Wittman Conference Call 10-1

Wolves head coach Randy Wittman took a conference call with selected media members after completing Minnesota's second practice of the day in Istanbul.

Q: On his impressions of Istanbul:
A: What a place. You hear people talk about this city, but you just have to be here to (understand it). You're talking 16 million people in this town, and it's not like that's all suburbs. It's just amazing, the city, how it's built. There are very few spots of land anywhere. Houses are built one on top of the other, and it's just incredible for me. We have a long commute because of the traffic ... So on the hour-long bus ride we take, the (players) are taking in the sights. There are things that a lot of us have never seen before, and we're amazed.

Q: On if the team will be able to get as much accomplished with the two-hour commute:
A: We might be a little behind, but it doesn't matter if we're here or back home, (because of) the newness of the team and the number of new players we have. You have to take it slower than you would with a team that has been together, that knows the system. I'm basically putting in a whole new system of play, that even the guys that were here (don't) completely (know). We have to be slow in the process of teaching and not get too far ahead of ourselves. Even though we have two games over here, we're basically looking to use games as a practice tool. We have to look at a lot of people in game action, and I have to make decisions and see people play and not have five, six, seven or eight guys play.

Q: On if he's putting new schemes and such in that weren't used last year:
A: Yeah, I'm putting in a lot of stuff that I have had, but didn't get an opportunity to get in when I took over. You just don't have enough practice time when you take over in the middle of the year. There are a few things we did last year that we'll do this year, but here we're putting in all of the new things.

Q: On what he's emphasizing the most during the first few days of camp:
A: Number one is togetherness, and responding together as a team. We're competing and getting after each other; in the first few days, I can't fault any of the effort thus far. I was a little concerned about that coming over here. It will be interesting tomorrow to see if this time change* starts to catch up with us. We all kind of went to bed last night and woke up at two or three in the morning wide-awake. So we're still trying to adjust to that, but they have come into the gym and really competed against each other. That's mainly what I want to get. There is competition here, and a lot of things open for those that want to take advantage of it, but then we also have to develop that bond together as a team.
*Istanbul is eight hours ahead of Minneapolis.

Q: On if Wittman gets the sense that the players appreciate the experience of being in a foreign country.
A: I do. Yes. You never know what to expect, especially in two-a-day training camp situations. The grind of going through that takes a lot out of you, and with an hour commute each way on top of that. But on Sunday, there was nobody out working, and it took us 15 minutes to get to the arena, but today we went in the morning and it was an hour to get through traffic. Sometimes you worry about how they will handle it, but there are so many things to look at while you're driving, it's incredible. It's hard to explain the city, but there are rolling hills, it's right on the sea, the bridges, the ships ... it's just breathtaking, and I think that's taking (the player's) minds off the (commute).

Q: On if there are any injuries.
A: Nope, nope, pretty good. Don't be bringing those injuries up ... We're pretty healthy. Don't jinx us. But it's just the normal bumps and bruises from competing. Craig (Smith) is making great progress here. He actually did some stuff on the side with the trainers today. He's a lot farther along from where I though he'd be after he turned his ankle. I don't really anticipate him (playing over here). I don't want this thing to be a situation where we don't give him enough time to heal. We're going to error on the side of caution there.