Dusty May's first Mavericks training camp will not include anyone who coached beside Jason Kidd in Dallas last season.
That is the upshot of Friday's Dallas Morning News report that player-development assistant Phil Handy is finalizing a move to the Philadelphia 76ers under Nick Nurse, according to ESPN's Marc J. Spears. Handy had been the final Kidd-era holdover on the Dallas staff.
A clean break, name by name
Before Handy's reported exit, the Morning News listed the assistants already gone: Frank Vogel, Jay Triano, Popeye Jones, Josh Broghamer, Keith Veney, Eric Hughes and Jordan Sears. Handy's departure completes that list and ends any lingering overlap between the old staff and the new one.
Handy arrived with relationships to Kyrie Irving and Max Christie and ran much of the team's ball-handling and shooting work during his one season in Dallas, the Morning News reported. Sports Illustrated likewise stressed his status as the last remaining link to Kidd's coaching group in the building and called the loss significant for a franchise still restocking its bench.
Who is staying - May's group
In place of the old staff, May's reported assistants are Willie Green, Joe Boylan, Garrett Temple, Drew Williamson and Mody Maor, per the Dallas Morning News. That group will be the voices in Frisco-area gyms and at the team's practice home once camp opens.
The Handy news does not change May's roster construction puzzles - buyouts, wing depth, and camp battles still sit elsewhere on the agenda - but it does clarify the coaching hierarchy. Development work that Handy handled daily will fall to May's new lieutenants, including Green and the rest of the listed staff.
