Dallas Mavericks: Examining their experienced youth movement

Rick Carlisle is leading the Dallas Mavericks down a path that places an emphasis on ‘experienced youth’ – today we examine what that means and how that’s going…

When talking to basketball fans about Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle, I often hear people say that Rick doesn’t like to work with rookies. An unfair assessment in my opinion. When you constantly win 50 plus games per season it’s difficult to build through the draft. The Mavericks have also been in “win now mode” pretty much since team owner Mark Cuban stepped in the door. This doesn’t lead to an environment conducive for developing young talent.

In recent years, more out of necessity than by choice, the Mavericks have had to develop young players. With the Mavericks striking out on big name free agents year after year, and the subsequent drop in wins, the Mavs have started a youth movement unlike any other you’ll see in the NBA. My first example of this is Dwight Powell.

Powell came to the Dallas Mavericks in his rookie season as a part of the Rajon Rondo trade with the Boston Celtics. Dwight now the second longest tenured Mav behind JJ Barea was given time to work through his mistakes. Powell earned that time by putting in the work to improve. He’s looked better and put on size every year since joining the Dallas Mavericks. Powell was a four year player at Stanford coached by former NBA player and two-time National Invitation Tournament championship coach Johnny Dawkins. This will be a common theme throughout this piece.

Another example is second year point guard Jalen Brunson . The Dallas Mavericks had one of the most underrated drafts in recent history last year. Not only were they able to bring in last year’s rookie of the year Luka Doncic, they also drafted two-time national champion Jalen Brunson. For Brunson to fall all the way to the 33rd pick is crazy. Brunson was the national player of the year in 2018, and two-time Big East first teamer in 2017 and 2018. Brunson was also a four-year player at Villanova under coach Jay Wright. Jay Wright is a 2 time Naismith College Coach of the Year, and a four-time Big East Coach of the Year.

Newly acquired Point guard Delon Wright is another four-year college player. Wright who started his college career at Community College of San Francisco would transfer to the University of Utah. While at Utah Wright was coached by former NBA player two-time Big Sky Tournament championship coach, and 2017-18 Pac 12 AP Coach of the Year Larry Krystkowiak.

The list goes on Dorian Finney-Smith also played four years in college. Spending three of those years at Florida under two-time national champion, and now Oklahoma City Thunder Coach Billy Donavan. Seth Curry played three of his four college years at Duke under Mike Krzyzewski one of the greatest basketball minds of all time. Forward Justin Jackson spent three years at the University of North Carolina. Winning a national championship in 2017 under three-time national championship coach
Roy Williams. Josh Reaves and Antonius Cleveland spent four years in college at Penn State and Southeast Missouri State respectively. Last year’s second round pick Isaiah Roby also spent three years at the University of Nebraska.