A 6-Pack With Del Harris

  Given the Mavs’ fourth-quarter struggles and the problems the Bulls have had recently in closing out games, Del Harris jokes to DB.com, “Maybe we’ll both have the first two-team fourth-quarter shutout in NBA history.’’

  We share some yuks and pop the tops on a 6-Pack of Questions for old friend Del Harris, for half-a-century an NBA coach who tonight working against his old Mavs team as a member of the Chicago Bulls staff.

“Oh boy!’’ Harris says. “He was hurt the other night and still almost got himself a triple-double. Every time he’d come to the bench and sit down, and then try to get up, his back spasms were so bad that the second row of our bench had to reach over and lift him up. The thing is, no matter how much he’s hurting, he’ll play (against the Mavs). That’s just the way he is.’’

QUESTION 2: Can you make a comparison between Rose and other great NBA guards?

 “Well,’’ Harris says, “let’s give him some time. Every team is looking for that Nash, that Kidd, that Parker, that Paul. … Rose certainly has the opportunity to be mentioned in that class, and sooner rather than later.’’

QUESTION 3: Speaking of comparisons: There was a time, early on in the Cuban era, when the Mavs had a collection of young talent and lots of promise, but also lots of growing pains. Are there similarities there with what the Bulls are now experiencing?

“Very much so. In Dallas, Mark Cuban really created a complete change of the culture. That part of it in Chicago isn’t the same sort of change. But in terms of having young talent, and the focus being to develop that young talent into greatness, there is certainly that potential here. The last two games we’ve lost. … they ended up being by 10 points, and we lost the things in the fourth quarter, but they weren’t 10-point games, if you know what I mean. There’s a maturity we need to gain there. … There was a time with the Mavs when there was Michael Finley and then two kids that not everyone had faith in. Those two kids became Dirk and Steve, and in Dirk, Steve and Michael, you had a foundation for a fine team that grew together – and grew to win three MVPs, too. We’ve got that quality youth here. We’ll see if we have greatness.’’

QUESTION 4: What’s your overview of the Mavs’ early struggles?

“’Early’ is exactly the word. That team has talent, no doubt. I really think they will be alright. Rick (Carlisle) is good, the people around him are good. … When it’s a new program, you’d like it to really get off the ground right away. That instills confidence. But even though they haven’t gotten it done early, that doesn’t mean they won’t get it done soon. They’ll be fine.’’

QUESTION 5: Your last job title in Dallas was as a consultant to the owner. What exactly is your role in Chicago with rookie head coach Vinny Del Negro?

“It’s very simple: Vinny’s very bright, and come to the job with a lot of ideas he’s collected over the years. And he’s surrounded himself with guys like myself and Bernie (Bickerstaff) and Bob Ociepka and Pete Myers and Mike Wilhelm, and well, Bernie and Bob and I have a combined 100 years of NBA experience. So we’re just trying to help where we can.

“But whatever we’ve got going for us,’’ Del adds, laughing, “we’ve certainly got experience.’’

QUESTION 6: Not to rub it in, but here in Texas it’s been around 75 degrees every day. …

“Yeah, the Chicago weather does take some getting-used-to. I’m already bundling up a little bit. … And the bad weather hasn’t even started yet!’’

824am nov 13 2008