They were like two peas in a pod.
Devin Harris would come off the pick, Brandan Wright would roll to the basket, and Harris would lob the ball high in the air, which Wright eventually snagged and dunked with authority. That play happened time-and-time again, until. . .
The Dallas Mavericks thought they needed a more experienced and adroit point guard, and therefore included Wright in a trade to the Boston Celtics last Dec. 18 which brought Rajon Rondo to Dallas.
The Rondo experiment with the Mavericks is well-chronicled – it flat-out didn’t work out – and he’s now playing for the Sacramento Kings. Meanwhile, the Celtics traded Wright to the Phoenix Suns on Jan. 9, and he eventually signed a three-year, $17.1 million free agent contract with Memphis on July 9.
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For his part, Harris, who saw Wright as sort of a security blanket during their one-plus seasons as teammates, misses one of his top running buddies.
"It was tough, for me especially,’’ Harris said of the flawed Wright trade. "Because that was like my go-to.
"He was like my bail-out guy. A guy I could always find on the court.’’
The Mavericks believe they have a new high-flyer to replace Wright in Jeremy Evans. The winner of the NBA slam dunk contest in 2012, the 6-9 Evans has high-wire skills similar to Wright.
"We struggled a little bit with that,’’ Harris said. "But I think we have something similar with Jeremy.’’
Dwain Price: 817-390-7760, @dwainprice
Dwain Price can be heard every Wednesday from 3-5 p.m. on dfwiradio.com.
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