Armed with one of the NBA’s deepest rosters, the Dallas Mavericks open training camp Tuesday at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, far from its usual routine in North Texas. The choice of location, head coach Jason Kidd said, is about more than just basketball.

“I think when you look at Vancouver, it’s a ways away from Dallas,” Kidd said. “As a group we always talk about the players being able to hang out. I think it gives the coaches the opportunity to hang out with the players, so we’ll have each other for a week.”

The Mavericks rarely hold camp outside Dallas, but this marks the second straight season they’ve done so. Last year’s trip to Las Vegas brought unexpected benefits, center Daniel Gafford said.

“I feel like it helped us out a lot, because that training camp, it was kind of like up and down,” Gafford said. “We had some guys out throughout the time, but just like throughout the season we worked with what we had at the time when it came to injuries. This will be my first time going to Vancouver, and what I’m looking forward to is just pretty much well high intense practices, getting to know each other, building that chemistry and just getting prepared for the season.”

This time the roster enters almost fully healthy, with 13 of 15 players back from last season’s injury-marred 39-43 campaign. The only exception is guard Kyrie Irving, who continues to rehab from ACL surgery in March but said he is eager to be part of the experience.

“I’m excited to go to Vancouver, get over there and be with our international community, and a lot of our brothers and sisters that love the sport of basketball, that love the Dallas Mavericks, love me and what I’m building,” Irving said. “I also just want to connect in an equal level outside the game.”

Most of the Mavericks have never been to Vancouver, giving them a chance to explore a city that briefly had its own NBA team before the Grizzlies relocated to Memphis in 2001. Kidd, drafted by Dallas in 1994, remembers playing there well.

“That was a long time ago, but I always enjoyed playing in Vancouver,” Kidd said. “I thought they had great fans, so they supported their team.”

The trip doubles as a homecoming for Canadian assistant coach Jay Triano, something Kidd said will come with its own responsibilities.

“He gets to pick up the bill for dinner, so we’re excited about that,” Kidd joked.

Players say the unfamiliar setting should make it easier to focus on the task at hand.

“I’ve never been to Vancouver, but it’s a new place with the guys,” center Dereck Lively II said. “Being able to go into a new atmosphere, a new place that we’ve never been before, we’re all clueless. So, we’re all going to be leaning on each other to figure out where to go or what’s the right thing to do out there.”

Forward PJ Washington added that the isolation could help establish the mindset the Mavericks want to carry into the season.

“I think (training in Vancouver) just takes us away and just try to limit distractions and put a focus on basketball and start the season the way we want to from a championship mentality,” Washington said. “We’re just going out there each and every day and just trying to get better, trying to learn as much as we can about each other and just grow.”

Dallas will practice Tuesday and Wednesday, rest Thursday, then return to the court Friday. The team heads back to Texas this weekend before its preseason opener Monday in Fort Worth against the Oklahoma City Thunder.