HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS On Terry Stotts’ overall impression… “I was really pleased with it overall, I thought we were defensively kind of in and out, we probably weren’t as disciplined in some situations as we should have been. Offensively for the most part we played good basketball, we kind of got into a little lull like we were just trying to go at the mismatches and stuff like that. But other than that I thought it was a solid game offensively, like I said I was really pleased with the group at the end.” On Anfernee Simons’ minutes… “He did a good job. You know he’s running the offense and he knows the position from an offensive standpoint, defensively you could tell just like he did against Denver he’s been picking up full court and trying to initiate a little bit of the activity at the defensive end. But I thought he had a good night, it was good to see him make some shots, he struggled shooting the ball against Denver so he shot the ball a lot yesterday in practice and it was good to see him shoot the ball tonight.” On the decision making of who’s on the court and when… “Other than playing Skal (Labissiere) and Zach (Collins) together for that little stretch, I wanted to look at that, other than that with those guys down [CJ McCollum, Damian Lillard, and Hassan Whiteside] and Nassir going out, it was more about rotating players and evening out the minutes, I didn’t want to extend anyone’s minutes too much, but I did want Anfernee (Simons) to play an extended stretch in the third quarter and a little bit into the fourth, I thought that would be a good test for him. But other than that, other combinations, Mario (Hezonja) started in four, in essence that’s kind of with Dame, CJ, and Hassan, you might see that lineup so I wanted to see how Mario was at four.” On Nassir Little’s minutes… “Yeah, I was hoping to get him at least 20 minutes.” On Zach Collins and Skal Labissiere… “I thought that Zach and Skal’s length was an obvious advantage against (Maccabi) Haifa, I thought they utilized it well as far as playing together. Both of them have the ability to use their length inside, they’re both a threat outside, so to be honest it didn’t really stick out one way or the other but they play a lot together in practice too.”
ANFERNEE SIMONS What it does for you to get an extended run of minutes? “It helps me out a lot on my conditioning. Working out when I’m tired, directing everybody, and just getting better at that. I think it was good for me. On improvement this offseason as more of a vocal leader? “Just being uncomfortable; I’m not the most talkative person, so talking anyway I can, that was a big step for me” How would you describe the team’s pace this year compared to last year? “I think we play much faster. Coach emphasized that we need to get it out and running. Last year we kind of slowed it down to where one person can take it out, but this year anybody can take it out to get going. I feel like that helped me out a lot as well because I like to run and play fast. Get up the court fast to keep the defense off balance. On having to figure things out with Dame (Lillard) and CJ (McCollum) out? “Yeah, it’s just constant communication. Especially in the third quarter we talked to each other. Got down on defense, started guarding, getting physical, and talking a lot. I think that helped us out going into the third quarter and extending the lead.”
ZACH COLLINS Were you happy with how you played? Yeah, I got my shot blocked a lot which is frustrating because I know that shouldn’t happen and after running the play back in my head I know what I should have done. The young guys played a lot tonight and I think that we did a good job of playing how the Blazers are supposed to play, pushing the pace and running our sets correctly for the most part.” Getting blocked is it just having to go up stronger? “Yeah, going up stronger, I should have gone up stronger on the second one I didn’t really expect, I thought I would get it off quick but he jumped early and I didn’t see that.” What did you think about playing without Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum “We were very comfortable, especially with Ant (Anfernee Simons) running the show, Hoodie (Rodney Hood) out there, Mario (Hezonja) and Kent (Bazemore), they all can run the offense and they all could push the pace and make sure we’re on the right spot so we were very comfortable out there.” Is there values to learn from playing without them? “For sure, they’re going to carry us all season so we have to make sure that we’re ready to score when they get doubled or ready to make a play when they can’t get the ball. Learning how to play without them and learning on how to not depend on them every night is going to be big.” Is that sort of the goal this preseason is playing with or without them? “I guess, I think the main goal is that we have new guys here so we have to understand the system and learn how to play with each other, that’s really what preseason is going to do for us. Since I’ve been here this is probably the most important preseason for the Blazers because the last couple years we’ve all been together for so long. The main goal is to learn how to play with each other.” How have you seen that chemistry develop after two preseason games, especially with the new guys? We’ve seen it, we get here early in September and I think we build that chemistry there. I think it shows on the court, its obviously going to take a couple of games and we are going to be a much better team in April than we are now but it takes time, it takes experience and we’re going to be fun.”
NASSIR LITTLE On Training Camp Training camp was really good, just learned a lot. You know, trying to get better each and every day, so I thought it was productive for me. On what’s been the biggest transition Nothing has been super difficult, but the biggest thing is probably just the physicality of it all. With my strength I’m capable of it, just trying to figure out how to manage it, not to be too strong or too physical, but also be physical enough to be dominant. On work ethic being a focus Yeah, just locking in, making sure I’m paying attention when they’re going through stuff, getting extra shots up every day after practice, working on the little things, so that I can improve each and every day. On his ankle It’s been doing good; it was just a minor tweak. On playing Saturday Saturday, no, probably not but the following week I should be good. Whether he needed to get an x-ray No, I don’t need one, that’s how minor it is. On how his ankle feels It’s just a little sore, but nothing major. On whether he was disappointed on missing out on minutes Yeah, but you know, I’ll have a long career, I’m confident in that, so there will definitely be more games down the road. On whether any players have taken him under their wing Everybody, we have a great group of veterans. Everybody is giving me some nuggets. That’s going to help me go a long way in my career, so I’m grateful for everybody.
