Kevin Sherrington: Team-first personalities highly prized in new Mavs coach Dusty May's vision of the game
DALLAS - Dusty May has too many power forwards, not enough guards and lacks a full complement of coaches, but he confirmed Monday that progress has been made.
"We're breaking news here," he said.
This just in: Jack May, eldest son of Dusty and Anna, has signed a deal to work with the Mavs' video staff.
If this wasn't exactly the kind of news you were hoping for, it did wonders for Jack's mother, whose travel schedule is now reduced to Ann Arbor, where youngest son, Eli, is entering his junior year as Michigan's student manager, and Athens, Ga., where middle son, Charlie, will be a graduate assistant for the Bulldogs.
Meanwhile, dad is spending his time helping out with the Mavs' summer league team and getting to know the new guys, who just so happen to reflect his vision of what he wants the Mavs to be.
Before going there, we should back up and tell you what makes May different from most of the coaches who have gone straight from college to the pros and why his odds might be better. It's not just that he made a Final Four team out of Florida Atlantic and won a title at Michigan just two years after Juwan Howard left the program in tatters. Or that he took three unheralded transfers last year and turned them into lottery picks. Or that his players have invariably described him as a "father figure." What makes him different is he's a basketball junkie.
Of course, all NBA coaches are hoops addicts, which is why you don't want your daughter to marry one. But few, if any, go to the extremes that May does.
For the last 15 years, he's traveled to Europe for a week or so to watch talent on the other side of the pond if for nothing more than the pleasure of watching how the game's played.
"American players are better shooters and ballhandlers," he said, "but, over there, it's all about team."
Judging by the Mavs' draft-day acquisitions, we might make the same assumptions about May's new boss, Masai Ujiri. He could have taken an accomplished guard, Brayden Burries, with the ninth pick and no one would have questioned it. Certainly not The Athletic's esteemed NBA expert John Hollinger, who ranked the Mavs as offseason losers for not giving Cooper Flagg the kind of shooters he needs to give him room to get to the rim.
Morez Johnson Jr. was, in fact, the first surprise pick of the draft at nine. Of the three Wolverine lottery candidates, Aday Mara seemed the most likely for the Mavs. The 7-3 center went, instead, to Oklahoma City, which should make you nervous.
No organization does a better job of drafting and developing than the Thunder. Your team might be better served to sleep through the pre-draft buildup and simply peek over the Thunder's shoulder, then take whoever's on their list.
Mara, who's made a nice first impression on his summer league teammates, seems like the closest thing to an antidote for Victor Wembanyama in the West. He's got the ball skills and shot-blocking ability. But to maximize his skill set, the ball needs to be in his hands. A lot. Sort of seems to negate the advantage Kyrie Irving affords.
At least while Kyrie's still here.
When I asked May if Mara's 56% free-throw average at Michigan could make it hard to keep him on the floor in the NBA, he noted that Mara actually shot better than 80% the second half of the season after a horrific start. If May had any concerns about Mara's immediate future, it has more to do with the physical nature of the league and how well he adjusts to the banging.
So when I asked if Johnson was the "safest" pick of the three, he agreed. He's young, which fits the Mavs' timeline; he doesn't need the ball to be effective; he'll guard anyone on the floor; and he'll set hard screens and make life easier on Flagg in general.
In other words, he's a team-first player.
Now, we should make clear that May didn't know the Mavs were taking Johnson until he heard Adam Silver make the announcement. But he'd made his preferences clear in scouting reports. He summed up Johnson when he said that, before each game at Michigan, the staff would tell each other, "We've got Rez, and they don't."
Sergio De Larrea, the 6-6 Spanish guard acquired on draft day, won't make the same kind of impact as Johnson next season. But he may the year after. May has liked him ever since he first saw him in Europe two years ago. De Larrea's height, high IQ and shooting also intrigued the likes of Fran Fraschilla, who knows European players better than anyone else on TV. Fraschilla compared him to Ricky Rubio and Jose Calderon.
Either would be just fine, by the way.
Vsevolod Ishchenko, a 6-8 wing from Russia, is a project, and might be better off remaining overseas another year. Tarik Biberovic, on the other hand, could potentially give the Mavs much-needed shooting. He reportedly should get an NBA-out from his Turkish club soon.
Ujiri still has a lot of work to do before the Mavs can call this a team, and he can start by unloading some of the frontcourt. But we're getting a pretty good idea of what they're looking for. Everyone's in lockstep. Especially Mama May, who now doesn't have to get on a plane to see her oldest.
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This story was originally published July 8, 2026 at 5:37 AM.