The Dallas Mavericks are entering draft night, hiring Dusty May, a national championship head coach from Michigan. The Mavericks were reportedly looking at Duke's Jon Scheyer to take over the reins and coach Cooper Flagg, but it turns out the Mavs made the right hire, and Scheyer made the right decision for his own career.
It was a bullet dodged for Scheyer because he's only been with Duke. As a player, an assistant coach and a head coach, the Blue Devils are all he has ever repped in his adult life. Jeff Goodman, one of college basketball's most reliable insiders, said it perfectly on 'The Field of 68: After Dark." May left a top-five coaching job in college basketball, but Scheyer would've been leaving the best job in college basketball, with no guarantee that he would ever get that back.
May is a trending coach in the basketball landscape, and we can hope he stays for a long time. But if he wants to go back and coach in the college game, he absolutely can. He's got the resume of a national championship and the title of an NBA head coach, something Scheyer still needs to accomplish. Here's Goodman when comparing the two respective coaches:
"It's different than Scheyer. If Scheyer had done it, he's leaving Duke, his alma mater, the best job in the country. Michigan is right now a top-five job in the country. They've got resources, the brand, all that. But it's not like he's leaving his alma mater, it's not like he couldn't come back in two years if it doesn't work in Dallas and get another top tenish job."
Dusty May and Jon Scheyer had completely different paths
Of course, it would've been nice to see Scheyer coach in Dallas. He's coaching Flagg, the best player he's ever had in his four-year tenure there. But that's the difference. Scheyer has only been at Duke for four seasons, and it's all he's ever experienced. He's got five-star recruits waiting for him for years to come, with guys like Kon Knueppel and Cam Boozer set to make magic happen every year in Durham.
May, on the other hand, has been one of the hottest coaching attractions promoted from the ground up for the past three years. His rise has been instant, and he had the honor of taking Michigan to its first national title since 1989.
The paths are entirely different. Knock on wood, but if May were to lay an egg in Dallas for two seasons and Masai Ujiri were to look in another direction, May could find another job in college. Scheyer giving up the Duke job would be more of a risk, and for everything he has given to that program, it would be taking a leap of faith.
Both guys are tremendous coaches, but Scheyer is still looking for Duke's first national title since 2015, and the Duke job is something you can't walk away from. Mike Krzyzewski gave his all for over four decades, and it's a job you take knowing you're going to be there for a while.
May has less to lose here, knowing he can come back and coach a blue-blood school, and he's taking the most attractive job in the NBA, as the option to coach a generational talent like Flagg doesn't come by often.
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