On how fine the line is between the extra pass, passing up a good shot for a better shot, and taking the open shots he’s been talking about recently…
“The fine line between shooting the ball and extra pass is obviously important. We want as many uncontested shots as we can get. What you don’t want is an extra pass with a really good shooter that has a good look at it, to a guy that is maybe not as good a shooter. Even with that, we’d rather a guy that’s not a great shooter—unless it’s an absolute special situation—to get a cleaner look. Contested shots are hard to make. We do want ball movement and we love assists. We love the pass that leads to the assist. Yves (Pons) did a great job the other night when he passed the ball to VJ (Victor Bailey Jr.), Vj threw it back, and instead of shooting it, he put it on the floor with two dribbled and drove the ball and it was a terrific basketball play. We just want high percentage shots, and as many uncontested shots as we can get.”
On where he is during the COVID season whether it is at home, still at Pratt, or his office…
“I don’t spend more time at home. It’s different here. If you guys walked in our locker room it doesn’t look anything like it did a year ago. When the women aren’t playing here, we do most everything in the Ray Mears room. Most guys in the past might sit around and eat, and now most of them carry their food back, except the night before the game when we come back for our meeting prior to the game every night in Ray Mears. We don’t use our film room, so we haven’t been in our film room since we got back from Nashville back in the spring. All of our furniture was taken out of the lounge. When we’re in there, we have dividers up in the lockers and those type of things. We really do try to do everything we can that way. Today I’m here, then I walk through the locker room, and when we finish up I’ll go sit at the court at Thompson Boling Arena. We do go back and practice at Pratt, so we’re normally up there. Other than the way the locker room is set up, there’s not much that has changed in terms of the way I do things. I think our guys really miss the lounge, I do. It had become a home for them, where they would love to hang around and be together, and obviously we have encouraged them not to do that as much as possible. That’s the biggest difference, because my favorite time with them honestly is before practice and when we get started, or after practice when they are getting ready to eat, I’d hang out with them till the end. I loved being around them, and I’d get to cut up with them and kid with them, even If I had gotten on them in practice. That’s probably the biggest adjustment we’ve had to make with what goes on in our locker room.”
NEXT: Rick Barnes media availability continued