Ty Lue Provides Injury Update On Kawhi Leonard Ahead Of Clippers vs Grizzlies. HoopJab NBA

Ty Lue Provides Injury Update On Kawhi Leonard Ahead Of Clippers vs Grizzlies. HoopJab NBA

With J you know returning to the lineup just how big of a test is it going to you know being able to handle him and I talked to T man I figure he’s going to be the guy to get that match up first uh so what are the things you looking for a

T- man to like take away from him early yeah I think it’s going to have to be you know more team defense you know one-on-one is going to be tough um and we all just got to be aware of where he’s at on the floor we understand we

Can’t give him any gaps or any seams because he can attack and get downhill and so it’s got to be collectively it can’t be just you know one person you know trying to guard him and we got to make sure we give him different looks and different coverages like I said

Since he’s been back you know they’ve been playing really good basketball and having their best player back their leader back and um you know this what Taylor’s been waiting for you know just trying to hold the for down until he gets back and you see how dynamic they

Are once J you know once he’s come back so happy that he’s back happy he’s doing well and it’s it’s good for the game of basketball to have J back so um it’s good to see in Squad practicing today uh a little bit how’s um when you when you

Look at the stretch only two games and um like eight days how does that allow you to get guys uh just back to where you guys were to start this month and everything we’re already back we feel good um just got to get you said getting Kawai healthy is the most important

Thing but we have a chance to to really pick up on our plays and what we’re trying to do um add more plays um because like I said we have been um we’ve um limited our play since we got James we got to start adding now that we

Have some days off and some days to really get better offensively and so we have a chance an opportunity to do that what’s having a big point guard like James Harden do for for your offense you’ve had so many different ball handlers in your time as a head coach

Here uh what what what makes James’s like positional size um allow you to do offensively no I mean I just think he’s you know he’s a great player you know he can make all the right passes all the right reads and when you’re deal with a

Guy at 66 hand on the basketball he can see up on top of some of the defenses and um he can make better plays and better passes but you know James is you know he’s good for our team keeps our team happy that’s what I say because

He’s going to get Zoo a couple dunks going to get PG a couple spot of Threes him and wi and get Norm for shots um would also be a to you know score on his own so um he’s been great like I said his size is really good because you can

See over a lot of the defenses and make plays Ty um I remember a couple weeks ago you talked about how one of the train you want to see on offense is that Kawai starts going quicker when he gets the ball um in terms of like touch time

It’s basically the the least amount of time he’s had the ball in his hands in like the last decade in terms of time for possession what have you seen out of him kind of using his possessions quicker and more efficiently to navigate a defense that does try to get the ball

Out of his hands quite a bit with those numbers has it has it efficiency been better uh I believe it’s basically been on par to where it has and it’s has gotten better as The Season’s gone along yeah I think because you know teams are

Trying to you know take him out of the game you know and try to take it limited his post touches limited his his um his uh shot attempts and so you know the faster he can go it allows him to first first of all get to a spot but doesn’t

Allow defense to get set and then double team and so uh we’ve been talking about it all season long just when you get to your spots you catch the ball like looking to go quicker and faster before the double teams gets here get there and

He’s been really good you know so it’s a little bit out of his comfort zone cuz he likes to survey and catch the ball and wait and kind of see what teams and defenses are coming from but the faster you can go um the easier it is for him

Like you said his efficiency has been better by doing that and if I can like we’ve talked about Pace before and how Pace isn’t just running up and down the floor it’s getting to sets quicker kind of getting him on board with playing quicker in the half court like what have

You seen in terms of just the overall team offense efficiency wise when he is playing quicker even even getting off the ball yeah because you know once he goes quicker that teams double team then we have more opportunity to make the second and third pass and drive

Closeouts but if he catches it holdes in that double teaming but he waits and waits five or six seconds that’s five or six seconds gone now he makes a move now he coming double team now it’s eight or nine seconds gone so now it’s usually

One pass or two pass shot and we don’t have a lot of time a lot of opportunities to make that second third pass and actually drive close outs of teams are out of control so um by him going quicker it’s a lot more time a shot clock for us James had said in

Dallas and OKC that he really felt like it was important to his team not to get bored by the game and I was like what does that mean he said we have to keep talking offensively and defensively can’t get complacent and just stop talking do on our own thing how

Talkative is this group because I know in past years you said the roster pretty quiet how how what do this group play yeah it’s been good like I said just having a dialogue every day James kawhai PG Russ talking to the young guys you see have the practice James is grabbing

Six guys every day and just going through pick and Ro drills how he wants to be ex screen it Brandon bones and Kobe learning how to run pick and roll so he’s been really good very vocal and then like you said you can’t get bored with the process you know and you know

We’ve been scoring at a high rate but that don’t mean we got to stop defending and being good defensively and so that’s got to be our mindset when you critical of your team in the past we’re not being professional enough like after Charlotte’s game you said we weren’t professional enough weren’t playing

Through the game is that usually the sign of a team that has stopped talking to each other or just communicating with each other no I think you know um it’s it’s it’s natural you know when you play on teams and you’ve been on teams where you score easy you tend to let

Your guard down at times and I don’t want to be that type of Team like let’s just continue to play through the game Let’s Play the right way let’s take good shots let’s take care of the basketball and let’s let’s not have defensive slippage and so for the most part we’ve

Been doing that but like I said against Charlotte we up 10 took two or three bad shots you know I know zo missed two free throws had opportunity to go up 12 I think three different times I mean on three occasions and we didn’t do that

And then you know take a couple bad shots now the team gets you know out in transition makes a three makes another three now it’s a four-point game so just being better with our shot selection and understanding when we get up in the game let’s put the team away so you guys have

Obviously had so many different point guards during the kawhai and PG era just for yourself being a point guard Guy what’s it been like having a point guard rotation of James Harden and Russell Westburg especially the way that they’re playing right now yeah it’s been great

And I’ve been you know we had a lot of guys like like you know Rondo John Wall Reggie you know all those guys played a big part in where we’re at today you know so having James and Russ you know has been great um you know I said James

Passing ability just being able to create shots you know for everybody else outside of just himself is really good like he’s improved our passing he’s improved our assist totals um he’s also you know having a ball in his hands also cut down on our turnovers a lot as well

You know so that’s been really good for us and Coach I want to ask about Zoo there was a moment in the game late in the fourth quarter where it was out of a timeout you guys had just scored Charlotte called a timeout they’re Crossing half court he’s yelling out

Their set and it leads to a turnover for you guys when he’s that defensive anchor and he’s communicating on the back end what does that do for you guys defensive because we know what you guys are perime on defense keeping the ball in front of but when he’s at defens anchor behind

You and he’s communicating with the four guys in front of him what does that do for you guys defensively no I mean whenever you have that guy on the back line talking just reminds me a lot like kg used to do it in Boston a lot and so

When you have your big that’s to Anchor the defense calling out the plays DeAndre Jordan’s really good at it calling out the plays calling out the sets let them know what’s coming um you know it locks your guys in they understand what’s coming so they can

Kind of lock into the play and The Possession and like I said when zo is doing that like said we are a different defensive team you um the team has reacted to James being blitzed and doubled in the fourth quarters especially how you guys have responded

To those yeah we’ve been pretty good I think you know Zoo had a couple passes he wish he could take back you know cuz he’s been really good playing that short role and making the pass and making the play but you know we understand that you

Know over the last four years with PG and kaad teams have Bliss them and you know we’ve been one of the top teams in the league as far as cap in versus Blitz and James the same way he going to make that pass to zoo and now up to zoo and

Tyon those guys and make the right play which I know they can can play I’m not sure yet let’s get ready for hoop Jab

Los Angeles Clippers Head Coach Ty Lue speaks to the media ahead of the Clippers 12-29 matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies.