Sean Sweeney on Building a Transition Defense, Tough Actions to Switch, and Handling Conflict {Dallas Mavericks}

Slappin’ Glass sits down this week with the Assistant Coach for the Dallas Maverick’s, Sean Sweeney. Known as one of the best defensive minds in the NBA, the trio dive into Sweeney’s process on building a transition defense, the value of simple vocabulary, and talk handling conflict as a staff and tough actions to switch during the always fun “Start, Sub, or Sit?!”

Inside the Episode

It was another fun week on the Slappin’ Glass podcast as we sat down with one of the best defensive minds in the game in Dallas Mavericks Assistant, Sean Sweeney! Known as one of the great defensive tacticians in the NBA we doubled down on Coach Sweeney’s area of expertise and discussed:

  • Building a Transition Defense: The Mavericks were one of the top Defensive Transition teams in the NBA last season and we walked through the building blocks and key tenants in building that type of defense. Our discussion included further concepts of handling cross matches, simple vocabulary, understanding shots to live with, and much more.
  • Playing to Strengths vs. Covering Weaknesses: Within our defensive conversation we also discussed how Coach Sweeney thinks about building a defense in the halfcourt, and how playing to strengths is balances with covering any weak spots in team defense.
  • “Start, Sub, or Sit?!”: During this always fun segment we explore the ideas of “Tough Actions to Switch”, how staffs can handle conflict, and how Coach Sweeney learns from film.