Dallas held media day Saturday, and the franchise that spent the last two years as a punchline showed up sounding like it had a plan.
Team president Masai Ujiri put it in one sentence: “We want to bring joy back to basketball in this city.”
That is a direct acknowledgment of everything that went wrong here. Mavericks fans have not had much joy since the franchise traded away the best player it had.
Cooper Flagg Grew and Got Better
The reigning Rookie of the Year is 19 and reportedly about an inch taller than he was last season. He spent the offseason on shooting consistency and ball-handling, which are the two things standing between him and being the best player on a playoff team.
“I felt more prepared and experienced,” Flagg said about entering year two.
Everything Dallas is doing runs through him. The roster is built for size, length and positional versatility, with multiple players capable of guarding across three or four spots. Coach Dusty May has been open that he is looking for combinations rather than traditional lineups.
Kyrie Irving Is Healthy and Saying the Right Things
Irving is back from a torn ACL. His line on the recovery was characteristically blunt: “No excuses. I was built for this at a very young age.”
He also praised Flagg’s maturity, which is the note every veteran hits at media day and which actually matters here because Irving’s relationship with the young core determines whether this season is a step forward or another rebuild.
Irving’s name has been on trade boards all offseason. He did not sound like a player angling for an exit. He also did not commit to anything beyond this season, and Dallas has to decide by February whether he is part of the next good Mavericks team or the last piece of the old one.
The Structure Is Different Now
Ujiri running basketball operations changes the organization’s ceiling. He built a champion in Toronto by being aggressive at exactly the moments most executives get cautious. Dallas needed that more than it needed another veteran signing.
May is an unconventional hire who wants shooting, passing and pace. That fits a young roster better than a coach trying to win 45 games with isolation basketball.
What Success Looks Like
Not a title. Not this year, not in a West with San Antonio and Oklahoma City sitting at the top.
Success is Flagg making an All-Star team, Irving playing 65 games, and the Mavericks being a team people want to watch again. Ujiri said the word joy on purpose. Dallas has to earn it back.
The Roster Question
Size and versatility sound good in a press conference and win games only if somebody can shoot. Dallas has emphasized shooting, passing and transition play, which is the correct read on where the league is, and now has to prove it has the personnel.
Flagg is going to take a major usage jump in year two. Irving is going to be managed carefully. Everyone else on the roster has to be better than they were last season for this to work.
That is a lot of things breaking right. It is also the first Mavericks camp in three years where the plan makes sense.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.