DALLAS, TX – The Dallas Mavericks hosted media day Monday September 27. It was virtual due to COVID-19 but D210SPORTS was still able to talk with Head Coach Jason Kidd and 11 of the Mavericks players via Zoom.
The Mavericks training camp will start tomorrow, Tuesday September 28. Practices will be Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Preseason games will start next week Wednesday before the regular season starts October 21. The Mavericks will have four preseason games before heading into the Regular Season.
- Wednesday, October 6th vs the Utah Jazz at 7:30 pm (HOME)
- Friday, October 8th vs the L.A. Clippers at 7:30 pm (HOME)
- Wednesday, October 13th vs Charlotte Hornets at 5:30 pm (AWAY)
- Friday, October 15th vs Milwaukee Bucks at 7:30 pm (AWAY)
Media Day was jam packed full of questions and answers from J Kidd and his players. First up was the Head Coach himself. When asked about training camp starting tomorrow he explained that he is extremely excited to get started.
“It’s going to be like the first day of school, You lay out your outfit and be ready to go to school, and you can’t wait to see the students and participate.”
Kidd replaced Rick Carlisle after Carlisle parted ways after 13 years of being the Mavs head coach. It’s no secret that Kidd is ready to jump right into the madness of the regular season.
In question, Kidd referred to Luka Doncic as a young Picasso. He said that Picasso never used all his colors in his paintings and was referring to Doncic trusting and utilizing is teammates more. He said that was one of the biggest messages he had for Doncic this season.
Doncic agreed and stated, “Yeah of course. Not just that I mean there are a lot of things that I need to improve on, off the court and on the court, obviously this is one of them and I think he is right.”
Doncic spoke about his thoughts on Kristaps Porzingis and the role these two will play this season as the Dallas dynamic duo.
“He can make almost every shot. I think that he is in way better shape this year, especially mentally. You can see him having a good time when we are playing pick up and I think he is going to have a great season this year.”
“I mean he’s 220 centimeters.”
Doncic addressed the importance of his height…in centimeters. Doncic and the media laughed after he explained he doesn’t know how to convert it over into feet and inches.
Porzingas said that he had a great summer in regards to his workouts. He said that he had a lot of motivation to get better as a player. He stated that he put a lot of time and effort in.
“I’m coming into the season with a fresh mind and a fresh body.”
Porzingas said that him and coach have gotten off to a really good start. He said that Kidd wants to put him in the best positions to be the best player.
“I’m looking forward to being utilized in the best way.”
He also stated that he thinks that chemistry is key for teams to have in order to be successful. He said the best chemistry the Mavs had was when they were in the bubble. He said that he thinks chemistry will be a big thing for their team this year.
“Chemistry is something that we are going to be focused on this season and I think that will translate onto the court.”
The Mavs will head into training camp tomorrow, September 28 and prepare for their first preseason game next week Wednesday against the Utah Jazz.
