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HOUSTON — The text messages flood their inbox nearly every day.

Sometimes, they just catch up on each other’s lives. Sometimes, they swap stories. Sometimes, they talk basketball. Lately, though, Larry Harris has spoken with his father because of the connections surrounding the Warriors-Rockets playoffs series.

Larry Harris has worked with the Warriors for the past 10 years, his last two years involving roles as the team’s assistant general manager and director of player personnel. Del Harris has worked as the vice president of the Dallas’ Mavericks G-League team, though he has become most known for NBA coaching stops that included the Houston Rockets (1976-83). And that only sparks questions on if the two have dueling rooting interests with the Warriors playing the Rockets in a decisive Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals on Monday in Houston.

“My family are Warriors fans,” Larry Harris said. “That’s good because they wouldn’t be my family anymore.”

He laughed as he said those words. Del Harris also laughed when he heard them, saying, “I guess that maybe means jersey colors are thicker than blood for him.” It actually means the opposite for the Harris family, even if they reside in Frisco, Texas.

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“They love the Rockets, except when they play whomever I might be coaching or Larry might be working for in the front office,” Del Harris said of his three others sons (Alex, Stan, Dominic) and daughter (Carey). “That’s the way it goes: blood is thicker than any color jersey.”

Larry Harris considers that blood so thick that he largely credits his father for his ascension with the Milwaukee Bucks (1987-2007) and the Warriors (2008-present).

“Not only do I love my father and everything about him as a person, as a Christian and as a coach. But he’s the one that got me in the business,” Larry Harris said. “I owe all the credit and success to him.”

Providing value

Del Harris did not exactly like hearing his son’s words being relayed back to him.

“He’s making it up,” Del Harris said, laughing. “He’s smarter than I am and he has great judgment. I’m happy to take any credit he says I deserve. But the truth is I don’t think I’ve done a whole lot in that direction. I think he’s just really good at what he does.”

What does Larry Harris do?

Plenty. After serving as an Warriors assistant coach under Don Nelson in the 2008-09 season, Larry Harris then worked as a consultant and scout for six seasons. The Warriors then promoted him in 2015-16 to director of player personnel, which has involved evaluating draft prospects. And with the Warriors’ front office seeking collaboration, he has also assisted with the team’s preparation for trades and free agency.

“If you look at our track record, he’s been involved in all of it,” Warriors general manager Bob Myers said of Larry Harris. “He’s been a great reason why we’ve had some success. He’s been a huge part of it. For me, I know without him, we wouldn’t be where we are.”

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The Warriors have won two NBA championships in the past three seasons for reasons well documented. They drafted Stephen Curry at No. 7 in 2009, Klay Thompson at No. 11 in 2011 and Draymond Green at No. 35 in 2012. After splitting a pair of NBA titles in 2015 and 2016 with Cleveland, the Warriors then acquired Kevin Durant as a free agent to help them win another NBA championship in 2017.

As the Warriors try to collect another Larry O’Brien trophy, Larry Harris has lately focused on the NBA draft on June 21. After spending this past season scouting college prospects in person and with footage, Larry Harris spent last week at the NBA draft combine in Chicago to interview candidates for their No. 28 pick.

Generally, Larry Harris said they are looking for players that have positional versatility, and he said he has a firm idea who to pick out of the best available at that time. As Del Harris noted about his son, “You can ask him any name about anybody that is in the draft. He’s going to tell you stuff about him.”

“We have the greatest vision of any scouting staff in the world,” Larry Harris added. He then paused for dramatic effect.

“No, we don’t,” he said, chuckling. “But it’s a real compliment that our players have gotten better. The advantage we had with all of our young players that have turned into the stars is their individual work ethic. They also had a chance to play early in their career and play through their mistakes. I think that has helped.”

It has also helped that Larry Harris played a role in the Warriors trading center Andrew Bogut for Monta Ellis in the 2011-12 season. Although the move sparked ridicule for trading a prized point guard (Ellis), the deal maximized Curry’s role and gave Golden State a stout defender that elevated the Warriors to a top-five defensive rating from 2012 to 2016. After he suffered a left knee injury during the 2016 NBA Finals, the Warriors then traded Bogut to Dallas to free up cap space to sign Durant.

Where does Larry Harris’ involvement go into play? When he served as the Milwaukee Bucks’ general manager, Larry Harris selected Bogut No. 1 in the 2005 NBA draft. So when the Warriors considered a possible deal, Harris told the Warriors front office that Bogut excelled at communicating defensively, something that Myers argued helped elevate Green’s defense. Myers likened Harris’ input to “having an inside man into the whole thing.”

“It was easy for me to recommend him at least in any little part I had in the trade discussions at that time. I knew he would fit,” Larry Harris said of Bogut. “His basketball IQ was off the charts. He was a tremendous passer and a rim protector. He was unselfish. All he wanted to do was win.”

Father knows best

Larry Harris saw his father having the same mentality.

After the Houston Rockets hired him as an assistant coach in 1976, Del Harris became the team’s head coach only three years later. Then, Harris helped the Rockets advance to the 1981 NBA Finals before falling to the Boston Celtics in six games.

It seemed like just the beginning as Harris compiled a 127-119 record and three consecutive NBA playoff appearances. But with new owner Charlie Thomas declining to retain his free agents, including Moses Malone, for financial reasons, the Rockets went 14-68 in the 1982-83 season. That resulted in the Rockets winning a coin flip to obtain the No. 1 pick in the 1983 NBA draft that was ultimately used on Ralph Sampson. But Harris was replaced.

“That was good for the Rockets. But that wasn’t good for me,” Del Harris said. “Trying to win every game, I guess that’s what got me in trouble with the owner.”

Four years year later, Del Harris became the Milwaukee Bucks’ head coach. Del Harris, who was also the Bucks’ president of basketball operations, hired his son to become a part-time scout and analytics guru after working with Electronic Data Systems in Dallas. Though the Bucks made the playoffs for each of Del Harris’ first four seasons, he then stepped down to solely work in the front office. Two years later, Del Harris accepted a head-coaching spot with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Meanwhile, Larry Harris moved up gradually within the Bucks as the head of the scouting department, the director of player personnel, the assistant general manager and then the general manager (2003). During those times, Del Harris often told his son, “You only have so many bullets in the gun. You have to be careful how you use them. Don’t waste them all right away.” Del Harris also often told his son to “never burn bridges.”

So when the Bucks fired Larry Harris in 2008 despite making a pair of playoff appearances, he quickly saw the value of maintaining close relationships. Former Warriors general manager Larry Riley, who coached Larry Harris at Eastern New Mexico University, had interest in him joining the Warriors. Nelson, who had Del Harris as a top assistant in Milwaukee, had mutual feelings about Larry Harris. So, the Warriors hired him.

“We feel that things do occur in our lives that are going to be ups and downs. How we respond to those things are highly important. So we don’t get too full of ourselves when things are going well and we don’t blame God or others when things are bad,” Del Harris said. “We try to stay as level as possible. We do believe that the most important things in life are the relationships that you develop.”

Therefore, Larry Harris and Myers have built off the relationship they formed when Harris served as the Bucks’ general manager and Myers was a player agent. Since then, Larry Harris has shared insight with Myers on how he has dealt with coaching searches, his regrets with personnel moves and insight in his player evaluations.

“He’s a very genuine guy and truly authentic,” Myers said of Larry Harris. “He’s a guy that I can’t say enough about his role in our ascension.”

Neither can Del Harris, who called his son “my No. 1 source.”

“Nobody knows better than I do how totally dedicated he is, how hard he works and how knowledgeable he is,” Del Harris said.

So even if Del Harris appreciates the Rockets honoring him last year as part of the franchise’s 50-year anniversary, he has spent the last week showing his allegiances toward his son.

“I’m for the Rockets all the way until they got to Golden State,” Del Harris said. “I can’t pick them over Golden State. That’s just the way it is.”

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