[外電] Inside Hornets Practice: October 18, 2004
原文出自 Hornets.com
http://www.nba.com/hornets/news/quotes_041018.html
Inside Hornets Practice: October 18, 2004
The Hornets first week of preseason play has come and gone and
with a 2-1 record and solid performances by rookie guard J.R.
Smith, Head Coach Byron Scott is pleased with his team's
progress so far. But he admits his team has a long way to go.
Hornets.com caught up with Coach Scott and Smith after practice
on October 18 to ask them about how the preseason is going so
far, the development of J.R. Smith and the importance of playing
as hard as you can, even in the preseason.
Head Coach Byron Scott
(on J.R. Smith’s work with the first team accelerating his
development)
I think so. He’s playing with a veteran group and it’s
definitely helping him plus the fact that Baron (Davis) has
kind of taken him under his wing and he’s showing him little
things on both ends of the court. I think that’s accelerated
his progress even more. But the kid is very intelligent. He
really understands the game pretty well for a 19-year-old and
the things that we give him he pretty much tries to apply it
right away. He’s a fast learner.
(on having any doubts because Smith is still a teenager)
I really didn’t have any trepidations about it. I thought in
the summer league that he showed me he could play. I just
didn’t know how much he’d be able to play this year but I
knew he would get some playing time. Each day he’s getting
better and better. He’s at the point right now where he’s
a guy that I know we can depend on to get some playing time.
(on if he’ll give Smith more playing time than originally
thought)
I think so. Initially, I was thinking that if I could just
get his feet wet every half for about four, five or six minutes,
that would be significant enough but with the way he’s been
playing the way I think he’ll continue to play, he’s going to
probably get more time than that.
(on J.R. guarding Iverson)
I don’t think he’s seen anybody like Allen, so it’s definitely
going to be a challenge for him. It’s going to be different for
him to guard somebody that quick and small who can score the way
he can score so it’s going to be a little different for him. I
don’t think he’ll start on him. .I think Baron will start on
him because Allen’s running more at point guard right now. The
“Rook” is definitely going to get a shot at him just to get a
taste of playing against a former NBA MVP. He’s one of the best
in this league.
(on being pleased with the 2-1 start in the preseason)
I’m happy. I was a little disappointed after the Chicago game,
after really reviewing the tape. I just didn’t think we played
as hard as we were capable of playing. The guys made up for it
the next game. I was just showing guys the tape and like I always
tell them, the tape doesn’t lie and it’ll tell me if you’re
playing hard or not and I saw that tape and I wasn’t very pleased
with it. I told them that morning about that and we watched some
of the game together as a group and they could see that we didn’t
play as hard as we could play and we still barely lost in overtime.
They came out the next game and played much harder and that’s a
good sign. I’m very pleased with our progress so far. We’ve
got a long way to go, there’s no doubt about that but we’ve
made some great strides early this season.
(on the cuts to the roster that are going to have to be made)
Making cuts is always difficult, period. This year’s probably
going to be even tougher because we have a lot of skilled players
at a lot of positions. I’m going to keep the best 12-14 players
that we can keep. It’s not going to go by positions so it’s
going to be interesting. All these guys have had their chances
and they’ve all done pretty well so the cuts are going to be
very, very tough for me but, again, I’ve got to try to make
sure that I put the best product that we can put out there on
the basketball court.
(on when Rodney Rogers and David Wesley might return from injury)
I’m still thinking that there’s a possibility they might come
back when we go on our west coast trip but again if either one
of those guys feels anything, they’ve got to sit down. They’ve
got to just rest and get 110 percent. We don’t really necessarily
need them October 23 or 24. We need them November 3. The only
thing is that they’ll probably be behind as far as conditioning
is concerned but both of those guys are extremely smart, veteran
guys so they’ll pick up the offense. Rodney knows it and David
was doing a great job with it when he was out here.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Guard J.R. Smith
(on keeping his momentum going after first three games)
I’m just trying to stay humble, like the guys have been telling
me. I had a good couple of games but I just try to stay humble,
listen to my teammates. They’ve been there and they’ve had
their big games so I just listen to them and that’s helped me
out a lot.
(on showing that he’s hungry for the opportunity to play well)
It definitely helps because it pushes them as well as pushes
myself because they know I’m fighting for somebody’s job and
they’re fighting to keep their job. It’s a battle both ways
but you couldn’t tell if you were just sitting here watching
practice because everybody might be laughing and joking around
but at the same time everybody’s trying to get their work in.
(on getting better by playing with the first team)
I’ve gotten a lot better. If I had taken this into my last year
in high school, I would’ve been probably the number one draft
pick. Just watching these guys and the pace that they go at, and
not going 100 miles per hour, helps me a lot.
(on putting into perspective that he’s going from high school
to playing against Allen Iverson)
When I was in high school, there were people wearing Allen Iverson
jerseys walking around and now I’m playing against him. It’s
totally different.
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