Media Availability: Wes Unseld Jr. and Bilal Coulibaly | 01/09/24

Media Availability: Wes Unseld Jr. and Bilal Coulibaly | 01/09/24

What was uh what was the team’s thinking on on Ryan Rollins uh well I think um you know you know he did a lot of good things for us and I think he’s got a lot of potential um I think the you know I let Michael and will kind of get into

The contractual things but I think um you see a guy like H um he’s been in the fold kind of been in the um in the group for a while we’re trying to cycle through some guys give other guys some look uh some looks I think uh it’s an opportunity

And I think moving forward we’ll see more of that but we want to wish Ryan well and you know look forward to seeing what H can bring for us for people who aren’t familiar with with hamdu what what qualities does he bring what kind

Of person is he I mean he’s a he’s a good person good kid he’s just a high level uh energy uh he defends he plays downhill plays with force uh he can be very disruptive very active uh he’s got positional sides which I think is great he’s uh I think improved his three-point

Shooting so I think it’s a a positive sign you get a guy in the in the program to kind of develop see what what he’s got and then give him a chance how does the news about uh halber being out affect the prep for Wednesday uh obviously it affects you know a

Little bit you know that changes the the that Dynamic with him being a focal point offensively uh but I don’t think it’ll change the way they play uh they’re going to play you know Up Tempo uh they’re going to play Fast shoot a ton of Threes um you know their guards

Do a terrific job of attacking the paint um they cause a ton of coverage confusion just running and slipping you know and just opening up Windows um so just being on the same page you know being able to contain the ball obviously get back get our defense set but then

Minimize the amount of three-point shots we we just spoke with Bal and he said something we didn’t quite expect he said he’s doesn’t correct me if I’m wrong I’m paraphrasing that he wasn’t he’s not playing up to his standards and he’s not happy with the number of blow

Buys he’s had uh when you hear a rookie like that say something like that what’s your what’s your reaction no it’s encouraging I mean I know it’s it’s one thing to look at it tactically but it’s another thing to take responsibility when you see it and you feel it um he

Understands that there are moments where he’s been really good and can he find ways to be consistantly uh good and not find fall into some of those lapses some some of them are coverage confusion um you want to minimize you know some of those issues but I think in general he’s

Done really well but gives you Insight on to who the kid is he cares about it he understands the value and the importance of it um he wants to he wants to play Perfect how is he do so he’s only 19 and he’s not in his you know

Doesn’t have his grown adult strength yet right how is he doing with playing so many more games on top of each other than what he was used to and he’s playing pretty heavy minutes yeah it doesn’t seem to have affected him um he does a really good job of Maintenance

You know as far as the strength conditioning program his um um his pts you know he does all his activations and all the necessary prep work so we haven’t seen a drop off in his energy or um you know anything physically so that that’s a positive sign and I think it’s

Also this is new form him so it’s the first time he’ll play this many games um in a condensed season so we’ll see where it takes but thus far he’s been pretty good uh Landry had 15 Off the Bench last night he had nine free throw attempts

How important is it for guys off the bench especially to try to draw fouls and get to the line well I think just just speaks to the level of aggression you know whether it’s you get to the line or not but you’re putting pressure on the defense uh and he does a terrific

Job of moving and cutting but also just you know driving along Closeouts he won’t settle for you know just a quick three he’s very capable of making that but I think it to his credit playing downhill um creates opportunities for others and of course we get to the free

Throw line allows us to set our defense and um you know settle in a little bit Jordan mentioned postgame last night that uh he likes to be on Ball and teams try to do a good job of forcing him off ball as a coach how do you try to

Balance uh using his Effectiveness with the ball in his hands and creating plays with trying to get him to spot up yeah no it’s it’s tough because you know every night I know I’ve spoken about this he’s getting the primary Defender you know L Nord is a really good

Defender last night he’s going to blow up a lot of actions he’s going to try and take you away from your spots um he’s going to be as physical as possible on you and make life difficult so uh there is a balance of you know having

Him bring the ball up um and then having to fight that pressure um you’re knowing teams are going to try and get the ball out of his hands verus kind of spacing you know catching on the Move getting him off pin downs and catch Sho situations um to help loosen up

Defenders so there’s certainly a balance I think you know Tai does a really good job of orchestrating at times C and Denny have done so um and I think JP’s in the same you know same vein he’s he’s got the capability to play on and off

The ball first of all um we’ve asked you a lot about guarding top players in the league what were your impressions of guarding SGA uh yeah way different uh he’s more in a ISO guy um like shift t uh using really good B he’s using his b like at

The top level so uh yeah it was a tough match up yesterday was part of what made him tough that he was able to draw he has little tricks to draw fouls yeah yeah yeah really smart uh grabbing your arms when you’re reaching so yeah you better

Not reach with him cuz you’re going to get those fs and go to the free throw line for sure I noticed you made a three yesterday and a pretty tight window the defense what’s it been like adjusting to the defense figuring out that you can

Make threes uh I mean yeah they they got their counting report and uh yeah he was like guarding me but not that much I heard Shay say like let him shoot so I shoot it I shot it and I was like yeah let me shoot one more please give me one

More did you say anything to him after you made it no no no no no I was in my head that was in my head does that stuff does that stuff bother you at all or is that just part of the game uh the guys talking and everything yeah no that doesn’t bother

Me uh I mean everybody’s like that I figured it’s out in summer league now so yeah I mean no it’s just part of the game I like it oh like that game against Boston in summer league yeah yeah you remember that yeah against Boston against Indiana against yeah all of them

Is that type of trash talking not part of the culture the French league uh French guys not really but you know in the French league there’s some American guys so they used to trash talk a little bit too so yeah I’m used to it um kind

Of on the same note what’s the culture like in terms of celebrating after plays like if you make a big play in France or is it okay to celebrate or is it usually yeah is it it is okay but it’s different out there like everybody’s yelling you

Know jumping on the bench and everything and I love it I love the spirit and everything but yeah it’s kind of different in French Day we celebrate but not like like that I mean yeah so the players have like signature celebrations after they make it three yeah yeah yeah

Yeah some of them yeah yeah The Season’s almost halfway over uh what are you happy about with how you’ve played uh I mean I was kind of consistent uh with my how I play um struggling a little bit uh these days but yeah I’m I’m I’m I’m going get back

To what I what I’m what I’ve been used to do so uh yeah I’m just happy to like Pro every body that I was not that young uh I can play against grown man so yeah what when you say you’re not um and I forget your words that you’re that

You’re not playing your best MH what do you mean because that’s um it’s not necessarily what we see uh I mean I feel like uh sometimes I get drive by and uh this is actually not who I am so uh yeah I mean those type of plays I feel like

I’m not playing as hard as I used to do these days uh I I know why but yeah I’m GNA get back to it I’m not worried about that you guys are obviously playing very fast what type of impact do you think that has on you trying to develop as a

Young player uh I mean we’re playing fast because uh that’s how we are like we we young uh that’s the that’s the plan you know and uh yeah you you just got to yeah stay with it uh you know uh we be running the floor well uh I like

To run the floor I like to get some uh highlights on the open floor so uh yeah I’m getting better and I’ve been working uh individually with uh coach BK and other coaches to develop my my own game so I’m not worried given how many more games are

Here U how are you feeling physically in terms of um you know your body your your energy given that you’re playing so much more and you’re playing heavy minutes yeah uh I feel I feel good I feel good uh getting good recovery uh the guys been doing a great job been doing a

Great job talking to me uh trying to know uh how I feel too so uh yeah everybody’s been doing a great job and I feel good when you mentioned uh having players go by you you know from our Vantage Point looks like you’re playing really good defense out there um so what

Kind of adjustment do you think you need to make uh moving forward uh just uh be sometimes a little bit more um focused on the coverage and uh yeah that’s it I mean just F focus on the plan what we what we got to do because uh sometimes

Uh we’re not everybody everybody’s not on the same page and uh yeah that’s what I’m trying to figure figure figure out well one thing uh defensively about you that I think is probably strength your timing block is that something that you work on just like waiting for the right

Time to jump I mean not never uh it’s just like instinct uh I don’t know yeah everybody be telling me that but I mean it’s just instin I’ve never work on that

Coach Unseld and Bilal Coulibaly spoke to the media following practice on Tuesday afternoon.

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