, you know, if you’re beating the guy down the floor and, you know, get in your early position. Um, so he’s got to be a little bit, you know, stronger, more forceful. Um, but, you know, he he he’s readily admitted like this is a challenge that he hasn’t dealt with before. And it’s going to be fascinating to see how he learns from it and how he attacks him moving forward because they’re going to see this type of defense until they prove that they can uh they can exploit it. They will. But also, like I said, I I just think the dynamic of the team changes once Darren gets back because also Steph Ste Stefan Castle, he’s, you know, frankly, he’s turned it over quite a bit. He’s been a turnover machine this I I want to say he’s probably leading the league in turnovers right now. But what does he look like in that offg guard spot? I think he’s got the physical, you know, the sort of the physical dimensions and the skill set and the athleticism to really make something happen as a two guard as opposed to being that lead on ball guard. And so, you know, I just think that De’arant opens that up for them. He’ll he’ll open that up for him. And so, I I don’t know. I just think it looks totally different. Um I don’t know who ends up going out of the starting lineup once Darren comes back, but that’s going to happen. Somebody’s gonna have to leave the starting lineup. My guess is it’s probably going to be Julian Champini just because I don’t think the Spurs are going to obviously either What’s that? Yeah, I was going to say it’s obviously going to be either him or Barnes. I don’t think that’s that’s what I was going to say. I don’t think it’s going to be Barnes because I don’t think they’re going to play with his his streak, you know, like the Spurs are very respectful of consecutive starts. Yeah, he they’re very respectful of that. I mean, the guy’s played 82 games like for 10 years straight. I don’t know how long he has, but it seems like it it’s about 10 years straight. They’re not gonna they’re not going to bench the I mean, they’re not going to not play the guy, you know? I think they’ll start they’ll start him. They need that veteran presence in there. I mean, him in the air like that’s the the calming, you know, the calming forces, you know, when things get go haywire. I mean, just think about last night. those guys gave up a 12-point lead there pretty much late third quarter into the fourth and you know they still had a chance to win that game but that’s been pretty typical of the Spurs this year and it’s just I think it’s a it’s a consequence of youth that’s what it is well and and Fox is also one of the one of the best closers in the league you know a guy was uh you know the the NBA’s version of coon’s factor player of the year uh right whatever it was two or three two or three years ago And you know, the other thing is it it it’d be nice to see Wimby get some easy ones. It’d be nice to see Wimby get, you know, some dunks in transition, some trailer threes, and and let me tell you, if you get Fox next to Castle, that is a fast back court. you know, so they they’ve got to be able to obviously they’re they’re going to get stops, you know, especially like when Wimby blocks shots, they’ve got to be able to turn those things into transition, turn, you know, rebounds in transition. Wimby’s also more than capable, and we’ve seen it many times, grabbing the rebound and going himself. So, it’s a grind right now for Wimy, especially uh in the half court. you know, maybe they can get out and transition some more and and just kind of, you know, get him going and get things flowing and then s the basket won’t feel so small. Um, but the court feels very small for him right now because every time he’s touching it, whoosh. He’s got two, three people in his face. I mean, it’s it’s amazing how quickly these teams are are are sending that double team at him. What do you what do you think happens Friday when they face the Rockets? I’m Yeah, I’m really looking forward to that game. I also think that the Spurs size defensively is going to be a very interesting challenge for the Rockets. So, we talked about that Alpie to to Thompson success and but you know, Alpie’s given given WBY the business before. Oh, for sure. That that’s going to be interesting. Um, and you know, you know, the Spurs spending 48 hours really kind of diving into things and I I’m not going to I don’t know. I don’t want to say Dear Fox could be back for that because that that’s speculation, but he’s close. He’s close. Yeah. I I I anticipate he’ll be back this week, maybe early next week. Like he’s very close. So, yeah. So that no, I’m I’m definitely looking forward to uh to tuning into that one on Friday night. Mike, we’re gonna wrap it up here. Appreciate you joining me as usual. Appreciate you getting up early on the uh on the West Coast. I know you’re a sleep in type of dude. Um hey man, I got a plane to catch. I got an Uber coming in about uh 45 minutes, so I’m ready to roll, baby. All right, meet me down in concier. Just go have some breakfast before we get on the road. Appreciate you folks tuning in. We will be back here next week and adios amigos. [Music] [Applause] Jimmy with the heat. I’m on fire. It’s NBA on the

Today on Howdy Partners, Michael C. Wright and Tim MacMahon discuss all things Texas basketball including the Dallas Mavericks’ “horrific” offensive start to the season, the San Antonio Spurs’ loss to the Los Angeles Lakers with Victor Wembanyama fouling out in the 4th quarter, the Houston Rockets young core and more.

0:00 Howdy Partners
1:00 Reaction to Pelicans vs. Mavericks
2:20 Klay Thompson coming off the bench
3:54 The Mavs are “horrific” offensively
5:30 Is Nico Harrison’s job in jeopardy?
12:11 The red-hot Rockets
14:06 Discussing Houston’s defense
16:57 The Rockets’ young core
21:29 Spurs have hit a speed bump
22:16 Fox’s return could hinder the ability to stop Wemby?
27:10 A Castle-Fox backcourt
30:24 Rockets vs. Spurs preview
31:27 Adios amigos!

☑️ Subscribe to ESPN+: https://plus.espn.com/​​​​​
📱Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn​​​​​
🏀 Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2yxs3Og​​​​​
☑️Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE​​​​​
☑️Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV​​