Wednesday Practice Report

For the second straight day, the Wolves battled on the practice floor. Check out the interviews from Ryan Gomes and head coach Kurt Rambis after an intense scrimmage on Wednesday.

Gomes on the benefits of scrimmaging:
"I think that the best way for us to get accustomed to each other throughout the season and this preseason is by playing with each other, getting to know guys strengths, weaknesses, where they like to catch the ball, favorite spots on the floor, pick and roll, you know different situations."

Gomes on the mindset after a game:
"No matter win or loss, good game or bad game, that game is behind us, we don't get that time back. You can't focus on it too much; of course you take some good out of it as far as what we did team wise, individually you can't worry about it because a new game approaches, new schemes, new defenses all that stuff come in, so we have to worry about Toronto and then after that we have to look at who is ahead of us."

Gomes on the chemistry of the team:
"I think the chemistry is good, but it is still early, we've only had one game, we are going to have challenges, we're going to hit rough spots, maybe throughout the game or throughout the season. We have to become stronger as a team and just let that stuff fall off of us."

Gomes on the new-look offense:
"This offense where everybody has to move, usually you are waiting to get into the pick and roll or receive the ball but in this everybody has to be moving together and be aware of everybody at all times. With this offense everybody is moving and flowing at the same time."

Head Coach Kurt Rambis

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Rambis on Jefferson's health thus far:
"[Al] looks tremendous, he's been working his butt off. I'm asking him to do a lot of things that he's not used to doing, but he's willing to suffer through the growing pains, he's willing to make mistakes, willing to let his game grow. He's really working hard on his stamina and he's really pushing himself. He came to camp a little bit behind because of his knee injury, but everyday he pushes himself. Yesterday, for example, after practice he jumped on the treadmill and did some extra running, and he's really focusing on keep his weight down, he really wants to do well in this league."

Rambis on Jefferson's ability to score:
"He has a tremendous knack for getting his defender out of position and working his way around them, whether it's one defender or two defenders he can just fit himself in little gaps and find a way to score. He's doing a great job in camp just playing through fouls, he just keeps playing, keeps rebound and just keeps going at it."

Rambis on the new offense:
"[The triangle offense is] just a format to play out of, it gives everybody a sense of where everybody else is on the floor, where there teammates are so they can hit them with passes, keeps their spacing so they can read the defense and just play out of it. As they grow and develop, there is just a multitude of things that they can do once they get comfortable with how to play out of it."

Rambis on the progression of Flynn:
"[Flynn] is trying to learn the most difficult position in the NBA to learn. Offensively and defensively it's going to be tough for him. I keep encouraging him to execute our offense. That's the initial phase of our offensive thrust is to get us organized so everybody knows how we are playing and spots on the floor. I need him to be a leader on the floor and to show his team how to play and how to execute and how to play together, that's part of his role as a leader and an orchestrator out there."

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