Mark Daigneault | Utah Jazz | Mar. 06, 2022
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00:00Nick L. O. K. C. Thunder dot com. Mark, you all ran through the finish line
00:04tonight. Just how did it feel out there on the floor to you to see that? A lot
00:08of good things. I thought we really hung in there in the first half. I mean,
00:13they shot the ball really well. Some of that was us, but a lot of I mean, the
00:17two Clarkson threes that he made, you know, just like bombs at the end of
00:20the clock. Can't really do anything about, um, you know, we just kind of
00:25kept it within distance, you know, going into halftime. And then I thought
00:28we sharpened sharpened up in the, um, in the second half on both ends of the
00:32floor. Um, offensively, our attacks were a little more sharp and defensively, I
00:37thought we kept them off balance and took them out of rhythm and really, um,
00:41took that team to the limit, you know, outscored him in the second half. Um, I
00:46thought we go bear played 20 minutes in the second half, which, you know,
00:50they're clearly having to burn the boats to go get the game. Um, and a
00:53couple things go our way or a couple less things go theirs, and it's more of
00:57a game, but really pleased with the effort tonight of our team and the
01:01level of execution and focus. Speaking of go bear just with how small you all
01:07were tonight. How do you think guys, especially like Poku, held up in that
01:11matchup? He gets a double double. Go bear is a walking double double. But
01:15just the fact that you all were able to contain that matchup and actually
01:18outscore them handily in the paint. Yeah, I thought, you know, obviously
01:22they shot the three so well, they didn't need the pain as much, but we did a
01:26good job, you know, of kind of junking it up there, played a lot of zone, um,
01:30had Poku at the five a couple, you know, for a few possessions. Um, and,
01:35you know, guys just kind of played through it, scrambled, executed
01:38anyways, used our toughness and our scrap kind of to, um, you know, junk
01:43the game up a little bit, which, you know, we kind of had to do tonight to
01:46keep ourselves in it and then give ourselves a chance.
01:49Paris Lawson. Okay, see thunder dot com. Um, seemed like there were a lot
01:52of those moment of truth opportunities tonight for guys. Darius obviously had
01:56some, but then you had guys like lindy water step up and come up with some of
01:59those moments. Just what did you think of that element of the game tonight?
02:02Yeah, we want to be a team that competes at the rim and competes in the paint.
02:05And, um, you know, I've said it many times before, but efficiency starts and
02:10ends with the paint. You know, free throws are more likely to happen in the
02:13paint. Um, you know, rim finishes are all in the paint and the highest
02:17quality threes are paint created. And, um, you know, we want to do that on
02:20both ends of the floor and you have guys willing to stick their nose in
02:23plays. And I thought we did that tonight because, you know, next point
02:27there was a size differential at the basket. And I don't think that deterred
02:30us from really leaning into the fight. I was impressed by our effort. Joe
02:35Masato, the Oklahoman Mark Bogdanovich made 11 threes tonight. What is it
02:40like to go against the guy when he's that hot? And what did you guys try to
02:44do to slow him down a little bit? I mean, that was the one thing, you know,
02:47in terms of lessons and controllables, you know, I thought his early looks
02:51were clean and, you know, he's a guy that he's just like he walks in the gym
02:55confident. But when he sees the first like three or four go in and they're
02:58open like that, um, he's hard to turn off clearly. Um, so we could have done
03:02a better job there. But, um, I thought overall, like our effort in our
03:06execution, um, you know, down some guys, um, was really, really good and is
03:11obviously things that we could have done better. That was an area certainly
03:14with Bogdanovich that we could have. But, um, on all, you know, it was a
03:18good effort. We made some progress tonight. You guys have allowed 22 and
03:2123 threes in the last two games. You talk about a make or miss element a
03:26lot, but is there anything you see three point defense wise that maybe
03:31has has led to this? Um, I think there's like I said, we're kind of a
03:36paint protection team. And, um, when you do that well and you make multiple
03:40efforts, there's kind of a trickle down where the threes become more contested
03:44and less rhythmic and you force teams to rely on jump shots rather than, you
03:48know, have their cake and eat it too. Um, I thought, you know, tonight was
03:52probably more of a make or miss night in my opinion. And the Minnesota game
03:56was more controllable just because the level of rhythm we allowed Minnesota to
04:00get into against us, you know, and when you allow a rhythmic team like that to
04:03get into rhythm, then the threes are a foregone conclusion. But, you know,
04:08tonight I thought was a little bit of make or miss. And then there's probably
04:10some in there where we really protected the three point line where, you
04:14know, teams missed and there's a level of randomness to it. And then I know
04:17some of this is personnel related, but it seems you don't see it often where
04:22a guy guards Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell on the same night, like
04:25various did tonight. What does that sort of speak of his defensive versatility
04:30and what you're asking of them? Yeah, and Bogdanovich, you know, when you
04:33put it like that. So, um, yeah, there's there's a he's 69. He's athletic. He's
04:39gotten better. Fundamentally, there's a lot that he can do out there. And, um,
04:44you know, we think that his pathway to being a really impactful NBA player
04:49starts on the defensive end of the floor, because that's where there's a
04:52real difference in him from other guys, you know, just with his profile and then
04:56his fundamentals, um, how well he, you know, shows his hands, how well he
05:00contests without filing his room protection. Um, and to your point, his
05:04ability to play those guys because then, you know, you put him on Gobert and
05:07then you can switch him and he can guard those two guys in the same
05:10possession. He's traditionally been our Bogdanovich matchup. Um, and we had to
05:15shift him on to Mitchell tonight because, um, on a lot of possessions
05:18because we didn't have door didn't have K rich. So, um, yeah, it speaks to,
05:22you know, he's got some some upside there on that end of the floor.
05:26And you're selective. The athletic say 33 7 and 8 tonight. No turnovers. How
05:31impressive has he been to you since he's come back from the ankle injury?
05:34Yeah, I mean, it speaks for itself. Obviously, he's really cooking. I
05:38thought, um, tonight, you know, I thought in the Minnesota game that was
05:42probably the, um, stylistically, I thought that was probably his, um,
05:49his furthest game from kind of where he's been and where we'd like him to
05:53be. Um, just entirely held a little bit more. Now they were switching, which
05:57kind of invites that a little bit. I thought tonight he really had good
06:00attacks and good balance against a really tough defense to crack. You
06:04know, this is this one of the best defenses in the league. Go bears.
06:07Obviously, elite rim protector. We tried to do the best we could to move
06:11him around and kind of get him out of the basket area. But it's hard to do
06:14against them because they're used to seeing those attacks. Uh, and she was
06:17able to get his cracks anyways. He was impressive again tonight, but it's
06:21becoming pretty normal, you know, and even before he got hurt, you know, he
06:25had a stretch there from, I think, January 11th on where he was pretty,
06:29pretty impressive. And then your thoughts on poker. He seems to be
06:32running the floor pretty hard, rebounding, better pushing your
06:35thoughts on his stretch. Yeah, man, he's good. You know, and I thought the
06:39threes he missed tonight were shots he's made in this last stretch of games.
06:43There were good looks. He took good shots. Um, I thought he had a good
06:47floor game, you know, in terms of his ball movement is passing and then
06:50defensively is competitive. And, um, you know, like when he competes like
06:54that with his length, um, we can junk it up a little bit, you know, and
06:57play him at the five. You know, if he's not competing like that, then you
07:00can't even try to pull that, you know, pull that trigger. And, um, you know,
07:05his credit, he really has been competing at a high level and
07:07intelligently on both ends of the floor. Um, and it kind of unlocks what
07:12you can do with him because he is seven ft and he's intelligent.
07:16Student outcomes.
07:19Go ahead,
07:21Yeah, mark. Uh, I mean, there's no more victories is win and lose and that's
07:26that's what matters. But I think it's pretty should be, I guess, mark that
07:30you guys play, you're down 25, then you're down 11, you're down 26, then
07:36you're down eight. You play hard, no matter what, whoever you're signed,
07:40seems like they always, they just keep playing. I'm sure some of that's
07:44because you got some young guys trying to show they can play in the league,
07:46but that's not all of it. How do you explain that? That no matter who's out
07:51there, they just keep playing.
07:53Mhm.
07:55Um, I think they're trying to establish themselves a lot of guys to your point.
07:58I think you have to acknowledge that. But then we try to identify players. I
08:02think our organization does a nice job of identifying guys that are kind of
08:07wired like that. And then we try to make that part of the infrastructure
08:12here, you know, in the water, so to speak, where it's an expectation that
08:15you compete and you do so as a member of the team. And I think it's kind of
08:20been a staple here for a long time. And we've got kind of a new iteration of
08:24the team and we're, um, you know, rebuilding it back up. And, you know,
08:28when it comes to like foundational principles that are organizational
08:33priorities, that's at the top of the list when it comes to what's going on
08:36in between the lines. And so, um, credit to the guys, you know, they line up and
08:41play credit to the organization for finding those types of guys. And then,
08:45you know, we certainly try to nurture that and make sure that that's that
08:48comes with the uniform.
08:50And also some guys like sorry, you just signed him a little bit. Sorry, just
08:54signed a week. So what do you think of him? The beat is relatively new guys
08:59been here, but he's been hurt. What are you seeing all those guys poke you 34
09:02minutes tonight and another star for him? Yeah, you know, these guys, this
09:07is their life and it's it's great when they get an opportunity because, you
09:12know, their careers are important to them, obviously, and there's a lot at
09:16stake when they haven't played a lot and they really want to prove
09:18themselves. And so I'm happy those guys are playing well. I also I've said
09:22this before, but, you know, SARS new to the thunder, but he's not new to the
09:26program. He's a blue guy and feet has spent, you know, he hasn't played a lot
09:31of thunder minutes, but he spent a lot of time in the program between his
09:34rehab and then his blue time this earlier this year, poke who's obviously
09:38been back and forth over the last two years. So I think, um, you know, part of
09:42their ability to kind of just, you know, jump onto a moving treadmill is the
09:46fact that they've been in the program and there's organizational alignment
09:49with our G League program, summer league, all that kind of stuff. So, um,
09:52but I'm happy the way they're playing and happy for them.
09:56Thanks.
09:59Last question.
10:03Hello, coach. Hope you're doing well. Speaking about Oakland, his defensive
10:07effort. What is the biggest progress that you see from him about the
10:11rebounding about the will defend about his matchups? What impress you most
10:16about his defensive effort overall? Oku? Yes. Yes. Just his his willingness to
10:23consistently compete. Um, he is, you know, he's seven ft and he's £140.
10:30And, you know, when you have that profile, you have to lean into, um, the
10:36physicality of the game because, you know, he's not gonna be the strongest
10:39guy in the court. He's never gonna be the strongest guy on the court. But
10:41certainly when he's 19 and 20, he's not gonna be the strongest guy on the court.
10:45And, um, but there's a difference between strength and physicality. You
10:49know, strength is strength, and that is what it is. But physicality is a
10:52mindset. And, um, he's he's taken that mindset to the court. Um, the last few
10:59games and the last stretch of games. And I think the fact that you can match him
11:03to a guy like Rudy Gobert and kind of hold water in those stretches of the
11:07game is a tangible example of the power of physicality and the power of that
11:12mindset. And that's not to say that, you know, that's a sustainable strategy.
11:15But certainly I thought we were able to steal some minutes with him tonight,
11:19guarding one of the biggest, strongest guys in the NBA. And I think it's a
11:22testament to, um, the concept of physicality and that mindset and the
11:27progress pokers made.