The Dallas Mavericks are going to look different on the court this season. While their roster didn’t undergo a major overhaul, they will have a new head coach on the sideline for the first time since 2008.
That is when Rick Carlisle took over for Avery Johnson. Now, it will be Jason Kidd taking over for Carlisle, who stepped down from his position and took the head coaching job with the Indiana Pacers.
Kidd has previous head coach stops with the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks. He has a record of 183-190 in the regular season, making the postseason three times and going 9-15.
In Dallas, he will be tasked with helping this team get over the hump. They haven’t advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs since 2011 when they won the NBA Championship. A big reason for that is the team failing to get enough from players outside of Luka Doncic.
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Doncic is a superstar but carries way too much of the load on his shoulders. He needs help, and that is one area that Kidd is hoping to help Doncic in; trusting his teammates more.
“I don’t know if anybody told Picasso that he has to use all the paints, but I just want to remind him that he can rely on his teammates,” Kidd said. “His teammates are going to be there to help him. I’m very excited to have this opportunity to work with a young Picasso whose paintings have been incredible up to this point and are only going to get better.”
Doncic has put up some incredible stats and is in the MVP running each season. But, to find the team success that he and the organization want, he will have to help elevate the performance of his teammates, not just his own. It is something that he is aware of and agrees with.
“I think there’s a lot of things I can improve on — off the court, on the court,” said Doncic, 22, who signed a five-year, $207 million supermax contract extension this offseason. “Obviously, this is one of them. I think he’s right.”
Jason Kidd and Doncic being on the same page is a great start for their new partnership. Luka Doncic will have a lot of responsibility on the floor as the leader of the team, and extension of the coaching staff. Getting on the same page about how things need to improve will lead to better results on the court.
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The teammate he has to trust the most is Kristaps Porzingis. Porzingis has all-world talent, but things have not panned out as hoped when the team acquired him in a trade from the New York Knicks.
Hopefully, the trust Kidd is hoping Doncic shows will help Kristaps Porzingis take his game to another level and push the Dallas Mavericks closer to the upper echelon of the league.
