Postgame Quotes - December 01, 2013

(On Drummond at 20 years old): “Joe (Dumars) told me he was on an upswing like that but I didn’t know. I watched him a few times but I didn’t know he was going to be as good as he is now. But trust me, he reminds me every day, the double-doubles he has. He likes it. He enjoys rebounding a lot. He’s just a good kid. As I told him during the game, this is what makes you a better player. You have to become a better foul shooter because these are things that happen and these are things that get you taken out of the game. You become a better foul shooter, you can continue playing the whole time.”

(On comparing Drummond to Moses Malone): “I hope Moses (Malone) is not watching this press conference. I don’t remember Moses at 20. Moses was a relentless rebounder, particularly on the offensive end and could post the ball and score the ball as well. I’m not going to compare him to Moses at this point because Moses is obviously a Hall of Famer and helped me win my only championship. I love Andre (Drummond) but Moses is my guy. I don’t think we’re going to talk about him in that category just yet. I think, as I said, Andre is really on the upswing as we can see, the way he plays. He plays with the fire in the game and he’s 20 years old. He’s just a kid. He’s got a lot of basketball left.”

(On free throws): "That's with anything, once you do something so many times, once you take so many shots it's just like second nature. You're just going to go up there and relax."

(On winning): "It was a great team win. For me, it was a good game for me; played well. I was in the right spots at the right times."

(On team improvement): "We have things that we can work on but its December now and we had a month of the season, so it takes time to play like that."

(On defense): "It's still coming along, our third quarter wasn't as good as our first half so that's something that we've been really slacking with since the season started; coming out in the third quarter. It's important now, we're a month in now, teams are going to start making their runs. So we want to be one of those top teams, then we have to start taking care of business."

(On Game): “Whether it is trying to get back on defense or trying to box people out. Whether it is trying to make sure a below average free throw shooter does not get and 1s, all those things. It is an accumulative effort and it starts with me."

(On Drummond foul strategy): "It is one of those ugly parts of the game. You do not really like doing it to be honest with you but it is a rule and it helped our team. He (Andre Drummond) has not been a good free throw shooter this year so we had to do what we had to do."

(On changing lineup): "It was really to try and help the team. I try to sell (Spencer) Hawes on a defensive roll. All five of those guys that start rightfully demand some shots and demand the ball. You try to get something that does not require anything in relation to having a play called for them and can just be a defensive type of player and mentality like Bruce Bowen was."

(On game): “It’s pretty obvious we need to come out better. We need to play better defense. We’re doing fine scoring the ball, it’s not the points, it’s our defense. We have to come together, stop penetration, stop their big men from scoring easily at the basket. It’s a team effort and we have to put the pieces together.”

(On Andre Drummond): “He’s tough. He’s big, he can rebound, he’s athletic, and he works hard. When you’re that big and you work that hard, that’s a good combination. He’s a great player. He did a good job of finishing tonight.”