Van Alstyne basketball readers picked up a Mavericks staffing change Friday that removes the final Kidd-era assistant. As dallasweekly.news reported, Phil Handy is finalizing a deal to join Nick Nurse's Philadelphia 76ers staff, the Dallas Morning News reported Friday, citing ESPN's Marc J. Spears.
Spears report reaches North Texas
Handy spent one season in Dallas as a player-development coach, the Morning News reported, with ties to Kyrie Irving and Max Christie and a central role in ball-handling and shooting drills. His reputation league-wide has centered on player development rather than sideline play-calling, a point both the Morning News and Sports Illustrated underscored while describing the move.
That focus helps explain why the report landed as a continuity story for Dallas, not a footnote.
Player-development vacancy
Handy was the final holdover from Jason Kidd's staff after Frank Vogel, Jay Triano, Popeye Jones, Josh Broghamer, Keith Veney, Eric Hughes and Jordan Sears had already departed, the Morning News reported. SI likewise cast the exit as a major continuity loss during the coaching transition to Dusty May.
With Handy headed to Philadelphia, the overlap between the prior regime and the new one reaches zero on the assistant side.
