Dallas Mavericks’ D-League team Texas Legends hires Del Harris as the new head coach – NBA News
Dallas Mavericks’ NBA Development-League team Texas Legends are bringing in a blast from the past, Del Harris, as their new head coach on Tuesday.
The long time coach is not new to the Legends. He was team’s general manager in their opening season. In addition to that, he also served as the assistant coach of the Mavs for seven years.
Harris was however not the first choice for Legends co-owner and Mavericks President of Basketball Operations Donnie Nelson.
Legends ex-coach Nancy Lieberman, who was the first female in the history to coach a men’s team under NBA’s umbrella in 2010-11, decided to give up her coaching responsibilities back in July this year. Nancy quit the post because
of the extensive travelling and as such she concentrate on her family life. She has now moved to the back office of the Legends in the capacity of an assistant general manager of the team. She was also a close friend of Harris.
After Lieberman’s departure from the coaching staff, Nelson was looking to land the ex-Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl and had publically wooed him. However, Pearl didn’t accept the $500,000 offer, as he was not interested in shifting
from Tennessee.
It was only after that, Nelson and company quickly decided to pursue Harris, who was at that time assisting John Calipari in his coaching stint with the Dominican Republic.
However, not being the first choice for the Legends doesn’t mean that 74 year old Harris is short on experience or tactics. Harris’ resume is as strong and diverse as it gets. He has coached at high school to college level, and
also in NBA. The veteran has had stints with the Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Besides that, Harris remained the head coach and assistant of several international sides that includes China (eighth spot in 2004 Olympics), United States, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Canada. Apart from being an assistant
coach of the Mavs, Harris has also worked in the same capacity with other NBA teams as well, like New Jersey Nets and Chicago Bulls.
In short, Harris is bringing along with him a whole lot of different experiences that will help the Legends in taking their game to the next level.
Tags: