What's going on with Nic?

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translated from french:


"They tell me I have Pippen's potential" November 18

In my previous post I left you with the France team. After the world cup I had a little rest, I've stayed for about 10 days in France. After the game against Turkey I had McMillan on the phone who told me to come back as late as possible to Portland. The opening was on the 28th, he told me not to return before the 26th, to rest, to stay with my family. I had a good break : at first complete rest, then I've run a bit the last 5 days. There were ten days I did not touch the ball. I needed it because I had a month and a half, two months with the France team and there was a season following up.

The come back was fine. The coach had tweaked the trainings a bit for Rudy and me for the first week. But he still made me do his famous test I told you about [french, the test is 5 series of running coast to coast back and forth in less that 1 minute with a 2 minute break between the series]. I was asking "Why do I have to?" And he was just replying "do it". I succeeded but I suffered, unlike the first year. Last year, I didn't have to do it after the Euro. This year, the first two series were fine, the third one so-so, and the last one, wow... I looked like a tall guy running slow... I thought I should have run a bit during my ten days off. Then I went back on track smoothly, but the first week was not easy to come back in.

The coach's attitude towards me has not changed since the exit meetings : I have to do in defense what I'm used to do, and on offense I have to be more and more present. I had to work on my offensive game. Already In the France team I've worked hard on it. In the national team I played a lot on pick-and-rolls and I've worked it in situation. And the other thing that we insisted a lot on with Portland this year is the inside post-up. For example last year in the playoffs the Suns put Nash on me and we didn't take advantage of it. And this year's objective is whenever there's a little guy on me we need to play him right away. The entire month of October I have almost only worked that. First game, they put me on Nash : inside right away. In New York they put Felton on me, same, the first two plays of the game were straight away post-ups. Against the Lakers it was Fisher, same. These are players they don't put on Andre Miller who's very offensive and very good at the post-up. They don't put them on Brandon Roy either. So guys like Nash, etc. will defend on me. The guy who's only defending or almost. Except now I'm trying to be an extra option.

On post-ups, the move I've worked the most is the fadeaway. With my size, if I can perfect this shot then it will really be useful. Moreover, the big 3s, guys like Durant, Carmelo, Granger, they still have a good "midrange" shot and a good fadeaway. So if I can work that and add it to my game, it can look good. I haven't only worked this shot. I alternate to create a complete post-up "package". I also try to go to the rim, etc. If I can develop this game already at 21, it can look really nice.

I've also worked a bit on the perimeter game, on things I already knew before, but that I want to do better : working on pick-and-rolls, off the screen, curls... In Le Mans I was often in this kind of situations, unlike the post-up. So on the outside game I had the basic knowledge that I'm trying to improve and refine.

In short, I'm working a bit of everything ! I'd like to have a wide offensive arsenal. Like Pippen did. He was a big defender, but on offense he kind of knew how to do everything. There are many people in Portland who were there when he was playing, they tell me I have the potential, with an extra shot. Well he had a shot but I'm a bit more of a shooter than him. But he had a toughness, a science of the game, that were crazy. I still watch videos of him now. I watch them all alone, to learn. I also asked the staff some videos of when he was in Portland. He really is a player I try to inspire of. People often ask me why my favorite player is not Jordan. Bah, I try to inspire of someone who can be immitated ! Jordan, well ... even Kobe Bryant will not succeed. Though he's very good, very, very good. He's the one who comes closest to Jordan, but he's a copy in the sense that he can be nearly as good, or as good, but not quite the same, he's not the same. But for me he's the best player in the world. LeBron James is super good, but for me it's Kobe Bryant.

To talk about this season I think I've worked a lot, and I find my first games interesting. Promising. But well, people say "yeah that's good, you did a nice little season start". Yeah, but we had a dozen games and there are 70 remaining. So I don't day-dream. But it's true that there is change from last year. I can see that in the playing time. I'm at 29 minutes per game, but there are two games where I messed up and almost didn't play, 13 and 18 minutes I think, against Chicago and Milwaukee. These two games, I was not in at all. In fact, it's the morning of the Chicago game that we'd learned the death of Maurice Lucas. He was in the staff since McMillan's arrival. This year was the first year he wasn't with us because of his illness. Last year, he wasn't there all the time but he was often present. And the first year, I've always said Monty Williams helped me move forward but Maurice Lucas helped me tremendously to fit in too. Initially during trainings, I was on the side, I wasn't getting in, and he has talked to me a lot. He was telling me what to do. He was a wiseman in the way he was talking. He was someone I respected and I still respect, that I loved and still love. When we've learned that he was leaving the hospital, that the doctors couldn't do anything anymore for him, we were told it was a matter of days or even weeks. And we didn't think it would just be a matter of hours... We were all very touched. That's why in Chicago we were completely absent in the match from A to Z. We gave 30, we were completely lost. I'm someone emotional and it's true that this game and the Milwaukee one (the next day), I was completely elsewhere. I managed to pull myself together then, but it felt strange to lose someone like him.

So, then I managed to come back to a good level, and all in all, it's true that I am having a good start of season. Things have changed, I also feel that they're more looking for me offensively and in the systems. Apart from the two games, I'm taking 13 or 14 shots on average. And I warn you no greedy shots... Well, it's true that against Detroit, I only took 11 shots and I told myself "I didn't shoot a lot today." The time I was happy was against Phoenix, we were down by 1 with 3 minutes to go, and I scored 11 points in our 14-2. In fact, now, whenever it's hot in the last quarter, I'm on the court. Whereas before, I was just coming for defensive sequences, like in handball. In offense I was going out, in defense I was going in. So it's really positive, I'm playing more, I have more responsibilities on offense, including in the late game.

On the other side, I'm fortunate Monty is gone, he'd have crushed me on some sequences. Because I admit that, as a result, sometimes I lose focus. For example against Toronto, Roy was out early in the game and offensively I was fine. I must have had 8 pts in a row and there were three minutes in the quarter. So I told myself "well, he's out, you're fine, that's three systems in a row they announced for you" and I began to relax in defense, I admit. That game, if Monty had been there he would have crushed me. At the end of the 1st quarter I thought in my head "Wow, you have to get a bit back in"... Because at the end, the score was like 18-17 and we had led like 16 to 9. But I started to mess up. Anyways, I always take it for myself when we get rebuked because of defense. It's my job ! To take the example of Pippen, he could score 17 pts per game, he's the one who defended on Magic. He might score 25 pts against NY, he was the one to take John Starks, who would rotate on Ewing and that would do all that stuff. I have to be good on both sides, and not lose focus because it's starting to get nice on offense. That's how I can become a special player. That's what McMillan wants from me. He says "counts the number of players who play on both sides of the court." And consistently, we're not talking about guys who are strong in attack and can play 5 minutes of heavy defense. The guys who do that during the whole game offense and defense, they are not many. And I want to be this kind of player, who does his job in defense and who can bring offensively.

But even if Monty Williams is gone, there's now McMillan who makes remarks immediately when I did not defend enough. Sometimes a tap on the hand with an eye that means "come on, now please you're going" is enough to understand. And then there are games like Oklahoma that we've lost in overtime, where I wasn't really in offense mode, the goal was just to defend on Durant. I had played 47 minutes on 53, I was KO after that. In addition we were playing a back-to-back next, Toronto and the Lakers, I was dead. Against the Lakers at home it was my fifth game in seven days. We were dead, we've been holding for a quarter, then we got crushed.

So to finish this first long post, I'll conclude with our objectives. We want to win our division (Minnesota, Denver, Oklahoma, Utah). There may be not be any particularly scary team but I think it's the most balanced division. Last year, we were the only division with 4 teams with 50 victories. I'm not saying we will do it, but we can try to win the division. That would allow us to be in the top three in the West and have the homecourt advantage on one or two rounds. Then the goal is to go as far as possible. I say this every year, but when you're there, why not play for the big trophy.

Individually, I want to keep progressing, be stronger than last year, stronger than yesterday. But my main objective this year is very stupid, it's to play 82 games. The first year I've played 79, and last year... well. By the way my shoulder, it's forgotten ! So it's not worth to talk. By the way I mentionned the MIP title, but I said it without saying it. A journalist asked me my goals and I told him, like here, that I wanted to be one of those who have progressed the most and become a better player. But I never said I wanted the MIP, I just wanted to be one of the guys who made the most progress this year. And actually, if you're the one who progressed the most, well you get the MIP title. Well, if I get it I won't sniff at it either, but I mostly want to be better than before. I want to pass a step. I am no longer considered a youth, I am not a rookie anymore, I'm not a sophomore. I'm an NBA player now. It's been two years since I came here, I'm in the 5, I am the starting winger of a competitive team in the Western Conference, they're counting on me. So I really have to progress, pass a step to remain at that level. I must be better than before because last year I was not at the top of what I could do. I'm playing 30, 35 minutes. Travis Outlaw, Martell Webster aren't there anymore, we aren't 3 anymore for the position 3, so I have to take the responsibility. I'm the 3, whereas last year we did not know if it was Martell or me. This year it's me, so I have to pass a step and to be better than before.