2025 NBA Draft Class Media Availability | LA Clippers

2025 NBA Draft Class Media Availability | LA Clippers

What have you been able to do in these last two sessions? Uh, I was working a lot on pick and roll defense. Uh, reading reading the defense. Uh, making sure I communicate with the with my teammates and pick and rolls and yeah, working a lot of defensive pick and rolls. What were your thoughts when you found out they were drafting? I was I was excited. I was happy. Uh, I thought I was in a great spot, especially with all these veterans where I can learn a lot from. uh great spot to just develop and get better and that’s that’s my main goal to just improve every year and just get better. Who are you most excited to learn from? Uh especially Zubac. I mean him being a big also a lot from Harden him playing with lob threads like K Capella. So just all these veterans who can teach me stuff that’s especially also good for my game. Clippers also got Lopez in the mix. One of the things that Lawrence Frank was mentioning on draft day was that you may be a couple years away from consistently shooting that three, but he does see that as a potential future part of your game. Just how exciting is it for you to have, you know, one of the the facing bigs for the last, you know, several years? Yeah, it’s very exciting. It’s even another add too. I mean, being for the Clippers, having Brook Lopez who shoots, uh, that’s perfect for me. Him being also a sevenfooter, I can learn a lot from him and yeah, I mean, it’s just it’s good. It’s good for me. Have you had a chance to connect with any of your teammates beyond the summer roster? Uh yeah, I connected with uh Nicholas Patum, uh Zubac, and also other teammates. What do you what do you enjoy most about playing basketball? Uh I enjoy everything. It just get me excited. It’s getting me hyped. Uh especially dunks and blocks. just I just love the energy it brings and just uh this energetic feeling when so you you go into you didn’t even get the combine first. You you got to go to G- League. Can you walk me through what it was like to prepare for that and then knowing that you got a chance to be one of the few to graduate from that to get to the combine? I took it as a chance to show myself. Uh, I think getting the invite to the G- League combine showed me that a lot of people don’t even know me yet, that I still got a lot to prove. So, going to this G- League, uh, combine just took it as opportunity to show myself uh to show my my strength, show my show what I can do. So, going through there and then going to the real combine, it was just good. Like, people saw who I am, people saw what I can do and what I can bring to the court. What do you feel like what has been your feedback as far as how you can be better as a young player. You know, you know that there’s guys ahead of you that you can learn from, but even from within yourself, like if you were to be self-critical, what would you want to say you most want to get better at between now and say the end of, you know, December? Uh, I say everything. Just get better every day. See, every day is a u uh development day. Like I can take every day to get better in everything. like if it’s defense, if it’s watching film, if it’s something in offense, just get better 1% every day and it’s going to bring me a long way. Um, how’s the transition been for you? Has it been a really fast pace? Like, what has it been like? Yeah, I’ll say it’s the pace. Uh, the pace is different. It’s faster. Uh, yeah, I’ll say definitely the pace. So, I’m most interested in just the fact that you play a lot of point guard last year at Nevada. What was that like and what have the Clippers asked you to kind of focus on as you start your pro career? Well, it was fun playing the point guard last year. I mean, I’ve been playing it my whole life. I was a late thrower, so um I had my growth sport in high school and I always thought I was going to be a point guard. So, I kind of carried those uh skills over and then um the Clippers, you know, you know, as a role player coming in as a young player always starts on the defensive side. So, bring energy on the defensive side and know your role and just play good basketball. Where are you most comfortable defensively? Um, I I think the biggest thing is I’m a versatile defender. I’m in the league now, you try to switch everything most of the time. So, um, just me being so versatile is how I feel comfortable on the court. Lawrence mentioned the excitement to bring you back to Southern California after the draft. Just how exciting is that for you and obviously, you know, being from out here with the guys that are on this team from SoCal and just really across the league. Um, what’s that experience like? No, it’s awesome. I mean, as a San Diego kid, you always grow up wanting to stay home, wanting to stay in Cali. So to be able to stay at Cali and play at the highest level is is a blessing. And then with James and Kai in particular, obviously those are two, you know, Southern California basketball legends. Just what’s it like, you know, going to be like for you to be a teammates with them? Um, it’s going to mean everything. I mean, those are good mentors to have, you know, good people to look up to, you know, come in and put the work in every day. So, I’m excited to um be taken under their wing. What do you hope to accomplish in the summer league? Your main goals? um you know just get acclimated to um the team you know get down the system and then you know just prove myself and go out there and play the best basketball I can. How was practice today? What’ you say? How’s practice? We’re here for a minute. So yeah. No, practice was good. I mean we it’s all new for for most of us. So you know just trying to listen to the guys that have been here and listen to the coaches and you know get down the schemes and everything. But it’s going well. Day two went well. What do you What do you expect to be the hardest thing for you to learn? Um it just obviously the transition is different from college to the NBA and then the schemes are different. So the schemes are different like I was taught uh no no middle all in all my college career and that’s what that’s for me. So so you know just picking up on different schemes and you know stuff like that. How about like culture and lifestyle? Oh most definitely. You know having all this free time not having to go to class and everything you know you got to pick out outside hobbies that keep you focused and everything like that. So just finding me time as well as work time. Can you talk a little bit about like that transition from college to pro and like the fast pace that it is to get acclimated? What was that like for you? Oh, it’s definitely difficult and I’m definitely trying to get um still get a hold of it now. Um definitely a faster paced game, more physical, you know, all the reads are faster. So just trying to get that down and then, you know, I’m leaning on my teammates and my coaches to help me. Are there any teammates that stood out to you thus far? Um, all all the guys here now, Jay Mill, uh, Kobe Brown, uh, Cam, they all been helpful. So, what’s it been like connecting with Yanni? Oh, it’s been awesome. You know, you know, at being in the same draft class, you know, we ride to to the gym every day together, you know, just having someone that’s in the same situation as you, you know, is always helpful going into a new situation. Is there one thing or a couple things that you would want Clippers fans to know about you? Uh, I’m I’m here to put in work and here to bring a ring. So, yep. saw Yannik over there um just kind of training. Lawrence mentioned that he’s been dealing with the ankle issue. Was he able to go through any of practice today? Yes, he’s been going through a lot of light stuff. We’re just uh being cautious with him, but other than that, he’s doing well and I expect to see him on uh Friday when we’re out there in Vegas, but we’ll see. Just taking it day by day. That’s So, we got to do this before, you know, did this four summers ago. Uh what do you want to see out of uh this group? Like, how do you want to how do you want them to play? Um, you know, going into this summer, the goal for us is just to play faster. Um, try and create as many open shots as we can. I’ve been on them about that. Just being locked in, getting two to the ball, finding an open shot, and trying to create as many uncontested looks as we can, and they’ve been doing a good job with that. We’ve had a lot of good carryover. We still got a long ways to go, but hopefully by Friday we’ll be ready. Who do you want to play through? There’s no natural point guard on this team. I mean, maybe Zav here, but like when you think of who’s going to start plays for y’all, organize your offense, who do you want to do that for you? I think just where where basketball is going is really positionless. So, with those guys out there, especially like if they’re trying to get opportunity to play, you know, when we get to the regular season, they’re going to have to be able to be seamless and be able to do a lot of things. So, with that being said, everybody’s got an opportunity to bring up the ball. Once the ball goes to the net, let’s get the ball up the floor as quickly as we can. let’s all get to our spots as quickly as we can and let’s be able to execute most multiple positions. And so I’ve talked to the guys about that. They kind of have an understanding and that’s kind of how we’re attacking it. Like Kobe Brown, he can attack off the dribble. Jordan can attack off the dribble. Pat can attack off the dribble. Cam can attack off the dribble. So we got multiple guys that can put the ball on the floor. And like I said, our goal is to as apologize. Our goal is as many times as we can to get two people to the ball and make a kick out so we can get an uncontested shot. And I think we got more than enough guys that have the ability to do that. How does BA go? A lot. You don’t you don’t get you don’t get a lot of reps at this where you’re where you’re the main guy making decisions and everything’s on you and you’re calling the offense and you’re calling the defense and you got to make changes and be ready at a timeout and see who’s tired and see who’s not. So, you know, a lot of times that falls on Tai and you know, when you’re able to get into it, you see how much really goes into this. is not as simple as just handing the ball out and yelling out a play here and there. Unfortunately, you can’t get the ball to GM. Yeah. Yeah. I’ve been talking to W see if he wants to, you know, make a return to summerly to see what happened. Speaking of, Lawrence did mention that he was training real hard throughout June just to, you know, simulate what that would be like again. What have you seen from him this summer and and how do you feel he’s, you know, been able to come out of that? Uh, he’s doing really good. uh just coming out of a summer where you know like like he’s spoken about himself just being able to be healthy you know it means a lot and just it’s a big deal. You don’t have to go into something worried about a rehab process worried about how long you got can do this how long you can work out how long you can how long you’re on this or on that. You know you just get to be free enjoy your summer a little bit but also be free in like the workouts that you’re allowed to do and the amount of intensity you’re allowed to do in those workouts. So for him it’s been good and you know he’s just in a good space which is nice. Thank you. Hey coach, um during like pregame warmup, I see you you pay a lot of attention to detail with your athletes. How do you see that transitioning into summer league? Can you also describe your coaching style? Uh for the for transitioning to the guys, it’s just like every little thing matters. So like one thing we just talked about is like where we’re handing off on DHOs or where we’re handing off in pitches. Like those little things matter because you don’t want to get trapped on the sideline. You don’t want to put your guys in a bad position. So I’m always pretty locked in on that. And for my coaching style is just like just try to do like I always preach like we’re in a constant pursuit of perfection. Like I don’t expect the guys to be to be perfect, but I do expect us to try our best to be perfect every day. And so I’m big on that and big on just making sure the little details and not making the same mistake twice. So for me, those are the big big deals. Like I just don’t want to do if we correct it one time, let’s knock it out and let’s not try to do it again. Repeat the same mistake. Jeremy, how much do you get to be yourself as coach of summer league versus you got to do kind of like the same system that Tai has and same defensive system that Jeff has because you kind of like are grooming these guys to get up to them. So, um, everything’s been good. I mean, for us it’s about getting less about me and more about our young guys and getting them right. So, we have to do what we have to do to get them ready to play when it comes October and December and into the season. And so, we’re pretty locked in. Tai does a great job of just, you know, giving us a little bit of freedom, giving me a little bit of freedom, I should say, to try a few things out and see what might work and what might not work coming into the season so we actually have some film on it. And the same thing with Jeff. Jeff gives us a lot of ideas on how he wants things, but he also gives us the freedom to, you know, make some decisions and try some things out. So, both of those guys have been amazing in that sense. But at the end of the day, summer league is to get the guys that we have here and try to get them ready to be able to get on the floor and have Tai and have Jeff have confidence in them come October, November, December, and so on. So, I’m fine with whatever they want. Let’s try to execute the best we can. Let’s continue to get better. And that’s a message I try to preach to those guys like some things we just got to lock in and do and do the right way because if you want an opportunity to get on this floor, you got to be able to do what they’re looking for. What have you seen as far as Kobe Sanders? Uh Kobe’s good. I mean, Kobe’s good. If you see how how big he is and his ability to put the ball on the floor, his ability to put the ball on the floor and make a play has been, you know, really eye opening for me and good, especially for someone that we’re able to get in the second round like that. But he’s been doing well. He’s shot it pretty well as uh so far, too. So, I’m impressed with him so far. You know, only two days, though. Kobe Brown, Jordan Miller, like this is their third summer league. Like, they’re they they’re roster guys. Like, yeah. Why why are they here and what do you want them to get out of this summer? Uh I mean I think they’re here because they the more opportunities you have to play is best for those guys just to get reps real reps. Like you guys talked about me like it’s hard to simulate you know real game reps. So they get to go out there. They’re going to get five games against real NBA players that are out there to compete as hard just as hard as they are and it should only be able to make them better. And then what was the second question? I apologize. taking part basically, you know, what do you want them to get out of this? Like, oh, just being locked in. Like that’s what we’ve talked about, you know, with Jordan and Cove. It’s not about coming out. We know that against this level of competition, they could probably come out and get 20 points in their sleep if they chose to. But it’s about doing the right things, making sure we’re getting the ball to the second side, not just coming out here and isolating because we’re playing to a different level of competition because when they get with us, it’s going to be about being connectors, getting the ball to the next side, making sure they slot cut and balance the floor out properly so that we can create driving lanes for our scorers, you know, Kawhi James or whoever else.

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