Head Coach Avery Johnson
“I’m really excited and enthusiastic about this year. We have another good group. We have a group that has a chance to be pretty special. A group that if they play at a high level, we think that we can compete with anybody so we’re really excited. I’m glad that I have another opportunity to coach these young men some of whom I’ve coached for a couple of years and some that I’ll have for the first time.”
Can a team be even hungrier coming into this season than last season?
“Yes because more than anything we didn’t get back to the finals, but I’m disappointed that we didn’t get back to the finals and give ourselves a chance to win. I wouldn’t have been any happier had we won in the first round and then lost to Utah.”
Can you explain how you want Dirk to be more of a leader this season?
“We’ve visited about it quite a bit this summer. Some of it is internal, some of it is about leadership and Dirk since we have taken over we feel he has improved pretty much every year. If he’s not the MVP this year, we want him to be the MVP for us in other areas that I want him to work on and he’s really open to it. Do we want him to be a little bit better passer, offensive rebounder, work on some things defensively and all of those things, yes, but there are some things in terms of leadership that I want him to improve upon and he’s really open to it. It’s all about him getting his team to play at a high level and everybody else stepping up.”
Is a lot of this more about the mental side of the game than the physical?
“I’ve been talking to them about this for the last two years now. It’s more about the mental part especially when you have a team that’s right there. We’re hoping that if some of players are 20 percent better physically and stronger mentally, we’re hoping we that and some of the additions that we’ve made that can really help us.”
What are your expectations with Eddie Jones?
“We don’t need Eddie really to play big minutes. Eddie Jones is not going to be the old Eddie Jones, but we think with him playing the certain amount of minutes that we have tailored for him as the season goes on he can be a huge asset. We still think he’s a terrific shooter especially a corner shooter. That’s a good weapon to have. He’s tough minded, has a sound track record and we’re excited to have him.”
What’s the biggest improvement that you want to see in Devin Harris?
“More than anything is decisions and confidence. Make sound decisions and live with the results, quarterback the team and just be Devin Harris. I’ve seen flashes of it now I need to see more consistency and also points in the paint because we are not a great post up team. We’ve got to manufacture points in the paint in other ways and he’s one of the guys that can get us points in the paint.”
Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki
Are you ready to get back at it, wash last season away?
“It’s been a long summer, longer than we expected or wanted. We are all ready to go, have a good camp, get the new guys on the same page and come out and fight and see what happens.”
Talk about how Mark Cuban, Donnie Nelson and Avery didn’t make any major changes in the off-season?
“We were so close the last couple of years. Two years we made it all the way to the finals and we have a great regular season last year and then lost to a hot team. We all agree that we were pretty close, but you just can’t plan a championship. It takes time, it takes work and you need a lot of luck. As a team we fit together well. I thought we added some nice pieces and we’ll go from there.”
Did you enjoy your summer?
“Yeah I mean as much as I could obviously the playoff loss was in my mind plenty of times, but I did some traveling right away and was gone for a couple of weeks. Then went to Germany in late June and worked out and got ready for the European Championships.”
What are your goals and expectations as far as leadership goes for the season?
“I’ll get more into that as camp progresses. We all know that I’m not a big guy that stands there and holds long speeches and stuff like that. We’ll see if we find a good way for me to lead and we have some veterans that we’re able to share some of the leadership roles so I think it’s going to be more a matter of us doing it all together and that’s why it’s a team sport.”
Talk about the Mavericks bringing Jerry Stackhouse back?
“He’s definitely a big part of what we’re doing the last couple of years and he’s one of the most explosive scores off the bench that this league has at the moment, but he’s also got good leadership skills. He’s very important to what we are doing and where we are trying to go. We’re happy that he is here.”
“We all know that the window is small to win a championship. You don’t have a great team for a lot of years, the window is always small and we know that this should be another great year. If you look at all the great players over the years that haven’t won a championship you kind of see that it’s not easy in this league. A lot of factors play into it so I think we have all the pieces and things we need to win. We just have to keep on working, have a good regular season again, be sharp in the playoffs and anything is possible really.”
Mavericks guard Jason Terry
“Excited to be back, excited about the challenge ahead of us and about the team we have. We didn’t end off last year like we wanted to, but we went through this summer and worked extremely hard to get our body and mind back in shape and condition and we’re going to have a great season.”
Are you surprised the team is pretty much still intact?
“Not really when you win 67 games last year and the run that we’ve been on the last two and a half years has been amazing and I know the fans can attest to that. But as a player going through it just being on this team in this city is just exciting. I’m ready to have some big fun in Dallas this year and I’m glad they kept us together.”
Who’s going to bring the toughness this year?
“I look in the mirror every day and I know I’m one of the tough ones. But I look at all of us. It starts from within, it starts with your leaders first myself, Dirk and Stackhouse. We’ve all been through this thing now together for two and a half years and that’s the thing about it when you’ve stuck together, you’ve went through the tough times and the good times it builds your character, it builds your strength within as a team and that’s what I like about us most.”
How important is Jerry Stackhouse to this team?
“Stack is our vocal and spiritual leader in the lockerroom and he’s one of those guys if you look down the line and if you see him on that bench than you know that you’ve got somebody that’s going to go out there and give it his all every night.”
What makes you and Devin Harris being on the court at the same time so effective?
“Speed kills, it’s the one thing that you can’t prepare for and it’s the one thing that you we’ll never be ready for is how fast and quick guys are in this league. As you know that Devin is one of the fastest guys with the ball in the NBA right now and they don’t call me the JET for nothing. We’re some of the quickest, and now that Devin is shooting the ball extremely well and with confidence, and when you see us out there, we’re a tough matchup every night.”
