Mark Daigneault | Charlotte Hornets | Mar. 14, 2022
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00:00Mark, how do you kind of compartmentalize the good stuff that you all did on offense the highest volume again tonight with some of the ways that they were able to get loose offensively.
00:11Yeah, I mean that's they're really good offensive team obviously they're hard to contain.
00:16And that showed up tonight.
00:18But we made them make jump shots, and they made a lot of threes at a high percentage.
00:23And they kind of separated from us in the game in the fourth quarter a lot of those were like pull up jump shots Rozier got it going from the mid range bridges made one you know it's just kind of.
00:33So we, we took kind of the main stuff away for a lot of the game, but certainly need to be better defensively I thought it was a really good offensive night for us all really moved.
00:42Four advantages after advantages everybody was a participant.
00:47And, you know, we got really quality shots, you know, move the ball ran with pace was good.
00:53We've talked a lot about trays scoring but he had a big assist total himself tonight. What are you seeing more and more from him as a secondary playmaker kind of off of Shay and being able to generate secondary offense for you that way.
01:07Yeah, I mean that's, it's what he needs to be. I think a lot of those came kind of in the driving kick game when they were already in rotation.
01:16I think he's still got to be a little bit more decisive on the initial catches you know he's still not ready to shoot every time massages the ball a little bit.
01:26He's still got to get better in the driving kick game, you know, just on an initial pass to make a quick decision, but he's improving, you know, good player, especially on offense, and, you know, we just got to keep chipping away but I think you look at the way he's played
01:39tonight in the driving kick game the way she played tonight in the driving kick game. It's clear that we're improving on that.
01:45As the season goes on here and trade, he'll get there.
01:50I wanted to ask about beats night career high and points for him but also for made threes. You know what he can he's capable of offensively but anything in particular stand out and how he was able to get those looks tonight, just out of the flow of the
02:02offense, you know they were open looks that came, you know, out of driving kick after advantage.
02:08And I thought we got a lot of guys tonight that were good finishers on those plays you know poking made a couple, he made for obviously I thought Lindy shots were good looks tray and Shay had to catch and shoot threes they made tonight so everybody benefited
02:24basically shot it well, everybody benefited from the way we played stylistically tonight including beat.
02:29And then kind of along those lines I suppose the first quarter you guys shot out of the gates really hot 41 points just what did you think in those first 12 minutes there the way you guys were able to get into things early.
02:40I thought, to be honest with you the offense was was really good during that stretch, and then continue to be throughout the night, you know, I thought even the stretch of time or a second unit was in there, and we kind of got, we went dry offensively
02:52for a little bit. We're stuck around 50 points like we were, we were moving them, and we were gaining advantages and we had some like unlucky plays we had a couple footwork travels miss some good looks, but I didn't think it was a result of the stuff we could
03:05control you know obviously they got back in the game with us, you know, not moving the scoreboard but obviously our defense so we need to be better on that in tonight.
03:16Mark wanted to follow up on the real quick like as he continues to get his legs back and just get back in there at this point you see him more of a more as a spot up shooter hunting those threes than anything else because I know you've talked about his background
03:30is like a point guard. Yeah.
03:33I mean, not necessarily just as a spot up shooter obviously that's what he found tonight but secondary playmaking and the driving kick game those guys that have good court sense, you know, should be good in that stuff I think he is good in that stuff he's a good
03:46extra passer.
03:48When he hits the paint, he makes simple plays he's a good passer in transition he gets it out of his hands quickly and gets another guy in advantage so I think he's got a pretty complete game on offense that, to be honest with you, the thing that he's got to continue
04:00to look at is the defensive fundamentals, you know, he's gives great effort and has great energy but needs to channel that effort, you know, fundamentally and that's going to be an important step for him developmentally and various aside is to highest
04:13scoring games this season, all in the last 24 hours. Yeah, basically. He said last night he recognized some of his offensive struggles from the season and last night was a reminder, he said that, you know, all of that hard work he's put in has been for something
04:28kind of gives them confidence. Do you see that in him, that sort of confidence after a game like that. Yeah, and I think that one of the things I hope is giving him some confidence is, is he's kind of narrowed his game.
04:40He's simplified his game. He's playing a pretty predictable style that fits into the rest of the team, and it's allowing his versatility to kind of rise to the surface.
04:51You know, last night, you know he he scored in a lot of different ways and same thing tonight he's running he's cutting he's rolling he's shooting spot of threes. He's driving out of the driving kick game, you know when he gets hard close outs.
05:03You know, and he's collecting points doing that stuff we're not running anything for him you know we're, we're doing the same stuff we've done all year I just think he's learning how to function inside of the way we're playing and I also think the way we're playing stylistically,
05:17you know, the defense obviously we got to continue to chip away at but offensively we've had a really nice run of games here and I think when you play with the way we're playing stylistically everybody benefits and so I would attribute some of his success to the way the team's
05:29playing to one more for me points off turnovers 27 to six, they only turned it over five times I know that's irregularly low but how much of an impact or did you see that having on the game tonight.
05:43Yeah, I think, you know, we certainly didn't turn them over there good offensive team.
05:49They thrive off turnovers they're great transition team, when they turn you over there aggressive defensively it's kind of feast or famine on a lot of possessions that's just kind of the way they play.
05:59I thought some of our turnovers tonight were really well intentioned to be honest with you, I think we're going to go back and watch the film offensively and say man you know, in terms of what we can control like we played a really good game.
06:11Sometimes the, you know, sometimes you miss shots sometimes you just don't complete the play you turn it over.
06:17Defensively I think there's more controllables I think our engagement and our effort, the last two nights has been much better than it was in Minnesota.
06:24But we certainly have to get better there.
06:27Intersect of the athletic. I'm just curious of what you thought of just focus shot selection tonight overall he's six of 11 from the field. Pretty good, you know, I thought he was.
06:36The airballs are like loud misses but he made a couple of them, and I thought, you know, in the second unit in the first half. We were kind of playing through him a little bit and he had a string of plays where a couple really good plays and then he had
06:50a couple like unlucky travels, you know, back to back where he was about to make something happen. So I liked how he played I thought he was competitive I thought he was into the game.
07:00floor tonight, he continues to show some promise when we put them at the five, we haven't done that.
07:07When he's out there with basically earlier in the season we were having basically guard the five and switch. And lately what we've been doing is guarding him on the five and playing regular coverage because he's so long, and he certainly has plays
07:19where he gets, you know, beat at the rim but as he continues to get stronger and get better fundamentally, you know, we're starting to see a little bit of promise there so we're kind of uncovering a little bit with him.
07:29And if he continues to, you know, lean into the competition. You know, there's a lot to explore with him and we're certainly excited about him.
07:37Looks like Darius got a lot of dogs I think he may have had four or five dogs tonight. Yeah, like by design to the offense system that he's looking for. Yeah, I mean not, we're not drawing any of them up.
07:49You know, it's more like driving kick game, you know, we kept the ball ahead of them, they're behind the ball, they're in long closeouts. And, you know, he's finding cuts he's finding drives he's running, you know, and that's the thing offensively he said
08:02anything he's doing stylistically is unsustainable, you know, and that's not saying he's going to average 25 a night but when you play like that with that type of energy and motor and he gets his athleticism into the game on that end of the floor he's going to find
08:15those plays because he's a six nine athlete.
08:19And, you know, I give him a lot of credit because he's forged himself into this player he's doing a lot of things right now that he wasn't doing from, you know, from the jump and we've, he's kind of developed his game from scratch here and starting to really see some things click.
08:33Leadership wise for Shay, he seems to still like get really excited for guys out there he's like doing these little hops after he threw to basically I'm just curious like you guys have lost a lot of games recently but he's still kind of seems to be leading this young group.
08:47Curious what you've seen. Yeah, I think, you know, the seasons long, and there's a lot of ups and downs and I think the season is a stress test no matter what team you are, you know, if you're Phoenix you're trying to figure out how to play without Chris Paul right now.
09:00Your team's trying to compete to get into playoffs there's pressure on you there, you know, in our particular case the stress test is we have more wins than losses.
09:08The losses stack up at times for us. And no matter what situation you're in when you face that kind of adversity. You have to have people that come to the gym and are refreshed every day you know you don't want people walking into the gym like it's a funeral.
09:22And he's, that's a particular strength of him he's a very light guy. He plays a lot of joy. He loves being around the team he loves being around the building, and it's seemingly no matter how he plays or how the team plays when he wakes up the next morning.
09:35He's that type of energy and that's been a huge part, not only him but this particular group of the last two years where you know we've taken a lot of losses but we've made a lot of progress and I think a lot of that has to do with the way that our guys walk in the gym every day and he certainly is a catalyst with that.
10:00Do you feel like it's sort of a little bit of a silver lining that the development is going in a positive direction for everyone despite the loss, I mean the wins not being there.
10:11Yeah, it's just where we're at, you know, the youngest team in the league and we're really banged up right now, on top of that.
10:17It's, you know, it's like, what do you want to do you want to come and react to every single outcome we're certainly trying to win the games our guys are competing really hard.
10:25But, you know, you're going to react to every single outcome, or are you going to control what you can and scratch and claw for every inch of improvement of the program, and of, you know, the environment, the system and style of play and the individual
10:39players, and at the end of the day, I haven't done this a long time but I've experienced how it comes together quickly when it comes together and you just got to be persistent and stay at it.
10:49And we've got a group of guys that have done that we've got an organization that hopefully is fertile with that mentality and we're just going to stay after it, and we've got guys that are going to stay after it and it'll come together when it does
11:00but you know we're going to be attacking it until then.