transcript

David Griffin on the Pelicans Weekly Show – May 20, 2021

On how the team will approach this offseason: “Well, it's interesting, it doesn't actually change a great deal from what is ordinarily the case. It changes a great deal from what we did last year. The restrictions placed upon all the teams because of Covid and the different things that took place around the bubble made this past draft and free agent cycle very, very different. We had a two-week open transaction window prior to the start of training camp. Ordinarily, we have near 20 weeks to shape and change your roster. That's certainly going to be the case this year. So we get more on a schedule commensurate with what we've all known in the NBA, and what we're used to. Although it shifted a bit on the calendar, the process will be very similar. and I think that that bodes well for all of us because I think by and large teams understand this cadence better than what we had to go through last year.”

On what he likes to do in his free time away from the facility: “Well Daniel, that’s a great question. I wish I could tell you I had a really good answer for what to do with your free time, I don't really have that. What's happened with the league and the way the calendar works now, especially with national team play being as prominent as it is in our scouting, there's really not a big chunk of time, where there's not something going on. You take a week here, you take a week there, but it's not a situation where you have what used to be the month of August was your downtime and you really could address making big sweeping changes to your process internally, and spending a lot of time trying to evaluate how we get better in implementing change. We don't get those big blocks of time now. So you tried to do it in sort of an ongoing way. The one thing I can tell you for certain, Meredith, my wife and I will definitely spend a good deal of time, whatever time we do have in the Napa, Sonoma (California) area as she continues to grow her business, but that's a home away from home for us and we enjoy that area quite a bit.”

On how encouraging is it for Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson to hold team workouts this offseason: “Well, it's very encouraging that they shared it publicly. It's something that internally they've talked a great deal about. Both of those young players want to be leaders in this franchise, and they understand what that means. They understand there's a responsibility that comes with that and it's certainly exciting that they're sharing their approach to building this team into growing and leading, but we've started to see a lot of that behind the scenes already and see no reason to believe it won't continue. Obviously, as an organization, you want to support those efforts. So again, speaking to the offseason question you just asked, a great deal of our offseason will be spent watching those guys do what they're doing and watching them start to flex their leadership muscles and that's exciting for us."

On Kira Lewis Jr. getting a full offseason to develop his game:"Yeah, it's really a shame the first and second-year players this year in the NBA, were really at a disadvantage from first and second-year players that predated them. The Covid protocols changed everyone's offseason program to such a radical degree that I think both Jaxson (Hayes) and Nickeil (Alexander-Walker) had their growth stunted and their progress slowed. I think Kira (Lewis Jr.), Naji (Marshall) were in that boat this offseason. It's really, really detrimental to young players to not have that period of time to grow, because in that 19, 20, 21 age range, your game is just sort of exploding from your fingertips and you really don't even know what you're capable of yet. So for them to get back into a rhythm where they can work on their game in a very measured way, Kira in particular, having now learned the speed of the game, working with Coach Weatherspoon as he has on changing his pace as he adapts to the change of speed that he recognizes, I think is going to be critical. I think Naji getting a summer to work with Coach Vinson from a shooting perspective is going to be really invaluable. We're excited about what Nickeil and Jaxson are going to be able to do. Jaxson will actually play summer league with us as well. So we really feel like we're about to get into a period of time that we understand and have a firm grasp on and that's really going to (lead) to development.”

On what he liked about Didi Louzada’s play in the final few games this season:"Well, I think it's a fair point you made on the small sample size, but I also feel like what people don't see are some of the things we did get to see which was two years of his competition in Australia. I think what Didi showed as an on-ball defender did not surprise us in any way. Didi himself spoke as Kira (Lewis Jr.) did about the speed of the game, adjusting to the speed of the game. He's grateful that he got a couple games to really be on the floor and identify exactly what he was dealing with. It helps calibrate his offseason as well a little bit as he plays summer league with us. He knows what he needs to put more effort and energy into. His development over the last two years with the Sydney Kings, starting with Will Weaver, who's now an assistant coach in Houston, being his head coach, and Chris Pongrass, who was the CEO of that team from a front office perspective. They did a truly remarkable job with him and implementing the things we cared a great deal about, but putting him in position to grow and flourish as a player. Didi was challenged by a few injury issues this year in Australia. I think his shot mechanics regressed a little bit as a result, and I know that the season or rather the offseason spent with Fred Vinson is going to be very useful to him. We feel like what Didi showed more than anything else is what we already knew, and that's this is an elite on-ball defender and he just needs to grow and continue to develop in his overall game.”

On what he liked from Jaxson Hayes and Nickeil Alexander-Walker toward the end of the season:"First of all, the thing we saw that was the most encouraging is they both competed consistently. There's a difference between exhibiting talent and competing to win basketball games. I think young players by and large in the league when they first walk on the court, they're trying to prove to everyone they can play. ... Both of those kids have now gotten to the point where they know they can play, they know they've proven they can play, and what they're doing now is competing to win. It was really critical for us to see that transition in that moment of realization in both of them and as we met with each of them in their exit interviews, Trajan (Langdon) and I were both really encouraged by their growth and development in that way, and I know the coaching staff is as well.”

On Willy Hernangómez’s approach to the game and what his impact was on the team:"His approach to the game is fantastic because he's all about the team but what stands out to me about Billy in a way that's truly unique is his approach to being alive every day is really significant. Billy comes in this gym with a smile on his face that's genuine and real every day. He lives in a sense of gratitude that is truly unique and it was so welcome this particular season above all other seasons. The grind this season was for everyone, their inability to get away from it, the fact that negativity would fester for so long because there was no way to cleanse yourself of it. When someone like Billy walks in the gym every day, and it's just a ray of sunshine is a human being, everyone came to rely on his presence, because you felt better when he was present. He drew out both sides of our locker room, veterans, young guys. He was a conduit for literally everyone in a very positive way, and we're truly excited about his offseason with Spain. He's going to play for the national team there. They have a very real chance to make noise in the Olympics and Billy's going to play meaningful basketball games and he's going to go there even though we can't sign him officially necessarily before he leaves for Spain. He's going to go there identifying himself as a Pelican and that's important to us.”

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Transcript: David Griffin on the New Orleans Pelicans Weekly Show - May 20, 2021

New Orleans Pelicans GM Trajan Langdon joined Daniel Sallerson and Jim Eichenhofer on a recent Pelicans Podcast. The trio discussed the signing of Didi Louzada along with the growth of Naji Marshall, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Jaxson Hayes. Check out the full interview below:

Daniel Sallerson: Trajan First of all, happy gameday. How are you?
Langdon: Doing well Daniel, thanks for having me on. Excited for our game tonight against Denver. It'll be a good test for us.

Sallerson: Absolutely. First off, what's the weather like in Denver? I know it's about 85 here in New Orleans is it at least a little bit warm for you guys?
Langdon: Yeah, it's not that. No. It’s a little chilly here. Rained all night last night, a little bit overcast. But you know, I guess I wasn't here with the team three, four weeks ago and supposedly was really, really nice, like shorts and T-shirt weather. And unfortunately, it's not that today.

Sallerson: Gotcha. Well, I didn't mean to rub it in. I was just wanting to check on you and make sure you're doing good.
Trajan: We'll get back to that heat and humidity soon enough.

Sallerson: Absolutely. Well, let's talk about the signing of Didi Louzada. I know he was drafted on draft night two years ago, 35th overall and an acquisition from Atlanta. But why now? Why sign him to the contract now with 11 games to go?
Langdon: Yeah, I think for us, you know, we thought a lot about after we, after we drafted him, we knew we wanted to have him one year in Sydney. And we even talked about this last offseason. But with COVID, we just thought it made more sense to keep him with Sydney another season because we didn't know what this season in the NBA would look like. So we knew, keeping him there with a familiar group, and having him play a little bit more when we didn't know what this would look like. We had to make that decision really, really early in the process before we knew what this season was going to look like. And we talked to Didi agent. We said, Look, if we have the opportunity to bring you over this season, after you've played some games, and had an opportunity to really have a second season and help your team out, then we'd want to do that. And I think this opportunity arose. And we wanted to keep our word to do that to bring them over now. And it also gives us a chance to keep working with him through the summer, prepare him for the hopeful (NBA) Summer League after the draft. And that'll give him a lot more preparation time going into next season.

Sallerson: What did you see from him in those, I guess two years, you would say in Sydney? I know you'd mentioned COVID and how much he really couldn't play during that time. But what did you see from him that you really liked about his game in the two years he was there in Australia?
Langdon: I think coming from the league that he played in before, the Brazilian League, and playing in Franca, obviously didn't have the coaching and the development that he needed to really step up and play at this level. So playing for Will Weaver the first season and I think he learned a lot of the communication that’s used at a pro level. So understanding different terminology on both sides of the floor is a big thing for players that haven't been in the NBA, to help them translate their games. And I think learning that now for a year and a half, playing against grown men. The NBL is a physical league. And to play in the playoffs last year and into the finals gave him that experience of playing very important games throughout the season and having an important role. And I think he's gonna play a similar role with us that he played down there with Sidney which is you know, really defending being asked to defend one of the better perimeter players night in and night out, make shots and make some plays when you have him off the dribble. I think his feel for the game has gotten better. Decision Making has gotten better. And you know, he's a little bit of a streaky shooter right now. And we got to we got to get that a little bit more consistent. But the defensive effort is what we have really loved about Didi the whole time, and that never waned down in Australia.

Sallerson: And I know it can get complicated with health and safety protocols and with only 11 games ago but when will we might see Didi on the court as far as seeing him play a few games here before the season ends?
Langdon: Yeah, I think the biggest thing for us is just getting him dressed out. He's obviously past quarantine. So that's when we signed him to the contract. He's on a, he's got to get his work visa which is why he's not on the trip because without a work visa you can't play in games. So we got to get that done. And we're working on that currently because we couldn't start working on that until he signed his contract. So not sure the timing there but hopefully we can get that by the time next week rolls around and I hate to project but hopefully at some point next week you'll see him in uniform.

Jim Eichenhofer: Trajan, you mentioned that these last couple seasons which have been obviously very odd for everyone in basketball in terms of the way that the seasons have kind of unfolded. You said that Didi has improved in far as far as communication and learning the terminology of basketball. And that kind of thing at the pro level, what do you think are some of the things that you've seen him in his progression? You know, I think Daniel and I are most familiar with him as far as seeing him play in Summer League two years ago, where he was really impressive, but what do you think are some of the things that he's made progress on in his game over these last couple of years since then?
Langdon: Yeah, I think it's important at our level to be an active defender on and off the ball. He's always been really good on the ball, getting through ball screens, and even chasing and blowing up DHO handoffs, things like that. But it's, you know, in his first season, kind of off the ball in the low-man position, rotating over to a big rolling down the lane, you know, tagging getting back axing out, cracking, back, rebounding. Those are the things he struggled with early on that I assume he didn't see a lot of in the Brazilian League. And I think as last year ended and this year went on, you can see his focus off the ball has gotten better. His positioning, the small things that might go unnoticed, but really helped win games on the defensive end, he has really taken steps in. I think he's simplified his game on the offensive end. He's not trying to do too much, letting the game come to him a little bit more. Thinking shot first, and then driving after. I think he has a little bit more confidence in the shot this year than he had last year. But there, there are some things that you know, this is going to be a different level than the NBL down in Sydney. And so there's going to be different things he's going to have to really work on. And again, that's why we wanted to get him here now, so he has a full summer to be incorporated with our staff. Have them learn his game and him learn what we're going to expect from him. And so he's in a much better place in terms of being prepared going into next season.

Eichenhofer: I imagine, you know, you just touched on this, that you guys are excited and enthusiastic about the ability for him to have the whole offseason and I know everyone around basketball is looking forward to a more normal kind of summer than what we've experienced the you know, the last couple of years. Are there certain things though, that he is going to focus on as far as his offseason work and or when he plays in summer league? Because I'm sure people are going to look forward to being able to watch him play in summer league if hopefully, there is, you know, a return to however that's conducted this year?
Langdon: Yeah, I think, you know, the one thing I failed to mention earlier, is he's done an amazing job working on his body and his strength. I think when we drafted him, he was 185 lbs. He's around 210 lbs now, and it's all muscle, and he's become a better athlete, he's become stronger. And that's really helped his ability to drive the ball on offense, to protect the ball. And then defensively, to really guard in space and not get knocked back when players try to shove off or create separation. So those are things that I think he you know, kudos to him, he's really, really, last summer he spent a lot of time on the court and in the weight room, and really dedicated himself to getting better. I think just learning the game at this level, again, the game is faster, the closeouts are longer, you have a lot more people to shoot the ball, guys are bigger and longer. So he’s just going to have to get acclimated to that this style of play in this level of play. And I think we're going to want a lot of our young guys in the gym throughout the summer. So him playing against, and competing with, and working out with those guys, I think will help get them acclimated to that change.

Sallerson: Before we get to some of the other guys, when it comes to when he is able to get on the court, how are you going to evaluate him in such a short amount of time? Are you focusing on him as an individual, whether it's defense or offense? Or is more importantly, how he complements some of the other guys or how they complement him? Whether it's BI (Brandon Ingram) and Zion (Williamson) on the court at the same time, or just how he meshes with the team? How do you find the balance of what you're evaluating just from the few games he might play in this season?
Langdon: I think it's just if he gets a chance to get on the court is just get out there and feel the game. Make the right play. He's going to be in a very similar role that he was down in Sydney. And it's defend on one end. And then if you get a shot, take it if not drive a close out and make the right play whether it's finished in the rim or kicking out to an open shooter. So I think he's, he's been in those situations and he's been in important games. So I know he is super excited to play in these games. But those are the things in a nutshell that we would hope to see if you get some games this year. And then we'll hope to build on that over the summer.

Sallerson: A couple more questions for pelicans General Manager Trajan Langdon here on the Pelicans Podcast, you know there's some other young guys too that have been very impressive. And we got to start with Naji Marshall, the two-way player to a contract player from Xavier. Look, I feel like it's rare in this league to see the amount of impact the two-way guy has had on a team as far as minutes played, what he's been able to do on the court. What have you seen from Naji that's kind of led him to have the success he's had so far with the Pelicans?
Langdon: You know, I give Naji a ton of credit. He has worked since day one, he has embraced our coaching staff and our performance staff in terms of giving him what he's going to need to, to be able to transition to this level and to be able to compete and produce. And obviously, for the first part of the season, we were full strength. And he didn't get the opportunity to show that but he continued to work in the weight room and on the court. And then he was very receptive, and embraced the opportunity to go to the bubble and play with our G league team there. And I think that is kind of what has set the table for how well he has played with us upon returning. So we thought he played very well on the bubble, helped us be one of the better teams there. And even though we got knocked out early, I thought we played some really good basketball, and it was largely due to the way he played on both ends of the floor. And then he came back and didn't get the opportunity to right away, but stayed ready. And all of a sudden, we get this flurry of injuries. And, you know, a lot of players don't always get the opportunity as a two-way. And then he was blessed with that. And kudos to him. Like I said before, he's taken advantage of that opportunity. And, and it's really helped us and played well.

Eichenhofer: I think we've seen, you know, an obvious leap from the guys that were picked last year in the draft or two years ago, I guess it is now in term. And everyone's talked about Zion in terms of just how much better of a player he's been this year, and just the jump that he's made. But I wanted to ask you about Jaxson Hayes and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, I guess we could probably start with Jaxson. What have you been the most pleased with as far as just the strides that he's made from the beginning of this season until now?
Langdon: I think Jaxson's mentality has changed. I think, obviously, there was a change in in coaching style, from last year to this year, coming from offensively to defensively slanted staffs. And we knew that change would take a second to be embraced by some of our players. And, you know, to Jaxson's credit, he has really embraced working outside of the lines. So really getting himself in better shape, getting stronger, I think those are the things that have impacted his increased productivity in his play as of late. But for him it’s his consistency. He'll have some really good games or he'll have some really good halves and won't be as productive in the second half or in the next game. So I think for him is, look, let's, let's take a game where you get 15 (points) and seven (rebounds), and let's do the same thing to the next game. Or take a half where you go seven and five, and then both do the same thing in the second half. So it's keeping him focused, keeping them driven. But, you know, he’s young. This is a different monster playing inside in the NBA. You know, he had to face DeMarcus Cousins the other day, who is a big, physical type body. Obviously, with a lot of experience in the league, and Jaxson is only a year and a half in and still 20 years old. So he's still working on that. His body hasn't reached maturity yet. That's going to take some time but he is putting the work in and this experience is all going to pay off here soon.

Eichenhofer: as far as Nickeil goes, obviously he's out right now and it's really unfortunate that he was he had to miss the stretch of games. But before then it seemed like he was really making progress and he's had some really standout games this season. What have you seen as far as just the progress and improvements that he's made in year two?
Langdon: Nickeil is the definition of consistency. He comes in every day, he puts the work in. Very disciplined in terms of his off the court habits. And he's obviously there's a changeover in the coaching staff is always going to be somewhat impactful to a young player. You have one staff that is showing him one thing and you develop relationships last year and then you have to you know, change over and kind of start a new in his second season. But I think he's done great with that, hasn't been a hiccup at all. And like you said he's been better, he has progressed he's been more productive. He's been a more confident player for us and was playing his best basketball before his injury and I feel bad for him. But we're super excited to have him back. We miss him, because he just does so much for us on the court on both ends. He's a guy that scored 30-plus in a couple games and is capable of that on any given night. But is also capable of guarding one of the better perimeter defenders on the other end. So we've been excited about his progress and super excited about getting them back here.

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Transcript: Trajan Langdon on the Pelicans Podcast - April 28, 2021

David Griffin on the Pelicans Weekly Show – March 4, 2021

On the differences of this NBA season and his takeaways from the first half of the season:“Yeah, I think everybody in our positions around the league is experiencing something unlike anything they've ever seen before. So it almost doesn't matter how long you've been in the league. This is a first-time generational type of situation for everyone. I think it's remarkable what our players have been able to do league-wide in terms of showing up every night under these circumstances. The testing that is required, the grind that these kids are having to go through on a daily basis, I don't think people have nearly enough appreciation for how hard it is just to get through this season, let alone succeed during this season. I think, by and large, we've been building in the right direction, and I'm grateful for that.”

On Aaron Nelson and the outstanding performance the Pelicans training staff has done this season: “Yeah, I think Aaron (Nelson) and his team have done a remarkable job. First, from a COVID perspective - and just to give people some insights - these guys are testing twice a day. On off days, if they want to come in and treat in the morning, they have to take a test that takes 30 minutes to get back into the building. JJ Redick explained it to me as, on my off day, I show up to the building three times because of testing that that's complicated and what happens there. The one thing that's universal that all teams around the league is that Aaron Nelson or the person in his position have to be there every single day, all three times that any player shows up at the building. So you're talking about a group of people that literally will not get a single day off the entire NBA season, and people don't even think for a second about how grueling that would be for people in those positions, because everyone rightly thinks about the player's perspective, and I think that's really important. But Aaron and his staff have been there with those players and coaches every day, every step of the way. When this All-Star break starts, Aaron's going to have to be the one, making sure everybody's testing every day and following up on that. So he still won't get a day off. It is remarkable the ask that's being made of staff and players. Again I'm, grateful we have the group we do. Tom Maystadt and his team and that side of the house, they've done a remarkable job. Aaron and Daniel Bove and the performance side. Stan Williams, Jason Sumerlin, Jana Austin, Mike Montgomery. We've got really, really special people in that room, and it shows in the fact that they've kept guys in the shape they have.”

On the Pelicans inconsistent play and the youth on the roster: “Yeah, I think it is. I think Zion was fairly prescient when he said we're really close. We then showed up and beat Utah. We can play with literally anyone. We belong on the court with anyone. There are also nights we don't belong on the court with a single team in this league, and unfortunately, that's the nature of being a young team, learning how to win. It's the nature of being a young team, learning exactly what it's going to require in a day in day out basis. On the defensive side of the ball, we are an abomination, many, many nights defensively. We'll have quarters where we are outstanding, and those quarters are what we need to stack together more often. I think you saw one of those last night in the fourth quarter, Jaxson Hayes walked on the court, and his energy almost single-handedly turned the tide of the game on the defensive side of the ball. While I'm really happy about Jaxson’s performance, what that shows is the drop-off between Jaxson and everybody else energetically was fairly profound. We've got to address that, both in terms of the urgency we bring consistently and probably in the way we keep guys fresh through the course of the game.”

On Pelicans head coach Stan Van Gundy’s performance through the first half of the regular season: “I think, first of all, the coaches are in just as big a disadvantage as the players are from the standpoint of the grind of the season. In addition to that, when things go poorly in a season like this, they tend to continue in a poor direction because you don't have time for live practices to actually address the things that you're not doing terribly well or to add a new wrinkle to something. As a coach like Stan, who’s as dense of knowledge of the game as you will ever find, the idea of, okay, let's change things and do three different defensive tactics that we've never practiced. That doesn't make sense, but because we don't have practice time, they can't address those things. So I think Stan would tell you, he doesn't feel like he's been able to really put his mark on the team and the way he would like to in many ways, and I think that shows on the defensive side. It's certainly not that Stan and his staff have forgotten how to coach defense. They just don't really have the same opportunities to do it and to make the impact that you can ordinarily make. So sort of by definition, this season sets itself up for young teams that need to continue to grow and evolve to get better, being sort of behind the eight ball. We're going to have to start to do it by bringing every bit of urgency to every minute of games and growing in those moments because we're just not going to have practice time for the coaches to address it."

On the balance of winning games and also getting young players minutes in games: “Yeah, so I disagree with that. I don't think it's a terrible tight rope. The reason I disagree with that is the way you learn how to win in this league is devalue winning. If what we're going to do is play to win games, and the young kids realize that their minutes are not a given, then they don't take those minutes for granted. They attack them in a totally different way. I think what's happened is so much of Twitter and the intellectuals in social media - of which I was one for a couple of years, so believe me, I'm not denigrating that group of people, but because that group of people have so much voice and sway now, that idea of all or nothing has really taken hold in a way that doesn't make sense. You don't learn how to win without coveting winning. You don't just bestow minutes to young kid. So where we're struggling right now is finding a way to play those guys in a way that makes sense within the framework of a system that doesn't allow for practice to put them in a position to succeed when they're on the court. So it's complicated, and I think the coaches have done a remarkable job of trying to find the balance there. I really take exception to the idea that, well, if you're losing, you might as well be playing the young kid, that that doesn't make any sense. In fact, there's a very clear correlation to the teams that didn't value winning very openly went much longer without making playoff appearances than other teams did. We've had teams in this league go 10 consecutive years without playoffs, 15 consecutive years without playoffs [and] 14 out of 15 years. Well, in almost all of those cases, they were tanking, and they were deliberately giving minutes to young kids or not playing totally healthy, good players so that they could build their draft standing. You don't learn to win in that setting, and we're not going to do that. So if there's going to be an expectation that we just throw young kids out there, that not what we're going to do.”

On Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram being the cornerstone of the Pelicans franchise: “Yeah, I think we're really optimistic about what the future can look like, and I think you've seen over the course of the past 20 games or so that Zion with the ball in his hand as a play creator and BI’s (Brandon Ingram) ability to play both on and off the ball are incredible fits with each other. I think you can see that as they start to learn one another more consistently and in a way that is going to start to translate to winning games. I think we feel very strongly about the fact that we can surround them with the right pieces and we believe, quite frankly, we have many of those right pieces on the roster. They just have to grow together. It takes time. BI’s 23 [years old], Zion's 20 [years old]. This is not going to happen overnight. A lot of teams that had success in this league had a nucleus together for four years before they really caught fire and did what they were capable of doing. So we're excited about how bright the future can be. I'm probably surprised how quickly it's arrived in both cases, and I think we need to be really grateful for that.”

On Lonzo Ball’s performance in the month of February and his growth this season: “Lonzo's a player who came into this, not a hundred percent physically. When we shut him down for the week that we did to help him get his knee situation in order, I think that made an enormous difference for him. I think he feels better physically than he did early on by quite a bit. I think his confidence has soared because of that. I think you're seeing the work that he puts in with Fred Vinson and with Brandon Ingram, from a shooting perspective, really start to take hold. Zion, working with Fred as well, has made it so those three guys sort of share a bond that they're growing around shooting, and that's bred confidence in all aspects of Zo’s (Lonzo Ball) game, and I think you've seen that. I think you're seeing Zion and Brandon embracing everything it is that Zo contributes to the group, and because they are, they're sort of feeding him. They're pumping him up a little bit now, and I think they've seen the value of that, and I think our fans have as well.”

On the NBA protocols for All-Star break: “They can travel out of the city. They can travel to any domestic market. Preferably they do that through private means, either driving or private flights. It does not have to be that way, but by and large, we're urging that. They must test every day that they're away. Aaron Nelson and his staff are arranging for people to get to either BRL locations, which is the daily testing group that the league uses or other hospital venues that would enable us to get daily testing. They must do that if they miss a day, they'll face a minimum of six-day quarantine when they return, which would really be detrimental to putting a team on the court. So I think you'll see us not miss those test days. As a league, what's really interesting is when they come back, you cannot report any earlier than 5:00 p.m, two days before your first game. So we play on Thursday, I believe the 11th, we have to be back no earlier than 5:00 p.m. on the 9th. They'll start testing at that point, and then for the first eight days that teams are back, you can't practice until evening because they want you to get a morning PCR test back before everyone convenes as a group. So in addition to the fact that the 36 games in the second half create the greatest density in the history of the NBA for every team, let alone the 40 games that Memphis has to play by way of example. In addition to the greatest density in the history of the NBA, you're not going to be able to practice for the first eight days unless you practice at night. So it's going to be a really interesting juggling act that the coaches have to pull off, and again, I feel for them because they've been given an incredibly difficult task.”

transcript-david-griffin-on-the-new-orleans-pelicans-weekly-show-march-4-2021

Transcript: David Griffin on the New Orleans Pelicans Weekly Show - March 4, 2021

Trajan Langdon Media Availability – November 18, 2020

On if he was surprised that Kira Lewis was available at 13 and what attributes the Pelicans liked the most about him:“We did think he might go ahead of us, but he was definitely a target of ours. For him to get to us, we’re extremely ecstatic. He was a guy we followed throughout the year and watched a ton of tape on. The whole scouting group did a lot of work and really liked him. Griff talked a little bit about his personality and his character…very hard-working, small town kid. For him to excel at Alabama like he did in his two years – he reclassified from high school – was kind of tremendous, and that just shows his work rate and ability to adapt to two different coaches in a small amount of time as well. We love the elite speed that he's going to bring, the ability to shoot it and score it, and the ability to get into the paint and make other players better. That’s one thing that he really talked about when we spoke with him. He loves getting paint touches and getting other guys shots and opportunities to score."

On if Kira Lewis’s personality played a big role when scouting and selecting him:“I think for us – and we’ve always talked about with our culture here – is that we want to bring in high-character, hard-working, competitive young men. I think Kira really fits that here. He really works hard, he wants to get better. When we talked to him, he’s soft-spoken and obviously a small town kid, but you can tell he has a desire to be great and be the best that he can be. Those are the kind of people we want here.”

On Kira Lewis and Lonzo Ball fitting together on the court:“I think this is a guard league. It’s really fast-paced, a lot of possessions. I think when you look on our roster now, we have a lot of guards and a lot of guys that can play together and make plays that are skilled, can handle the ball, and make shots. I think when you see the way that this league is trending, the more players that you can have on the floor with speed and skill gives you a better chance to score and get up and down the floor and make plays for not only themselves, but for other players on the team. We’re excited about how our players are going to complement each other coming into next season.”

On how he envisions Kira Lewis and Zion Williamson working together on the court offensively:“I think the one thing that we talked to Kira about and one question we asked him was, ‘What’s the most joy that you get out of playing?’ And he said, like I discussed earlier, ‘Getting paint touches and making other people better.’ So, we have a lot of shooting on the team, with that we think he can getsome paint touches, spray out to shooters, throw lobs or make other people better, dump-offs…that’s what he wants to do. And listen, with his elite speed in transition or even in the half-court, that’s one thing that we’re very intrigued that he can do for us.”

On the unusual lack of trades in the lottery and if the Pelicans tried to make any trades:“I think you always try to move to a targeted guy, but we found out pretty early in this process that it was going to be pretty impossible to move up because everything was on the clock, and then people didn’t really pick up their phones on the clock. You always look to be aggressive, but we got a guy that we targeted at 13. If you would’ve told us we could’ve got him a few weeks ago we would’ve been incredibly happy, so that’s exactly where we’re at tonight.”

On Kira Lewis’s style of play and what NBA players he would compare him to:“I think a guy that our scouting group has compared him to was De’Aaron (Fox), in terms of his speed, ability to shoot it from the perimeter, and really pick up. When you watch a lot of film of him, he is light, but he really does avoid screens on defense and really gives effort, so I think he’s going to be a guy that can play both sides of the ball and can really put a lot of pressure on the defense pushing in transition, attacking switches, and really getting downhill off pick-and-roll play, especially in the middle of the court. I’m sure Stan (Van Gundy) and his staff are going to put him in positions where he can do those things and really be useful for our team on the court, in terms of creating and making other guys better.”

On if selecting Kira Lewis shows that the Pelicans are going to continue to prioritize playing with pace:“I think when you talk pace, you don’t just talk about after misses or after turnovers, you also talk about pace in half-court play, and I think his ability to get by in the half-court on pick-and-roll-play or even switches, it’s something that intrigued us. I think when the game slows down, you still need to have guys that can get into the paint…he gives us an option to do that. He also can make shots from the perimeter, which is intriguing. Guys are going to have to respect that [and] run at him, which gives him an even greater ability to get paint touches and score for himself and create for others.”

On if the Pelicans are in position for a ‘sustainable run’:“We’re always going to keep bettering our team, bettering the roster, and for us to keep getting better and keep growing – we have a young team – our guys have to get better. They have to keep developing, and that’s what we’re going to push them to do. That’s what Stan and their staff will continue to push these guys to do, and we’re going to keep working. I don’t think we’re ever satisfied with the roster that we’ve built. We’re going to continue to try to put people in places that make us a more competitive team, but we think we’ve done that tonight.”

On how important it was to select a player that can contribute this year:“For us, it’s the best possible player that’s on the board at the time who has the most upside. He is a young player, having re-classed, didn’t play his senior year in high school. His senior year in high school was basically a freshman [year] at Alabama. So he’s really like a freshman coming out after his first year in terms of his age. For us it’s the upside from Kira. Does he get on the floor this year? I’m sure he’ll compete for it and he’ll get some time, but for us it’s the upside and you kind of looking towards the future and what he can be. We do think he can get on the court this year if he competes for it, but it’s definitely – like was talked about before – being sustainable. We think he can be a great player in this league for a long time.”

On if Kira Lewis was the fastest player in the draft and if he would be the fastest player on the Pelicans and what kind of value that holds:“I think we thought he was the fastest guy in the draft, but that wasn’t really the reason why [we drafted him]. It obviously was a huge characteristic and plays a big part in the game of basketball, being able to push pace, being able to get by at will and get into the paint…it obviously puts a lot of pressure on the defense. The character, the competitive nature, how much he’s gotten better – not only last year to this year, but within this year. I saw him down at the Battle for Atlantis early on, and the strides that he made with a new coach from the first month of the season to the last month of the season was tremendous. His ability to pick up stuff, learn, implement it, and really make an impact on winning was intriguing to us…the character of the kid. So it wasn’t just the elite speed. The ability to make other people better, the ability to shoot the ball…all that together, we think is going to have a big impact for the success of this club.”

On Kira Lewis’s knowledge of the Pelicans and if the team had a feeling that he was optimistic about the possibility of playing in New Orleans:“I do think he was very excited. He did talk about some of the guys on our roster. Obviously he’s a kid who is not far from here, so I could understand the intrigue in watching us play – and we’re on TV a whole lot, so he is knowledgeable about our team, but I think he and his agent were very optimistic and excited that he would have the opportunity to come here and be part of our organization. It’s a really, really good match for both sides. I’m glad it happened, but we did talk about it. He and his agent and Bryson Graham, our assistant GM, stayed in touch a lot during the last month or two months leading up to this night.”

On if the Pelicans plan on using the G League this season to further Kira Lewis’s development:“If it becomes easy to do, we would. There’s a lot of questions that surround the G League and how that is actually going to be put together. There’s a call next week, kind of detailing what that’s going to look like, but it’s going to be different this year so I assume that Kira will spend a lot of time with us in New Orleans. He might not spend a lot of time in the G League unless it becomes somewhat simple. The G League could be mapped out a little bit differently than in years past, but we’ll hopefully see that here next week or the week after.”

transcript-trajan-langdon-2020-nba-draft-interview

Transcript: Trajan Langdon: 2020 NBA Draft Interview

David Griffin Media Availability – November 18, 2020

“What I’d like to touch base on is [that] we’re not allowed to discuss or answer most of the questions you’re going to want to [ask us] relative to all the trades and everything that went down. There’s so many different balls in the air, it’s very difficult to get into a great deal of detail on very much. Big picture-wise, I would tell you that there’s an awful lot left to be done. Obviously with free agency starting as quickly as it does, we have some targets in mind there and we’ve got some other trade conversations going on as well. So, there’s a great many things happening all at one time. The one thing we know for certain is that Kira Lewis is somebody that we paid a great deal of attention to all season long. We’ve been a very large fan of his game for quite some time, and as we went through the draft process and learned more of who he was as a human being, we were very, very confident that he fits everything that we care most about from a character standpoint and from the way he approaches the game, his work rate. Everything about him really speaks to who we want to be from a DNA standpoint, so we’re just ecstatic that he was available. And with that, I’m going to turn it over to Trajan Langdon and let him get into more specifics.”

transcript-david-griffin-2020-nba-draft-interview

Transcript: David Griffin 2020 NBA Draft Interview

Stan Van Gundy Post Draft Media Availability – November 18, 2020

On his involvement in the draft process and transition a rookie into his system:“I was not involved in the process, I’m just being honest. I wasn’t here very long, I hadn’t watched college games during the year, Griff and Trajan kept me informed on guys. I knew very early on taking the job that they loved Kira, so that I knew, but it wasn’t like I was involved in the process and giving them input or giving them my recommendations on who they should draft or anything else. I’m trying to get ready, get a staff hired, get a system in and all of that, and meet with our players. I knew they loved (Kira) and I’m excited to coach him. I do think it’s a challenging environment for a rookie coming in because Kira’s not going to get Summer League, he’s not going to be here doing individual work in the summer and getting acclimated to the coaching staff. It’s a challenging environment, but I expect that he’s going to come in here and compete very hard for playing time and battle people, and we’ll see what will happen, and he’ll learn. The better part about it, I guess, for a guy like Kira coming in, is with a new coaching staff coming in, it’s going to be new to everyone out there. It’s not like [he’s] coming in and these guys have played the last three or four years in this system and [he’s] trying to catch up without having Summer League, it’s going to be new to everybody the first day we start practice, so in that way, he’s not as far behind as he might be.”

On Kira Lewis and Lonzo Ball sharing the backcourt together:“I think if you really look around the NBA now, one of the trends we’re seeing for teams that I think is a good one is to try to get multiple playmakers on the floor, a lot of guys that can make plays. I think Lonzo’s there, we’ve already had Brandon there, we’re excited about Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and now Kira. I think there’s going to be a lot of times where we’re playing on the floor with two guys that you would probably classify as point guards, but you can play them together, and I think we’ve seen with some teams, like Oklahoma City last year, their closing lineup was three point guards with Chris Paul and Dennis Schröder and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. They were playing three guys like that. I think it’s a trend of get as many playmakers as you can on the floor. You might give up a little bit of size at times, I know with Lonzo we don’t, and those guys are going to go out and play really hard and be very hard to guard off the dribble and make plays for each other.”

On the importance of drafting someone with Kira Lewis’ skill-set:“I’m excited about a few things with him. His speed and quickness, both in transition to push the ball, and to get in the paint and make plays, I think those are outstanding, but I’m also really excited about what we think he can do at the defensive end to pressure the ball, maybe even get up the floor, at times 94-feet and pressure the ball, that’s something I’m really excited about. Something no one has really talked about, you know, friends of mine in the NBA, friends in scouting, I had so many people texted me tonight ‘hey great pick!’ and I had three different people say ‘he’s really an underrated shooter too, don’t let anybody tell you he can’t shoot the ball, he can.’ Just his ability to get in the paint is sort of the thing you think about with him. I’m excited to coach him and get him in here. We’re not going to see him a lot ahead of time, quite honestly, because of the COVID rules and everything else. The building is going to be shut down starting Wednesday next week for six days. He’s going to get here right before camp starts and we’re going to go, but I’m excited to see him.”

On his involvement in the free agency process and his level of excitement:“I think already, when it comes to NBA players, Griff and Trajan ask my opinion on all of those guys, sowith those guys I’ll have more input and more say. One of the reasons I was so attracted to this job isthat I think Griff is very good at what he does, I think Trajan is very good at what he does, I trust thoseguys on player personnel, and when they ask for my opinion I give it, but at the end of the day it’s goingto be their decision on trades and free agency. I have great trust in that, and what it allows me to do,especially when we’re going as fast as we are, is it allows me to spend 90-percent of my time on meetingwith my coaches, because we’re new to each other, and starting to really come together on how wewant to play on the floor, what our system is going to look like. I’ll give opinions, but I’m really puttingmy trust in those two guys, like I said, it’s one of the things that excited me about this job.”

On Kira Lewis in transition:“I think we want to play up-tempo, what that comes down to mean, I’m not totally sure, in terms of howfast and what situations, but we definitely want to get the ball up the floor, and I think if you’re going todo that, clearly you need guys who can get up the floor, but you need guys in transition that can attackand make plays, and the more of those guys you have the better off you’re going to be. To add anotherguy like Kira, who can either be the guy leading the break and pushing the ball and making plays forothers, or can be the guy that we throw ahead to and he can go on the attack, I think he can fit in eitherplace with us. I think that’s what happens when you have multiple ball handlers and you can be moreinterchangeable.”

On interacting with players and preparing for an abnormal season:“I’ve met most of [the players] in person on the roster. The only player I haven’t met is (Nicolo) Mellibecause he’s in Italy, and while my wife thought that was the trip we should definitely take to go meetwith a player, and she encouraged that, I don’t think we could get into the country right now anyway, sothat one has to wait. I’ve talked about this with guys; a lot of what this season is going to be about, Idon’t care players, coaches, [the media], anybody involved in the NBA, it’s about adaptability. It’s notgoing to be what it has been. I don’t care if it’s (the media), or the players, or me, if you want to sit thereand complain because it’s not what you want and it’s not what the season should be, if we can’t getourselves ready to play because it’s not as much fun, because there’s not enough people in the building,you can have a lot of self-pit and never be ready to play. This is all about adaptability. This season isgoing to be totally different and in a lot of ways it may change from day-to-day. We don’t know exactlywhat the rules are going to be. We might play in some arenas where there’s more people, Golden Statehave said they’re going to have people in the building, the Lakers have said they’re not going to haveanyone in the building. It’s going to change from day-to-day. At times, you may have somebody thattests positive, and then they’re going to have to quarantine and you’re going to lose them. Every day,you’re going to come in and it’s going to be different. For us to be good, we have to have the mindset ofwe are going to be ready to compete anytime, anyplace, under any conditions, and I have spouted thatto them already, and will continue to, because that’s the reality of this whole situation, and I’m notgoing to make excuses for myself or my coaching staff and we’re not going to make excuses as a team.It’s cliché now, but it is what it is, this is the season. We have to approach it that way and play by therules that we’re going with this year. We got training camp dates today, we didn’t know yesterday whatwe could do with training camp. Okay, that’s the way it is. We have to be ready on the day they say wecan start.”

On his level of excitement heading into the season:“I’m excited to be here. I’m excited to be with a front office that is very proactive and constantly thinking of ways to make things better. I’m excited with the interactions that I’ve had with our players. I’m excited about our staff. I’m excited about living in New Orleans and I’m excited about getting started in camp. I think it’s fair to say I’m excited.”

transcript-stan-van-gundy-2020-nba-draft-interview

Transcript: Stan Van Gundy: 2020 NBA Draft Interview

Kira Lewis, Jr. Media Availability – November 18, 2020

On playing for New Orleans native Avery Johnson in college:“It was great picking one of the best point guards to ever do it’s – in my opinion – brain. I learned a lot from him…leadership, passes, different pick-and-roll reads. It was great learning from him. He taught me a lot while he was there in his one year with me, so I was very happy that I got the experience with him and it helped me a lot.”

On his comfort level playing in Alabama’s fast-paced offensive system last season:“I felt very comfortable playing as fast as I could, trying to score as fast as I could with pace, get the best shot we could. I felt very comfortable because most of the stuff we do (at Alabama), Coach (Nate Oats) told us it kind of assimilates some of the NBA stuff they run. So just really getting me ready and getting me familiar with it helped me a lot.”

On styling his game after De’Aaron Fox and Lou Williams, and what makes him unique in this draft class:“I’d have to say speed, number one. Being able to score, create for my teammates as well. I feel like what makes me unique is that I feel like I can do pretty much a little bit of everything, whether it’s shoot, pass, dribble, defend a little bit. I feel like I’m kind of overall better than any guard in the draft, so I feel like bringing that to the Pelicans will be a good thing.”

On putting on weight this offseason and if there are other things he’s been working on:“It was a big plus to add weight for the situation I’m going to. What I’m working on when I get there is just coming off, being a better pick-and-roll player, making the right reads, getting my teammates involved, getting better on the defensive end…just coming in and trying to be the most complete player I can be to help the team and the organization.”

On having lunch with the Pelicans and his first impressions of the organization:“It was great, man. It was a laid-back, calm conversation. We laughed and joked. I got to learn them as well as them getting to learn me. I’d have to say that was one of my best workouts. I felt very comfortable. They showed me a lot of things to work on to help me with my game, and I just felt like it was a great overall day with them.”

On some of the things he will continue to work on:“Just making different passes with my left hand, being to play off of two feet, finishing through contact, ball-handling…pretty much just everything a point guard has to do to be very good in this league.”

On what parts of his game he was able to improve the most on from year one to year two at Alabama:“I feel like my ball-handling got better, making better reads, being able to play from slow to fast, adding a Euro to avoid charges. My defense got better. I just got more comfortable from year one to year two in every aspect, whether it was finishing at the rim…but I know I’m going to a more challenging league, so I want to get even better at those things.”

On the fit in New Orleans and his level of comfort coming to the Pelicans:“This is a great fit – just the way they play, the young guys they have, playing in the open floor, wanting to compete. New Orleans is a great city, they love basketball, so I feel like this is a great situation that I’m going into, and I couldn’t be happier.”

On wanting to be in New Orleans:“Like I said, the young core guys, the older guys they have, they mesh well, they compete. They like toget out and run and play above the rim. I just feel like the city is great, they come out and support (theteam), I just feel like it was a great situation for me and I can come in and help them with whatever they[ask of me].”

On if he felt that New Orleans was going to be a destination for him leading up to the draft:“Just talking to [the team], I feel like they liked my game a lot, and then I’d say when the [proposedtrades] happened, it fit well for me to come in and they might need a point guard, or someone tobackup, whatever the case may be. I just feel like from watching what the experts say, I just felt like NewOrleans would be a destination for me to go to, and I feel like it was a great situation and I’m glad thatI’m here.”

On the team’s style of play and roster construction:“I don’t know how we’ll play with (new Head Coach Stan Van Gundy), but from watching last year andyears before, they play freely. They want to get out (in transition) and get easy opportunities, so I don’tknow how we’ll play with Coach Van Gundy coming in, but I feel like maybe that situation will fit us well,maybe we’ll keep playing like that, but I’m pretty sure he’s going to come in with great knowledge ofhow he wants to play, and I know he knows what he’s doing, so I can’t wait to see what that is.”

On his effort on the defensive end:“I wanted to get better defensively from year one to year two in college, just watching a lot of film,getting the upper-hand on your opponent and knowing what his tendencies are as a point guard, andjust being able to anticipate. I feel like that’s one of my biggest components on the defensive end.”

transcript-kira-lewis-jr-2020-nba-draft-interview

Transcript: Kira Lewis Jr. 2020 NBA Draft Interview

Stan Van Gundy Introductory Press Conference Transcript – 10.27.20

Mrs. Benson Opening Remarks:“Welcome, everyone. I’d like to welcome everyone again today. Even though we’re doing this remotely, it is still a very exciting day for our New Orleans Pelicans organization. Thank you again all for joining us. Our entire organization is so pleased to welcome Stan and his wife Kim and their four children to the Pelicans family. Stan has had a tremendous record of success as a head coach in the NBA. He is regarded as one of the most innovative and respected coaches, and I am personally excited as well as our entire organization to get ready for the start of the next NBA season, which could be very soon. We know that Stan brings a very strong basketball mind to the game. He demands accountability and will provide great leadership for our young team. Finally, I want to acknowledge the hard work that David, Trajan, Swin (Cash), and our Pelicans front office put into the interview process. We were purposeful and deliberate, and we got the coach that we wanted. I am so excited for the upcoming season and cannot wait to get back to playing basketball in the very near future. Now I welcome our Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, David Griffin. Thank you.”

David Griffin Opening Remarks:“Thank you, Mrs. Benson. As Mrs. Benson mentioned, we feel like we absolutely got the right guy and the right person for this job, for the right fit at the right time for our team. I’d be remised if I didn’t start this by thanking Alvin Gentry. Alvin, in the time that he was with us, represented our team and this community at the highest level. We’re very appreciative of that, and more importantly, we’re appreciative of the fact that Alvin shared very positive thoughts with this organization in terms of our ability to move forward and build a winner with all of our different coaching candidates, and I think in large measure that helped us land the pool that we were getting to look at of candidates. Trajan and I have talked about that. We were benefited by having an incredible pool of candidates that wanted this job, and no small measure, he (Alvin Gentry) was a part of that, so we thank him for that. Relative to Stan Van Gundy, this is a process where Trajan, Swin, Bryson Graham, and myself and many others of our front office team interviewed nine total people in one fashion or another. We set up a very clear criteria that we cared about for what we were seeking in the next head coach, and we took a great deal of time to do that. We’ve talked to many of you offline from a media perspective explaining why we were not in a hurry and as fate would have it, maybe the season is going to be on us sooner than we thought, but the reasons for that were multifold. One of them was, we wanted to take enough time to really analyze our team, get a feel for who we felt like we really were and do that without this thing of what had just happened in the ‘bubble’ sort of resonating daily with us. We wanted to give ourselves a real opportunity to know who we were and what we needed. I think what we very quickly discovered in our interview process was that Coach Van Gundy gave us the best possible optionality. Coach Van Gundy, in his 22-year coaching career as an assistant and as a head coach—12 years as a head coach—has proven he’s a coach who’s going to win an awful lot of regular season games. Winning almost 66 percent of his games in Orlando, better than 60 percent of his games in Miami, and for his career has a winning percentage above five hundred in the playoffs, which is really, really rare, so, this is a proven winner. This is a coach who can win right now, but more importantly to us, it’s a coach that’s a teacher and a very sincere, authentic human being who’s going to build long-lasting relationships with our team, and because we look at this team as just now scratching the service of what we hope is a very long, sustainable run, coach Van Gundy was obviously the selection for us because, in addition to giving us the best chance to win in the short-term, we feel he gives us the best chance to build a sustainable winner in the long-term. For that reason, I know Trajan and I are honored to introduce you to our next head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans, Mr. Stan Van Gundy.”

Stan Van Gundy Opening Remarks:"Thanks to Mrs. Benson, and to Dennis Lauscha, to David Griffin, Trajan Langdon, Swin Cash, Bryson Graham, and the entire front office for giving me this great opportunity. I was really enjoying being a TV analyst, I wanted to coach again, but only if we could find an absolutely great opportunity, and New Orleans had it all. First of all, a governors and executive group that has proven that they know how to win at the professional level, as the footballs over Greg Bensel's head and behind Mrs. Benson as they spoke indicate. On top of that, a group that is totally committed to the New Orleans community, which is important to Kim and I as we were looking for people to work for. Then, David Griffin's proven ability to build championship level teams, but also we were very impressed with the front office team that he has put together in New Orleans and the family atmosphere that he is trying to build within the organization and within our basketball team. Then, of course, it's a very exciting roster—a mix of very talented, young players and some productive, high-character veterans. Finally, a great city that Kim and I are excited about and can't wait to live in. Then, probably when we knew for sure that we had made the right decision was last night when the communications team told me instead of jacket and tie, I could wear a polo for the introductory press conference. Okay, so I knew right then I was on it. While Griff, Trajan, and their staff are in preparation for the draft and free agency, we're also all already at work getting ready for the season. Hiring staff, working together to hire staff. I'm trying to get to know our players. I've spoken to all of them, starting to meet with them in person and spending time studying film. I can't wait to get back on the court and to try to build a tough, disciplined team that truly won't bow down. Finally, to the people of New Orleans, my wife and I can't wait for the opportunity to represent the city and to immerse ourselves in the community. We're more than excited to be a part of the New Orleans Pelicans organization and to get started to try to build a winner here."

On a final piece that solidified Coach Van Gundy coming to New Orleans:Stan Van Gundy: “That’s hard, because it really was all of those things (the city of New Orleans, Mrs. Benson, David Griffin and the front office, the roster). There were so many great things, and there was truly not even one red flag anywhere that would make you hesitate. If I had to pick one thing, I would say that I met with Griff and Trajan, and the entire front office, and then with Griff again, and I would say it was mine and my wife’s connection to Griff to where I really came to believe in him, and not only his vision for the team, that was important, but just the type of person he is and how he wants to operate.”

On coaching a young roster:Stan Van Gundy: “I don’t think it’s all that much different (coaching a young team as opposed to a team of veterans). I think the one thing is, and I’ve already talked to our players, and I don’t want them, or us, to ever use youth as an excuse. I think sometimes you can start with ‘oh, well we were young, and that’s why we turned the ball over three times in the last two minutes of a tied game’. Listen, they’re all great players, and they came into this league young because of their talent, but it’s time to play and compete, and I don’t want to use that as an excuse, but, as far as the coaching, what makes it different is there’s a lot of teaching to do and to bring these guys along. The NBA game is different than the college game in some ways, and learning all of those things. There has to be more teaching, there has to be a real emphasis placed on their development. They are far from finished products at this point in their career, no matter how good they are and we have to keep that in mind every day.”

On developing and holding accountable Zion Williamson:David Griffin: “I would take exception to the notion that we have to hold him the most accountable. Part of what we’re trying to build here is no one here is more important than anybody else. This is a ‘we’ thing, and one of the things we’re most excited about as it relates to Zion, is he feels the same way. Hedoesn’t want to be put on a pedestal, he doesn’t want to be singled out in any way, shape or form, and accountability starts with ‘you’re just one of us’ and I think Coach Van Gundy would agree with that, and its’ certainly been how he’s built his teams up to this point.”Stan Van Gundy: “I absolutely agree with that, and here’s the other part of that is when we’re talking about accountability, we start to think of the coach, or the GM, or the Vice President, or whoever it is coming down on people, and that’s not it. A lot of it is in talking to Zion, and I’ve talked to him on the phone, and I can’t wait to sit down with him in person, but as Griff said, it’s with everybody on our team and getting a feel for what our goals are and where they want to go in their career and what they want to see this team do, and then trying to help them get to that point and hold them accountable to those things they know they need to do to get there. A lot of times that’s what accountability is all about is ‘Hey, you told me you want to be the best player in the NBA. You told me you want to be part of a championship team, and you also told me these are the things it takes,’ I’m going to hold you accountable to that every day. It’s not us coming down on Zion or anyone else on the roster, it’s us trying to help them, and accountability is a big part of that.”

On the time away from the game and Coach Van Gundy’s perspective of the game now:Stan Van Gundy: “I didn’t have expectations one way or another as far as how long I would be away, but I do think the time away, and I’ve been through it before, I think it helps you get out of that tunnel vision mode of your own team and you see what’s going on with everybody, what works, what doesn’t work, things you like, things you don’t like, it allows you to really zero in on that and grow a great deal and open up to different perspectives. I kept notes for two-and-a-half years on games that I watched, on things I heard in clinics, on coaches that I talked to, and all of those things will allow me to be even better this time around.”

On the strengths of the current roster and expected changes going into this season:Stan Van Gundy: “The thing that’s most exciting to me I think when Griff and Trajan and their team started putting together this roster last year. There’s a great mix; there’s a lot of exciting young talent with the potential to grow into something great, but alongside of them, you’ve got some very productive, high-character veterans with great experience. To me, that’s the most exciting thing. As we get more specific, it’s a team that has proven they can play with great pace, there’s incredible depth on the team, we have a lot of people that can shoot the ball, and then you’ve got two of the most unique young guys in the entire league, Brandon Ingram, who’s the most improved player in the league. He’s one of those really tall, long guys who plays like a point guard, who can get to anywhere on the floor and score the ball, then, I don’t even know the comparison for Zion Williamson. He’s unique in the way he plays, but this is a guy coming off an injury for most of the year that was able to be extremely productive and efficient, there’s just not people like that. There’s a lot to build around there. As far as changes, it’s not a change – and I love when Griff started this off by giving so much credit to Alvin (Gentry), because Alvin is a guy I’ve always had the utmost respect for, both as a coach and as a person, so it’s never a comparison of ‘Alvin did it this way, I’m going to do it this way.’ A lot of it is where we are as a development of this team and I think it’s clear just by the numbers that where this team needs to get better is at the defensive end of the floor, and we’re going to have to make a real commitment at that end. From a coaching staff point of view, that commitment is to do a great deal of teaching down to where we really understand what we’re doing at that end of the floor, and from a player’s point of view, the players are going to have to make a commitment that if we want to win at a high level, in a very, very talented Western Conference, then we are going to have to be a very good defensive team and they’re going to have to put in the time and effort. It’s all of us that have to make the commitment to get better at that end.”

On missing coaching:Stan Van Gundy: “You always miss it. At first, it’s like anything, you’re in the grind, you’re grinding, and then you get away from it, and for a few months it’s nice to not have it on your mind, but then the season starts up again, and you’re watching games, and taking notes like I always do, and your mind starts working and you want to get back to that. The longer it goes, the more you want to get back to it, and frankly, for me, broadcasting the games in the bubble and sort of being immersed in basketball for three months there, you’re itching to get back to it. You’re seeing things on a daily basis that you like and don’t like, what you could implement with a team. I missed it a great deal, and I’m excited to be back at it, but again, I would have only done it in a great situation, and I was not in a situation where I would have taken any job. There was only one job I even tried to get involved with, that was this job, and it was all the things we talked about before, and I’m really excited to coach this group.”

On the perspective of holding a head coach and top basketball executive role:“One of the things I’m really excited about is just getting back into a coaching role and letting Griff and Trajan and Swin and Bryson (Graham) worry about that other stuff. Griff mentioned the other day me watching a draft candidate and I started shaking – I’m not sure if that’s what I want to do. I’m really excited about being able to zero back in on our roster, developing the players that we have and getting our team to play the best basketball that we possibly can. That is one of the really exciting things for me coming back after this short layoff.”

On Coach Van Gundy’s relationship with JJ Redick:Stan Van Gundy: “My relationship with JJ is one that I treasure. JJ and I were together for five years in Orlando. I saw him work every single day – one of the most focused, committed people I have seen in 25 years in this league. He’s someone that’s very thoughtful, not just about the game, but about everything in life, so he’s somebody that I’ve stayed in touch with over these last eight years when we haven’t been together. I have a great deal of respect for him, and one of the things that he said to me, and probably the most important thing, is that, ‘We have great people on this team, these are all great people, there’s not one bad guy. You’re going to love coaching this team, Stan,’ and so that was meaningful to me because I know when JJ talks about someone being a great person, a great teammate, I know what his standards are, and they’re very high, so that was very meaningful to me.”

On the coaching staff:Stan Van Gundy: “That’s something Griff and his group in the front office and I are working on together. Right now, we don’t have anything that we’re ready to announce, but we’re moving along on that front and I think we’ve got some outstanding candidates and some very good ideas, and that should come together relatively soon. The way the NBA is going we may be starting training camp next Monday, so I guess we should get a staff together sometime over the weekend I guess.”

On how the league has changed since Coach Van Gundy has been removed from coaching and how will he need to adjust:Stan Van Gundy: “The game continues to evolve and change but some of it starts to come back full circle. We continue to see the three-point shooting rising, the number of attempts. Because of that, the amount of switching in the league, defensively, has gone up and changes the way you need to play offensively. I think we’ve seen more zone defense and that changes you offensively. Certainly position-less basketball is becoming more and more of a reality. A lot of people want to refer to things as ‘small-ball’ and what I think we’re really seeing is the value of big skilled players. It’s perimeter ball, not small-ball, and that allows you to do things at both ends of the floor, but as the game changes you always have to adjust as a coach. Every night you have to adjust based on who you’re playing. It’s not like the game is dramatically different than it was in 2018 the last time I was coaching, where I’m coaching a whole different sport. There’s just things that you have to do a little bit differently, and there’s some different actions that people favor that you probably need to spend a little bit more time working on than you did a couple years ago.”

On Zion’s role:Stan Van Gundy: “I think you have a vision for what he is, which is a multi-talented guy. He is an unbelievable playmaker for a guy at his size. He’s a guy that can take the ball of the glass and lead the break and make plays. He can make passes off of the dribble, he can finish over bigger people inside, he’s a multi-talented guy. I don’t look at him in any way if he’s a four (power forward) or a five (center), I’m not sure those labels matter when it comes to him. I think when we study him and try to get more definitive and talk to Zion about what he likes, I think it’s more [about] what positions do we want to put him in, and who’s best around him, and things like that, it’s not limiting him to a position. I think we’ll get to a starting point of that at the start of the season, and my guess is, as time goes on, I’m going to find out that he can do even more than I think he can do, and things will evolve from there.”

On addressing interior defensive issues:Stan Van Gundy: “When you’re talking interior defense, people tend to focus on just the big guys themselves. I would say, the first thing on interior defense is, let’s try to keep the ball out of the interior. If the ball is getting into the heart of the defense on a regular basis we’re going to have problems. Our defense is going to get broken down, we’re going to get into foul trouble, and those poor big guys are going to constantly be in compromising situations, so I don’t think we can leave it to just those guys on the inside, but once there’s a breakdown, and inevitably it will against good teams, there’s a lot of ways to play interior defense. There are guys who are shot blockers like Jaxson Hayes is going to be, there are guys who are great position defenders and really understand the principal of verticality, there are guys who are really physical, there are guys who will take charges, and we need all of that. It’s not just our big guys playing interior defense. Everybody has to be willing to put themselves between the ball and the basket and prevent the ball getting to the rim. I think interior defense is huge, but I think sometimes we tend to place the burden on that just on a couple guys. Like everything else with defense, and offense for that matter, it’s a team thing, keeping the ball away from the rim, and we’re going to have to do a lot of work in that regard.”

On using Lonzo Ball in a more position-less role:Stan Van Gundy: “My initial thoughts on Lonzo Ball were this, on the offensive end of the floor; I don’t think there’s anyone better in the NBA of advancing the ball up the floor for your team quickly before the other team’s defense is set. So many times in watching the Pelicans, both to do broadcasting, and now starting to study our team, there’s so many time’s he’ll catch an outlet or an in-bounds pass and advance the ball up the floor with a pass without ever taking a dribble, and that is very unique in the NBA, and I think puts guys like Jrue Holiday, like JJ Redick for shots, like Brandon Ingram on the attack, like Zion Williamson, that puts them in positions where the defense isn’t set and it’s tough to get into help. The biggest step that Lonzo took last year was his three-point shooting. He improved that greatly, and not only does that help him as a player, but the spacing it creates on the floor for your other creators, for guys like Jrue Holiday and Brandon Ingram, is really good for your basketball team. The third thing I would say, and this is not something that I can say I know for sure, I’m just saying this from what I’m watching on film, Lonzo Ball seems like a very smart basketball player to me, and smart basketball players eventually figure it out. I went through that with JJ Redick. He came in and it took him a little time to build his career, but smart, hard-working guys figure it out as time goes on and continue to improve. I think as good as Lonzo is now, and he’s very good, I think that we can expect a good arc of improvement from him over the next few years.

On what impressed Coach Van Gundy most about last season’s Pelicans:Stan Van Gundy: "I love the pace that they played with, and in my mind watching them, I thought they were an unselfish team. I didn’t think there was anybody on their team that was a ball-stopper that was trying to force the issue. I thought the ball moved pretty freely, and I think that gives you a chance to play really good offense on a consistent basis.”

On what result would make Coach Van Gundy satisfied next season:Stan Van Gundy: "That’s interesting because that’s something that Griff and Trajan and I talked about when we were interviewing, and I’m not a big believer in setting those kind of goals. It’s not that I’m afraid that I’ll set the goals too high; I’m afraid you’ll set the goals too low. Let’s say that you set the goal of making the playoffs or being over .500, and then with three weeks to go in a season you’re in the sixth spot and you’re ten games over .500…what, we can just shut it down now? Look, I know it’s cliché, I understand that it is, but it’s true also. I think our goal – and I think Griff and Trajan and Swin and Bryson (Graham), I think their goal as well is – with our team literally is (that) we want to get better every single day. We want to make improvement every single day, and if we’re doing that and if we’re committed to the work that has to go into doing those things, then the results will take care of themselves.”

On if Stan Van Gundy has any similarities to European coaches he has worked with:Trajan Langdon: "I think the one thing that really stood out with Stan was just his passion about the game of basketball…his open-mindedness, his curiosity about the game. I think he’s alluded to it already during this press conference, in his time out he was still looking at ways to get better as a coach. He was listening to a lot of Zooms, he was taking a lot of notes. He talked to us about a clinic that he was a part of over in Iceland with a lot of great names, coaches from Europe. So I think that curiosity and that open-mindedness has a lot of similarities with some of the great coaches that I’ve interacted with and played for over in Europe. We’re really excited to have Stan with us and to be able to learn from him in these years going forward.”

On the relationship between coaching and analytics, and what Coach Van Gundy’s personal relationship with analytics is:Stan Van Gundy: "I think analytics is very, very helpful, and I think one of the probably underappreciated offseason moves that Griff and his front office staff had made was bringing Michael Hartman in to head up analytics here with the Pelicans. He and I were actually texting on some things last night. I started by asking one question, and then I had another idea I wanted an answer with, and then I had another idea of something we could do. So I think he’s in the process of moving and I hope I’m not making (it) so he doesn’t want to come back because I’m throwing so much at him, but I can’t wait to spend time with him and ask him questions because there’s a lot of things that I’m curious about that I think I might want to do differently in terms of coaching philosophy, but I want to know what the analytics say about those things. So I look forward to having a great relationship with Michael and trying to wear him out, actually.”

On what Coach Van Gundy has learned from his previous coaching stops that led to desired environments and how he thinks this group of Pelicans can develop culture:Stan Van Gundy: "I think this is one of the areas that Griff and I and the entire front office sort of connected on. Culture, what it really is, it’s a body of shared values of how you want to work and how you want to do things. I think that we’re very aligned on that. The two real beliefs I have on culture are: it has very little to do with what you say, and it has everything to do with what you do on an everyday basis. I’ve said to people in the past, I started my NBA career working under Pat Riley in Miami and now they talk about ��Heat Culture’ all the time. But when I was there – and I was there for over ten years – I never remember Pat even using that word ‘culture’. I never remember him talking about culture, and yet every guy on our roster could’ve told you exactly what the culture was of the Miami Heat. So you build your culture day by day, interaction by interaction, practice by practice, step by step. Over time, people will see what our organization is all about, what our leaders are all about in the organization, and then down to the players, and then the players that are around us for a while pass it on to the other players. That’s how you build a culture…there’s no overnight to that. You can only accelerate that process so much. It takes time. It takes day after day stuff. The second thing that I believe about culture is – as much as Griff and Trajan and Swin and Bryson, and even above us to Mrs. Benson and to Dennis Lauscha, to myself and the coaching staff – as much as any of us try to set the example on a culture for our basketball team, what our culture actually ends up becoming will be what our best players decide that it’s going to be. So those are the guys that have to take the responsibility for creating the kind of culture that we all want here with the Pelicans.”

On how Coach Van Gundy will get this team to commit to sustained effort on the defensive end:Stan Van Gundy: "I think the money is irrelevant on that point. That’s part of the business that these guys go through negotiating contracts. My experience in the NBA is, when guys step on the court none of that matters. They want to play basketball, they want to compete. They wouldn’t be where they are in this game if they weren’t competitors, and they want to win. Guys want to win, and you’re not going to do that if you don’t get the job done at the defensive end. Ultimately, none of the players are going to get the respect that they want in this game unless they’re part of a consistent winner in the NBA. Again, this goes back to what we were talking about earlier with accountability. It’s not me standing there with a hammer and hitting them over the head; it’s being clear on what their goals are individually and as a team, and trying to help them understand what will get them there. What gets them there is being part of a great team, and a big part of being part of a great team is what you do at the defensive end. When guys understand that, they will put in the effort and the focus that it takes to be a good defensive team.”

On how Coach Van Gundy’s relationship with JJ Redick can help other players buy into him as the new head coach:Stan Van Gundy: "I think absolutely. Anybody that knows you and can sort of let people know what to expect – and by the way, it’s not going to all be good because JJ’s an honest guy. I think most of it will be good, but some of it won’t be to guys. So you have to take it with a grain of salt. But yes, I do think it is helpful any time people can firsthand tell guys, ‘This helps me,’ and ‘Yeah it’s tough at times, but it will pay off in the end.’ I certainly think that’s helpful.”

On the Smoothie King Center being an early voting location and if being outspoken about voting and social/political issues in America is something Coach Van Gundy plans on continuing to do even after the election:Stan Van Gundy: "There’s no question. First of all, with the arena being used as an early voting site, I think that is tremendous by the Pelicans organization, by Mrs. Benson, to get that done because obviously in this pandemic we need places where we can vote and yet socially distance and stay safe, so the arenas make a lot of sense. I think NBA governors like Mrs. Benson stepping forward has been very, very helpful. One of the things that I really liked – you go through an interview process and as much as Griff and Trajan are doing research on me, I’m doing research on them and the organization. One of themost impressive things to me was Mrs. Benson being on the board of the NBA foundation (of) eight people, with the money the owners are throwing in: thirty million dollars per year, specifically to empower Black communities economically. So clearly, there’s a commitment on her part to do things and that’s somebody that you can be proud to work for. We represent…at least in my situation, we’re out there every day working with people who are predominantly Black people. You hear their stories over a long period of time, and when you hear those stories and you know what the issues are and you have a chance to speak out and help them, you want to help them. Dennis Lauscha made a great comment to me when I came in to interview, that you want to do that and you want to do it as constructively as possible so that you’re bringing more people in instead of turning people off. I thought it was a great comment, and I’ve tried to keep that in mind in these last two weeks since I left because I hadn’t always done a great job of that before, and I think that really is important.”

On if there was a ‘lightbulb moment’ where David Griffin knew Stan Van Gundy was the guy for the job:David Griffin: "I think Trajan’s lightbulb moment may have been different than mine. I think Trajan was really committed to it very early on in the process. I think the lightbulb moment for me was getting to spend time with Stan and his wife Kim together and really understanding – and he talked about this in terms of culture being about a body of shared values – I very much see my wife Meredith and I in their relationship, and I think Stan has walked the walk in his life on and off the court, and that really mattered to me. It mattered mightily to all of us, but in my particular situation having also taken a couple of years off and having the time to sort of understand exactly what I had been doing wrong, as a family they were committed to doing this right and they wanted to do it with us. When I felt that moment where we were all together on the same page, for me that was definitely that moment of clarity that made everything mean something to me in a different way.”

On the potential of a December start date to next season and how crazy that makes your life for the next eight weeks:Trajan Langdon: "That’s a great question and I think we’re all trying to wrap our minds around that right now. We’re talking about it internally every day. I think, logistically, it’s time management. You talk about it when you’re in high school; you only have so many hours in a day to do your homework and to play sports and to do whatever you do with your friends. Well, right now we only have so much time to really prepare for this draft, we’ve got to put together a coach staff, we’ve got to prepare for free agency. There’s a lot of stuff we have to do to get our practice facility ready in terms of a hygiene standpoint. We’re going to have a lot of things that the league is going to ask us to do in terms of preparing the practice facility, not only to get our draft picks in but to get our free agents in and to get ready for camp. So I think there’s a lot of things that are going to be asked of us to do that we don’t even know yet. So just trying to prepare and control the things that we can right now and not get ahead of ourselves. But that will be a challenge right now with only so many days out from the start of the season and even less until camp starts.”David Griffin: "I would echo that and I would also say that the idea of starting free agency at about the same time camp starts is really daunting. To think about bringing people into training camp sort of on the fly as you add to your roster, I can’t even really conceive of what that looks like…and frankly from a coaching perspective, I can only imagine somebody that’s the kind of prepared that Coach Van Gundy is – I can’t imagine what it would do to their staff to not know on a day-to-day basis how many bodies you would have and who those bodies would be. So it sets up to be a very daunting start of the season for everyone.”Stan Van Gundy: "When I read the other day that we might even go a month earlier than expected, I was like, ‘Wow!’ Of course coming into a new situation you’d like to have more time, but I think back – I’ve worked for some great coaches in my time coming up and a guy I had great respect for, I worked for a guy named Nick Macarchuk at Canisius and at Fordham. He would say to our players all the time – and I’ve thought about this statement every day since I’ve taken this job, so for six straight days, and this is what I think it comes down to – ‘We’re going to be ready to compete anytime, anywhere, under any conditions.’ I think in some ways this is a great way to get this message across to your players. When do you have to be ready to start camp? Well, whenever they tell us…so that means get ready now. And it carries over into the season. We’ve got a back-to-back, second night, no excuse. Anytime, anywhere, under any conditions, we’re going to be ready to compete. That may be a little bit quicker than I’m comfortable with, but that’s the way it is and we will be ready.”

transcript-stan-van-gundy-introductory-press-conference

Transcript: Stan Van Gundy Introductory Press Conference

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