Del Harris Tells DB.com: 'I'm Coming Home'

    Del Harris is coming home.

  We know Cuban values Harris. He departed in part because Del still had the itch to coach, and got to scratch that itch as a member of rookie head coach Vinny Del Negro’s Chicago staff.

    A year later, Harris had added another page to his impressive resume. He served on the Bulls staff this year as a guide to Del Negro, and helped lead Chicago to a playoff berth and a Round 1 playoff thriller against the defending champion Celtics.

    In this decade, he’s been voted the NBA’s top assistant in three of the previous four seasons by NBA general managers. He took took the 1981 Rockets to the Finals and was the NBA Coach of the Year with the 1995 Lakers. He’s served as an important buffer between the high-profile owner Cuban and the strong-willed former coach Don Nelson. He’s been invaluable in the early development of young head coaches Avery Johnson and Del Negro. He’s been an eclectic basketball ambassador: Harris is a member of four Hall of Fames, has his Screen Actors Guild card, speaks fluent Spanish, is a hero in China for his work with Yao Ming and their national team, possesses the demeanor, devotion and religious education of a minister and, to top it off, has 556 wins as an NBA head coach.

    Harris, who turns 72 next month, in the 2007-08 season worked as a consultant to Cuban. It was in that role that Harris demonstrated his many skills (including loyalty) that could allow him to work for Cuban in a number of roles in or out of basketball.

   Harris still has a house in Dallas, and familial ties here. He remains close to many in the Mavs organization – Cuban included, of course – and is considered one of the finest minds in basketball. So when he tells us he’d like to “come home,’’ we hope he’s talking about Dallas as a destination more than just geographically.