Mavs GM Nico Harrison Shows Support for Jason Kidd: 'He is Our Coach'
Given the deflating season the Dallas Mavericks just endured despite having two superstar players in Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, it would be understandable if coach Jason Kidd was feeling the temperature of his seat rise heading into the offseason.
However, the Mavs' front office has taken the majority of the blame for how the season turned out, and Kidd is able to rest easy knowing he has the support of Mark Cuban and GM Nico Harrison ... at least for one more season.
"Listen, Jason Kidd's our coach," Harrison said in his exit interview. "If you look at what we did last year, no one asks 'hey, is Jason Kidd the coach?' because we went to the Western Conference Finals. So I think J-Kidd is the same coach that brought us to the Western Conference Finals, but when you don't reach your goals, everybody has to be evaluated."
That's a fair assessment from Harrison. Just because the Mavs didn't reach their goals, it doesn't mean that Kidd should be ousted after one down season, especially when he's one year removed from the best season the franchise has had in more than a decade.
But, there are reasons for skepticism going forward.
Kidd's overconcern with "Twitter coaches" was an interesting bit this season, as he clearly had his eyes and ears open to the online criticism of his rotation patterns. Whether it was not playing Christian Wood in favor of Dwight Powell for most of the year, or the fluctuation of Josh Green and Jaden Hardy's minutes, there were many head-scratching moments for Kidd and his coaching staff.
"Downgrade? I think when you look at the roster, it's not a defensive team," Kidd said when asked about this season's regression. "We've got to do it as a group and we were inconsistent with that throughout the season so gotta go back and help them be consistent on the defensive end."
As Kidd mentioned following Sunday's loss, Dallas' defense took a major turn for the worse this season. In 2021-22, their defense ranked 9th in the league in defensive efficiency. This season, they tumbled down to 24th in the league, which will certainly be a focal point during the offseason.
"It's tough to say that he improved as a coach or wasn't better, but our record doesn't show it, so what we need to figure out is what we can do better," Harrison said.
Everyone wants to point fingers at one person when things go south in a hurry, but the truth is, this season was a collective failure that's not just on Cuban, Doncic, Harrison, or Kidd -- it's on everyone involved.
For the Mavericks to take that next step and grow their roster into a true contender, Kidd must also grow into a contending coach, but Harrison and Cuban must must build a contending roster as well.
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