Doc Expects Stronger Bench This Year

Tom Halzack brings us notes and quotes from training camp.

It is not so much field observations as field interviews. The media only gets to see about 15 minutes of actual practice.

Tony Allen didn’t participate. We were told that it was soreness from the practice the day before. When I talked to Tony, he said that the doctor told him to expect it to be that way for a while – occasional soreness. He said the doctor did not specify how long – but a while.

Live scrimmage line ups:
The starting five plus Shelden Williams (subbed in) on one team
Wallace, Davis, House, Daniels, and Scalabrine (Sweetney subbed) Hudson subbed a little, and Giddens may have as well, but I don’t recall seeing him in.

Wallace and Daniels both looked composed and aggressive.

How was practice?

Average, a little sloppy we went longer on some breakdown stuff. They end up getting stiff, but overall, I’ve been thrilled with practice and training camp has been just terrific….We’re deep.

You already saw the video that Doc is trying Scal at the three position, in an effort to make a cohesive second unit. From the comments he makes below, that is not a fait accompli.

One thing we have to find out in practice is….. Scal at the three. How he can play threes. Who he can guard, you know, if there’s great three can you put Scal on two and let Marquis guard the three if we’re going with five subs at the same time. So that is something I’m not sure yet. We’ll try to figure it out.

Talking about rotations now. I know you’re talking about going with a second unit. When the season starts, are you planing on doing that or going more with a 6,7,8?

No during the season, we’ll go nine. A lot of times you can go ten…early on. We did it early on. That’s what we did it last year and that’s what we’ll do this year. The more you can do it the better.

Will the starting five remain in tact?

To start the season, yes. We can take a look at that again during the season.

Call it the evolution of a rotation, breaking in two new players who will play a large role with the team. There will be slightly different roles at times for the new lighter, stronger Glen Davis.

What will be expected of Glen Davis this year?

Same thing as last year.

Will he be expected to add anything to his game? Rebounding or defensive improvement?

Glen stopped moving his feet at the end of the year. His foot movement is looking better, staying in front of players. His rebounding in the playoffs wasn’t that good.

This year with Rasheed...when Sheed steps out, Glen will be expected to move towards the hoop. We’re getting him to work on his moves around the hoop, learn to use his body more. His arms will never get longer, but he can continue to become more effective.

So a few post moves?

Yes, something like that.

And with the pick and roll with Sheed, Glen will roll (towards the hoop) when Sheed steps out.

Will Glen play 4 and 5 again this year?

Mostly four.

How is Kevin Garnett doing?

(KG) went the whole time until the very end. Probably longer than he should have. shouldn’t have (stayed in so long) because there’s a lot of starting and stopping, which is not good for any of them. Definitely not good, like if Tony was playing, but KG was playing. You stop, you were playing and it gets stiff. You start and you stop.

Today was the day I probably really should have taken him out.

It wasn’t the knee?

Naw, I just think he got stiff.

Reporter: How has this camp been for you. You went from the double sessions to the single sessions last year.

Yeah, this is a veteran group. We came into camp with the thought of one session, right at the start. We also have the gym from 7-9. So we had a back up just in case we didn’t think it was going well. With the age of our guys, with a lot of our guys coming off injuries, and with the way they’re practicing, you didn’t need to see the second session. Are we gonna be behind offensively? I mean…light years.

We put in, I think, 5 sets, we have like 60 sets. And I’m in no hurry. I told them, we’re gonna limit the game and we’re gonna play with as limited an offense as you can have. and I told them I have no concern about that because we have so many veterans, they know how to play. They’ll figure it out and we’ll just move from there.

Rasheed and Marquis?

They’ve been fantastic. Better than advertised from both. I would say hopefully leadership, ball handling. Obviously you can see what you can do at the end of games with Rasheed.

He can almost get open at any point. So yeah, they’ve been great.

Chemistry?

Let’s be honest. I think we have enough talent to win a world championship. I really believe that.
And it comes down with all the teams at that level, to how well they play together. You know, if we get that right, if they’re willing, they want to get that right, we have a shot at it.

And if we don’t get that right, we’ll win a lot of games, and then go home and be upset. I don’t think there’s any trick to that. The first part is the ‘want to’, and I think we have that so far. We haven’t played a game yet, so everybody ‘wants to’ in training camp.

It’s when you start divvying out those minutes, when you start divvying out the sets, who gets the ball more, that’s when you start….your team’s tested and then we’ll find out how that works out as the year goes on.

BTW…ubuntu was the rallying cry of the team as it catapulted to an NBA title. It appears to have taken a hit last season. It worked once. The team called out "Ubuntu!" in harmony on huddle breaks yesterday. I asked Ray Allen if there is any new theme or are they still going with ubuntu. He said it will remain 'ubuntu'. 

Call it ...A Return to Ubuntu.