VIDEO: Luka & Porzingis Lead Mavs Camp 2.0 Practice

DALLAS - The Dallas Mavericks began mandatory workouts - "training camp 2.0,'' one might call it - on Wednesday morning, after which coach Rick Carlisle and GM Donnie Nelson discussed the roster, COVID-19, the nature of the workouts, the social-justice fight (see details on Carlisle's involvement here) and the lack of "trepidation'' in moving soon into the bubble in Orlando for the re-boot of the season.

“Never before have we gone through something like this in the NBA,'' Carlisle told the DFW media via a noon-time Zoom conference. (With video courtesy of the Mavs.) "Some people might look at it with trepidation. I look at it with excitement.”

First day of #Mavs camp 2.0 ... Carlisle overseeing ... @TheCrossover pic.twitter.com/K1Ta06Yo1f
— fishsports ✭ (@fishsports) July 1, 2020

Carlisle joined Nelson in calling the bubble “one of the safest places to be in the United States.'' They talked off the absences for the eight-game "seeding games'' and then the playoffs of Jalen Brunson, Courtney Lee, Dwight Powell and Willie Cauley-Stein, and of a starting lineup that should on most nights/days feature Luka Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis, Tim Hardaway Jr., Dorian Finney-Smith and Seth Curry.

#Mavs camp 2.0 ... Kristaps Porzingis from the perimeter ... @TheCrossover pic.twitter.com/bW8aExEi1J
— fishsports ✭ (@fishsports) July 1, 2020

Carlisle mentioned that he has been tested for COVID-19 a total of five times in his seven days back at work. (The bosses report that no players have yet contracted the coronavirus.) These workouts are one-on-one with masked assistant coaches; the club will eventually progress to bigger groups, and after moving to Orlando on July 8, could have as many as three scrimmages against other clubs.

#Mavs Camp 2.0 opens .. Luka Doncic looking fashionable ... @TheCrossover pic.twitter.com/2OmhhcKLJu
— fishsports ✭ (@fishsports) July 1, 2020

So they know some things, structurally. But much is unknown, leading to Nelson to offer the quip of the day.

"It's a 'sailor's existence,'' Donnie said of the NBA's uncharted waters to come.

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