By John Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The Dallas Mavericks can benefit from Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis finally playing together, head coach Rick Carlisle hopes for an efficient pairing. The 59-year-old American visited Latvia recently to work with the kids of the 18th the Basketball Without Borders Europe camp, witnessed Porzingis’ progress firsthand, also talked with local TV station LETA, Dwain Price of Mavs.com relays.
“The league will be very good with those two guys playing. Luka and Kristaps compliment each other well” he initially pointed out and explained: “You’ve got a 7-3 guy and you’ve got a 6-7 guy that both have ball skills. They’ll be great in the pick-and-roll, they’ll be great in other situations when they pass and cut and find each other. We’re just really looking forward to getting them on the floor together and get going.”
Due to injury, Latvian Porzingis has yet to play for the Texans. “Right now it’s really about his health and getting him 100 percent healthy, 100 percent strong and preparing him for an entire NBA season. He’s done an awful lot of work over the last two years since the injury” Carlisle said and went on: “He’s worked really hard since coming to us in February, and so we feel like he’s going to be able to be 100 percent and be ready to go come training camp.”
The 23-year-old big is set to become a restricted free agent. “He’s a free agent on July 1. We have to get him re-signed and then he’ll have a program through the summer” his head coach confirmed and added: “Camp starts, I believe, Sept. 30, this year, so the plan is for him to be ready to go on Day One.”
The Mavericks head coach also discussed the positions he will assign during the 2019-20 season: “I’m not big on exactly what position guys play. We want basketball players that know how to play the game and know how to make plays.”
“There are similarities between Kristaps and Dirk Nowitzki. They’re both seven-footers that can really shoot the ball, but Kristaps’ game is quite different than Dirk’s” he added.
He also remembered: “We’ve had great success in Dallas playing with a seven-foot guy that can shoot the ball, so we have a lot of experience with how to enable him to play well and help us win games.”
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