Became assistant to Jason Kidd a year ago after a 14-year career marked by an NBA championship title with the Lakers, Jared Dudley discovered the job of “head coach” this summer. Like Nick Van Exel at the Hawks or Vin Baker at the Bucks, he took the plunge.
” I learned day and night, and I continued to coach them even when we were behind “he says on the official website of the Mavericks. ” No matter the score, these guys are trying to improve and improve their careers. »
In Dallas, we decided that the coaching for this Summer League would be collegial since Jared Dudley coached two games (Suns and Lakers), the experienced Greg Saint-Jean was on the bench for a match against the Bulls, while George Galanopoulos took care of the oppositions against the Jazz and the Bucks.
” In coaching, experience is the best path. That’s what I did. I looked at what I could have done differently, the variations of the systems, the systems to throw when they change in defense… When you’re an NBA player, you spend your rookie year watching videos. I’m going to take a step back and watch videos of myself, workouts, to see where I can improve on my systems and where I can be more responsive. »
As for the catastrophic record of the Mavericks (no victory in five games), he does not take it into account because he liked what he saw.
” When we arrived on day one, Gary Saint-Jean’s message was to be the hardest working and most altruistic team. And that’s what we’ve done at times continues Jared Dudley. ” We told the players that we appreciated the fact that they work like crazy. We had meetings, video sessions no one complained. They were easy to train, and that’s what you have to do when you want to go forward. They must be able to be supervised and work. I just thank them for this opportunity. »
Next step ? Being alone at the head of the Summer League team. ” It’s my first year. One day I will coach the Summer League team and I will do all of this on my own. So I’m very happy.”