‘That’s My Guy!’ Tyronn Lue On LeBron James And The Lakers

‘That’s My Guy!’ Tyronn Lue On LeBron James And The Lakers

You think everybody’s going to be good to practice today what’ you say do you think everybody will be good to practice today uh we’ll see okay I thought I thought I ask you cuz you know we didn’t know I make sense that why I wasn’t feeling

Good um you know after you told us but with know so yeah we’ll see and you don’t always have share between you know games for practice so we got to do a lot of practicing what do you got to do that uh won’t get me in trouble for asking

You um just clean up things offensively you know um actually you know doing better with our execution and then working on our small lineup you know working on you know um how to play when we’re small and then just clean up some things offensively you know some of our

Blitz stuff you know our fires our low man activity you know we’re making the wrong rotations so just um you know we got to come in every day for 30 minutes just to clean up a lot of stuff that we’re doing wrong then we just got to do

That so we make sure we get it right how how what’s the can you describe the challenge of trying to defend in the regular season when you know you have a good team and still trying to have enough leftovers to surprise teams when you do get to the

Playoffs um I mean I think you got to defend every night you know it’s not a something you try to surprise people with you know I think if you want to be a good team and elite team in this league you got to defend at a high level

And so um the efforts there you know but just the rotations are not right at times um we’re not nudging you know our switches we’re not being physical you know and so we’re playing hard but we’re just not doing the little things that um equate to getting stops and like

Finishing The Possession things like that you mentioned the small ball lineup implementing them in practice a little bit more trying to get acclimated I believe you’ve only played without a center about 10% of your minutes the season last year was about 23% I know some of that was because you came in

With only Zoo as the only Center on the roster but getting the small ball unit kind of flowing together when they haven’t played as much as they have in years pass what are the challenges with that um just spacing I think understanding what we want to run um how

We want to run it you know I think those are the biggest things because now you don’t have a five that’s in the dunker now you running small small pick and rolls with um the smaller guys so just making sure we set make sure we roll to give kawhai PG and James opportunities

To go one-onone give them space and if we set and we pop and they can shrink and load up then you really don’t get anything out of it and so just start spacing you know what we’re supposed to do when we set picks um and then just

Continue to action you know we got a lot of guys that are great you know one-on-one players but you know if you don’t have it then we got to make quick decisions we got and we got to get to the next action um to create you know some confusion or create opportunities

For other guys to make plays as well and so that’s the things we got to get better better at and also with Russ and small ball lineups are like having a guy who gets downhill pressure to the rim like he can does it also in a way kind

Of alleviate some of the problems of not having a center on the floor because on the offensive end he can kind of Bend defenses by acting as a roller yeah and that’s that’s good for us but also um you know when we get stops we got to

Play fast like and we did that in the fourth quarter like if teams are going to try to put their fiveman on T man or put them on Rust like when Russ gets a rebound and he’s pushing the five is not going to be able to keep up so now the

Five has he has to go to Norm or PG or James or kawhai and so you still you know you have an advantage there so just having a mindset that when we do get stops you know when we’re playing um playing the right way offensively we got

To get out and go like we can’t be trotting up the court we can’t be walking up the court like when we get stops we got to get out and run especially when we’re small what’s the uh jump to I don’t know if we get talk

To after a challenge Road Trip the one you guys have coming up believe seven games um just having a goal in mind how many games you want to win um and then just taking like it’s going to be a mental trip you know just taking a game

By game um not focusing on the 12 days where be gone but just focusing on you know one game at a time and um that has to be our mindset and like said you want to be a good team you got to win your share amount of game your fair am amount

Of games on the road and um like I said we we’ll be okay what if you found that’s helped um maybe you as a player as a coach can get through those uh those extended road trips time away from I don’t know it don’t bother me so you gotta ask the

Players I remember the first couple Seasons you got you guys had Norm it was kind of tough with the collection of guards that you had to find good lineups with him out there but now this season he’s a part of some of your best groups what do you think has been the biggest

Difference between the first couple years and it was maybe tough to find the right combinations to now um one just Kawai and PG both being healthy so when we do play smaller we got two smaller guards on the floor then you know um PG and ka’s on the floor then you have

James who point guard but he’s 66 you know Russ is 6’4 but he’s a great rebounder and so now when you mix in the rotations you look on the floor Norm’s the smallest guy we have on the floor um every night you know and so we were able

To rebound the basketball and and then we were able to be better defensively as well and so um those were the challenges we had before in the past like we’re just so small we wern’t really good defensively um we couldn’t rebound the basketball and then point of attack

Wasn’t really good for his defensively as well and so now um with the guys we have now um Mr Easy fif for no the last L gameon was asked about of heers he said tyers g Gass me up then went to his birthday party like is your relationship with him sort of

Different than it is with other guys youve coached through your career it seems like you guys extremely kind of bonded together yeah for sure I guess my guy you know and so um had some great years in Cleveland together you know won a championship um brought a championship

To Cleveland you know something that’s never been done um in that organization and just you know um he has you know he has a lot of responsibility for my career as far as you know first it was Doc who believed in me first and said I can coach when I

Know I couldn’t coach I mean I didn’t think I was going to be a coach and then LeBron just you know um be able to co Co him and um be able to teach me on the Fly you know being a young coach at 38 years old and um just having to trust

And belief in me and just kind of helped me get better and better each year and then winning a championship kind of helped solidify my coaching career right out the gate and so we have a you know Great Bond even before I got to Cleveland we were really good friends

And so um that won’t change me last night you bounce I saw that it’s been a while since you guys are together in Cleveland did you think this far removed from that time you still be preparing for a 39y old play this level um I never

Thought about it I just know we talked about in Cleveland that he had a chance to to be the all-time leading score he’s like man no and we just kind of always did it the coaches you know year by year if he scores this many points this many

Years like he has a chance to do it and um but you know he does a great job of taking care of his body um puts a lot of work into it a lot of finances into it um and then he just approaches the game the right way he’s so smart um he

Understands how to score you know without having the ball in his hands he understand understands how i’ say stealing points getting out in transition back Cuts you know opens to rebounds you know quick seals and ducking on smaller guards and so he just understands the game and plays it at a

High level so um it really doesn’t surprise me is there an extra amount of pressure that you have to learn to deal with when you’re coaching with him or against him anything like that I mean the pressures of it is when you have LeBron James you always expected to win

No matter if he’s 50 years old if he’s if he’s playing you know you expected to win and expected to play at a high level and um so that just tell you you know how great he is what are the what has been the biggest challenge through the

First two meetings with the Lakers that might not have been as big of a challenge as they were in years past well I think the first the first game um we trade away um all of our fours and um you know James didn’t play you know and

So that was kind of like a different vibe and then last game they just played better than us you know I thought they um really was up for the game I thought they did some you know dham did some things um they were really good as far

As rotations and how he wanted to match up they did some great things um schematic wise you know defensively what they wanted to do and try to take us out and so they had a really good game plan and um they play well and they play

Better than us and so just for us you know it’s going to be the the biggest things is you know keeping Lebron and uh those guys out of transition not turning the basketball over taking care of the ball um that’s number one and then rebounding the basketball you know

Keeping ad and bring those guys off the glass and not letting them get you know extra possessions you always found big games dangelo uh that playing game he had big big contributor last time you guys played um what do you see his kind of fit try trying to make it

Fit with there with LeBron ad well I mean he’s a he’s a great scorer you know and so he’s an elite score and so you know he likes to have the ball in his hands and so you know when you’re a point guard you know you have to be able

To do different things especially be on the floor with LeBron be able to play off the ball which D’Angelo can do he can catch and shoot um but he’s a you know he’s a great pick and role player as well so he needs a ball in his hand

So just trying to figure out that combination of you know when LeBron’s going to have it you know when DLo is going to have it and then Austin re who’s a good pick and roll player as well you know so um it’s just a different fit you know like when you

Playing with Bron cuz he can play all five positions and so when you have a great player like that you know guys have to be able to do different things and so that’s what D’s trying to figure out which the last six games he’s played

He’s been playing at a high level so um they figured it out last year too so it’s not really a big thing I don’t know why people making a big deal of it like he’s a really you know D’s a good player so um he’s going to be able to figure

Out and be able to make a change offensively especially so that’s it

Los Angeles Clippers coach Tyronn Lue speaks to media before Clippers practice. Tyronn says LeBron James is his guy and playing against the Lakers. Clippers practice today. Clippers interview.