kepdawg
05-29-2007, 08:59 PM
Mavs retain valued assistant
08:39 PM CDT on Tuesday, May 29, 2007
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
esefko@dallasnews.com
Del Harris is staying with the Mavericks, thanks largely to owner Mark Cuban's insistence that one of the franchise's icons stay on board.
Harris' role is yet to be defined, but he essentially has been given a lifetime contract to stay on in an advisory capacity for this season. As a consultant, he will continue to be involved in the day-to-day operations of the team.
"I'm thankful for my many years here, and I thought it would be good to take a year off," Harris said Tuesday. "But Mark was kind enough to offer me a very nice contract situation, and I'm thankful for the opportunity. We talked, and he said he didn't want me to leave."
Harris' NBA savvy is too strong to not keep in the organization, Cuban said.
"Del has a job with the mavericks as long as he would like," Cuban said. "The professor as we call him is a wealth of information and I wanted Donnie, A.J. and I to always be able to pick his brain."
Harris joked that it reminded him of an old friend who received a lifetime contract.
"And after two bad years," he said, "they declared him legally dead."
No chance of that happening in this case. Harris has been a franchise asset since arriving in the 1999-2000 season. Approaching 70, he's been in the NBA for more than three decades. As a head coach, he averaged 50 wins in his eight full seasons.
He spent most of his time the last eight years as the lead assistant for Don Nelson and, later, Avery Johnson.
Harris remains one of the league's most respected basketball minds. He said he's willing to wait and see how his new job evolves.
Meanwhile, much of the Mavericks' brain trust arrived in Orlando, Fla., on Tuesday for the start of the predraft camp. The Mavericks must hire at least one bench coach to replace Sam Vincent, who left to become head coach at Charlotte.
08:39 PM CDT on Tuesday, May 29, 2007
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
esefko@dallasnews.com
Del Harris is staying with the Mavericks, thanks largely to owner Mark Cuban's insistence that one of the franchise's icons stay on board.
Harris' role is yet to be defined, but he essentially has been given a lifetime contract to stay on in an advisory capacity for this season. As a consultant, he will continue to be involved in the day-to-day operations of the team.
"I'm thankful for my many years here, and I thought it would be good to take a year off," Harris said Tuesday. "But Mark was kind enough to offer me a very nice contract situation, and I'm thankful for the opportunity. We talked, and he said he didn't want me to leave."
Harris' NBA savvy is too strong to not keep in the organization, Cuban said.
"Del has a job with the mavericks as long as he would like," Cuban said. "The professor as we call him is a wealth of information and I wanted Donnie, A.J. and I to always be able to pick his brain."
Harris joked that it reminded him of an old friend who received a lifetime contract.
"And after two bad years," he said, "they declared him legally dead."
No chance of that happening in this case. Harris has been a franchise asset since arriving in the 1999-2000 season. Approaching 70, he's been in the NBA for more than three decades. As a head coach, he averaged 50 wins in his eight full seasons.
He spent most of his time the last eight years as the lead assistant for Don Nelson and, later, Avery Johnson.
Harris remains one of the league's most respected basketball minds. He said he's willing to wait and see how his new job evolves.
Meanwhile, much of the Mavericks' brain trust arrived in Orlando, Fla., on Tuesday for the start of the predraft camp. The Mavericks must hire at least one bench coach to replace Sam Vincent, who left to become head coach at Charlotte.