Behind the Scenes with JB Bickerstaff: Day 2
July 4, 2006

(On day two of practice)
I think things are going pretty good. Obviously things are better than yesterday, we put in a little structure. Guys know what they are doing now and where to go. Our offense, which is surprising, might be better than our defense and that might be accredited to the guys we have on the offensive end of the floor. Raymond (Felton)’s with us, Sean (May), Adam (Morrison), Alan (Anderson) - those guys are pretty good offensively. Normally it’s the other way around, your defense is better than you offense. We need to work on it because going to be one of the things we do, is defend get after people.

(On the young players benefiting from playing with the older players)
I think it helps a lot. For one, you get to see where you stand against those guys and two, better players make you better -- that’s what good players do. Raymond is one of the best at making his teammates better. Sean makes his teammates better, so I think it’s helps them. It makes them look a whole lot better too because they don’t have to carry so much pressure and they can just be who they are. If you’re a rebounder, you rebound, if you’re a shooter, you shoot, so I think those guys just take a lot of pressure off of you and just let you can be who you are.

(On Curtis Withers)
He's like Reggie Evans who plays for the Denver Nuggets. He rebounds the ball, he does all the dirty work. he’ll dive on the floor, and he’ll take the hard foul. There’s a place for a guy like that in the league -- you have to find the right place. Reggie’s been fortunate enough to find the right place. Curtis is getting an opportunity here and I don’t think you can ask for a better opportunity.

(On Sean May)
He’s been good. He’s been out for six months, so he’s going to be a little rusty. He’s kept working on his game. He’s the kind of guy that’s a basketball player -- he doesn’t have to be able to shoot it, he doesn’t have to be able to handle it, he just makes basketball plays. He will set the screen, he will get the rebound, he’ll get the loose ball, and he’ll make the right pass. That helps him. He hurt his ankle a little bit, but for the most part Sean’s been really good. He’s starting to get his touch back -- he’ll go to the offensive rebounds. We’re glad to have him back.

(On Adam Morrison and Ryan Hollins)
Adam is a scoring threat as soon as he steps on the floor based on reputation alone, so that spaces your defense and makes your offense more fluid because you have more room to move. But he’s also very good at finding the open guy. He’s not going to force shots -- he’s looking to get his teammates involved. Ryan is just a live body. He’s seven feet tall, he’s athletic, he blocks shots, he runs the floor and he has a presence in the paint. I think at that size that’s what you have to do. You have to be a presence so that when offensive players come in there as soon as they see you coming, they have to start making decisions and just not get easy baskets. When they have to make decisions, you can force more turnovers and get easy buckets going the other way.

(On Emeka)
Emeka’s doing good. We are trying to limit how much full court stuff he does, obviously we are working him back in. He’s getting better, he’s getting the ball on the block, he’s got to get his timing and rhythm back, obviously being out so long, but he’s making strides. He’s come a long way since the first day we had him on the floor back in June, the way he is now. He just has to play more five-on-five to get his game and rhythm back.

(On Brett Blizzard)
Brett’s a guy who can shoot it from anywhere. He can handle and put the ball on the floor a lot better than a lot of people think too. He can play some point guard, he can play some shooting guard, but he’s going to space the floor. He’s one of those guys you can bring in and he’s going to turn it around. He can turn the game around with his ability to shoot.

(On his opportunity to play here after three years in Italy)
I think he has a chance. When you can shoot the ball like that and when you have a feel like that, I think you always have a chance. But what it comes down to, just like everybody else who’s been overseas, you have to find the right spot. What we are going to do here is give him the opportunity to play. He’s going to play with us and we will see him everyday. He will go down to Orlando and he will show all the teams around the league what he is able to do. Like I said you cannot ask for any more than opportunity.