Coach’s Corner with Chauncey Billups and Lamar Hurd | Episode 2 | Portland Trail Blazers

Coach’s Corner with Chauncey Billups and Lamar Hurd | Episode 2 | Portland Trail Blazers

Coach thanks for joining me again uh giving our fans a chance to hear directly from you we are sitting here now in Oklahoma City a young team on the rise that looks like they’re ready to contend I want to know from you what experience do you remember from Oklahoma

I’m going to your playing days yeah what is there anything that sticks out for you on a visit to Oklahoma City you know um man like I just remembered like it was always fun to play here the fans were incredible you know they had incredible support here they had some

Really good teams obviously you know with those young guys with Russ and KD and James Serge and they just had some good teams Scotty was the coach you know um I remember I played when I was in Denver I played here on Christmas we played a Christmas game here and it’s

Always special to play on Christmas obviously you know um but the unfortunate thing when we got one we got beat in the game but two uh it was ice storm oh we had to stay here here like two days so we got stuck here you you

Had to stay an extra two days after the game extra two days bro after the game and we stayed in a hotel that’s not this hotel yeah that’s supposed to be a haunted hotel yeah oh the museum nope the scaring oh yes yes yes that’s right

That’s right I remember that one yes so I didn’t have any encounters okay so you weren’t scared or nothing n no that was cool but it was so that that was my biggest uh playing here oh man so yall lost that game did was it close though

Yeah it was close it was a good game it was a good game okay I’d imagine that here we are halfway through the season now so as you go back to training camp and you look at where your team is right now what are some of the things that you are most pleased

With yeah um man it’s been it’s been up and down but um from a development standpoint you know I think I’ve been I’ve been mostly happy U with how we’ve competed you know we’ve been man I I don’t know how many times I’ve had like the same starting lineup you

Know with with our main guys probably can count on one hand or maybe you know six or seven um but that’s just how it goes you know that’s just kind of how it goes but from a standpoint of what we’re what we want to try to build and who we’re

Trying to be I think that we’ve made some progress there uh I think some of our young guys are getting better you know and that’s always a a a a roller coaster you know sometimes they’ll look like they turn the corner sometimes it’s like dang what

Happened that’s we’ve seen a lot of that you know um so it it’s been tough I mean we we bring DeAndre here and you know he hasn’t played very much you know due to injury and um that’s kind of set us back a little bit you know because he’s you

Know he can be he can be a real Force for us he will be so just a lot of stuff like that I mean you lose your best player in and in in the first game one game or the the season and it it’s just been tough to kind of kind of really

Kind of get going but um I’m I’m excited for the second half and hopefully we can just you know start to build some chemistry I know you never make excuses and you have been without your full compliment of players it’s one thing to go into a game

And know already a guy’s going to be out I can’t count how many times I feel like we’ve gone into a game we’ve gone as the broadcasters we walked into the arena and a guy questionable or maybe doubtful or probable but it’s not a sure thing

And we we’ll talk to you beforehand in the pregame press conference and you’re still waiting to see how difficult is that for a coach an hour and a half or so before game time like you don’t know if a starter might be available what does that do does that change certain play

Calls you’re going to make that night does it change matchups it see from my vantage point it seems difficult to deal with but what is that like yeah it is difficult I mean it changes a lot you know and there’s there’s been several times this year where not an hour and a

Half even less yes yes right down to the last you’re right um but it does it changes the rotation it changes you know plays that you run you know you’ve been prepping all day you know with some of your your out of timeout plays or late

Game stuff and who you have in you’ve been prepping all day and to get there and now have to scramble tear that up and like you know REO it you know with different players difficult it’s difficult um and it’s just it’s it’s kind of been

It’s been like that this year we we been up and down but it’s a little solid part of it and you know I don’t make excuses I know I know but I I just want to know and I would imagine there’s certain fans that want to know what is that like you

Go to a game as a coach I mean we haven’t 99% of the people that you’ll deal with they haven’t coached in the NBA more than 99% so our closest uh understanding of it might be coaching Little League Hoops or you know YMCA basketball or something like that if you

Had the opportunity to do that this is a whole different beast and so I’ve just always wondered that for you because you you never said anything about it and there’s times like I’ll walk out of a pregame press conference and I’ll be talking to Kevin colabo thinking like

How’s he supposed who’s he going to slot in and like especially if it’s a night against a real solid opponent that’s not a night you want uncertainty so I’ve just always wondered about that man that seemed really difficult to deal with it’s tough man it’s tough It’s it’s one

Of the tough things about it and we’ve had it quite a bit this year you know uh we just don’t know you know if you’re if you’re starting point guard to play you’re starting center if you’re two of your B you you just don’t know man you

Just don’t know um I just try to tell our all our guys to just always be ready you know and it sounds very cliche is but it’s so true you just never know when your opportuni is going to come and you want to try to take advantage of it

So that’s the main thing um and I just we it makes it’s just I always look at all of these things to be honest is it’s just making me a better Coach um you know you got to worry about things that you didn’t think you had to worry about

And then you have to deal with them in the hit you know while it’s actually going on it’s no different than you know being in the game a guy goes down or you know cussion or twisted ankle it’s like d you got to change you got change quick

You know so it’s just making me a better Coach yeah yeah okay two of my favorite plays from this season have come on possessions when you guys did not score the basketball and the reason it’s been two of my favorites is because of the design that went into the play one of

Them I had a chance to touch base with you on shortly after it happened the other just happened a couple games ago so the first one the game at Sacramento um down three late in the game I think there’s about 12 or 13 or so seconds on the clock however you

Don’t have that much time because you know that Sacramento might foul you guys while up three yeah so you design a play where believe a skyler maze is Jeremy sets a screen for Skyler because Jeremy starts under the basket sets the screen for Skyler U Skyler then

Goes out to the perimeter has a turn around and set a screen for JG in which on that specific play you told Skyler because you’re anticipating the switch be ready to screen your own man yeah not Jeremy and you guys got a great look out

Of it and Jeremy didn’t score but it was a right look the other one was the other night in Brooklyn when late in the game there’s 1.7 on the shot clock you guys typically you there’s a play and we don’t want to we don’t want to get

Opponents too much of what you normally do coach already know okay so you have Shaden who you use a lot of times on that lob along the Baseline but it was a screener screener into it and okay so when I asked you about the Sacramento one shortly after it happened you said

Y’all never run that before and then the Brooklyn one I don’t recall ever seeing that you haven’t run that before okay so how did you go from timeout is called uh design to play or is the play art in your mind and then what is that communication process like to your team

Yeah it’s funny because at that time of the game too those timeouts a lot of times are short yeah cuz you know you’ve used up the mandatories now you got a minute 15 okay as opposed to the longer one um so in the Sacramento game I knew

You know we needed a three mhm um we We’ve ran several plays a lot of times I got a lot of plays that we haven’t ran but sometimes in practice when we have 10 15 minutes I’ll go over some potential if we need three scenarios

Yeah okay we need three I don’t know 8 seconds left mhm or we need a two you know five you know you you go over some of these things at times so that particular play in Sacramento um is a play that I that I think is a good play

Against teams that switch they just keep switching points switching no you take them you take them yeah yeah yeah so when we set the back screen Jeremy said it Bo they switched it yep and the most important part of the play is when it looks like Skyler’s going out for the to

The corner but he turns around yes and because he knows they’re going to Res switch it yes I’m saying Scot just turn around screen your own man when you hear the when you hear them say switch which is a weird concept if you’re not used to

It already if you haven’t been in that situation and so uh Jeremy you know came off pretty clean got a good look that’s all we can ask uh great shooter get a good look so I I was happy with how they executed that play and then in Brooklyn

And that that’s these are that’s a tough one cuz you know um it’s one point I don’t know 1.7 s so let’s really quick that is even tougher that one to me and the reason I want to revisit this is because it’s always fascinating to me as

I get a chance to call your guys games when you’re in those situations I’m always wondering man what how are they goingon to get a shot off that they want here because in those situations the defense is heavily favored with 1.7 they can force you in a certain looks they

It’s on their side and then you got how did shading get so open on that I know I know it was good expect him to get that open I thought that Shay would either be open or both guys would go with Shay and would be there flash you know um so

It was a good play I mean we we want to say I said sh you got to you have to set a good screen on Jeremy’s man because obviously 1.7 they thinking it’s just a quick they a thinking it’s two actions on the play yes boom set a good screen

If Jeremy’s open go ahead and get it to him if not Jeremy if you don’t get it clear that area out yeah yes now you’re going to come down like on a little down screen for Shay and Shay you just got to turn just just twirl it turn

The corner and it might be open I said Malcolm you got to make a good pass it might be open but Malcolm your read is if you see Shay’s guy trailing and wops man trying to deny it’s going to be open yeah wide open but chances are they might both go with Shay

on the pop you got one point you got plenty of time yeah nice little shot off the glass easy so it was it was a good the play was nice um the cat to me as I watch that play over again shayan’s catch was in

Incredible cuz it wasn’t the best p no it wasn’t it was catch he was here was incredible and then just the soft finish after the catch it was like yeah that was impressive it was so shady that yeah that’s the way to put it it was incredible but uh yeah I appreciate that

Those nice play though well I I wanted to talk about that because this is a transition year for your team new Team guys been in and out of the lineup young players all across the board uh your team has led the league throughout most of the league in terms of rookie minutes

So when I watch the games I’m watching and looking to see what what is stuff that can be repeatable that you want to be repeatable and with more continuity as you guys continue to fine-tune things what can work and those two plays always stuck out to me because

It’d be really easy to get caught up in well the basket didn’t go in so it was a failure and I look at that and I was like man that’s to cold that’s that’s two plays that you got that in the back pocket and other plays such I can go

Down the list with other plays as well and I’m looking at the team and I’m looking at both the plays and then also the Personnel so I think about a guy like scoot who we’ve talked about a lot and I remember the first game of the

Season we were in La for the Clippers and somebody asked you also being a former number three pick you know what were your conversations like with scoot before the game and I remember you saying something to the effect of I didn’t say a whole lot to him I

Talked to him I prepared him you know he’s got the same scouting report as everybody else but I know how much he’s getting tugged right now I know family and friends and and as we’ve seen scoot here Rec L we’ve been seeing more of the scoot that we all knew he would

Eventually develop into still a work in progress still going but currently right now the only rookie uh that has registered at least a double double in points and assist and he’s done it four times none of the others have done it once U we’ve seen the flashes with the

Passes his shooting has been better than it was to start the season so what I want to know from you from that game against the Clippers to now what has the balance been like for you of when to coach scoot when to be vocal with him and when it just kind of

Leave him alone give him some space yeah it’s a it’s a um it’s a fi thing it’s a fi thing um because experience is the best teacher I can prepare him and I can tell him what’s coming as much as I want but until you actually go through it you

Don’t know how to get through it you know um and I think he’s done a really good job he’s he’s handled you know some tough situations very maturely you know um he’s not I can I’m almost certain that he’s he’s probably never struggled playing basketball in his life like he’s had to struggle

Some um so what he did with that I thought was great and I thought when he got hurt when he came back he started coming off the bench and I thought that’s when his game really got so much better and um I just think that there’s there’s not a lot of pressure

For you when you are coming off of that bench you know because expectations have changed a little you come in and try to make an impact on the game and if you’re not playing well you know the coach can just take you out put the starter back

In if you are boom you ride out so I just felt like that was a big that was a big that was big for him this year you know and then boom he goes back in the lineup and you know started playing really well ant was out now you bring

Them back and you know trying to get the chemistry back M again again like one of those situations where now you start bringing guys back and everybody’s like dang all right so what should I do now yeah what’s my role now yeah you know so

Um but that’s what this year is kind of that’s what the season has been that’s what it’s about um was just trying to trying to let these guys grow up a little bit but you know I I I use different touch points on I watch film with them sometime you know over the

Last say the last three or four games you said all right let’s put let put all these clips together let’s start talking about it m and then for a week or so I let him I let him go you know I’ll let him be with P or coach Scotty okay you

Know Scotty I’ve been Scotty’s been great with him I mean for him having coached Russell when he came in the league and you know kind of similar you know personalities and mentalities if you will games too uh so I’ve been I’ve been putting Scotty on him so it’s been it’s been it’s been

Working out good I think his progression and his Ascension is uh it’s coming along your rookie bigs dwap wath and the IBU baji fans are loving those guys for different reasons both of them play hard with dwap is the shooting the playmaking after people run him off the line with

IBU it’s the jumping all over the place blocking shots the dunks also though Ebu baji he’s at a different point in his career and development than dwap I was talking to Ike smart recently about this cuz Ike shared in some of the same things early in this career where he

Says sometimes he feels like baji is maybe hiding at times like a drive is coming to him he’s hiding behind a defense rather than flash into an open spot because sometimes he doesn’t want to make a mistake he cares so much about his teammates he doesn’t want to make an

Offensive mistake and and and defensively though he’s as aggressive as anybody else there is whereas with dwop he seemed like he ready he ready to go right now what has that been like coaching those two bigs who are at different points in their careers what does that look like for you yeah they

Are um I mean obviously uh you know he he has a level of experience already you know he’s an NBA rookie he’s not a rookie he’s played Pro he’s here he’s played over here uh he went to LSU you know if you will so he he’s been around

Obviously he’s a little older than most rookies um but that’s just the rookie is just NBA for him correct play with a level of maturity that you love obviously he presents something different for us um with the way that he can shoot the ball MH but um he’s also

Really good in the paint though is what people don’t give him credit for like when teams switch against him a smaller guy he can he can back to the basket score he’ll go he’ll go to he want it he’ll go down there and want it yes

He’ll he’ll he’ll post up big he’ll call for it um he’s good in the pocket you know when they double ant and put two to the ball he’s good in the pocket is going to make the next read second dir play so he’s it’s it’s been a treat it’s

Been a real treat has that surprised you about him it did it did um because I just you know you just don’t know you know you don’t know I don’t know who he played with last year you know where he was at and if that’s what he was called

On to do you know so when you just getting put in those situations you just have to kind of fill it out and see you know and obviously we have a game plan for when he gets there and he’s the kind of guy that he is going to be

Disciplined and stick to that game plan he got he has great game plan discipline um knows what he wants to do I think now he’s in a position where he’s been so good at popping um is I’m saying all right mix in some rolls because now they

They they’re waiting for you to pop but man when we catch it and getting that paint it just helps everybody yeah you know so so are you wanting him sometimes to roll even if the pop might be open just to keep the defense more honest or how are you communicating that with them

Yeah well some teams so what happens is um what we’re starting to see is teams now will start to put their fourman on him and put their fivan on two or Javari you know if you will because one through four most teams just switch it so to try

To take away his pop yep and I’m saying okay cool if it’s a smaller four man let them go ahead and switch it yeah um that now that fourman is going to be on Ant scoop malcol whoever now you got a small on you we can take advantage of

That I’m not gonna let him get away with just doing that the whole time but I do want him to mix it up some um because he is so good at both you know I want him to mix it up but by and large to have a

Five that can shoot the ball is a is an incredible advantage in today’s game so um we want to use that and then with Ebu man we’re all just so happy and proud of IU bet I mean you say IU’s name around any of our guys and you’re going

To see you going to see Smiles man yeah why is that he cuz he’s just he’s been around here all year he was unfortunate he was hurt most of the season last year we didn’t have the remix it was nowhere for him to really get much better we

Didn’t practice much um but we just loved him man and he worked his behind off um and so we all would just be like man I love the way he moves a love the way he works but man we just don’t know we never seen him play that much yeah

And uh now to see um I mean he goes after every shot even last night we’re in the game yeah at the Knicks and it was obviously a tough game for us but Julius Randle came up to me um one of the times he was like bro who the hell is

That said yeah you found out that’s respect you found out trying to dunk on yeah exactly that’s respect he was like bro who is that I said yeah man he’s going after everything said man he is going to be a problem yeah wow so just

Just stuff like that man uh and he is just so so raw man he’s so raw offensively and like Ike said he will like hide around because he don’t you know those plays that he might get a rebound and somebody steal it from him

Or you throw it to him and he fumbles it like those things way heavy on him and I’m saying man so what yeah just we’ll be better next time mhm um but yeah we’ve been we’ve been happy uh to see evu out there yeah yeah it’s been a lot

Of fun uh with Anthony Simons he had his major breakout your first season and he attributed a lot of that to you and the freedom he felt like you gave him the confidence he felt like you gave him Jeremy Grant has had his two best three-point shooting Seasons under you

Um he’s a 20 plus Point per game scorer again what in your mind is it going to require from those guys to go from what they are doing right right now to being Bonafide allars yeah I think I think the thing that I always think about that comes with that is always

Winning you know we we just have to we got to raise our youngans up fast okay um and we got to put ourself in a in a in a position where we can like win you know because their numbers will be good enough um when that happens and you know

If our if our guys grow up faster they’ll be able to help more you know um because I just always I believe now in today’s game um the special players can get numbers you know but when the team is situated properly those special players should be able to also get

Wins now we’re not obviously in a position to do so with all these young guys cuz young teams just don’t really win you know um but I think those dudes are on the right they’re on the right path yeah um they’ve they’ve created some good Synergy together you can see

You see both of those guys going out having incredible incredible nights for us um so I think they’re on the right path you know it’s just about how quickly we can uh we can catch up to them yeah you know yeah last question for you coach I want to get you out of

Here um with a trying season with the injuries and the youth and things of that nature what are some things that you do to help keep this team together yeah I try to I I have a lot of talks with our guys um because losing is tough

Man it’s tough it’s tough It’s really tough on me y it’s tough on the guys but I try to always just give them perspective you know um and not an excuse or not a way out but just a perspective of where we’re at you know

Um and where we actually want to be and knowing that there’s just there’s so many small steps in the process that I feel like we are taking MH but sometimes when you lose it just don’t feel that way yeah you know so you have to find

The victory or how we got better here or there in in a loss you know and then you also got to talk about you know when we lose games like we did last night we down 40 in the garden where we got we didn’t get better

M you know we didn’t show any fight we didn’t show any resilience we didn’t like we we we let go the ROP in the game and that can happen you know so you you got to coach it you got to coach through all of it you know to be honest with you

Um and you got to coach with some honesty yeah and you got to be honest with dudes and and we do you know um and then two nights before we play Brooklyn have a great game man a great game come out with a win and even after that you

Know we’re watching film after that so many teachable moments at the end of that game when we could have fouled here or we should have fouled here or man we didn’t execute this like we got so much better in that game but it presented so many opportunities for us

To talk about the next day you know um and even me myself and my development you know I’m I’m I’m walking my development through them too yeah in game saying man if I had a do over this is what I would have done here you know that was

My bad on that one you know um like we all growing up in this together you know um so it’s been good but I I I like to I like to just give this this true perspective man yeah yeah you do well and you bring your team together

Such as a dinner that we have planned tonight so we got to get you out of here for that appreciate you coach and uh wishing you all the best in the close of the first half of this season and going into the second half thank you bro no problem appreciate yes sir yes

Indeed

Chauncey Billups catches up with Lamar Hurd in Oklahoma City to discuss a variety of topics.

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