BATON ROUGE – Prior to Thursday afternoon’s men’s basketball practice head coach Johnny Jones visited with the media to review what has been taking place in the practice gymnasium.
The Tigers will conclude their first week of practice with a Friday early morning practice before taking Saturday and Sunday before resuming next Monday to start a busy week that will feature two days of practice that will be open to NBA scouts and the local team men’s and women’s media day on Wednesday, Oct. 14.
The Tigers open the regular season on Nov. 13 at 8 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center against McNeese State in a game televised by ESPNU. Season tickets are available for purchase at LSUtix.net and updates on the basketball program can be found at www.Facebook.com/LSUBasketball and on Twitter @LSUBasketball.
Here are some of the excerpts from Coach Jones’ media conference Thursday afternoon:
HEAD COACH JOHNNY JONES
Opening Statement…
“We’ve been pleased after our third day of practice with the intensity level … I think what’s glaring for us is the benefit we had from our early trip and having an opportunity to practice in the summer and being further along than normal or usual. We are looking forward to continuing to make progress these next couple of days this week. It’s been a little bit different without Ben Simmons out there competing at the level that we would expect because of a minor setback with a little injury. We do expect him to practice (Thursday) and a little more (Friday) before we take the weekend off. I’ve been really pleased with our guys and the effort and excitement they’ve brought to practice each day.”
On having the opportunity to look at different guys with Simmons not practicing…
“It’s something that wouldn’t happen normally. We look at it as though you’re in mid-season, be it foul trouble or injury without him. How would we look, and what type of rotations would we get into? We’ve been able to do that. I thought our guys did a good job of picking things up. I think we learned even more about our team the last couple of days, which has been good.”
On difference in preseason because of the Australia trip compared to other preseasons …
“It’s just the learning curve, especially in the beginning—fundamentals; you’re obviously implementing that every day. It’s the little things you are trying to put in whether it be offensively, defensively and drill work. Those two things we had an opportunity to cover during our 10 practices prior to leaving and playing in the exhibition games overseas. With that, introducing it again at the start of our practice, we were further along because guys were familiar with it. They had done it. We’ve been through it. We’ve been with that, the practices that we had and things we introduce. I thought they were so much further along than normal and it’s been good for them because of the hours and time and energy they put in prior to.”
On Simmons’ want to be practicing…
“I can tell you he’s chomping at the bit to get out there. We want to make sure that we bring him back and give him the ample amount of time to heal from his injury. If we were in season, he may have to have the ability to take the approach a little bit differently. We wanted to make sure that we got all of the pictures and x-rays and everything to make sure that there wasn’t anything structural. After that, we wanted to make sure he had a chance to get fully heal and not put himself in a situation where he was aggravating the injury and not being able to come back full speed. We have time on our side. We don’t’ play a regular season game until Nov. 13. We wanted to exercise on the side and be precautious enough to make sure that we don’t put him in any tough position.”
On having six guards competing for playing time…
“It’s good having guys not only in body but guys that are very capable ball-handlers, scorers and guys that are real threats out there on the floor and can play multiple positions. That helps, especially with this team. That’s an advantage for us, and it’s something that I think we see in practice each day that we have an opportunity to appreciate. I think that’s going to help us. It gives us a certain amount of depth. Sometimes you can have the bodies, but some guys have the limitations or are doing other things. These guys can handle the ball, are good passers and have the ability to create, and that helps us as a team.”
Players used word fun describing working together at practice …
“The great thing is, which you want to experience and embrace, the guys enjoy being around each other. They enjoy each other’s company. They don’t mind the hard work. It’s part of it. They don’t mind how competitive they are against each other each day at practice and how they are challenged. That’s a good thing, but I think the fun part is enjoying the moment, the process, the journey and the people you are around. When you hear those things, I get excited because that’s about being a family and all of the things we generally talk about as a program and teaching how that goes a long way. We are glad that our guys are having a great experience along the way, especially the journey that they are on.”
On Elbert Robinson III improvements …
“A lot of times it’s tough. Big guys develop a little bit differently. The transition sometimes is a little bit different for them. I’m hopeful that because of the year that Elbert had the opportunity to play; and then being under our strength and conditioning program … that it’s starting to take place right now. He’s benefitting from the time in the weight room and the special attention that he’s been getting. He’s made some really positive strides for us. He’s been a bright spot these first three days in practice.”
On expectations for the 2015-16 basketball season…
“It’s not necessarily the pressure. Our deal and our focus is that we have to make sure that we understand that it’s a journey. It’s a long season. We have to make sure that we are as great as we possibly can be and are trying to get better every day at practice. We have to make sure that we have that approach in our games as well and try to be the best that we can be. Then, we will celebrate at the end of the season when we have our annual banquet. In between that, you can’t really worry about it. The only thing you can do is try to put your best foot forward day-in and day-out. Things have a tendency of taking care of themselves because we will have a lot of different changes, a lot of things happen throughout a season. We don’t want our guys trying to hang their hats on just particular thing. Winning is important to us. That’s big. It’s in all of these guys DNA, and they understand how important it is to do that. We have to make sure we understand the process along the way.”
On Josh Gray‘s practices thus far…
“… He’s been in the same system for a couple of years. I think he’s had an opportunity to focus on his season and the things he did last year, the role he played and how he can get better. He’s been more relaxed. He’s taking some pressure off of himself in terms of what was expected in his performance and that he didn’t have to come in here averaging 33 points per game like he did in junior college to have a positive effect on our team. I think with that, he’s grown up a lot. I think even with the last little episode, that was a great learning experience for him as well. He’s been even more focused since them.”
On Craig Victor and his potential to impact the rebounding game…
“There was a huge void lost last year in Jarell Martin and Jordan Mickey leaving. They were two big guys who led us in scoring, rebounding, blocked shots. Now, when you talk about the addition of Ben (Simmons), Craig Victor being the other post guy that should be able to help us defend in the post. He should be able to help us rebound. He’s a guy who has an excellent mid-range shot. He’s a good passer as well and has some leadership skills. We are expecting some big things. Although he’s never played a minute, he’s going to be a redshirt sophomore for us this season. We are going to be expecting some big things from him. We feel like he is very capable producing those, and he’s looking forward to it.”