Fire Harrison! Is he just a scapegoat for Dallas?

On November 11, North American time, Harrison, the general manager of the Mavericks, who was criticized by Dallas fans for the Doncic trade nine months ago, posted the word "unemployed" on his personal social media, and then officially became unemployed.

US media reporter Shams immediately reported that the Mavericks fired Harrison as the team's general manager and president of operations.

After firing Harrison, the team owner issued a public statement immediately. There was a hint of accusation against Harrison in the content. He understood the meaning of the fans' emotions, but how much can this approach make the fans understand?

After the big trade between the Lakers and Mavericks last season, Harrison has always insisted on his reason of "defense to win the championship", giving up Doncic, who has poor defense, in exchange for Davis, who has excellent defense. Later, he released negative news such as Doncic's poor eating habits and out-of-control body management, which seemed to be whitewashing this failed transaction.

But no matter what you do, the final fact that cannot be changed is that the Mavericks, who broke through the Western Conference and reached the Finals in 2024, will not even make it to the play-offs in 2025.

Although there is no lack of injury frenzy with Irving being reimbursed for the season and subsequently affecting the entire team. The team was once unable to even collect the qualified number of players, but it is undeniable that the Mavericks have indeed begun to plummet since the Doncic trade. If it were not for another Suns team with a more serious collapse, the Mavericks may not even have the hope of retaining the 10th place in the Western Conference and making the play-offs.

After this failed season, the Mavericks have a 1.8% chance of acquiring Flagg. With a pretty good lineup, many people are still optimistic about Dallas' new season, and even the Western Conference teams that are optimistic about competing in the playoffs.

But the reality is not like this. With Irving absent at the beginning, head coach Kidd could only choose to let Flagg serve as the main point. Although the team's defensive performance at the beginning of the season was qualified, the offense was a tragedy.

So far in the new season, the Mavericks have averaged only 107.8 points per game, which is at the bottom of the league. Also because of the slow offensive pace, the team's offensive efficiency is as low as only 104.5, which is even worse than the injured Pacers and the Eastern Wizards who have been weak for many years, which is enough to show how serious their offense is.

At the same time, what makes the Mavericks fans even more heartbroken is that Doncic has led the Lakers to a top offensive level this season. When Doncic is on the court, the Lakers' offensive efficiency is as high as 125.2. This is an offensive level that no one on the Mavericks team can come close to. Even Flagg, no matter how many people are optimistic about his future potential, the cruel fact before us is that he cannot replace Doncic.

Under such a comparison, it is easy to understand the disparity of the Mavericks fans, and it also makes it difficult for many so-called "acquiring Flagg to make up for the loss of Doncic" to hold. This has resulted in a series of changes for the Mavericks in the new season:

First, the home tickets were not sold out for the first time in the past 24 years, and then a reporter broke the news that some of their own players said that the home atmosphere was sluggish and that away games were more comfortable.

Although the authenticity of the news is open to question, it can at least be seen that after the poor record at the start of the new season, the dissatisfaction of Dallas home fans after the trade last season still exists. Even with the sluggish record, there is a trend of increasing anger.

Therefore, at this point, even if Harrison is fired as criticized by fans, the statement from the team's top management and the subsequent additional accusations against Harrison will only make people feel that the Mavericks top management is passing the blame to Harrison, the scapegoat, and also wants to use public opinion to clear the ground.

The team owner’s public statement first mentioned the memories of winning the Western Conference championship in 2024, and then stated that this year’s winning culture was not as good as expected, but completely ignored the biggest impact on the team, which was the previous absurd Doncic trade case; and the team owner in the statement portrayed himself as the same victim as the fans.

But looking back, when Doncic's deal was criticized by public opinion, the team owner also chose to stand on the same front with Harrison, hinting many times that Doncic was not in line with the team's spirit. In this context, and in connection with his recent behavior, it is really difficult for people to understand his thoughts. It is more like putting all the blame on Harrison.

Despite this, unless the team changes ownership, there will still be no change in the team owner in the short term. However, so far, the Mavericks have no news about the team's next general manager.

Things have not gone well for the team so far. Flagg's control effect is not up to standard, and he even needs Brandon Williams, who is on a basic salary, to serve as the control. The inside position is also plagued by injuries. Davis, Lively, and Gafford are all injured. Without a qualified point guard, Clay's performance is completely lost. At present, it seems that the only hope is to expect Irving to return to the team.

However, considering the time of Irving's injury last season, even if he returns to the team, he will have to wait until after the All-Star Game. By then, for the Mavericks, I really don't know if there will be a chance.

The joy that was brought about by winning the No. 1 pick and winning Flagg seems to be basically gone now.

After losing the original young ace, the new top pick did not grow as expected, and the senior player in exchange also suffered frequent injuries. Under various difficulties, even if the general manager who was criticized by the fans was laid off, it would still be difficult to save the team from defeat. Even if there are still some chips in hand and draft pick assets, it is really difficult to be optimistic about the future of this team.

Even if Flagg’s future potential is high, it will be difficult for him to immediately skip various rookie problems and become the main force to win the championship; combined with the team’s timeline, it more and more shows Doncic’s value to this team. In the future, he can team up with the two veterans Irving and Klay, and in the future, he can team up with Lively to open up the future..

In addition, the last year of Nowitzki's career coincided with Doncic's rookie year. All parties believe that this should be the best inheritance moment for the Mavericks. Even if they are given ten lottery picks, it will be difficult to select the next cornerstone of the team that can be compared with Doncic.

Of course, living in the past will not be of much help to the future. However, the team owner was always confident that the Doncic trade was right and turned a blind eye to the fans' emotions. Now he has begun to empathize with the fans. This approach is really disgusting.

It makes people feel more and more that the Mavericks' choice to fire Harrison and the various criticisms afterwards were just a blame-shifting behavior by the team's top management.

Looking at it now, Harrison is basically regarded as the one who takes the blame, but the team’s top boss, as the person who finalized the deal, is also responsible and should not be someone who can stay out of the matter.