Less than three months after cutting down the nets in April, Dusty May was introduced as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. He had just finished a 34-3 season at Michigan and a 69-63 win over UConn in the national title game.
Now he has to prove what very few college coaches have proven: that the job translates.
Why Dallas went this way
The Mavericks' new front office, led by president Masai Ujiri and general manager Mike Schmitz, parted ways with Jason Kidd in May.
Kidd had gone 205-205 in five seasons, with a trip to the 2022 Western Conference finals and the 2024 NBA Finals, but last season's 26-56 finish was the franchise's worst in eight years, and Ujiri said the club wanted a new direction built around Cooper Flagg.
May was hired June 23, hours before the draft. He was 64-13 in two seasons at Michigan.
What a May team looks like
The early word from camp is an up-tempo system built on rebounding and running in transition. That suits a roster long on athletic forwards: Flagg, P.J. Washington, Naji Marshall, Zaccharie Risacher and newcomer Santi Aldama can all handle the ball in the open floor.
It also suits the one player May knows best. Dallas used the No. 9 pick on Morez Johnson Jr., the forward who played for him at Michigan. A rookie who already knows the terminology is a small edge in a camp where nearly everyone is learning a new playbook.
The part college can't prepare you for
Three things will test him quickly.
Minutes management. Kyrie Irving, 34, is back from a torn ACL and cleared without restrictions, but the medical staff still has to sign off on back-to-backs, and an 82-game season asks for rest decisions no college schedule does.
