Jalen Williams + Coach Daigneault Post Practice Media Availability | March 1, 2024 | OKC Thunder

Jalen Williams + Coach Daigneault Post Practice Media Availability | March 1, 2024 | OKC Thunder

Dub uh Mark talks all the time about when it comes to shooting it’s like one of the most variant elements in basketball what are the the controllable things that you guys are out there thinking about looking when you’re looking for shots um I think getting working for good ones you know you’re

Not going to make shots all the time that’s just the nature of the game uh but just working to get good ones doing the stuff that we did uh we got a lot of good shots last night didn’t make them not the reason we won our loss or reason

We lost so um but yeah I think just like the approach we have to finding shots and you know getting guys certain look that they’re good at and comfortable with you guys shot the ball particularly well just during the month of February is are there any particular takeaways

Just from this recent stretch that you want to kind of carry forward for you all uh yeah I think we’re working the possessions really good offensively um I think our defense has been really good um you know we’re kind of forcing almost like one shot come down kind of

Get something in transition uh which is kind of like the best time to score just because of our num so I think we’re able to work possessions in the half court as well St for our defense I think we did a really good job of that this month and

Um probably something that we’re going to try and hold on to talk about the variance on your end but but on the other end last night obviously you’re you’re allowing the League’s worst three-point shooting team to just get them up and and they make probably a

Number that you didn’t expect them to um as this happening like how do you mentally adjust to you know the the game plan not going to what you thought it would be uh it’s basketball like we understand that’s it you know our coaching staff and you know we have a

Lot of confidence in what they have um analytically that’s you know like you say you know they’re not the best three-point shooting team but they’re NBA players and they’re going to hit shots and they did that tonight it’s one of those games you kind of tip your hat

And you know even with all that you know there was a lot of controllable stuff that we had we were winning the game in the fourth quarter at one point so kind of key takeaways from that is just being able to hold the lead stuff that we’ve

Done well all year but um you’re going to have games like that it’s not something we’re going to panic about um you know there’s probably a lot of games where teams thought they should have beat us this year too so uh just kind of understand that being humble

Enough to just kind of turn next page and you know we played two really good teams coming up so you mentioned being up and the fourth I think with about four minutes ago you guys were down just three and and I think that was a possession you you kind of had a break

Um you kicked it to Dort Dort had the three-point they call the timeout it it was never really close after that just what what decisions do you remember down a stretch that maybe led to them pulling away anything like that uh we had some miscommunication on defense I think Wy

Got a open three right here by their B by our bench uh we didn’t read up he got another three uh we’re late on a coverage uh I think you know Vel hit a almost half court three with like two seconds left um Trey Jones hit a

Right-wing three after we bottled him up for you know the whole possession so you know it’s basketball that’s why it’s fun um but yeah there’s you know there’s some controllable stuff in there like I said you know we gave up a couple looks to guys that we didn’t want to get

Threes but um I think a lot of it started first half you know they’re really comfortable uh and when I think when you give a team like that Comfort early on you know it kind of stems throughout the rest of the game it’s funny you say it’s fun is it fun or is

It like damn it that guy’s not supposed to make that probably both um like I said you know I think we respect everybody on the court so you know I don’t really have a mindset of he’s not supposed to make that you know probably

In the gym just like I am as you guys saw like you know shooting right now so you never really know what somebody’s working on so just kind of try and play the percentages of the NBA game you know they’re going to have games where they make shots like they did yesterday and

We’re gonna have shots where we or games where we miss so I think just kind of those games I think what we can do is take a lot and see what was in our control and from there just kind of get better from that how much does it how

Much adjustment is there like in high school and college sometimes if you lose a game you play so few games that a game could just be like oh God we lost and it feels like the end of the world here you have to move on so fast does it take

Some adjustment uh yeah some some games suck more than others um you know but you at the end of day you get to play again so so I think that’s been the most enjoyable part but yeah you definitely have to turn the page pretty quick especially when you know we’re about to

Play the Suns and Lakers so two two good teams you we turn the page and kind of just go from there but it’s definitely different from college you know a lot of some of those losses can be really deflating uh you know like one loss there can really kind of change the

Whole outlook of your season so uh I think it’s a little better you know we get to play a thousand games but um yeah just you know time to turn the page you know sit with it for a night and get ready to change the page tomorrow you

Got it wmy uh quite a bit yesterday and you guarded those longer lankier guys quite a bit this year how do you prepare for guarding guys like that do you like use Chad as an example or just like watching a lot of film it’s definitely a

Lot of film um the league is so talented now that you know I think I think wb’s going to start to be like the norm as far as like players like lanky build athletic you know stuff like that so you know you try not to treat everybody the

Same but take like some of the same principles crawl into the ball a little more kind of make it difficult for him to jump up use my speed and strength you know to kind of get him off his spots and you know I think I I’ve been saying

This but you know good players going make shots it’s just about how hard you make the shots and try not to let them get comfortable but um you know I enjoy those matchups too so you think we’ll see more wemes in the next few years is

What I’m hearing n wem’s the one of he’s almost like a one-on-one but I think just as far as like his build you know you’re going to see a lot more lanky wings and uh you know Lank guards guys that can handle it his you know his size

You know you’re looking at cat too so I definitely think that’s the way the NBA is moving towards you know you can kind of just look at the NBA right now and uh the guys that are coming into the NBA now so uh I think that’ll probably

Change but but um as far as his height I don’t think we’ve seen we’ve seen something like that right last one and that’s that series with them I know you you try not to make it Chad when be the rest of the world probably does when when you zoom out as a basketball

Enjoyer like what do you see as they go at each other like the way they did yesterday uh they grow at each other that’s basketball uh that’s how I grew up playing um go out your matchup so um when you when you wide scope it it definitely is really fun to kind of

Watch them to go at it but when you’re in the scope of the game like we’re not really paying attention to that you know what I mean like we’re playing and kind of just focused on winning the game however we can and uh I think when you

Look back on it throughout this year it’ll be a really cool thing to kind of watch the highlights and be like they’re going at it um coach as you look back on February just kind of an aggregate on the offensive side of the ball you guys have been shooting the ball well all

Year long but particularly in February and the shots you were able to generate is there any takeaways that that you want from from this month in particular and how you guys were able to shoot the ball uh I mean it’s just with with the shooting it’s just you know finding the

Best ones you can um laying off the ones that aren’t great uh I didn’t think that was a strength last night we took probably 12 shots last night that were you know below average shots for us um we track that every game usually we’re we’re much better than that uh and I

Think that drives the shooting success obviously uh there’s a lot of variant but we try to control we can when you talk about below average shots is that just in terms of contestedness in terms of the quality of it uh contestedness and then who’s taken it based on uh the

Contestedness the setup whether it’s catch and shoot whether it’s off the dribble not every shooter is created equally so obviously a three for Isaiah almost any three he takes his high quality um and other guys you know we try to educate on on what the efficient

Ones are uh and the guys have done a great job this year I mean we’re one of the best teams in the league in terms of shooting open shots so um that speaks for itself but um we have to stay diligent with that so that we can get

The best shots we can every time down Mark with about 4 minutes left I know yesterday we back and forth but we about 4 minutes left or so um you guys were only down three I think that was uh right before their timeout guys kind of

Had a break with with Dort go Dort had a transition three but but after that it it was never really close again do do you now that you had time to digest to take like are decisions down the stretch that you remember that kind of helped

Them pull away or anything like that um I mean I thought down the stretch they just they made you know some big time shots you get to tip your hat to him I mean we went and doubled wanyama on a play and um Jones made a three wanyama

Made a really deep free uh another one that was pretty well contested um you know so credit them on the shop making down the stet I thought you know if we were going to try to do an autopsy on the game and figure out um how we could

Have won it there were some things early especially you know where I think they caught a little bit of a rhythm and got comfortable uh where we were a little loose uh and then I thought we gave really good energy for the second half of the game but I mean they were really

Sharp and they shot the ball really well and they outplayed us last night the process like in a game when your Scouting Report is sound but they’re they’re not playing to it like they’re making shots that they just kind of don’t make like how do you adapt to that

Cuz I the Rhythm they got in part right is they’re making some shots that you don’t mind them taking yeah they’re 11 for 18 on those shots you know like I said we track those and so I mean that’s 11 threes you know that are kind of tip

Your hat type plays um which we acknowledge with the team I mean we tell the team when a team has a shooting night like that it’s part of the game and we don’t ignore that um but then we want to move past that and say okay you

Know what are the things that we could have controlled a little bit better and there was plenty in the game in there too um obviously it was a close game for much of it till the end um that could have gone either way where a couple plays here or there maybe threw off

Their Rhythm or could have gotten us another stop we try to learn the lessons from that but also Turn the Page and put it in the context of the shot making I mean that’s always a part of every game Mark you you said 11 for 18 on those

Shots I don’t know how you guys track that but is that is that between certain guys that certain spots on the floor like like what is that mix of I mean we have I I think a lot of people have this but we have advanced metrics on every

Every single shooter so um if you shot a corner three we would have a expected uh percentage that we would expect you to shoot based on who you are where you’re shooting how close the defender is and so every shot gets a an expected percentage and then we can evaluate at

The end of a game um what team shot relative to expectations what we shot relative to expectations to paris’s point there’s been plenty in times where you know we outshot our expectation on a given night um and it just helps us to take a more cleare eyed view uh to the

Process of the game so we’re not always reacting to something that like I said could be very variant so just just to be clear this is kind of fascinating so those 18 those are 18 shots you’re comfortable like those are 18 shots you’d be comfortable they would not

Shoot a high percentage those are 18 shots that we would we would say we expect that to be lower than a 34% shot based on who shot it where they were and where we were on defense coach you had mentioned Isaiah earlier and just every shot he takes is a pretty quality shot

But when he has three dunks in a quarter like he did in the Houston game just what’s it like to have a shooter that’s as adaptable and and athletic on the offensive end as he is uh I mean the thing that I always drive to when when

People ask about the shooting is his his wholeness as a player I mean he’s obviously an elite shooter but he’s he’s a really really good basketball player so you know you got a back cut last night uh he takes Cuts he moves he screens he screens in he had a play uh

Against Houston where he screened in I think you get case in a three um as a screener and then he plays defense you know he’s a charge T he took another charge last night um his nose is in the play there he gets in in the scrap on

The glass he executes coverages he’s where he’s supposed to be I mean he’s a really really good complete basketball player seems like the starts for you guys physically has it been where you guys wanted is that just got to just got to come into the game basically is there

More to um I I’d push back on that a little bit I thought the home Houston game we started the way we want to start I thought the um the two games right out of the break we started the way we want to start at Houston for sure they were

More physical than we were uh and then we got that on the road um last night I I don’t know if it was a physicality thing I just thought they were faster sharper to start the game uh and we tried to get it we tried to get that

Thing under control we took a lead in the fourth I mean I give the team credit for how we responded you’re not always going to start the way you want to start but um you know at the end of the day that one caught up to us last night they

Were just too good uh to beat him on that night with how we played Mar you mentioned Vic making big plays I don’t I don’t know that in your series with him that he’s had really a a overwhelming kind of sequence like that as as it’s unfolding um just what’s your point of

View what are your thoughts how much of that would may you controllable or how much of that was just as Mo um I mean the shots like the one he took one really deep he took one really contested those ones in a vacuum um you can’t really do much about you know it’s

Just like you’re there an NBA player makes a shot I mean that happens every night on every game um from our standpoint on what we can control I do think you know Rhythm plays a part in how a game unfolds and that’s where I think we missed an opportunity last

Night is you know we allowed them to catch an early rhythm in that game we allowed them to gain confidence inside the game and then when they make tough plays in that context um you have to tip your hat to them but you also you wonder

What it would have been like if we had started the game tighter you know and against Houston we didn’t start the game tight we were able to to get the in in the game at Houston we’re able to get the game in a in a good spot um last

Night we couldn’t you know so it’s a good lesson for us that sometimes you can you can turn the uh dial a little bit and still win a game you know we don’t want to just give up when we don’t start well um but you know incentivize

You to start well as well CU obviously last night was a game that um we couldn’t get back into when you say tighter you mean like rotations and every Focus urgency awareness I mean it’s really hard to to earn earn a win you know it takes a ton of effort and

Energy um to earn a win we’ve earned a lot of them this year you know so it’s a credit to our team we’re we’re an every night team I thought we played hard last night you know we didn’t start the game great but we played hard I mean we

Competed tried to win the game um but yeah I mean it’s you know it’s really hard to string together 48 you know night after night 82 times you know so but it’s what’s required if you want to to go earn a win some more turnover anybody in the league at the same time

You have one of the best turnover differentials you guys don’t turn it over a lot but you guys don’t play conservatively what’s sort of the balance of that because you have a lot of like higher octane younger guys who you know don’t seem to turn the ball over um I

Think there’s a lot to it um some of it’s individual players you know and and just their their nature as players like Shay has never been a really high turnover guy he’s obviously High usage for us so uses a lot of possessions and doesn’t turn over very much that’s hu

You know it’s got a lot to do with it when you look at the whole picture um I also like to think that we um are in familiar positions together and that we’ve built a chemistry where we kind of know we can finish each other’s sentences out there um and we’re still

Developing that but you know people don’t feel the need to try to do too much play in a crowd Force plays I think it’s often times where turnovers come from or there’s miscommunications you know from a chemistry standpoint and so I think we’ve done a good job there um

So some of it’s the personnel and some of it’s you know how we’ve developed the team well a few times I know you’re still trying to get Bor after a few times how you don’t know that lineup um I think know it’ll be like maybe giddy’s like the best initiator in the lineup

He’s in there with him you maybe got a few off ball like 3 andd Guys in there like what are you hoping to see not just from from Gordon but like from from Josh and those L um I mean I just think in general like I told you guys out of All-Star break

You know we we can’t allow the relative succcess going into allar break to bite into our aggressiveness with understanding what we have with the team and also our aggressiveness to continue to develop the team and develop our players and the more aggressive you are and the more exploratory you are the

More you’re going to introduce uh failure and the more you’re going to introduce success and we’re willing to incur the the setbacks to see what we can uncover with the team um and so that’s not speaking specifically to that lineup but just the the overall mentality right now is one of um

Aggression and exploring and you know doing everything we can to number one learn every thing we can through the 82 games about our team and prepare every player for as many situations we want everybody to be ready and confident and in Rhythm uh as much as we can and and

That’s part of that too Mar Shay he’s obviously a great player on the ball dub has gotten a lot better with the ball in his hands how do you is there a balance of do you want to give Josh some time with the ball in his hands cuz he’s good

At it and then also you know you don’t really want to take the ball out of those guys hands I assume um yeah I mean the I wouldn’t like totally subscribe to the narrative that the ball’s never in his hands I mean his usage is still over

20% you know I think he’s 22% usage or somewhere around there right now um so he’s still using possessions I think he’s third on the team in usage he’s if he’s not third he’s fourth um you know so I would push back a little bit on

This on on the Nar that he doesn’t have the ball um but that’s why we want to be a team where the hole is better than some of the parts where it’s not you’re not allocating possessions to individual guys where it’s like Josh’s turn this time Shay’s turn the next time because

Then you get into that we’d like to be a team where you know we’re playing in such a way that we leverage multiple handlers or multiple creators on a given possession and that’s not just limited to the high usage guys that’s you know somebody creates an advantage the ball

Comes out here to case Wallace him being ready to do something with it um that’s how you get a style of play where the ball gets ahead of the defense that’s the kind of team we want to be and that includes Josh and every other player on the roster

Hear from Jalen Williams and Coach Daigneault after today’s practice.

0:00 Jalen Williams
6:29 Coach Daigneault

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