Dallas Mavs Exclusive: Sean Sweeney Speaks on 'Honor' of Coaching Luka Doncic with Slovenia

Mavs assistant coach Sean Sweeney spoke about his plans to help Luka Doncic and the Slovenian national team this summer.

Nov 18, 2022; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Sean Sweeney and guard Luka / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

DALLAS — When Luka Doncic competes with the Slovenian national team in hopes of qualifying for the Paris Olympics, Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Sean Sweeney plans to be on the coaching staff to help achieve that goal. It's an opportunity he's looking forward to this summer.

"There are several things that intrigue me. First and foremost is getting to coach a guy like Luka in his international team setting," Sweeney told DallasBasketball.com. "FIBA, I've always enjoyed watching, love watching Euroleague, love watching different things having to do with international basketball."

Nov 18, 2022; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Sean Sweeney and guard Luka / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Throughout the Mavs' season, Sweeney spoke with Sasa Doncic, Luka's father, along with other members of the Slovenian basketball federation — including a visit from head coach Aleksander Sekulic — about potentially coaching with the national team.

"Yeah, I spoke with [Sasa] and spoke with some of those other guys. The head coach of the team came over as well. They approached the subject with me, and it was something that was exciting to me, and I really, really appreciated them thinking of me. It's an honor to be part of something like that.

"I'm very fortunate when they came to town a number of times, they brought it up," Sweeney continued. "It was really positive and looking forward to it, and something that's exciting."

Sweeney has previous exposure to international basketball, dating back to his Milwaukee Bucks tenure as an assistant coach on Jason Kidd's coaching staff. Sweeney spent time around the Greek national team with Giannis Antetokounmpo, observing practice and friendly co

"When I was with the Bucks, I was fortunate enough to go to Greece and see Panathinaikos play Olympiacos a number of time," Sweeney said. "I was around the Greek national team for a few years there, seeing them practice and seeing some of their friendly competition, and so being able to coach basketball at a very, very high level in a different setting is something that's always intrigued me as well."

Doncic has solidified himself as one of the world's top basketball players, whether playing for the Mavs in the NBA or Slovenia in the FIBA competition. Part of what makes the experience unique for a coach like Sweeney is to not only coach players of that caliber but to learn from their unique perspectives.

"He's similar to some of these other great players that I've coached. His level of greatness is, unto himself, very unique," Sweeney said. "Anytime you get to be around great players, great coaches, great people, it's always exciting. He's a great player. He's a great person."

"Guys like that, you coach them, and you teach them, but you also learn from them, similar to guys like [Kevin] Garnett or Paul Pierce, or some of those guys I've been able to coach in the past, Blake Griffin," Sweeney explained. "Anytime you're around great players with high IQs, which Luka has, you get to help teach and coach them, but you also get to learn from them because they see things on the floor that others don't. So, that's going to be really fun and exciting."

When watching previous play from the Slovenian national team, Sweeney quickly noticed the impressive chemistry and connectivity they play with as a unit.

"The team style of basketball that they play, the effort that they put forth, the way they move basketball is fun to see from afar," Sweeney said. "Talking to those guys, I noticed they had some guys that had really good chemistry together. Anytime you get in a situation where guys have good chemistry, and they trust each other, and you're seeing it with [the Mavs] here, what Jason's doing with these guys and the way players are playing together, it's something that you want to be part of. So that's something from afar that stood out to me [about Slovenia]."

The group Slovenia will compete against in Greece includes potential matchups involving superstars talents like Antetokounmpo with Greece and Karl-Anthony Towns with Dominican Republic. Sweeney embraces the potential challenge of coaching against the world's best.

"I think anytime you get to play against great players or coach against great players and great coaches, you try to do this at the highest level you can, as best you can," Sweeney said. "Worry about the things that you can control as much as anything."

As someone familiar with the passionate fan support in Greece, Sweeney expects an electrifying atmosphere to have to play in if the team does eventually matchup against Antetokounmpo and the Greek national team.

"I would imagine it's going to be a high, high-level atmosphere,' Sweeney said. "I think that the arena that they're playing in is Peace and Friendship Stadium. I saw games back in 2016, 15, whatever it was, some of those years. Very passionate fan base, and it should be really exciting."

When competing with FIBA rules compared to NBA regulations, there are some important distinctions that come with it alone. There are nuances that contrast in terms of style and approach that go beyond the rulebook, too.

"The goaltending rule, the three-second rule, how timeouts are structured, the jump ball rule, some of those things stand out," Sweeney said. "But then also the way that you have to declare a pivot foot to me is a little bit different on the perimeter, along with just the international line being a little shorter allows for some differences there.

"Every experience I've had with guys who don't play internationally and then start to [experience] the basketball being a different texture and feel is something that stands out as well. But you know, I've been versing myself in the rules here as of late, recently talking to some of the coaches on the team about some of the differences."

Slovenia's first matchup at the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament in Piraeus will come against Croatia on July 2, with the tournament taking place July 2-7.