J.J. Barea on New Job: 'I Feel I Can Really Help' Dallas Mavs
DALLAS - After Rick Carlisle's decision to move on from the Dallas Mavericks organization, the team's coaching staff has undergone significant change.
Jason Kidd has taken over the Mavericks head coaching role after Carlisle held the job for the last 13 seasons. With that shift has come an overhaul of the coaching staff around him.
As DallasBasketball.com has previously reported, there has been talk about Barea potentially joining the Mavericks coaching staff before former general manager Donnie Nelson was relieved of his duties.
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Barea has given a lot of thought to the idea of coaching and would like to do so with the Mavericks.
“I know I like coaching,” Barea said. “Every time I do it, I like it even more. It comes easy, comes natural. Especially here in Dallas. And especially with Dallas. It’s my home. The Dallas Mavericks are my team. I feel like I can really help.”
Barea traveled to Las Vegas to join the Mavericks during this year's summer league. It served as an opportunity for him to see what the experience is like from that perspective and observe.
In terms of a particular role, there is still a need for Barea to sort that out with the Mavericks organization. He already had met with general manager Nico Harrison to discuss.
“I’m going to be involved, someway, somehow,” he said. “We’re working on exactly what it is. I’m going to come and go, but when I’m in, I’m going to be helping players. I’m going to be around the coaches, get experience, keep learning and help the players as much as I can.
“And then we’re going to figure out if I’ll do a little scouting when I’m away. We’ll work out those details pretty soon. But I had a great meeting with Nico.”
It does seem as though Barea will be mostly gaining experience when he rejoins the Mavericks organization.
“Right now, I think the next couple years are going to be more about getting experience, staying around the game as much as I can, keep learning and when the time is right, get back into it full time,” Barea said.
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