Maxi Kleber has now collected the first NBA minutes. In a video interview with DAZN he explains his role in the team, revealing that he can imagine more minutes.
Looking back, the step of having made it to the Mavs didn’t come out of nowhere for Kleber, but it came as a surprise. He knew that there was a general interest from the NBA, because their scouts “are present at many games – not only in our country”, but he was a little surprised by the fact that they were signed so quickly in the summer.
In the meantime, Dirk Nowitzki had nothing to do with Kleber’s obligation, since he was “only a player and not a manager”, but rather the conversations about scouts and agents took place without Kleber being directly involved at first.
Things that the Mavs consider to be particularly important in order to get playing time are “attitude and presence” and the will to always want to work on themselves. In addition, the franchise gave him the “commission” to work on his litter as much as possible in the summer, since the three-line line is known to be further away than in Europe. Moreover, it is more difficult than in Europe to get rid of the throw in some situations, because the opponents are faster to disturb. That is why anticipation is particularly important.
Kleber said to Coach Rick Carlisle, who is not considered to be particularly rookie-friendly,”Of course you have to win his confidence, but you can do that by showing commitment and working well,” but there are special demands on the young players:”We’re already there one and a half hours ahead of the others during training.
Since I come from a club in which I played a lot, I would like to have something more – but I knew what to expect. You have to deal with that, which is not always easy, for example, if you sit on the bench for three quarters and then come in cold as ice in the fourth quarter.”
The tactical systems he has to learn in Dallas are “very demanding, because we often change something. But I already know this from Europe, because my coaches were also very well trained there. But Rick’s systems are considered to be particularly complex.”
Kleber has so far been used in five games, with 5 points out of 56.3 percent of the field at a strong 56.3 percent. He also got 2 rebounds and 0.8 steals on average.