GOD SHAMMGOD gets into a defensive stance, with the 3-foot padded extensions on each arm serving as a tool against the isolation wizardry of Dallas Mavericks player Luka Doncic.
They're in the middle of a one-on-one match at the Mavs' practice facility, and Shammgod shadows the left side of Doncic's hip to prevent the superstar from executing his signature move.
“You can't go right!” Shammgod yells while defending Doncic on the perimeter. “You can't shoot the step-back right!”
Shammgod knows Doncic will take the taunt as a challenge, but the Mavs' fourth-year assistant and director of player development is simply following the scouting report. Doncic has shot 527 step-back threes during the regular season and playoffs, according to his NBA Advanced Stats shooting splits, and you could count on your fingers the number of times he's gone right.
At least, that was the scouting report until the final seconds of Game 2 of the Western Conference finals. Then Doncic shook off Wolves center Rudy Gobert and fooled the four-time Defensive Player of the Year by stepping back to his right and making the game-winning three-pointer. It was the first time all postseason that Doncic didn't go left on his step-back three-pointer, as he prefers.
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But Shammgod and the other Mavs assistants weren't surprised. They've had issues with the move all season.
They had seen Doncic throw plenty of stepbacks with the right-hand batter in the one-on-one sessions after practice, with Doncic and his backcourt partner Kyrie Irving taking turns attacking the rotating trio of assistants, which also includes Darrell Armstrong and Marko Milic.
And just as they noticed Doncic's new variation on his stepback, Irving had thrown a ton of 20-foot southpaw hook shots in front of Shammgod & Co. before sinking one on the final buzzer to shock the defending champion Denver Nuggets in March.
“We're just trying new things,” Doncic told ESPN of the 30- to 60-minute sessions. “We're smiling and just playing basketball. That's what it's about.”
And as Dallas prepares to host the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday (8:30 p.m. ET on ABC), Doncic and Irving will draw on the close bond they've built while expanding their arsenal of scoring opportunities.
“This is definitely the crafting table,” Irving told ESPN. “We just work on our craft when nobody's watching. We have a lot of fun, man. It's always fun when you see someone working on things that they don't necessarily show a lot in the game, but you know they've got it.”
God Shammgod joined the Dallas Mavericks coaching staff in 2019, a year after Luka was drafted. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)
SHAMMGOD'S PADS ARE NOT the only way the Mavs' middle-aged assistant coaches are trying to catch up on the court against two of the NBA's most talented playmakers.
“They're only doing two or three dribbles now. They're not doing 16 dribbles,” Armstrong, 55, told ESPN. “They're only doing two or three to help us.”
Armstrong earned a reputation as a tenacious defender during his 14-year NBA career, with the high point of his career being named Sixth Man and Most Improved Player of the Year in the 1998-99 season.
His feet aren't quite as quick—and it probably doesn't help that he only wears low-top Chuck Taylors when he practices—but he says his swipe-down move is still as effective as ever, and he tirelessly badmouths Doncic and Irving, regardless of the outcome.
“I mean, I'll lock them up,” Armstrong boasted playfully.
Doncic, meanwhile, raised his voice when Armstrong's claim was relayed.
“Oh, hell no! DA?! No!” Doncic barked, grinning as he shook his head. “You know that's not true.”
Armstrong, of course, readily admits that Doncic is right. His constant chatter is meant to lighten the mood while also stoking the competitive spirit of Doncic and Irving.
Darrell Armstrong joined the Dallas Mavericks coaching staff midway through the 2008-09 season and is now in his tenth year as an assistant coach. Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
“It's really just about getting them going and getting them to do good work,” Armstrong said. “It's just fun to not be serious but be competitive. I talk shit and get my ass kicked.”
“You already know that Lukas talks shit, but Kai is also underhanded. Kai is underhanded. The way they treat us, I can't blame them.”
Armstrong had been part of the Mavs' coaching staff for a decade, even before Doncic arrived in Dallas, but the relationships between Doncic and Milic and Irving and Shammgod go back much further.
Milic, 47, was the first NBA player from Slovenia, a powerful, springy 6-foot-6 forward who played 44 games as a teammate of Jason Kidd on the Phoenix Suns from 1997-99 before returning to Europe. Milic was a teammate of Doncic's father, Sasa, during Slovenian club Union Olimpija's 2007-08 Adriatic League championship season when young Luka was a ball boy. Milic, an assistant coach for the Slovenian national team, joined the Mavs' coaching staff before last season.
Shammgod, 48, a New York native known for his ball-handling wizardry, has been friends with Irving's father, Drederick, and Kyrie's godfather, former NBA star Rod Strickland, for decades. Irving's relationship with Shammgod, who joined the Mavs' staff in 2019, was one of the factors that made the eight-time All-Star feel comfortable after arriving in Dallas via trade following a tumultuous two-and-a-half-year tenure with the Brooklyn Nets.
“For [Doncic and Irving]there are so many developments,” said Shammgod. “It's great. It's like a painting where I have this beautiful canvas and I can just keep adding more things to the canvas.”
DONCIC AND IRVING have never played one-on-one against each other — “Next year we'll try,” Doncic said — but they still compete against each other in practice sessions and in regular free-throw and 3-point contests.
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If Doncic makes a move that leaves the crowd speechless, Irving will try to imitate it or outsmart him. And vice versa.
“He does crazy things that I can't do, but sometimes I try,” said Doncic, one of many current or former players who have called Irving the most skilled ball handler in the history of the game.
“That's healthy creativity, man, and that's what you want,” Irving said. “Call it osmosis. We're in that environment together. He's trying new moves, I'm trying new moves. We're picking things up and adding them to our game.”
Sometimes the moves are spontaneous. On other occasions, Doncic and Irving take suggestions from Shammgod, who played only 20 games for the Washington Wizards in his NBA career but enjoys a unique reputation among current players.
Shammgod, who has a Puma contract for his own shoes, is widely considered one of the most creative ball handlers in the history of the game. There is a famous one-handed crossover commonly known as “The Shammgod,” a move Doncic used in his warm-up before Game 1 of the NBA Finals while being covered by the namesake himself.
Doncic and Irving are more than receptive to Shammgod's feedback, which often involves a tip on a seemingly tiny detail, like Doncic working on doing his usual stepback after passing between his legs from left to right, rather than always having to pick up his dribble with his left hand.
Kyrie Irving joined the Dallas Mavericks at the 2023 trade deadline after a controversial stint with the Brooklyn Nets earlier in the season. (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)
“Players like them,” Shammgod said, “give you little things and then they just make it bigger. They make it bigger with their imagination. It sounds insignificant, but to great players, the little things are significant.”
In many cases, you'd think Doncic and Irving were just joking around. The harder a shot is, the more fun it is.
But there's a practical reason for this kind of competitive art. You never know if a late-game moment during the Finals will call for a left-handed shot from outside the crease or a sidearm bank shot from 3-point range, like Doncic did for a crucial basket in an early-season win over the Nets.
“They miss a lot of shots in training,” said Milic. “But they are ready for the game, for special occasions.”
“They have these extra surprise moves – a surprise for us. For them, they make it look natural.”
