Q&A With Toros Head Coach Brad Jones
Head Coach Brad Jones and the Toros practiced yesterday at the Spurs practice facility and he took some time after practice to answer some questions for Spurs.com.
What do you feel your team gets by coming out and working out up here at the Spurs practice facility?
"I think it a terrific thing for our D-League guys. The one thing the D-League sells is hope for the guys that are in the D-League. To have a relationship with the Spurs where they invite us to come practice with R.C. (Buford), Danny (Ferry), Dennis (Lindsey), Coach Pop and with the entire coaching staff watching. It's a nice perk we have up in Austin that most team don't have. We feel very fortunate. We had a terrific practice today and at the end of the day, if you can't have a terrific practice in front of these guys, you don't belong in the D-League. It's really good. The Spurs guys are great and really give us support in order for us to be successful up there."
On today's practice…
"Today was a very good practice. Gary (Neal) was in the first part of practice and we found out on the way down that Cory (Joseph) was going to be a part of it. Both of those guys did terrific. Cory really impressed me today. He stepped right in and finds out this morning when he gets here after getting off the charter that now he's going to be on commercial flights and going to Austin. We get to go to Reno next week instead of going to all these places they (Spurs) go. But I thought, Cory was terrific today in practice. Hopefully, he carries that over to as we go forward."
On Gary Neal's performance in practice…
"I think he looks good. Yesterday, he came out and made everything he threw up, which is the Gary that everybody is used to seeing. Part of the reason why I think they (Spurs) wanted him with us is to get a hard practice in yesterday. Today was even harder than yesterday. Today he didn't make as many, but I thought overall he looked better with his legs and getting his wind. It's part of the process that after being out for 3-4 weeks now, just getting out and going up and down. We've had two pretty hard practices, so I think he'll be ready."
What do you feel like you need to work with Cory Joseph when he's working with you guys?
"I watched a little bit of him at Texas last year. He hasn't done a whole lot. We didn't have the summer league. So this morning when I found out, luckily we were here with the Spurs personnel guys with the coaches and I've been able to talk to all them. The consensus is and the biggest thing is he just needs to play. Four days of training camp and three games in four nights every week, I think they felt like he just needs to get out and get what he got today. We have a stretch of seven games in 12 days. He's going to get a lot of playing time and get out on the court as long as he is with us. He'll have a chance to get out and get a feel for what it takes. He'll have some bad moments and he'll have some good moments, but as everybody is watching the NBA, there are bad moments and there's good moments. So it's part of him to figure it out."
What's the learning process going to be like for Joseph?
"That's why we are here. That's why the D-League is here. To send him down here and let him get his nose bloodied a little bit. He'll have some nights where he looks like he's going to beat out Tony Parker and then he'll have some nights where he looks like I can beat him out. That's part of the reason why the Spurs put into the Toros what they do, for these things."
Does proximity help being close to San Antonio?
"Yes, we are very fortunate. In the D-League, there are teams in Bismarck, North Dakota and they're affiliated with the Golden State Warriors. So there's not a real close proximity there. We're fortunate that we're 80 miles down the road. Gary came up himself yesterday and practiced with us and got to drive back and spend the night in his own bed. Then, obviously we came down today and made a day of it. I think that's the big mission of what the Spurs are doing trying to do. To keep the D-League team close, so we can have this back and forth."
Why should people come from San Antonio come up to Cedar Park and see the Toros play?
"First of all, we've got a really good group of guys right now. We're fortunate to have the best record in the league, we are 9-3 in the D-League. We're going to have Cory up there. Even without those guys, we've got Lance Thomas, who was waived by the New Orleans Hornets. He's an NBA player. We've got Da'sean Butler, who is a little bit like what we've talked about with some of these other things. He just needs to get out and play. He's now played two games with us and in his second game, he was really, really good. I've always said, when you come out now and watch these guys, then when they're in the NBA, you say, ‘Hey, I saw them two or three years ago at the Cedar Park Center playing for the Austin Toros.' That's a cool thing to be able say and at the end of the day, I think the style of basketball is good. So that's why you should come out and see us."
