'He's a Mentor of Mine': New Mizzou Basketball GM Looks Up to NBA Executive

Most people in or around a sport have a mentor.

Shooting guards will look up to Michael Jordan, quarterbacks will look up to Tom Brady and strikers will look up to Cristiano Ronaldo.

For the newly-hired general manager of Missouri men's basketball, Tim Fuller, the person he gained the most experience from is a long-time Nike executive and current Dallas Mavericks general manager, Nico Harrison. The two shared time together at Nike, with Harrison serving as the vice president of basketball operations and Fuller holding an executive role.

"That time I had at Nike under Nico Harrison and Lynn Merritt, literally, now, 15 years later, is paying off, because that is what basketball has transitioned to," Fuller said in a press conference on June 14.

For Fuller, the time he spent with Harrison and Nike was transformational in his career. He helped with the nuances of the role when it comes to marketability, an important skill for this newly created general manager position.

The pair had a chance to speak before Fuller accepted the position with the Missouri Tigers, with Harrison jokingly claiming a stake in Fuller's earnings. This speaks to their relationship, but also what both of them mean to each other.

"I was talking to Nico Harrison recently, the GM has been under a lot of scrutiny, and he's a mentor of mine," Fuller said. "As I was taking the position, he said, you owe me for your first check."

Harrison recently underwent plenty of national attention, most of which was negative, for a roster decision he made involving the Mavericks. He made the choice to move star guard Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, a polarizing trade that left many stunned.

An important part of what Fuller will do for the Tigers is talent evaluation, a skill that coaches and general managers alike must share. This is one of those traits that Fuller believes he improved on while learning from Harrison, along with his other career stops.

"When an agent is telling you their player is worth three pots of gold, and you realize that he's only worth one pot of silver, being able to find the middle ground." Tim Fuller at a June 14 press conference

He has plenty of coaching experience, as well as the marketing aspect of his job. But, it seems as if his ability to find talent is a skill he prides himself on. This is one that comes from plenty of years on the job, as well as having the right people around him, including Harrison.

"Knowing the scope of why is everybody in the gym [and] as soon as you walk in the gym, being [able] to identify talent at a high level, knowing the unknown and being able to motivate the unmotivated, finding those gems in the back gym," Fuller said.

He will have to do many things for the Tigers, outside of just finding talent, evaluating it and determining if they will fit in with what Missouri does. Helping players determine their worth in the NIL market and managing those interactions will be a core part of it, one that's been discussed between him and head coach Dennis Gates.

"So really, wearing different hats is what we discussed from my marketing days at Nike," Fuller said. "How to help them with their branding, how to help our players with their branding."

One of the most intriguing aspects of Fuller's career path was his pitstop at Overtime Elite, an organization that provides an outlet for prospective NBA players to take instead of college.

There, Fuller helped market the athletes searching for professional opportunities, which was a unique field at the time of its start. For Overtime Elite, Fuller had the chance to focus on the social media aspect of marketing for his players, an increasingly important area of building a player's brand in today's era of college sports.

"From my Overtime Elite days of building social media and understanding the impact of what a player's brand can do over the internet and how they need to own that space and protect that space, and then also just my relationships here in this corridor, from a Missouri standpoint," Fuller said.

It's clear now that Fuller will be a massive help to Gates and the Missouri Tigers, stepping into a unique role that is evolving across the country in the college athletics landscape.