Mavs Assistant Sean Sweeney Interview on Coaching Luka Doncic with Slovenia NT After Win vs. Brazil

Mavs Assistant Sean Sweeney Interview on Coaching Luka Doncic with Slovenia NT After Win vs. Brazil

I’m just going to start um how how isia how you so far so far so good beautiful yeah and always better with a win congratulations first mlan team would would like to know what do you do with Lua in Dallas like he he still has the energy to play for the national team um I do whatever he tells me no we uh we work we work together well and um he’s done a great job the past few years when I’ve been in Dallas and um excited to be part of everything that we all have going on here and um to see how everyone is connected with the national team and how much pride everyone takes and it’s it’s really a an honor to be part of it obviously I have just one more question about Luka um he develop this year he is even stronger player how what would you say about his year in that well he he a phenomenal year he was he was if not the best player in the world one of the top few um you know he he improved in all areas on offense and um defensively to step forward as well and I think his maturity also you know each year we’ve seen him grow not only as a player but also as a person and that’s big part of why we had this success we had this year and he had the success he had this year thank you so much you’re welcome B your part national team what kind of opportunity this for you um it was an incredible opportunity uh one to be part of you know such a great group and to work with great coaches already the few days I’ve been here learned a lot it’s been great to um see how they do things and the way they then also the competition level being so high with um you know the stage that we’re on and and Performing and coaching and teaching you know it’s such a high level is really pretty impressive so far it’s been great Olympics so uh you know you see it on TV and it’s so incredible to to have a chance to be part of it be you know really you know use the word honor earlier but it would be such such a great opportunity um so I’m really looking forward to the chance to compete to get there and then hope we do as well as we can can you please team yeah I’m just coaching like I’m with any other team so whatever um the big boss tells me to do I try to execute my marching orders and um you know trying to learn learn the system and some of the things that we have going on and then try to just fill in where I can and and try to coach and teach and if it happens to be Luca then that’s great you know I like to yell at him so that’s always fun uh you know Yannis from the past how to stop him is there a solution for for his play well if I had one I probably wouldn’t tell it right now but no he’s a great player and he’s he’s very tough to go against and um you know I know they have a number of players that have done really well in the Euro league and some NBA guys that I recognized from being in the past spent some time with those guys in greas number of years ago with their national team so um should should be fun to go compete there how much did you know about um I knew some of the players from previous experiences um and then just watching uh the films of the the team and and trying to study and get up to speed with some of the guys and um you know having watched the Slovenian team play in the past little familiarity with some of those guys then just trying to study and and get up to speed with them now so some some definitely can I just ask how did this cooperation you with team who was the initiator of um yeah theide you know Sasha and some of the other guys when they come over to Dallas and uh ask me if I would have any interest this this summer and um talk with them and talk with you all the different guys involved and um seemed like something that they thought I can help a little bit be honored to do it so um just over the impress of time in Dallas as soon as how we got got involved much have you seen anything that you may brought to the team no no no I’m following their lead they do I’m I’m riding coattails right now as we say so no it’s it’s good it’s good learning experience and you know just taking notes and trying to you know coach and feeling where I can so far so good can you say a few words how do you see Lucas passion driver for play no I mean I think it’s you know he wears it on his sleeve you know you can see how it means to him um you know being part of what our team in Dallas have going on the last several months and how tough he had to be to play through everything and how well he did now to be out on the floor only a few days later and um you know the the the energy and the effort and the joy that he plays with you know it’s evident how much it me to him do Le work besides the only ones I can’t say Sean can you say something about the first opponent creation maybe how how much did you analyze that I’ve watched them a little bit um you know as the other coaches have and then some of those those players played in the NBA this year you know charish and zubats and a couple of those other guys his onia you know the past has been there and so um you know just trying to take as much advantage of the film study opportunities that we have right now their friendlies and um you know try to draw some past experience with those guys so little bit but they’re going to be they’re a tough team um you know I’m looking forward to the opportunity to work guys following coach’s orders and see what we can do thank you in Dallas you know Luca over the last year has had a fair amount of new like centers to play Pick and role with today you know he’s got his first like game experience with Josh Neo uh what do you see from him uh I think seemed like they got really comfortable like especially in the second half uh what what do you see from the connection between those guys so far yeah I mean uh you know anytime you’re playing with Luca gr you having a skill set like Josh you know there should be a good opportunity to connect um you know I like his explosiveness I like his ability to switch onto the basketball and play different pick and roll coverages but on the other side you know his pick and roll game his ability to catch and finish um you know compliments all the various things that Luca can do um well and um you know I thought he did a good job as the game went on as you as you mentioned you know getting more comfortable and understand and kind of some of the the concepts that are going on especially when you’re playing with a guy like Luca definitely and you know speaking of the switching it seemed like you know over the last couple years Luca has been pretty impactful defensively switching handling bigger players and you know we saw that today as well what have you seen from him in that area and how valuable could that be like in the you know the FBA context well I think his you know his his IQ is really really high and um you know his his ability to read the play as well as compete on the basketball strong you know so when you have have that physical strength to go with that IQ to go with the ability to move your feet when you TR to switch more especially like we did you know we I think they had only 11 points uh four minutes to go in the fourth quarter and that was predominantly us switching pick and rolls and him on the weak side or him in different spots you know using his IQ and then his physical gifts um you know was a big Advantage yeah and um something from the last uh cycle with L Luca playing for Slovenia that I noticed like it seemed like he continued to uh you know play a little bit more in off actions like he’s continued like carry that into Dallas he shot more catch and shoot threes than he had in previous Seasons what have you seen from him uh like did you see that carry over any benefit from uh you know bringing uh like filling that more off ball a little bit obviously he’s going to play a lot with the ball but you know did you see any carryover from the World Cup into into last season um yeah I mean you know anytime you’ve got a such a diversified skill set as he has you know the ability to make shots in all areas to make passes in all areas to make play plays in all areas you know it’s only natural that as your team um you know changes and and you have more ball handling it allows you be in different spots um to punish the defense and take advantage of those opportunities based on how they’re trying to play you know today you saw them in the post you saw them in pick and rolls coming off handoffs off ball screening actions you know and able to score and distribute you know in all those areas um and even when he didn’t get the ball you know he still had a gravitational pole that allowed other guys to get opportunities yeah thank you

Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Sean Sweeney spoke to reporters while serving on the coaching staff of the Slovenian national team. The team defeated Brazil in an exhibition match as it prepares for the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament in Greece.

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