Mavs Hire 'Offensive Guru' to Carlisle Coaching Staff

DALLAS - The Dallas Mavericks lost a key assistant at the end of October, when head coach Rick Carlisle's right-hand man, Stephen Silas, was elevated to the position of head coach of the division rival Houston Rockets.

But they are now gaining a key assistant who a source close to Zach Guthrie tells DallasBasketball.com is "an offensive guru.''

The Mavs have been working since October on the hiring of Guthrie, 32, a 2010 graduate of the University of Texas and a native of San Antonio (his father Bruce spent 26 years working for the Spurs).

Guthrie had been employed as a Utah Jazz assistant Zach Guthrie before making the move to Dallas, which per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Guthrie did work in the G-League with the Austin Toros (the Spurs' minor-league affiliate) and eventually joined the Spurs as an assistant video coordinator in the 2011-12 season. He moved to the Orlando Magic after that in the 2012-13 season as a manager of the scouting department.

By 2015, Guthrie was in Utah, eventually working his way up to a high-level assistant on head coach Quin Snyder's staff.

Silas was a valued assistant under Carlisle, and the choice of his replacement is an important one, especially as Dallas works to maintain its status as a league-leading offensive powerhouse. The combination of Carlisle with first-team All-NBA star Luka Doncic and an assistant who brings to Dallas some new ideas and a rep as an "offensive guru'' seems like a potent one for the Mavs.