Mark Cuban does not own the Mavericks anymore. He sold his majority stake to the Adelson family. But he is still the most influential voice in Dallas, and when the Mavs make a major hire, his opinion matters. So when Dallas swooped in and stole Dusty May from Michigan to be their new head coach, everyone wanted to know what Cuban thought.
He gave the Adelsons his blessing.
“He is an Indiana grad. I met him way back when he worked as a student manager and video coach. I am sure he will do a great job,” Cuban told reporters about the hire. Coming from Cuban, that is a glowing endorsement. He does not throw around praise lightly. When he likes a hire, he says he likes it. When he hates a hire, he says nothing at all.
May is taking over a Mavericks team that has Cooper Flagg, the reigning Rookie of the Year, and a star core. He is the second NCAA championship winning coach to make the jump to the NBA in two years, and the second to land with a young roster. The Mavericks fired Jason Kidd in May after a disappointing playoff run, opened up the search, and landed on May after going in circles for a few weeks.
Cuban is right about one thing. May is a real coach. He won the national title at Michigan, took FAU to the Final Four before that, and has built a reputation as one of the most innovative offensive minds in college basketball. His teams run, they shoot a ton of threes, and they play with pace. That is exactly what a Cooper Flagg led offense should look like.
The fit is interesting. Flagg is 19, in his second NBA season, and just won Rookie of the Year. He is the cornerstone. May’s offensive system will be built around getting Flagg the ball in space. Cuban knows Indiana basketball as well as anyone since he is an Indiana grad himself. He sees what May can do with a versatile, athletic forward like Flagg.
The Mavericks needed this hire to go right. The Anthony Davis trade was a disaster. He played zero games for the team last season due to a hand injury. Jason Kidd had a quiet last season behind the bench. The franchise needed a reset, a fresh voice, and somebody who could pull this roster out of the mediocrity it slipped into.
May is also a salesman. College coaches who make the NBA jump tend to be good with media, good with fans, and good in the room with players. They are recruiters by trade. That comes in handy in the NBA when you need to talk Cooper Flagg into staying long term, get the most out of Klay Thompson, or convince a free agent to sign for less to play in Dallas.
There is risk here. College coaches sometimes fail in the NBA. The pace is different. The egos are different. The travel is brutal. May has never coached an NBA player before. He has never run a back to back. He has never had to game plan for 82 of these things.
But the Mavericks are betting that his offensive mind and his ability to develop young players overrides the inexperience. With Cuban giving the public thumbs up and Flagg ready to take the next step, May has a chance to win immediately in Dallas.
That is what makes this hire interesting. The old boss likes it. The new face of the franchise likes it. Now May just has to win.
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.
