Basketball season is right around the corner and Monday afternoon Coach K spoke to the media for the first time about the upcoming basketball season. Here’s the full transcript from his press conference.
Opening Statement:
“Welcome, we’re excited to get started. We’ve done a lot, really; we’ve been doing things for the four hours a week when our kids were here from right at the start of July. So I like my group, we’re all healthy, we’re ready to go, and I think we’re going to have a real balanced team. Hopefully we can play really good team defense because we’ll have more guys capable of playing at the level that we need to in order to win. I love their enthusiasm. We just named our tri-captains, and both Javin and Jack did a good job for us last year. They’re just more mature; to have two seniors and J-Rob as a graduate student, that’s something unusual for us, and it’s paid dividends as far as helping the team to be together. Not that there’s separation because of attitude, but there’s sometimes separation because of age and ability. I think the older guys have really made the younger guys comfortable, and everyone feels like they got a shot to play, and they do. The competition has been good in those workouts we’ve had. I like the rule of 42 days before you start, you’re going to have 30 practices. That gives us time to practice the right way, and it also gives our kids the chance to go home for a fall break, in about 10 days. That works out well. I welcome any questions you might have.”
On which freshman has shown the most aptitude defensively?:
“Defensively, I would say Matthew (Hurt). He can guard a perimeter and big. He really has great concentration already on the defensive end. But the other guys are good. Wendell (Moore, Jr.) should be really good, Cassius (Stanley), and Vernon (Carey, Jr.) have become more athletic, he’s lighter, we’re pleased with the freshmen. I’m pleased with the upperclassmen too. I think Jav and Jack have had sensational summers, and, fall just started right? I hate to say he’s had a great fall, but he’s had a great September too.”
On Tre Jones’ improvement over the summer:
“The main thing Tre had to do was get healthy. He had another hip operation last spring, on the right side, and he’d already had one the year before on the left side. It went great, and we held him out until the last week of August. I’d say he’s about eight pounds lighter, he’s quicker, more athletic, and he’s going to make the engine run here. He’s the guy that helps us make great decisions. Last year playing with RJ (Barrett) and Zion (Williamson) especially, you had to give them the ball. You didn’t have to necessarily give them the ball so that they’d be ready to score, they needed the ball so they could not only score but move the defense. With this team, Tre’s responsibility in that regard goes up. I think sometimes we all watch those two kids [RJ and Zion] play, instead of playing off of them. Tre’s good, and he’s going to be as key of a person as we have, and our leader.”
On Tre’s success at the end of his freshman year carrying over to this season:
“I think the leadership aspect; we depend so much more on him. Shooting is part of it. I don’t think he was reluctant to shoot; I think he overpassed last year. He’s always pretty confident, but I think he looked, maybe at times, too much to pass. I want him to produce scores, whether he’s passing it or he’s doing it. He’s become a really good layup-maker. If you’re going to be a really good point guard, you’ve got to make layups. So much of it is having that balance – people talk about a Euro-step, that’s not what I’m talking about- different angles, and all that. He’s worked real hard. He’s ready. If we’re going to be real good, he’s got to be really good.”
On Tre’s going to the basket more:
“Hopefully he’ll go more. The other thing with that is at the end of ball games, Zion and RJ had the ball so he wasn’t getting fouled as much. He’ll have the ball more and we’re going to look to push the ball down the court. With our depth we’d like to be able to pick up early, and make it a high paced game. We would like a high paced game.”
On an extension of Tre’s will with experience playing on the floor:
“For a while now, you’re right. So I’m excited about that. I want him to feel my confidence in him of not necessarily calling plays all the time – at times we do — but to make plays. The best time to make a play is in transition, because you can get mismatches. Coming down, the defense isn’t set, and all those things. It’d be better if he’s making those decisions more than other guys. I’m anxious to see how that’ll go. And his ball pressure helps out immensely. We have a few guys who can really pressure the ball. I think (Jordan) Goldwire can really pressure, and Wendell can pressure, I think Cassius will be able to do that the more comfortable he gets playing at this pace.”
On Wendell being able to guard four positions:
“We’d rather not, but we have a pretty big perimeter. Jack (White) can be either perimeter or big. Cassius is a strong kid. Alex (O’Connell) has grown and put on about 12-15 pounds. Joey (Baker) looks like he’s grown too. He’s had a really good summer and fall.”
On his grandson, Michael Savarino, playing on the team:
“Yeah, how crazy. Well it’s been great, because he’s not on the team because he’s my grandson. He would be a pretty good Division-II player, but he wanted to come to Duke, he could get in, he knows the lay of the land. I think he’s really helped us and he’s been accepted by his teammates as Michael, or Mike, or whatever the hell they call him, knucklehead probably sometimes. He is a really good kid, and a tough kid. We do a lot of testing during the summer and then again in September, combine testing that the NBA does. One of the things is the 185 bench press, how many times you can do that. Maybe it says something about the strength of our team, but he did the most, he did 10 of them. Now guys do more. Some of them, they’re not accustomed to the weights. Michael’s been good. Funny thing for me, I’m not sure you’ll laugh. We measure everything every practice, their workload, their sprinting speed, their distances, we have this Catapult system that does that, and I get a report every day from our sports scientist, Nick Potter, and it’s a really good thing as far as helping to prevent injuries and knowing where the team is at. So, last week, they played, and Tre just had an amazing day. So I asked Nick, let me take a look at his stuff, and he was off the charts in speed. Then I look and Wendell was off the charts for the wing. I say, hey, he played with Tre. Then I looked at Javin’s, and he was off the charts. So we did that, and then the next day, Wendell again did that. I showed Mickie (Coach K’s wife): Wendell’s developing a habit of playing faster. And she’ looking, and she has all the guys, and she says “Where’s Michael?” and Michael didn’t play, he’s a walk on. It was the first time a grandmother has given me a hard time about playing time. I said, ‘You got to stop. Don’t be asking about Michael.’ She has never looked at those things. I’m waiting for the ‘Where’s Nick’s report?’ Then she’ll look at it like ‘He only did this?’ The mother so far has been okay, but we haven’t played any games. It’s a cool thing, yeah. I’m not sure; it’d be interesting if anyone else has had it- you got to be pretty old. Sons have played, but I’m not sure if a grandson has played. I like it, it’s a good thing.”
On Javin (DeLaurier) going into his senior year and what he brings to the team:
“I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised just how much he’s improved. He’s been sensational, relentless. To be quite frank, he and Jack have been our two hardest workers. I think testing the waters helped him. People can dream of things, and then people can have goals. So you can dream of being in the NBA, or you can have a goal, if it’s a goal you should have a plan of how to achieve that goal. I think his maturity, his work ethic, his commitment to the game – again, this doesn’t mean he was bad. But it’s all heightened. He’s been terrific. He and Jack have been veteran guys. That’s been a neat thing to have. Our freshmen need it. This freshman class needs it even a little more. They’re a little bit younger, they’re good, but they’re not as savvy as like an RJ and Zion were.”
On Joey having a good summer and what he got from his experience last season:
“I think he learned the effort, and that you have to be more ready than he was. He works really hard. He’s in here all the time shooting. He can really shoot the ball. He can carve out playing time by how hard he works, and if he can put that ball in. Because we’re going to play more guys. There’s not as much separation with anybody, maybe Tre, it’s close. Like Javin and Jack, as big guys, they’re good. And Vernon and Matthew are good. There’s not a Zion, and even an RJ, those guys were just ahead of the game. But this has produced a closer group– again, we were close last year – this group has maturity and talent along with talent and immaturity with the young guys makes it a more balanced team. We have to throw ourselves completely into playing defense. We’ve really worked hard already in the hours that we have to establish a defensive mindset.”
On getting the new players to gel so quickly after multiple years of different starting lineups:
“Each group was different. We could get away with some things in developing maturity because of our talent level last year. You never get to where you want to get, because it’s nine months. But, with this group, we kind of do it more old fashioned. We have a blend of old and new. I really like the group and that dynamic of guys who have been through it and guys who are, Javin and Jack, to help these other guys, and Tre. What are you going to help Zion with? They’re [Zion and RJ] arguably the two best, and Cam (Reddish) was right next to them. I like the fact that this is a more old-fashioned dynamic for us. I think we can be pretty good, if we can make sure that we start it with defense, and offense will come from the defense.
On if this group reminds him of any other from the past:
“Maybe once they start playing. They’ve been as close a group as we’ve had, and we’ve had close groups. They really get along well. Look, if you’re 22, you may not want to hang with an 18-year-old, maybe. But these guys do a lot together. There’s no age difference, experience difference, as far as them as guys. It’s been good. This has been good since the 1st of July.”
On the outside shooting changing with the farther three point line:
“It’s not that much. I think there will be more room to drive, and we always like to drive, so that might help, but you know, you got to hit some shots so they play you out there.”