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DALLAS — Kyrie Irving’s voice in the Dallas Mavericks locker room speeds up the learning process for the team’s younger and newer players, forward Santi Aldama said Friday on 105.3 The Fan’s K&C Masterpiece.
Aldama made the appearance a day after Dallas lost 133-94 to the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. The conversation turned to which Mavericks players speak up about what the team can do better, beyond what Mavericks coach Dusty May tells the group.
Santi Aldama Says Kyrie Irving’s Experience Speeds Up Learning
Dallas has a good group in that sense, Aldama said, with players who have been around the league and with the franchise for a while. He called Irving the best example and put Irving’s time in the league at 16 years, “something like that.”
“He knows a lot of basketball. Knows basketball, how an NBA season goes,” Aldama said. “So having him talking to us, he’s very vocal. It’s great for us because it expedites all the learning process for younger guys and then new guys and guys that haven’t been 16 years in the league.”
Aldama Points To P.J. Washington And Caleb Martin For Honest Talks
Those conversations cover how Dallas gets better as a team and how players get better as individuals, Aldama said, and he put P.J. Washington and Caleb Martin in that group.
“But then we also have a group of guys like P.J. or Caleb that have been around the league for a while, and we’re just honest,” Aldama explained. “We have a group that we understand when we talk. It’s what’s going to make the Mavs better, and there’s no personal stuff. It’s all about how do we get better as a team, how do we get better as individuals, and whatever we do is thinking how can we make the Mavs better, and that’s special.”
“That’s something I’ve not always seen, and obviously, just having that, that’s a recipe for long-term success,” Aldama continued. “We’re still building, still learning, but we’re holding ourselves to a standard that, that’s really high, and that’s where success will come. You can’t cheat success and cheat the journey.”
Dallas (7-5) plays the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday at Rocket Arena, with tip-off set for 6:30 p.m. CT.
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