Who's The Mavs' 'Next-Man Up' Under New Coach Dusty May?

DALLAS - "Next-Man Up'' might be a tired cliche.

But it's also a viable strategy, psychologically and otherwise.

The proof?

Ask new Dallas Mavs coach Dusty May, who is insisting that the approach that carried his University of Michigan squad to a national championship while overcoming injury issues will now be applied to his NBA team.

May spoke recently to 105.3 The Fan to point out how his Wolverines overcame adversity to rise to the top of the NCAA.

To wit ...

Michigan lost guard L.J. Cason to a torn ACL during the season. Forward Yaxel Lendeborg sprained his left MCL and his left ankle in the Final Four against Arizona on April 4.

And yet ...

Michigan beat UConn 69-63 on April 6 for its first championship since 1989.

May said the daily preparation is what made the replacements ready.

“That was the coolest part of our team,” May said. “We lose a borderline all-conference guard in L.J. Cason, and then Yaxel, a first-team All-American, potential Player of the Year, goes down early in the Final Four, and at that point you think,'Maybe it’s just not our time, right?”

“And to see the rest of our team step up and have a next-man approach, I just give our guys a lot of credit because the way we practiced and prepared every single day allowed all of those other guys to be ready for the moment,” May continued. “And that’s what we’re preaching now in the summertime with the Mavs.

The Mavs are not highly regarded in NBA circles quite yet ... and they are working to be a hot ticket in DFW, where the Dallas Cowboys have long ruled the sports scene.

How to change that?

Said May: "If we compete at the right level every single day with the right intentionality, then our roster will all be better for it. And they’ll all be prepared for when their moment does come.''

We can't possibly know the "who'' yet when it comes to the philosophy. Oh, and skeptics might note that this will be May's first NBA rodeo. But ...

May was 64-13 at Michigan with two Big Ten titles. Michigan opened the 2026 NCAA Tournament by becoming the first team to score at least 90 points in five consecutive tournament games.

Before Michigan, May led Florida Atlantic to the 2023 Final Four.

So he's got some skins on the wall.

The Mavericks hired May on June 23, three months after the title game and hours before the NBA Draft, when Dallas used the No. 9 pick that night on Morez Johnson, who played for May at Michigan.

Dallas - which is led by Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg - opens the preseason Oct. 9 against the Houston Rockets in Macao. The regular season begins Oct. 21 at Houston at 7:30 p.m. CT. ... at which time we might just see the "next-man-up'' mindset start to take hold.