Backstage with Bernie: Training Camp, Day 1
October 3, 2006

The Bobcats hit the court for their first day of practice at Trask Coliseum on the campus of UNC Wilmington in Wilmington, NC, on Tuesday. General Manager & Head Coach Bernie Bickerstaff had this to say following the first day of practice:

(On the first day of practice)
It was a good first day, better than some I’ve been involved with. I think what helped is that we have guys going into that third year with this team. I think that helps. We have a group that we can put out on the floor. The other guys just emulate, so that helps.

(On the most important part of camp)
Conditioning is important. We’re ahead of the game, since a lot of the guys are in that third year. We normally have the guys that write up the plays that we put in, but we’ll just have the guys that are new to write them up and turn them in. It was really a good practice.

(On resting injuries)
We’re supposed to go light in the morning according to the CBA rules and go hard this evening.

(On Emeka Okafor)
Just to be out there makes him look good. That’s a change for him since he was injured so much last season. His endurance is not there, but he was working on getting up and down the court. He got his quickness back and his weight down.

(On Sean May’s weight loss)
He has lost weight. He’s down to his fighting weight, so he’s got his quickness. It’s good to have them out there, just like Emeka. Emeka and Sean are our possession guys.

(On challenging Emeka to get back to where he was as a rookie)
He has to do it. What I did was remind him of what he did as a rookie, and I think Emeka understands that. He’s a competitive young man, and he has a lot of pride. It’s my job to mention it, and he’s quite capable of hearing me. I don’t think it’s anything that I’m doing that is an incentive to him. I think it all comes from Emeka.

(On the play of the rookies)
They are rookies. I don’t think we can get too enamored over a rookie at this point on the first day. They played well, but they played like rookies.

(On what impresses him about this year’s team)
What was impressive to me, and what’s always impressive and what we’re trying to instill is that we’ve got to maintain. We have one ingredient that differentiates us from a lot of teams, and that is our commitment to effort every day and every night. That is the one thing that I don’t want them to lose. Where we’ve got to become better is in our skill consistency. Whatever we do, whatever that thing is that makes us different as a basketball player, we’ve got to be able to count on that consistently. We’ve got to get better in our possessions and rebounding, and we’ve got to do a better job defensively. I think it is important for me to mention it, but I’m very comfortable that they won’t forget that commitment. This team has had every reason to lie down and leave early, and they’ve never done it. If you look back on the history, we’re spoiled. There have been games that have been blow-outs. You go home and think about it, and it would be easy to give up. But this is not the case with this basketball team.

(On finishing strong the past two seasons, despite being out of playoff contention)
They are a special group in that way.

(On what he hopes to get out of training camp)
I think conditioning. Just re-familiarizing ourselves with what we do. Just immerse our groups so that all of the guys are playing together. We’ve got a group that we put on the floor, and we tell them to run something that we ran last year, and they get right to it. It really helps us. The conditioning, familiarizing ourselves with each other and the exhibition game are our main focuses.

(On Primoz Brezec sitting out)
I think he got sick. Probably too much running (laughs). Everybody knows how to hide it better than Primoz (laughs). But Primoz has had a long summer, with the World Games. I understand that he’s tired. He’s a guy that you never have to worry about. If anything, you have to tone him down because he wants to play hard all the time.

(On holding training camp in Wilmington for the second straight year)
It was good to us; it was nice. Everything was great. Everybody was accommodating, and there’s nice weather and no distractions. It was good.