DALLAS — The early returns on how second-year guard Dennis Smith Jr. and rookie guard Luka Doncic will co-exist in the same backcourt are, well, quite endearing.
And no one can explain it better than Smith.
“We’ve been balling out,” Smith said. “Every time we’re on the same team — we do (a game where) the first one to five — we be the first one to five all the time.”
To put it more succinctly, Smith is an admirer of the way Doncic passes the ball and hands himself on the basketball court.
“His vision is crazy, so now that allows me to cut more off the ball,” Smith said. “We were on a (fast) break one time and I’m running my lane and I’m looking like, ‘Throw the bounce pass, throw the bounce pass,’ and he didn’t throw it.
“So I’m like, ‘Bro, throw the bounce pass.’ It never came, so he threw it up in the air and I just went and got it with two hands (and dunked it). I’ve never had anybody on my team that makes those kinds of plays before.”
As the Mavs opened training camp Saturday morning at Lympo practice facilities, coach Rick Carlisle has enjoyed watching the way Smith and Doncic have bonded on the court. He’s noticed how neither player cares who brings the ball up the floor and run the offense, and who has to drift over and play off the ball.
“I’ve watched closely as he and Dennis have played together,” Carlisle said. “They’ve demonstrated the ability that if one guy gets the rebound, the other guy takes off and the ball’s getting thrown ahead.
“If Doncic gets the ball and throws it ahead to Dennis Smith and it’s a 1-on-1 situation up the floor, we like that. Our best situation on offense this year is going to be a lot of guys that can make plays. Dennis and Luka will be our two primary playmakers off the dribble, I would believe, but the ability to drive the ball from the wings is such an important part of the game now.”
Doncic was the Most Valuable Player of the EuroLeague last season, and also the MVP of the EuroLeague Final Four when he led Real Madrid to the championship this past June. So the big question now is how will his game translate to the NBA?
“I think I’m going to play my game similar to in Europe,” Doncic said. “It’s a different game.
“We have some other rules, but I will play my game. I always say you can improve everything, so for me to be the player I want, I need to work hard every day and improve everything. You can improve everything every day.”
While guard/forward Wesley Matthews got to see first-hand the talents Smith was able to display last year, he also has become a fast fan on Doncic.
“He can play basketball,” Matthews said. “He’s going to have to learn the game a little bit, he’s a quick learner and he wants to learn, but he’s gifted.”
How gifted?
“He had a pass where I thought he just gave up on the play,” Matthews said.” And he just turns his back and I thought he just gave up on the play, and he just fires it.
“I’m not kidding, he just fires it over his head, and I’m like, ‘Where the hell is that ball going?’ And it was to (Harrison Barnes) for a layup. And I’m like, ‘Wow!’ He’s got some stuff for them.”
Smith was the ninth overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft, while Doncic was the third pick of this past June’s draft. The two are part of the young building blocks for the future of the Mavs, who were 24-58 last season.
Certainly, Smith and Doncic have given the Mavs hope for a brighter immediate future.
“I just think if one guy zigs, the other guy’s got to zag,” Carlisle said of Smith and Doncic. “We were a team last year that dribbled too much. We took the third-most shots off the dribble and we had the worst percentage shooting shots off the dribble.
“We’ve talked about some really important changes that need to happen. Luka certainly helps that because he’s a guy that can play with or without the ball, and so we’re going to enter a new sort of paradigm with our team on this. I think it’s going to enable everyone to play better, but it’s going to be work. It’s going to be something that’s not super easy, but this is how we’re going to do business.”
Carlisle lauded the way Smith dug in over the offseason and was hellbent on improving his game.
“If you look at him now as compared to a year ago his level of strength and conditioning is so much greater,” Carlisle said. “He’s two or three or four times in better physical condition.
“He is really busting his (rear end), and the pick-up games that I’ve watched over the last two weeks, he is putting speed and energy in the game and it’s a beautiful thing to watch. And in the open floor I’ve never seen anybody faster. His job is going to be to keep that speed in the game and always be a threat to score at the rim or drive and get his teammates shots, and then read space and be ready to do it again.”
While Smith is already fascinated about the way Doncic plays, Doncic is very enthusiastic about playing alongside Smith.
“Dennis is a great player and he’s really improving his shot,” Doncic said. “I think people are going to struggle defending him this year.”
Smith shared that same sentiment about Doncic.
“He’s a really good shooter, he has a high IQ, so he knows how to cut to the basket,” Smith said. “So I think we can just compliment each other with everything we both do.”
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