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UNIVERSITY PARK – Rick Carlisle has already figured out what Avery Johnson never did: Give the ball to Jason Kidd and get out of the way.

Johnson's ego wouldn't allow him to do that, which is among the reasons he's unemployed these days.

Obviously, Carlisle's motion offense requires more than simply letting Kidd zigzag around the court, but he's going to have the freedom to make his teammates better.

None of this means the Mavs are going to win 60 games – trust me, they're not – and claim the championship they should've won in 2006.

But the best way for Carlisle to maximize this roster's talent is by letting Kidd use his unique skills to run the offense instead of being a weak-side jump shooter like the former coach made him.

"That's what I've been doing since I came into the league," Kidd said of playing fast-break basketball. "I run and try to make my teammates better."

Carlisle said Kidd knows when to run and when to run the offense and find a better shot.

"With Jason Kidd, you're going to have energy and the ball moving up the court quickly," Carlisle said after practice Friday at SMU. "We just have to make sure our decisions are good and everyone knows what we are trying to do.

"We're going to run the ball but we are not going to run and gun. A lot of our wing guys can post up, and we need to make sure they get the ball. My preference is to do it out of flow and movement."

You have every right to question the sanity of whether the Mavs needs to push the ball at every opportunity, especially since Kidd is 35. Jerry Stackhouse is 33. Jason Terry is 31. And even Dirk Nowitzki has turned 30.

These guys don't want to hear about their ages all season, but the reality is older players get hurt more frequently and take longer to recover no matter what sport they're playing. You also have to wonder whether this style will make them fade in March and April, when they should be getting a second wind.

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Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle intends to give Jason Kidd (left) more latitude.

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Don't forget, the Mavs averaged 100.4 points and shot 46.4 percent from the field last year, so it's not like they struggled offensively.

And it's not like Carlisle's teams in Indianapolis and Detroit reminded folks of the Showtime Lakers, but you have to remember everything is designed for Kidd to excel. And it should be considering the Mavs sacrificed young, talented Devin Harris, a pair of first-round draft picks and any salary-cap flexibility to obtain him.

"You have to be smart when you run," Kidd said. "We want to run. We feel like we have the parts to run, and we want to be aggressive and get easy baskets."

Some folks espouse the theory that having the Mavs play fast-break basketball will actually reduce some of the wear and tear on the players because they won't be banging quite as much in the low post for position.

The idea is to get the ball to Kidd as quickly as possible and have guys sprinting down the wing – Josh Howard and Terry come to mind – ready to take passes and score easy baskets before the defense sets up.

If not, they'll have Dirk trailing and he can get an open three-point attempt before the defense can set up. Carlisle would be happy if the Mavs can get another five or six easy baskets a game.

There are no guarantees Carlisle's approach will work, but we all know Johnson's approach didn't work anymore.

This remains Dirk's team, but making Kidd the epicenter of the offense is the prudent thing to do. We'll have to wait a few months to see if it works.