Coach Udoka pregame:Talks Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams trade

Coach Udoka pregame:Talks Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams trade

Guys can ask about two of your centers two of your five cers do you have Al tonight yes he’s good he’s and what sten ad uh physicality you know one of the best defensive rebounding screen setting all the things you equate with aggressiveness physicality one of the

Best in the league as far as that he’s been there for quite a while and so another veteran guy to add to the group and mix in kind of contrast what we already have so very pleased to have him I know he can’t play until next year but

Do you envision maybe him helping Al even this year yeah I mean the focus for him is the rehab you after the surgery and so um you know he’ll be here eventually soon we on the road obviously got to come do physicals and all that

But um as much as again I’m sure you know they played against each other quite a bit a little bit so far and um like I said we welcome all the veteran experience and voice that we can get so just as Thiago or whoever you these coaches and guys that have been there

Done that I think he’ll he’ll do some of the same how was his rehab going have you spoken to him spoke to him but don’t know it too many specifics on the rehab other than these been in DC in is he going to join you guys on the trip

No May s of on that theme Brooks why what is about your philosophy how you play that you wanted to gather these kind of physical guys yeah I think that was the thing we targeted veterans that had that edge and toughness to them you know for all the

Areas we struggled you know defensively and offensively we know we checked a lot of boxes the versatility and how I want want us to guard and the versatility to switch and guard multiple positions he kind of embodies that and so um for him is a night toight basis just the edge

And the stuff that rubs off on your te that it’s good to have some guys you don’t have to worry about in that area you know you know what you’re going to get from them on that end and then also for him to grow his game offensively and

You know he had some UPS ups and downs offensively in uh in Memphis but we wanted to encourage them to be the Canada Team Canada Dylan Brooks and you know be efficient and he’s welcomed that as well a little more offensive opportunity but also I’m setting the

Tone for us defensively so um yeah we he was a guy I was heavily interested in happy to get him here and he’s been what we thought he would be that kind of mindset is I don’t want to say there’s less of it around does it

Stand yeah I mean the game was shifted toward the offensive side for sure so there’s there’s much less of that and guys that do it on ni and night base side Marcus Smart you know quite a defensive team in the past and kawh Leonard guys up coach so it really

Stands out when they do it at a high level and so it’s one of the best permanent Defenders if not the best in the league and so you know you go from the one to almost five you know definitely one to four and um yeah it

Does stand out but you have to take pride in that something that like I said when we’re teaching our young group to embrace that side of the ball he already has it so him and Fred bring that to the table hey coach um this still being like

A fairly young team for you as a coach how how do you go about finding balance of Player Development and still at the same time staying competitive because it seems like develop one choice you might sacrifice some WIS but winning is is the you know primary thing you know you proba

Sacrifice yeah it’s been the balance all year and for us it’s um you know everything’s earned now and so that’s a big part of development where um you know we started and finish with different guys at times um and it’s due to how you’re playing but um for us we

Still are cognizant of guys growing and and having to obviously play through some things so we want to give them that opportunity to grow but at the same time I think getting over the losing of the last three years that was a big part as well the change of mentality there so as

Much as you can win I think that helps our young guys see success and then being a part of it obviously they’re the ones out there growing and going through those situations is almost as important but yeah I said from day when the minutes are going to be ear based on

What you do on the court and we’ve seen that so to speak with a lot of guys starting to finishing veterans young guys Aaron Jeff doesn’t matter who it is whoever’s going to help this win I’m sure that uh you knew what to expect when you to Houston however is there any

Unexpected qualities about him that now stand up to you no I said it the other day he’s a grumpy as hell most of the time so that edge is good for our team you know he’s always finding something and but that’s who he’s been Underdog

With the edge to him and as far as a player going against him you know the last three years in Philly Brooklyn and Boston I got to know him much better as a player in the East and then um having discussions with him it was almost

Backed up what I thought about him so the IQ the leadership the this Edge his you know undrafted story to being where he is now winning the championship and all the things in between we knew that about him but the one thing I would say

Is he keeps that edge and we talk about being soft and going soft is kind of a habit and you got to keep yourself mean and he’s bodies at TR of following up on Fred he’s averaging a career high in minutes I’m as our man gets more

Comfortable on the court is a plan to try to limit some of his menes going into uh deeper in the second half of the Season yeah I think it was obviously I’ve me been out there quite a bit and um you know leaning so heavily on Fred

Early on and uh as you see our young guys grow in general we have some different lineups out there and I’m a big piece that to shave those minutes down so every chance we get we love that with Fred and keep him fresh going forward but he is a guy that’s kind of

Used to it and also doesn’t there wants to come up the court quite frankly so uh we we’re conscious of it and also um want to see our young guys grow so um running certain guys in longer stretches and shaving his minutes down is it’ll be

Big for us the second half of the season is that why the back is that why the back court rotation changed uh Charlotte and sense where Fred now comes out earlier then back in yeah we mixed it um we took a look at him in the long stance

Initially and then as man’s got more comfortable we run him a little bit longer in take for and play him three stretches now shorter sance but I just want to get a feel of both and the units we have out there without him as we get more comfortable with guys and they’re

Getting we playing time we can limit his minutes as far as that not do the long stretches end up doing 18 a lot in the half we can shave it down some coach J has gotten off to some very hot starts here in the first quarter last couple

Games is that something that you all did intentionally to get run the offense to him early I mean we a lot of times I’ll determin that b based on you know the defense and what the other team is doing to start the game but um I always know

We can go to Ali and and I’m sorry Fred’s going to have a quite a bit in his hands so to get Jaylen off his better start was a focus um so the play calls you know kind of shadow that and um like I said Fred very ball dominant

At times and he’s going to find his way whatever it is assisting or scoring we can always go into Aly but it’s really like that third score get jayen going was a big part so few conscious play calls and few things to start the game

Try to get them off to a better start and he’s been great last five or so when he does get going like that offensively do you see his game start to change on the defensive end as well yeah I think all around he’s just more engaged and I

Think that’s the case with most young guys um you know alurn the other night struggle a little bit offensively and kind of got his head down and affected in other areas um Jaylen the same way you get more energized the rebounding numbers were up obviously when he was

Scoring then he’s taking the challenge more on defense and the rotations and all those things so staying engaged and locked in obviously has to do a lot a lot of times with scoring for young guys

Coach Udoka talks Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams trade
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