LAS VEGAS – Mavericks coach Jason Kidd is not drawing any rash conclusions regarding anything during summer league.
He’s taking it all in, of course. He’s got a lot of responsibilities with NBA people and Mavericks’ people and actually watches a little basketball along the way.
But he’s not supplying any grand revelations.
Heck, he hasn’t even played golf yet in Las Vegas during the NBA Summer League. And golf has to happen shortly after the crack of dawn to avoid death-valley level heat.
So when he mentioned during the Mavericks’ summer-opening game Friday that he could envision JaVale McGee in the starting lineup, the other part of his interview that is more likely to come to fruition was glossed over.
Spencer Dinwiddie is the Maverick most likely to end up in the starting lineup in place of Jalen Brunson.
It could be McGee, too. And that certainly would help solve some of the chronic rebounding issues that dogged the Mavericks last season.
“They asked me how do you replace J.B,” Kidd said Sunday after the Mavericks’ summer team practiced on the UNLV campus. “You can’t replace him, but I thought we’d be a little bit bigger. Spencer’s an option to start in J.B.’s spot. So we’re looking at that at some point.”
If you pencil in Christian Wood, Dorian Finney Smith and Luka Dončić, that leaves one spot open in the starting lineup.
Could it be McGee? Sure.
It could also be Tim Hardaway Jr., Reggie Bullock or even somebody like Josh Green or rookie Jaden Hardy.
The Mavericks will have plenty of time to iron out these questions and others when training camp opens in late September. But it’s clear that Kidd is open to all possibilities.
BACK AT WORK: The Mavericks had an unusual two-day break between games at the Las Vegas Summer League, but will get back to business on Monday night at 9 p.m., Dallas time, against the Utah Jazz’s summer squad. The game will be shown on NBA TV.
They will have a new coach for this game.
After Greg St. Jean, who coached the entire summer league in 2021, led the Mavericks in their 2022 summer opener on Friday, he’ll step back and let George Galanopoulos take charge for Monday’s game.
It makes good sense. Galanopoulos is head coach of the Texas Legends, the Mavericks’ G League affiliate. There’s a good chance that several of the players on the Mavericks’ summer league team will end up in Frisco – or elsewhere in the G League.
“We want everybody to grow,” Kidd said. “So to have G (St. Jean) coach the first game and now we’ll have George coach this next one and then Dudz, just so they can have the experience of being in that first seat.”
Said St. Jean: “I think it’s a really good opportunity for coach George Galanopoulos. A lot of these guys might end up playing in the G League for us. So to get accustomed to his voice is really good. And then coach Dudley, this is a great opportunity to get his first head coaching repetitions. Organizationally, we think it’s the best of both worlds.”
KIDD BUSY AT SUMMER LEAGUE: Kidd never had the experience as a player of going through the NBA Summer League.
Back in the mid-‘90s, when he was drafted No. 2 overall in 1994, the highest draft picks didn’t always grace the summer league with their presence. Backt then, it was Midwest Rookie Review, usually played in Utah or San Antonio.
“I never went to Utah,” Kidd said Sunday after the Mavericks’ summer squad practiced on the UNLV campus. “I didn’t have a contract.”
More than a quarter-century ago, players weren’t about to risk injury before they’d signed a guaranteed contract. So Kidd never went to summer league.
But after his first year as head coach of the Mavericks, he’s been ultra-busy in this summer league. He had a competition committee meeting, among many others both with the league and with the Mavericks’ organization.
BRIEFLY: It was assistant coach Jared Dudley’s birthday on Sunday and the summer-league team serenaded him with a rather off-key version of Happy Birthday after practice . . . Jason Kidd on second-round draftee Jaden Hardy through one summer game and a handful of practices: “He’s done great. He’s working extremely hard. He had a good first game. And he loves to be in the gym.” . . . St. Jean said it was priceless experience for Hardy get the chance to see what it’s like to be the ballhandler with the game on the line in the summer-league opener, despite the 100-99 overtime loss to Chicago on Friday: “He ended up having the ball in his hands a lot, which is a great thing,” St. Jean said. “But it’s not easy to have that ball. Everyone always says, I wish I could run as many pick-and-rolls as Luka does. But that’s very (tiring). Late game, you saw Jaden, his conditioning level to have that ball in your hands a lot is a different level at the NBA level.”
Twitter: @ESefko
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