“I think we were third in pace last year. I think we led the league in passes ahead, [though] we didn’t convert as many. I also think Indiana really took a step when you saw their defense take a step. A lot of respect for Rick, he’s a friend. We’ve been continuing to work on playing random basketball for lack of a better word, read-based basketball, I think that’s what we do. Our roster is beginning to formulate in a way that I think we’re more capable of doing that.”
“It goes to as a coach how you feel your team should have the most success playing a certain way. That’s been an evolution for a lot of guys, for Trae in particular. He’s playing more pick and roll with smalls, he’s playing with more pace, there’s less stray pick and rolls with the five, there’s more cutting. That kind of fits who we are, but that’s a reflection of the game changing. A lot of those things are consistent, and I think being able to be disruptive defensively fits with that.”
“You want to be who you are, but [be] who you can be. That sounds too philosophical but some of those habits, continuity helps that and if you look at all the numbers that’s what it says. We were last in the league in isolation. I don’t think that’s always the most effective way for our team to play.”
“We have a balanced group and for us to connect collectively, and be comfortable with the final score, not the box score is the key. No matter how unselfish you may be individually, that’s still a hard thing. They’re not posting offensive efficiency in the box score, you don’t pull that up online, you pull up somebody’s bottom line numbers. So that’s on you guys [the media] to capture that part of the game, and that’s the key for us, that’s where our progression lies. IT’s about being efficient with what we do and becoming better and better at it.”
“We want the whole to be greater than the sum of it’s parts and that requires a lot of commitment and a lot of sacrifice in what is a league and world of individual achievement. But when you see it in the end, if you can hang onto it, winning feels a lot better to everybody and it’s something you get to share, but it’s hard, and I don’t think we should run from the fact that it’s hard, and it’s a journey as well.”