Mark Daigneault | Thunder Practice | Mar. 05, 2022
Mark Daigneault | Thunder Practice | Mar. 05, 2022
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00:00 A couple updates here.
00:01 Wiggins practice today is questionable.
00:04 Tomorrow, we got to see how he feels in the morning, but he's definitely progressing.
00:08 Josh Giddey, we'll know more in a couple weeks, but
00:13 that's a more solid timetable than we've given you.
00:16 So we'll see how things progress there, but
00:18 like probably a two week mark until you get another update there.
00:23 And then everybody else is pretty much status quo from an injury standpoint.
00:29 >> Mark, the first, I don't know, maybe ten possessions of the game last night
00:34 seemed like your help side defense was really on point.
00:37 You had to steal from Poku as the low man.
00:40 You had another block, Baisley had a block.
00:42 What's happening right in those possessions to generate those types of
00:47 turnovers or disruptive plays?
00:49 >> I think a lot of it's just recognize that what the opponents are doing,
00:57 or basically like patterns, I describe them as,
01:00 there's only so many different ways you can attack.
01:03 And we try to code those and consolidate them and simplify them.
01:07 And we've got to kind of recognize what situation we're about to be in and
01:11 then get to a spot early off the ball.
01:13 In some cases, if you're the center, you've got to call the coverage early.
01:18 But once we recognize the pattern, it kind of should send us into
01:22 a kind of coordinated response to that pattern.
01:25 And you got to be really, really early to those things.
01:29 It's very, very simple.
01:30 There's nothing complicated about it, but it's hard to execute.
01:32 It's like running a marathon.
01:36 It's simple, it's 26.2 straight line, just keep running until you're done.
01:39 Simple to execute, I'm sorry, simple to understand, hard to execute.
01:44 That's what it is defensively.
01:46 >> In order for those plays to even have to be made, though,
01:51 there's probably some advantage gained at the point of attack.
01:56 And not that you're gonna never stop those advantages, but
01:59 when you see that many game-changing plays happening on the help side,
02:03 are you thinking, great, our guys are in the right help spots?
02:07 Or are you also thinking, we need to be better at the point of attack to prevent
02:11 these types of situations to be having to happen at the rim in the first place?
02:17 >> Yeah, a little bit of both.
02:19 I think the reason you have the help there is when you're good at the point
02:24 of attack, you're kind of helping out of strength and
02:26 you're kind of choking out the options of the play.
02:30 And a lot of times, your shell and your help is putting out fires.
02:36 So the poker steal that you referenced was on, I think, a back cut.
02:41 I think Bays got clipped on and Russell was going to the basket and
02:45 they threw the ball to Russell.
02:46 And so we had a breakdown, but the shell, the help, was there to cover for it.
02:52 And if we didn't have a breakdown on that, then Poker would have read that and
02:56 started to move back towards his man.
02:57 And so that's what helps about is getting to spots and
03:00 reading whether or not your help is necessary.
03:03 And being aggressive when it is and when it's not.
03:06 Kind of staying home,
03:07 cuz you may be the next person involved in the on-ball action.
03:12 >> With that, so just as a final follow up,
03:15 and this is not necessarily to last night's game specifically.
03:19 But if you're having to come over and help time and time again, and
03:22 that's consistently kind of game warrants,
03:24 is that when you start to get opened up for three-pointers and that kind of thing?
03:29 >> Yeah, rotation is really what's gonna lead to that.
03:33 And sometimes rotation is our choice.
03:37 Like we double Sabonis, we double Jokic, we double Towns.
03:41 We're putting ourselves in rotation when we do that,
03:43 because we think the cost benefit of being in rotation proactively against those guys,
03:48 the benefit of that outweighs the cost.
03:50 But the cost is that now you're scrambling on those possessions.
03:53 And when you're doing that, you're in longer closeouts,
03:56 which opens up easier drives, more open shots.
03:59 And that's why the multiple effort dynamic of defense is so important.
04:05 And I thought, going back to what I said after the game last night,
04:08 I thought that team requires great effort to stop them and
04:12 slow them down and neutralize them, and requires multiple efforts.
04:15 And just on too many possessions, we just didn't have that type of effort last night.
04:20 But we've done that for much of the year.
04:21 We've done a nice job of redirecting.
04:23 It's just one game, but that's a diagnosis of what happened, I think.
04:28 >> Kind of along those same lines, specifically with Poku,
04:30 we've talked about how much more comfortable he looks out there on the floor.
04:34 He's got five steals over the past three games.
04:37 Is there any strides specifically you're seeing on the defensive end for
04:40 him so far this season?
04:42 >> Yeah, I think he's early to the spots.
04:44 And I talk about patterns, pattern recognition is kinda,
04:49 you think about these guys that are really savvy veteran players.
04:53 I'd throw Mascala and Fabers in there.
04:56 I mean, they've seen the pattern so
04:58 many times that they're able to recognize them quickly to the point where they can
05:02 anticipate them, and you don't walk in the league like that.
05:05 So a lot of the mistakes you see younger players make is they don't really
05:09 recognize the pattern and can't anticipate it, so they become reactive.
05:13 Or now they're late to something, and you see that from time to time.
05:16 And I think he's just recognizing more of the patterns.
05:18 I think the cumulative effect of his minutes and
05:21 experiences is starting to add up in a lot of different ways.
05:25 And I think that's one of them.
05:26 And so he's kinda earlier to things.
05:28 Things are looking more familiar to him, and it allows him to be a little more
05:32 assertive and aggressive and think less.
05:34 And all those positive effects of anticipation.
05:40 >> Yeah, he mentioned to us just being in the weight room and
05:43 trying to work on his physical profile as well.
05:45 Are you seeing that element show up a little bit more on the defensive end too?
05:49 >> Yeah, and just the durability.
05:51 Like I mentioned before, there's two parts to the weight room.
05:54 Yeah, there's actually more than two parts.
05:55 There's an injury prevention element,
05:57 certainly where everybody's kinda preconditioned for certain injuries.
06:01 And those guys do a great job at diagnosing that.
06:04 And then having a program that helps you prevent those injuries as best as we
06:08 can control.
06:09 There's also a strength element, obviously.
06:12 And then there's a durability, where it's like being able to endure
06:17 the rigors of an NBA season.
06:18 And for him, the strength thing is visible because of his frame.
06:23 You see him out there, you're like, okay, he needs to get stronger.
06:25 But the invisible one is durability.
06:28 And that's where I think he's seen the most progress this year with the weight
06:31 room stuff, is he's much more prepared to endure the rigors,
06:38 like I said, of an NBA season because of the work that he's put in last year,
06:42 over the summer and then this year.
06:44 >> Right, thanks.
06:45 >> With only a month left in the season, if Josh is out for another two weeks,
06:49 say, obviously leaves him just another two weeks to return.
06:54 Do you expect to have him back sometime this season?
06:57 >> I mean, we're gonna look at it in two weeks, but I mean, that's the hope.
06:59 But we're, with all these guys, we're trying to balance,
07:05 certainly development, but also being cautious and
07:10 being wise with how we handle every player in every circumstance.
07:14 So we'll know a lot more in a couple weeks here,
07:18 see how he responds to the treatment he's getting right now.
07:20 >> So is that the hip soreness, I think it was the Indiana game, right?
07:24 That he was a late scratch to,
07:26 is that something he just felt before that game or
07:29 anything you can tell us more on his injury?
07:32 >> Well, certainly it was something that he was managing before that, but
07:35 it was definitely acute that night.
07:37 I mean, I think that was a really late scratch.
07:39 So I mean, we were planning on having him play that night and
07:42 I forget the exact specifics of it, but
07:45 it was pretty late when we realized, okay, he's not good to go tonight.
07:48 >> Anybody else in the room?
07:53 Coach, we got 200 in the zoom.
07:55 We'll go to Christos first.
07:56 Go ahead, Christos Soltis with your question.
07:57 >> Hello, coach, how are you?
08:00 >> I'm well, how are you?
08:01 >> I'm fine, thank you.
08:04 Coach, speaking about Boku, you mentioned numerous times how important for
08:08 him to be stable in his game.
08:11 But I would like to ask you, without Lou, without Josh, without Kai,
08:17 and other important players, how do you expect for
08:20 him to be more fearless to take many more important shots?
08:25 How do you see that from your perspective?
08:29 >> Well, it's certainly, he and all the guys that are playing right now
08:32 are getting more opportunities because of the circumstances with our roster and
08:39 the guys that we have out with injury.
08:41 And so there's definitely an uptick in opportunities for
08:44 him as well as other guys.
08:45 But what I would say to that is the stability, you use the word stable.
08:50 We talk a lot with him about efficiency.
08:53 If he was inefficient or not playing as stable as he is and
08:58 he was getting more opportunities, it would look ugly.
09:01 Because he would be in a lot more situations,
09:04 there's an exposure risk anyways to that.
09:06 And if he was shooting bad shots or
09:08 if he was careless with the ball, that would be stacking up right now.
09:12 And so I think the fact that he's gotten more opportunities and
09:15 yet has been more solid despite more opportunities, more minutes,
09:20 more exposure risk to turnovers and shot selection
09:24 is a really loud marker of his progress in those areas.
09:28 And a lot seems to be coming together for him right now.
09:32 And he's on a nice little run.
09:35 I think it's important to remind everybody that these things aren't linear and
09:39 there's a lot of ups and downs.
09:40 And there'll be more downs for him because that's what happens when you raise the bar.
09:46 The more you raise the bar, the harder it is to reach.
09:48 And the more you're introducing setbacks and adversity, but that's part of growth.
09:52 And we lean into that and he's leaned into that.
09:55 And I think that's why you've seen the growth in him is because he's leaned into
09:58 it to this point.
09:58 >> And then last question we'll take to Jerry Ramsey.
10:03 Go ahead, Jerry, with your question.
10:04 >> Hey, Coach, when Giddy goes out, he's playing at a pretty high level,
10:12 to say the least.
10:13 Shea is playing at a very high level right now.
10:15 I think I'm asking you to state the obvious, but don't you just kind of shake
10:19 your head a little bit in frustration that you really want to develop them
10:23 together right now?
10:25 And then just kind of talk about the contingencies that you carry on.
10:29 Now piggybacking off, obviously, the dude's failure,
10:31 to kind of push out Giddy and him coming back.
10:34 But just the contingencies, you look down the list now that you make priorities
10:39 because you can't develop the two guys that are playing at such a high level
10:43 together.
10:45 >> Yeah, I mean, we want everybody to be healthy all the time.
10:48 But one thing that I think is an important mindset in our program is growing
10:57 through experiences.
10:57 We talk about that all the time.
11:00 That's like a staple of being an optimistic person, and
11:03 that's a mindset that we want to nurture inside of the program.
11:06 And so Josh is hurt right now and missing time, and
11:12 he's gotta grow through that experience.
11:15 I think a great example of someone that's done that well is Shay.
11:18 Shay just missed a lot of time and
11:20 clearly has been on a rampage since he's been back.
11:25 So clearly, whether it be physically or whether it be mentally or
11:28 a combination of both, he got himself to some place coming out of that All-Star
11:34 break where he's put himself in position to play the way he has.
11:38 Not only because of the numbers, which are obviously gaudy, but
11:41 like the style he's played and then the efficiency with which he's played.
11:45 It's been obviously very impressive.
11:48 And you never know, like I looked last year at Basley.
11:51 Basley got hurt right after All-Star break.
11:53 He was kinda having an up and down year, and
11:54 then his best basketball came after the injury.
11:56 He got a lot of good skill work in.
11:58 So you gotta kinda play the hand you're dealt, and
12:01 you gotta grow through the experiences.
12:04 Even if you don't welcome those experiences, we never welcome injuries.
12:08 We never draw that up as part of the plan.
12:10 But when a guy gets injured, it becomes part of the plan, and
12:13 we've gotta leverage it to the best we can.
12:14 And I think it's my job to model that.
12:18 To your point with the frustration, I'm not frustrated.
12:20 It's just where we are right now, we gotta flow from there.
12:23 And I think Josh has the opportunity to do the same thing, Shea did it.
12:27 And all the guys that are hurt right now, they can come back better
12:30 if they choose to leverage these circumstances.