Dusty May wants Mavericks moving more around Kyrie Irving

The Mavericks are glad to have Kyrie Irving back in action again. Now all they need to do is learn to play with Kyrie Irving.

That comes straight from first-year coach Dusty May, who is likely also learning how to coach Irving (and other NBA players) after winning the NCAA title at Michigan last season. But the focus in this league is on the players.

“I think sometimes everyone kind of just stops and watches Kyrie instead of, I think especially where we are, I think a little bit more cutting to open up bigger gaps for him and a little bit of off-ball movement will make the game simpler for him, because he’s gonna make the right decision,” May said, via Grant Afseth of Dallas Sports Journal.

“So we’re still working on our spacing and our relocations and figuring out what our schemes are gonna be when we have our nucleus. But it’s a work in progress, and so, but he gives you a lot of options.”

Irving returned Sunday after missing all of last season while recovering from a torn left ACL and finished with 17 points, three assists and two rebounds in 22 minutes as Dallas beat Houston in a preseason game.

“A lot of emotions,” Irving said, via Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com. “I’m grateful Dusty called the first play for me. I had my mind made up to attack.”

So Irving looks like Irving already. Now all May wants is the rest of the Mavericks to look even better with Irving on the court.

“I think we have great depth,” May said. “We have a good mix of veteran players that have been through the battles, and then they’re complemented with some young, eager guys that are trying to fit in in any way, shape, or form. And so it just provides an interesting dynamic.

“We’ve got these young, youthful guys that probably still need to get stronger, and then you have some older guys who we really need to contribute to helping them get up to speed if we’re going to be the type of team we’re capable of being.”