The Mavericks’ summer league squad left Friday for the MGM Resorts Las Vegas Summer League.

The man leading them is one of Jason Kidd’s new assistants, Greg St. Jean.

Maverick fans may not be familiar with him. But coaches and executives around the NBA most certainly are.

St. Jean is the son of Garry St. Jean, who coached Sacramento for five seasons in the ‘90s and worked with Don Nelson at Golden State. He also ran the Warriors front office for a time.

All of which gives his son a wealth of unique experiences to draw upon.

“My father coached for a long time and worked in the NBA for 40 years,” Greg St. Jean said. “I’m very blessed to have been around it. His assistant coach (at Sacramento) was Pete Carril, so when I was six year old, (I got) to sit with him and move the salt shakers on the table and learn the Princeton offense. And my dad was Don Nelson’s assistant for 11 years and learning about small ball, I’m just really lucky. I wish I could go back in time and learn a little more.”

What St. Jean learned along the way has been augmented by his own drive to rise up the coaching ranks.

When Chris Mullin hired him as an assistant at St. John’s, he had this to say about St. Jean: “Greg is a star in the making. He has developed a unique combination of on-court skill development and conditioning experience. And he infuses positive energy into everything he does.”

Those attributes are why Kidd brought St. Jean with him to the Mavericks after the two were on Frank Vogel’s staff with the Los Angeles Lakers.

And it all goes back to St. Jean’s roots that ran deep as he learned from his father.

“He’s my biggest inspiration and biggest mentor when it comes to coaching,” he said of Garry. “I’ve always wanted to be what he was. So growing up, when he was an assistant coach, I wanted to become a great assistant coach. When he was head coach, I was at his practices and loved being in the gym and wanted to be a head coach. And then when he was a general manager, I got interested in the trades and things like that.

“I’m not saying I was born to coach. But I feel like I was bred to coach and I’m really blessed to be put in great environments since I was younger – blessed to be around a lot of great basketball minds.

“I’m super-excited to be around coach Kidd and learn and the last two years have been great with him. I’m excited to continue to learn and forge my pathway as best I can and eventually would love to be an NBA coach.”

Learned it from Dirk: Among the assortment of players hoping to earn an invite to training camp next month is Eugene Omoruyi, a 6-6 forward who played last season at Oregon.

As he led the Ducks to the Sweet 16, Omoruyi occasionally would rely on a one-legged fadeaway shot that Maverick fans might be familiar with.

“It’s always been part of my game,” Omoruyi said. “Since I’m undersized sometimes, I can get it off over taller defenders. I’m very comfortable taking that shot. I watched a lot of film on Dirk. So I just learned how to use it.”

Dirk Nowitzki, of course, pioneered the shot years ago and it has been copied by many NBA players.

Omoruyi went undrafted last month, but he had several teams eager to get him onto their summer-league programs. He had worked out with the Mavericks predraft and liked what he saw.

Now, he’s looking for a spot, although he can fit in many roles on the court.

“I kind of regard myself as position-less,” he said. “I kind of always worked on my game like P.J. Tucker, Jae Crowder, Draymond (Green). I can guard one through five and play anywhere coach puts me.”

St. Jean is no strange to Omoruyi’s game.

“I had the pleasure of coaching against him when he was at Rutgers,” he said of the three seasons Omoruyi spent at Rutgers before transferring to Oregon. “I was at St. John’s as an assistant, so I’ve seen Eugene play now for quite a bit of time and he just continues to get better and better every year. Every time I watch him, he’s gotten better and added something to his game.”

As for what position he’ll play, St. Jean said: “I think one of his greatest strengths other than his athleticism and his competitiveness, is his versatility defensively. A lot of times at the professional level, who you can guard and how many positions you can guard allows you to play different positions.

“For summer league, you’re going to see us play him at a lot of different positions and be somebody we’re going to test out that versatility. He’s shooting the ball really well in our gym, so hopefully that carries over to Vegas and further.”

Fore: The Mavericks have stressed team bonding during the three-day minicamp before Friday’s travel day to Las Vegas.

As part of the process, they spent a night at Top Golf to take out a little stress on those little dimpled balls.

“We’re three days in and it feels like this group has known each other for weeks, months,” St. Jean said. “And that’s something we talked about wanting to create. But it’s those 11 guys out there creating that bond.”

So how did everybody do at Top Golf? At least one Mavericks was OK being a spectator.

“My golf game is horrible,” said Omoruyi. “I’m the one sitting down. I was the one watching the other guys.”

Twitter: @ESefko

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