Chris Finch Interview talking about Harden,Capela,Pap and D-Mo

Ummm 30 seconds uhhh in ummm and uhhh I'm not ummm sure uhhh I can uhhh continue on ummm.

 

Thought it was just me:grin:

 

Spain doesn't have any young talent (lol)

 

Worst interview ever....couldn't make it through. If someone could paraphrase and fall on the grenade for all of us, it would be much appreciated.

 

That was tough to listen to. I couldn't even make it through.

 

J.R. has met his match. Never thought I would see the day.

 

Uhhh... I guess I'll wait for your transcribed version, J.R. (hopefully without the um's and uh's).

 

who's this clown interviewer? i cringed and turned it off after 30 seconds

 

LOL poor guy is either nervous or unfocused

Is he Jason Friedman's replacement? ... I hope he writes well

 

um.. did he say "monies" ?

 

It turned into a good interview at the half way mark. At the end Chris talked about effort and accountability on defense that is needed to win a championship. He talked highly of DMO. My guess is he will be the defensive coach replacement for Sampson.

 

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

(D-League): How is coaching different in a league where most of the players have the primary goal of moving up to the next level and is there a sense that team ball is second?

Coaching in the D-League was one of the best coaching experiences that I've ever had and I've had a lot of different ones. It really made me a better coach. The reason it makes you a better coach is because you have to continually re-shape and re-shuffle your team throughout the season. You have to find ways to get to the same results with different raw materials. Most leagues, let's say in Europe, if we had a problem with a player or he wasn't doing what we thought he was gonna do, we could change him, bring in a new one. Usually you're getting rid of your problems. In the D-League, you're always losing your best players. That alone presented a huge challenge. You usually get good ones to replace them but the whole foundation of your team is built around your best players. When they go, you have to change without losing your integrity or your philosophy. You do that several times a year. That's a unique challenge to the league.

I had someone tell me one time the D-League is the only league in the world where at the end of training camp, you have 15-20 guys all trying to make the team and the day after training camp, if they all make the team, they want to be somewhere else. They don't want to be in the D-League. They want to be in the NBA, a buyout to go to Europe. That's not too far from the truth. ... There's a lot of challenges in the D-League that makes it a unique place but I also think makes it a great platform for evaluating talent, a great platform for coaches, refs, players, even for front office people to come through to the NBA, which is really the purpose it serves.

If you have a young, European talent who might not be good enough for the NBA, how would you go about distinguishing, say, go to the D-League or stay in Europe and develop, with the end goal being the NBA.

If they're on the NBA radar and have NBA aspirations, they should spend at least one, if not two years in the D-League. If you push it to three, four, five years in the D-League, you've probably missed your chance. European kids, it's similar. Maybe they spend less time. Maybe they come over for a year after they're somewhat established in Europe. I think European big guys would do well in the D-League because the D-League tends to have more undersized athletic bigs. European players with size and with skill will do very well and will learn to compete against high level athletes every single night. A guy from our GB setup who I think would have benefited greatly from the D-League is a guy like Dan Clark. He's highly skilled, understands the game, legitimate size, and could get a chance to show that. There's more movement than ever but I think you'll see more and more coming to the D-League, especially with the financial troubles in Europe, NBA teams that are involved in one-on-one with their D-League, ...let's recruit them, put them down there, develop them, and see if they have NBA potential in a low-risk environment. We don't have to sign them to a big contract. We can see if it works out.

Thoughts/expectations for Kostas Papanikolaou?

High expectations but we know there will be a learning curve he'll go through, adjusting to life in the NBA and life in America. We're gonna need him to play and play well, with the way our roster is structured. He's perfect for us off the bench. He'll be able to play two or three different positions. We like to play small. We can see us using him as a small four. We love his activity, we love his toughness, we love the fact he can impact the game without the ball in his hand a ton, a perfect compliment alongside James and Dwight. We love his IQ. More than anything, he wins. He has those winning intangibles. Never been the star but one of the coaches most important pieces if you would ask the coach. That speaks a lot about him as a player, certainly as a person. We hope to benefit from that. If we can get him up to speed quickly and he can do what we think he can do, we'll be fine.

Donatas Motiejunas, some ups and downs with the club. Thoughts about him and his role?

Big year for D-Mo. He's been frustrated with his role over the last couple years but we're pretty happy with where he's been and where he's come from. He puts a lot of pressure on himself, he works so hard and wants it so badly. We see him along with Terrence Jones as a two-headed four-man. He's a great compliment to Dwight. He struggles to shoot the ball. He's not the classic stretch four. Doesn't have the shot that most European bigs can have but he can do a lot of other things. He can put the ball on the deck, he's a clever passer, very good low-post scorer, runs the floor extremely well, smart defender, understands pick-n-roll coverages, understands team defense. We just need him to rebound a little better, make shots on a more consistent basis from the perimeter, stay out of foul trouble, which has plagued him. He plays so physical that in a way you can in Europe that he may be slower to adjust to the calls here in the U.S.. If he can do those things and take a step forward, I know he had a good summer, in many ways he can be a big piece of what we're trying to do, whether as a starter or off the bench.

Clint Capela, what do you want him to work on? I assume he's staying here in Europe?

We're excited to have him and think he fits our system well. He has to work on his physicality. He's a tough kid, no one questions his toughness, but he has to be more physical. Similar with D-Mo. D-Mo is tough but he has to learn to play with physicality and not have it affect his game. Clint will have to adjust to that. We want him to do what he does well. We're not trying to change them too much. They have a skill set that got them to this level and we want to continue to develop that. Run the floor, finish around the rim and be a rim protector on the level of Serge Ibaka. We see that type of potential. He has a soft touch. We can see how far we can stretch him out, with jumpers in and around the paint. There's a little we've been able to work with. He picks things up quickly. He's fit in and has adjusted socially. Intelligent kid and has a lot going for him. Big upside. He'll spend bulk of the year in the D-League. We'll see where he is at the end of the year. We expect him to make big strides. He's staying here, no doubt.

Alessandro Gentile, how excited was the organization to get a guy like him?

Really excited. I got to work with him at last year's Euro Camp. I like him a lot. He fits our system, again, very well. High basketball IQ, has toughness. What I love about him is he's deceptive. He's a little bit stronger, tougher, more athletic than people think than when they first look at him. He would have been a really good option for us this year. We tried to get him this year. We need that cleverness at the wing position. A guy who has some play-making to him as well as a guy who can finish and operate in tight spots. ...

James stated in July, "Dwight and I are the cornerstones, the rest are role players or pieces that complete our team." Rumors afterward were that Harden and Howard are separatists - how does the coaching staff deal with this issue?

The separatists comments are not true. They're highly engaged with their teammates. Anyone who has been around Dwight knows he's super inclusive. Very good natured and fun and a funny guy. He likes to hold court and the guys like to give and take with him. James is not quite as vigorous(?) but equally engaged with his teammates. Those were taken out of context. Unfortunate but we don't pay much attention to it because we know the truth here. As far as role player comment, the reality is, the bulk of the NBA is role players. That's not a bad thing. Players at the highest level need to know who they are, what they do well, how they can help the team win, how they can keep a job and how they can stay on the floor. There's always a natural pecking order. I think what James and Dwight were saying is the pressure is on them to deliver. They were taking responsibility for the team's results much more so than they were trying to say they're more important than anyone else. They get the big contracts, who deal with media scrutiny and get the ball in crunch time so they're the ones who feel the pressure and have to live up to that and it's a coming of age mentality for them. We're gonna live and die with their performances. I think that was what the comment was about.

How good was it for James to play for Team USA and be the captain and play quite impressively there, looking forward to what you guys hope is a big year?

James had an amazing summer, capped off with the gold medal in Spain. It was a process of work and commitment that led up to that. He had great training periods going into it. He dropped some weight, looked and felt good. He was ready, his mind in the right spot. When Durant decided to withdraw, I was proud of James for the way he stepped up in a leadership capacity. ... People forget how young some of these guys are. James went from number three in OKC to number one here to sharing number one and now a chance to lead a team. That's all inside 2 1/2 years. That's a lot of things in the growth of a young player that will only hopefully benefit him and us.

First round exit vs. Portland. Biggest reason why you guys make the Finals and things to do to win the championship?

The biggest reason we'll make the Finals is because we will have an improved defensive approach and attitude. We're committed to running and our style of play but we have to compliment that with a tougher defensive mindset, higher level of accountability across our players and being able to get our defense in the top ten. If we can do that and balance our offense, we'll have a chance to make a good run.

 

Finch no talk good with media. Bickerstaff talks gooder but don't know if he coach good.

We miss Kelvin Sampson. Sampson talk good and folksy and coach good.

 

How do people like this get interview shows? Wow.

 

lol turned it off after 20 seconds.

 

Contract to have your own show is waiting. You are a lock!

 

Gentile is a wing? I thought he was a 1/2...

Big, small, fast, 3D? What is the guy???

 

You're confusing him with Sergio Llull, who is a 6-3 PG/SG.

Gentile is a 6-7 SG/SF who has gotten some comparisons to Carlos Delfino.