Mark Daigneault | L.A. Clippers | Apr. 10, 2022
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00:00Coach, just what did you make of the guys,
00:02and especially over these last five games,
00:04and how they leaned into the opportunities
00:06that they've been given in terms of playing time on the floor?
00:09Yeah, I just told the team I was really impressed
00:11with that group of guys.
00:12That's not hard to do to play the minutes that they played
00:15in an individual game, never mind,
00:17over the course of the week,
00:18and they did so with professionalism,
00:20and they competed, and I gained a lot of respect.
00:23I'd coached some of those guys before,
00:24but gained a lot of respect for all those guys,
00:27and I hope they enjoyed the opportunity
00:29to play in the NBA again, in some cases,
00:31and for the first time in others.
00:34Xavier, tonight, he just knew a lot of the career
00:36high-end scoring, obviously saw the shot three times,
00:38but he also got to the rim and was able to finish
00:40around some big guys.
00:41Just were you able to uncover anything in particular
00:44about his game on the offensive end in terms of scoring?
00:47Yeah, I mean, nothing that I haven't seen with him
00:50with the blue, you know, he's played so many games there.
00:52I have such respect for him as a player.
00:54He's got not only high, high IQ,
00:57but he's really tough, you know, and physical for,
01:01you know, and a guy that obviously is that size,
01:04you need to have some stuff that offsets the lack of size,
01:08and his physicality and toughness
01:10and his intelligence does that.
01:11You know, he's a really, really effective player,
01:14and obviously played a pretty good game tonight.
01:16Mark, there were some moments out there on the floor,
01:19tough score, kind of tough situation,
01:21but GK and Jalen are out there communicating.
01:25V comes over and gives GK kind of a big hug
01:29after he misses the dunk.
01:30Just what kind of connection moments
01:32were you seeing from the guys tonight in the final game?
01:36Yeah, I mean, if you're going to compete,
01:38the wind's going to be in your face at times,
01:40and it's not always going to be smooth,
01:42and we want to be a team that is going to be,
01:45you know, stronger and more connected
01:47through the ups and downs.
01:49You know, when the wind's at your back,
01:50you got to stay connected.
01:51It's easy to fracture when things are going well,
01:54and it's easy to fracture when things are going poorly,
01:55and I think that's why it's so hard to be a team
01:59where the whole is better than the sum of the parts,
02:01and so we don't skip opportunities to do that.
02:04I give those guys credit.
02:06I thought they hung in there
02:08and competed together in these games,
02:10and like I said, have a ton of respect
02:12for those guys that played.
02:13Mark, Jurgos played the full 48 tonight.
02:17That in and of itself,
02:19is that an accomplishment to play 48 minutes?
02:21Yeah, I mean, that's what I said to those guys.
02:23You know, it's hard to log those minutes
02:25and then do it over the course of a week.
02:28He's one of those guys. He's one of the guys
02:30I never felt the need, obviously,
02:32to get him in this situation.
02:35You also got to know the season ends now, you know,
02:37and so they have all kinds of recovery time,
02:39but I do give him credit.
02:41You know, that's an Ironman effort out of him,
02:44and all those guys for the whole week.
02:45You know, those guys did a really good job
02:47on, you know, from Tuesday till now.
02:50It's four games and a lot of minutes,
02:51and to their credit,
02:53they competed all the way through the finish line.
02:57Anyone else in the room?
02:59I hope on the Zoom, Coach, we'll start with Daniel Bell.
03:02Go ahead with your question, Daniel.
03:05Yeah, Coach, you might have already answered this,
03:08kind of, but how pleased with the guys are you,
03:13and not just the guys that played,
03:15the guys on the bench also,
03:16because it's been a rough season
03:18for everybody with, like, injuries and everything,
03:20but, like, how pleased are you with them
03:22that they seem to keep their spirits high
03:25despite everything that they've been through all this season?
03:29And, like, you just mentioned how you respect them so much,
03:33but, like, just how pleased with them are you?
03:38It's been great.
03:39I think it's a group that has maintained a ton of optimism.
03:43You know, obviously, we're not finishing
03:45at the top of the standings,
03:46but I've never really sensed from this team
03:50dips in our optimism or our commitment,
03:52and that's a credit to the people
03:54that we have on the team.
03:56You know, they're guys that hang in there,
03:58and, like I said, when you get to compete for a living,
04:02there's a lot to be grateful for,
04:04and it also, part of competing is,
04:08you know, the wind being at your face,
04:09and I think we have a group of guys.
04:11That's one of the things that's most encouraging to me
04:13about the group we have is that we've got a group of guys
04:16that, when things are well,
04:17they stay grounded and they keep working,
04:19and when the wind is in our face,
04:22we pull together and we hang in there,
04:25and that, like you said, you know,
04:27is a mark of the guys that played here down the stretch
04:30and the guys that didn't.
04:32And then we got the last question, coach,
04:34to Christos Soltis.
04:35Go ahead, Christos.
04:37Coach, we're doing well, first of all.
04:38Speaking about GK,
04:41what are your initial expectations about him,
04:44and is there anything that exceeded your expectations
04:46about his game, about his attitude,
04:48about his overall effort on both ends?
04:52Yeah, I didn't know much about him.
04:53I mean, he's one of the least tenured guys on the blue.
04:56These other guys, Mel and X, Jalen, obviously,
05:00are guys that I'm a lot more familiar with
05:02because of their time in the program,
05:05but I was impressed with him.
05:06He just kind of was stone-faced
05:09and just kind of did his job every possession.
05:11He didn't get too high or low,
05:13played the right way on both ends.
05:14He competed, and, you know, to Joe's point,
05:17played a lot of minutes and was able to sustain,
05:19you know, a pretty high level of energy even doing so.
05:21So, gained a lot of respect for him
05:24as well as the other guys
05:25that ran through the finish line for us.
05:28Thank you, coach. Thanks, guys.
05:30We'll bring players next, everyone.
05:31Players next.
05:33All right.