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Welcome in too, Behind Kentucky Basketball presented by Fulton Line Curtis Burch. Today

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we're going to share a conversation we had with new Kentucky basketball coach John Welsh.

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As I mentioned, we are presented by Thornton's. Stop by any lexing

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Kenthornton's location and earn five cents off a gallon with your refreshing rewards card.

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Now joined on Behind Kentucky Basketball by Kentucky assistant coach John Welsh. Thanks for

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joining us, Oh, thanks for having me. It's a question to be

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here. I think you got an interesting kind of connection to the program.

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Obviously, your son, Riley was a player and then a grad assistant.

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So even though you're a new coach, you have a pretty good connection here,

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don't you. Yes, I've watched just about every game for the last

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four years and attended the SEC tournaments the last four years, so yeah,

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I'm very familiar with the program. Big picture, you're big into development.

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It's going to be your big roles. What are some new techniques in development

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that you've developed over the years that you didn't maybe even know existed when you

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first started, If that makes sense, Well, I think I think the

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biggest change in player development are the resources and manpower allotted to it. When

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I first came into the NBA, it was John, here you go,

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here are the players. Now if you look at an NBA game, there's

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ten coaches behind the bench. I am so appreciative here with the managers who

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have been helping me. And you know, basically the big thing in player

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development is you wanted to transfer to a game, and so you know your

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workouts have to be game simulations. And so with the help I get here

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from the managers and the other coaches, what we do is we set up

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game situations and make it as similar to a game for the players as as

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it can possibly be. And I think that's the biggest difference. Now what

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goes into putting together a workout and the drills that you like, you plan

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anything else. You know, you your goal, you have an objective,

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and you know, try to figure out, you know, how you're going

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to accomplish it. And a big part of it is, you know,

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with me, is getting to know the players and seeing what they do well

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and what they need to work on. I think, you know, you know, part of it is not so much as doing drills like it used

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to be as more solving problems. Now can you give you an example,

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like when you talk about selling problems, well, well, same thing. You put them in a situation of you know, finishing a layup at the

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rim and then we have you know, we have a six to eleven managers

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right there, and if they're if you know, why aren't they making it?

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You know? Is if I'm guarding them and bumping them is figuring out

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what the problem is and finding a solution to it. And a lot of

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times it's a player who finds a solution. And I think that's uh the

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most organic way that learning takes place. You've been here and what is this?

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How many weeks? Two weeks? Two weeks? So how much have you gotten to know the guys? And how familiar are a couple returners?

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I know you've probably you've seen to do no most, I don't know. We have about seven guys here and scholarship players and the walk ons, and

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it's been great for me through the workouts and and even so at the beginning

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through camp, we you know, we had satellite camps for I think four

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days the first week, so just being around the players at the camp,

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it was a great way to form a connection with them. What is the

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balance between knowing the player personally and knowing their game and how do those interact

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when you're well? I think you need both, you know, because you

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know a lot of how you play is who you are, so uh,

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you know, the more I can get to know the players, the better.

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Do the players yet know your NBA experience, has anybody comed up and

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asked you about X player that you trained in the pro? But I think

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coach Kalis, you know, that's how he usually leads off everything, So

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I think they're aware of it. And but it's you know, I think to get the players respect, you have to earn it. I don't think

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nowadays you get respect from your title. You know, you have to form

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a relationship. You know, no matter what your job is, if you're

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a school teacher, a police officer, or whatever is, it's it's about

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you know. Coach cal constantly say it's about the relationships. Your time in

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the NBA, well even before that, when you started out in college.

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I mean you've worked with some a bunch of Hall of famers. It's a

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crazy I made a list of both coaches and players. What are some of

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the lessons that guys like Jerry West, Hubey Brown, George Carl have taught

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you that you've kind of taken from them in your coaching career, that it

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made you better. You learned something different from from everybody. Uh, from

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hughby Brown, it was you know, I just you know, his leadership ability and ability is like a disciplinary and it was just it was just amazing.

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You know. That was one of my first experiences in the NBA and

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just watching the way he led the team, and it was a eye opening

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experience, you know, because in college I worked for Jerry Tarkanian, who took a little bit of a different approach. So I say, I think

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in coaching, you have to coach to your personnel and if you're not,

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you know, genuine to yourself. The players realize that he spent a long

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stretch in Denver. They just won the NBA title. How cool is it

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to see because I know, you a big amazing I still know some of

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the assistant coaches there, and uh, it's just it's just great for Denver.

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I mean, and they're a fun team to watch. They're very easy

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team to like. So and uh, you know, they played played team

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basketball so I was very happy for him, and they got Jamal Murray player

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as well, you know, obviously played a big role in that. I think he's a perfect compliment to Yoka's just because you know it as good as

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the offense is that everyone's bogs down in a moment and Jamal can create his

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offense and himself. Yeah, and that's I think the perfect fit. Yeah,

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we saw that here in his year in Lexington, that's for sure.

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Some of the other guys want to touch on that you coach a guy DeMarcus

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Cousins. Yeah, it seems like you had a really strong relationship. He's

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talked to some reporters and had things to say when you were hired. What

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is your relationship with DeMarcus. I actually was in Taiwan training players and working

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with a pro team, and I heard rumors he may go over there,

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and this was, you know, months ago, and that was the last

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time I spoke with them. And I had a lot of respect for DeMarcus

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because when I went to Sacramento, I got there and he was training in

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Las Vegas, and you know, they sent me to Las Vegas to hang

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out and he was training an impact and in the offseason. He plays basketball

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every day and I heard different things about de Marcus and it was like just

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amazing the dedication to the game that he had. He really loves basketball and

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it's just you know, it was just a pleasure with him. Is just

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finding ways because he was so versatible to use him offensively. It's literally the

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year in Sacramento. I think it was one of his better years. And

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you know, you know at the g average about you know, twenty six,

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twenty seven points a game, and it was it was fun to watch.

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He had a connection to some other Kentucky guys too, specifically on that

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team right because it was both Willie Colli Stunt and well Willie. Willie another

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one ended up one of my favorites. Spent a lot of time with Willie,

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and Willie would would get me in trouble because he worked with another coach,

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but afterwards he'd always seek me out. And same thing that you know,

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the management's office oversee the court and they always said I was working Willie

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too much and pushing on and said it's not me. Willie's you know,

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coming to me and asked to work. And he'd want to join in the

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workouts with the guards, and so another one that I think, you know,

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really had a passion for the game. And then I think that the

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NBA experience is interesting because we mentioned Rondo there as well. Yeah, you're

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probably not in that stage of his career developing him a lot, are you,

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because he's Well, that's what people don't quite realize. Like I coached

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in college for like fifteen years before I went to the NBA, and uh,

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you know, Rondo was in a contract. You're in Sacramento. His

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family wasn't there. My family wasn't there. They stayed in Denver, I

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think my son's senior year of high school. And every night, you know,

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Rondo would come back about nine o'clock and you know, his trainer within

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ourself and three of us would be in the gym from about nine o'clock to

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eleven eleven thirty every night, and so we're doing one on one stuff.

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This trainer and I would take turns guarding him. And like people don't realize.

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They don't think Rondo is a good shooter, like and drills, Rondo

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is a great shop. Just the amount of time they put in on a

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day to day basis and by the time they're thirty two thirty three. They're

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they're so skilled in shooting, passing, tripling the basketball. So even a

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veteran like like Rondo. I spent a lot of time with him, and

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uh, like I said, he you know, was you know a student

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of the game. And your first thing you mentioned anybody is you know, they mentioned how smart he is. So did you talk to any of those

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guys I have? I asked yesterday for his number. If anyone has this

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number, they can give it to me. Another one I had was Patrick Patrick Patterson the Clippers and just what a pro. Uh, you know,

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his role there. Sometimes he played thirty minutes, sometimes he wouldn't play,

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but it's work ethic never changed. Had a great impact on the team and

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a great ability to you know, he became a great three point shooter later

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in his career. Yeah. And and just you know, just a class

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you know, pros pro. You mentioned working at out some players in Taiwan.

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You haven't, I guess you know you when was your last year?

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It was with the Clippers in the yes, when with Doc Robers. Yeah,

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with so that that Since then, what have you been doing. I've

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trained different players, I've coached in Mexico, U tried to make you know,

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coaching and some adventures kind of put them together and trained different NBA players

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and what is the well, what's coaching in Mexico Taiwan? Like where where

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all did you travel? And did you have any funny? I loved it.

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I enjoyed being in Mexico and coaching. Uh. And we had seven

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Americans on the team Jaalen Tate in Arkansas, Smith from Arizona, so it's

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good players. And in Taiwan, I was just kind of consulted with the

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new Taipei Kings or in the finals right now. Uh and and train you

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know, different different players as well. So it was a good experience.

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Broadly speaking, in development, what are kind of your philosophies if that makes

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sense, what are your goals? Like I said, it's just you.

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You want what you do in developmental transfer to a game. That's basically the

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end all and be all of it. You know, It's like it's it's

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if you're working with players and it doesn't show up in the game, you

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know, then you know, I don't think you're accomplishing your goal. What

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have you seen major I mean there have been major changes in basketball as a

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whole in your in your career since you started. What are what are some

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things that you focus on now in training that weren't as biggest emphasis when you

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started. Well, I think one of the biggest changes is, you know,

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it's positionless basketball. It's you know, teams are playing five out offensively,

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teams are playing faster, so you know, the you know, big

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part of training is you know, training skill more shooting, IQ, passing,

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h you know before it was a little bit more athleticism, playing with

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bigger players, getting the ball inside. How much inside has Riley given you

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in the transition to Yeah, no, and he's helped quite a bit with

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it. And you know he uh, you know, just in all areas,

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you know, from just where things are to to you know, uh,

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the coaches everything, it's it's it's it's it's made it much easier transition,

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just getting me set up on my computer and different things. You haven't

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got any of his emails or anything. With the having a young roster,

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a bunch of incoming freshmen, how exciting is that for you from a developmental

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piece, you kind of get to shape these guys throughout this season. Yes,

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players are are very advanced like the players were getting right now they've been

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in the spotlights and you know they've been freshmen in high school and I've been

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again just amazed with their ability. You know, our players we have are

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very talented, you know, So it's it's it's been fun working with him.

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I do want to take a minute and kind of we talked about the

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Hall of Fame coaches you worked with, Jocho, were with a bunch of

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players like Carmelo Anthony for many years. What was what was that like a

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great score? You know, it's I had him younger in his career and

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uh, you know, just you know, it was just a player that

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you know, again that creates your offense. You couldn't guard him one on

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one, so you know, we'd get the ball inside to him and it

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would always cause two players to go to him, and he created for others. So you know, it's basically the hubbub our offense and get score in

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so many different ways. And then Marcus Camby was on that team. He

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was well, again, very high IQ player, great passer. I think

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he was defensive player the Year for US the year in Denver. So you

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you fixed all the things coach kel got wrong when he was at Massachusetts another

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one, Marcus one of one of the smartest players I've coached. Well,

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what do you take do you how much do you learn from players? Oh,

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immensely, especially at the NBA level. Of the difference coaching in the

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NBA is you're you're coaching a Chauncey Bill Upsets, you know played for you

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know five Hall of Fame coaches himself, and you know Larry Brown and et

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cetera. So it's the schematic knowledge of NBA players is much higher than college

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players. And you know, that's one of the biggest differences as well in

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that in that career when we talked about the nuggets of things, you were

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on some staffs that went through some transitions. We're talking about Carmelo him being

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traded out, Alan iverson coming in. I mean, those are very different

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dynamics you go through. What lessons do you learn from that when they're kind

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of is a new roster you deal with because now, obviously as a new

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coach you're dealing with a completely Yeah, I think that this I've been fortunate

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and I don't know. I think ago sixteen of eighteen years I made the

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playoffs here and I don't think my first year, we didn't make it one

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year in Sacramento. Is I find when your your teams are successful, you

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just kind of figure your team mode coach colleague and say, you know,

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you go in there thinking these ten things are important, this is what you're

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gonna do. When you figure out eight of them don't work and then these

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two when you add three, it's is you know, players change, injuries.

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Is the teams are able to figure it out. And sometimes an injury

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makes your team better. Sometimes it hurts you. So when when you when

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you figure out what works for your team, Uh, that's usually when you

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have a good year. Is there a good example? Last one question for

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you that you can think of that you draw on recently, You draw on

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from the fact that it happened. You know this year you thought you were

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going to be this particularly with one of those teams, and you ended up

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being completely something different. Uh. Just your one thing was with DeMarcus and

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Sacramento. You know it's like we when we're in Denver, we kind of

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played you know, quote quote modern basketball. Then we played very fast space

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the court you know, led the NBA in scoring. Uh, and we

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just like to base an attack and and Sacramento that that didn't really work for

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us is we were trying to get it and players are getting each other's way.

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And we just figured out with the Marcus, if he did a you

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know, DHO or set up pick and roll and and they iced it threw

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it back, he was unstoppable. Any basic action with him in it couldn't

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be guarded. And that was much better than spacing for us. And once

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we figured that out, Marcus took off and our team did much better. So I think, you know, a big part of coaching is just noticing

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what works and what doesn't work. I look forward to watching you guys find

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out what we're experience for this upcoming team, and you got to do that

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pretty soon when you make that trip to candidate. Yeah quick. Thank you

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very much,