Mavs Notes: Irving, Schmitz, Coaching Search, Lottery Pick

Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving took to Twitch to declare that he’s nearly 100 percent 14 months after ACL surgery.

“I am definitely close to being over at 100% in terms of my ACL recovery,” Irving said, per Grant Afseth of the Dallas Hoops Journal. “It’s been a while now … I’m so grateful that I’ve had the time to heal and just experiment with my body more on the court and off the court in the weight room and just pushing myself to the limit.”

Irving said the long layoff gave his body plenty of time to recover from the rigors of playing NBA ball since 2011.

“At this age, I feel like the game is slowing down, but also I’m able to do more out there just more efficiently,” Irving said.

Here’s more on the Mavs:

• New GM Mike Schmitz has no doubt Irving will mesh his talents with franchise player Cooper Flagg, according to Afseth. “I think it’s the body of work. I think it’s his approach to the game. Seeing him almost daily around the facility, completely locked in to everything we’re doing, it’s been really impressive to see,” Schmitz said. “Being around that every day, combined with everything he’s done to get to this point, gives us a ton of optimism alongside his fit with Cooper.” Schmitz has also been impressed by Irving’s dedication during his rehab. “I can say he’s been doing everything humanly possible to maximize his talent and to do that,” Schmitz said. “Just to see his approach and how he’s attacking things every day has been incredibly impressive. To see his leadership, to see the way he carries himself, to see the way he pours into Cooper and pours into the rest of the guys. It’s May 29, and there’s a level of buy-in that is really impressive.”
• While there’s an expectation that the Mavs will hire an experienced head coach to replace Jason Kidd, Schmitz said the front office is “looking at everything” during its search. “We’re being very thorough in our approach and just continuing to kind of stick to our process there and evaluating everything. So no official update on that,” Schmitz said, per Afseth. “We don’t have an exact timeline for it, and our goal is to focus on a handful of the traits that we’re looking for, evaluate the market and make the best decision possible for the franchise. Obviously, we understand that this is a huge decision and one we’re going to do everything we can to get right.”
• Getting an impact player is more important than targeting a specific need or position with their lottery pick at No. 9, Schmitz told Mike Curtis of the Dallas Morning News.  “It’s about just finding a difference maker at 9,” Schmitz said. “It’s not about a big or a guard or a wing. Year after year, you see prospects who don’t go one, two, three or four who end up as high-level contributors. That’s the exciting part of the draft and that’s our challenge, is to find a difference maker at 9, and we love that range. We’re really, really excited about the level of player that we can get there. And just the optionality of having (picks) 9, 30, 48 is super exciting for us.”