The Dallas Mavericks are playing their first home game of the post-Nico Harrison era on Wednesday evening, and coach Jason Kidd issued something of a challenge to the fans in attendance.
Kidd told reporters prior to the game that the hostile environment at Mavericks home games made it difficult to attract players who wanted to play in Dallas. The coach added that he hopes that changes now that Harrison has been fired.
“It’s hard to keep guys here when they feel that the home team is not home. Hopefully, that changes tonight,” Kidd said, via Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
Kidd certainly does not sound sad to see Harrison go. Regardless of the job the GM had been doing, fans had turned on him so completely that the Mavericks essentially faced a toxic environment at their own home games. The “fire Nico” chants got so loud that there was talk of players feeling unsupported, even though they were in no way responsible for any of the decisions Harrison made.
Now that Mavericks fans have gotten their wish, Kidd is hoping that the environment will get more supportive of his players. Of course, to fully get that, they will have to win some games after their 3-8 start.
