Mark Daigneault | Sacramento Kings | Feb. 05, 2022
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00:00 - Hey, Gallo, KC Thunder.com.
00:02 Just wanted to ask you about sort of the ebbs and flows
00:05 of this one and particularly kind of the last
00:08 sustained run that you all were able to get into
00:10 despite being on weary legs, third game and four nights.
00:14 - Yeah.
00:15 I thought our physical effort tonight was really good.
00:18 You know, it was our fourth and sixth nights, I think,
00:21 in four different cities.
00:23 So it was a tough pocket of the schedule.
00:25 A lot of travel, a lot of tough travel.
00:27 And I give our guys a lot of credit
00:30 'cause we just kind of fought through that
00:32 and gave it up physically.
00:34 I thought mentally tonight
00:35 we could have been a little sharper.
00:37 Defensive rotations took us a long time
00:40 to kind of get that into the game,
00:41 but we got it out at halftime.
00:43 We had some costly turnovers
00:45 and just some uncharacteristic plays
00:47 that I would chalk up to like, you know,
00:50 mental fatigue maybe.
00:52 But overall, like I was pretty pleased with the effort.
00:54 We gave ourselves a couple of different chances,
00:56 credit them.
00:57 You know, they kept coming,
00:57 they responded to our runs and ultimately got the game.
01:00 - And then Poku,
01:03 he hadn't played free roll since January 9th, I think,
01:07 but this season,
01:08 I think he's gotten almost 500 minutes with the blue.
01:11 Just the preparation he's had
01:13 to then be able to go out and be physical
01:15 and play physically in this one.
01:17 - I thought he was good, yeah.
01:18 I thought he competed,
01:20 which is the most important thing for him.
01:23 That can't waver.
01:24 And I thought he played really pretty sharp on offense.
01:27 He was really decisive with the ball,
01:29 whether he was shooting it or moving it.
01:32 And I thought he had a really, really good night.
01:33 Really, really impressed with how he played.
01:35 That's why we played him so many minutes.
01:37 You know, yeah, he's put his work in.
01:40 - Paris Lawson, theokensyfeder.com.
01:43 Wanted to ask you about Josh's night,
01:44 24 points for him, a new career high,
01:46 but it seemed like he was,
01:47 you talk about that physicality.
01:48 He was putting his head down
01:49 and getting to the rim tonight as well.
01:51 Just what did you think of his offensive performance now?
01:53 He was able to generate some points tonight.
01:55 - Yeah, he was playing fast tonight.
01:56 He was downhill.
01:58 I thought he had a lot of pop.
02:00 You know, had a good floor game.
02:03 Obviously scored it in a lot of different ways
02:06 at all three levels and pretty efficiently as well.
02:10 He guarded Barnes tonight too,
02:11 which, you know, is good learning, good experience.
02:15 Left some stuff to be desired there,
02:17 but you know, if he's a long-term starting level player,
02:20 you know, he's going to have to draw those matchups.
02:22 And, you know, that's a pretty good matchup
02:24 for him to have to chew on tonight.
02:26 And so, you know, learn the lessons
02:28 and learn the pictures from that too.
02:29 So I thought good learning night for him too,
02:31 as well as a productive one.
02:33 - Joe, the Oklahoma,
02:34 Mark, to that point,
02:36 you guys missing Shea and Lou,
02:39 like, do you as a coach learn something about,
02:41 as like Josh and Trey,
02:42 when they took 19 and 18 shots respectively,
02:45 like when they're shouldering kind of more of a scoring load?
02:48 - Yeah, you kind of get a feel for their threshold
02:52 of like what they can handle
02:53 and how much that impacts a team.
02:56 You know, certainly defensively too, you know,
02:59 like Trey started the game on Mitchell.
03:01 He had Hal Burton on different possessions.
03:05 Josh had Barnes for a lot of the night,
03:07 like I mentioned in the minute they saw that,
03:09 they were trying to post it to him.
03:10 So, you know, that definitely, you know,
03:13 that's something you normally wouldn't see
03:15 when you've got like Dort in the lineup.
03:18 And really all these guys, I mean,
03:19 that's the beauty of where we're at is, you know,
03:21 you try to learn something new every night
03:23 about the guys, about the team,
03:25 and you try to get a feel for
03:26 where they're kind of a plus for the team
03:29 and where they need to continue to improve.
03:31 It certainly helps us make decisions.
03:33 - Tao's only committed two turnovers in the five games.
03:36 He's been back from the blue as well again tonight.
03:39 What did you see from him?
03:40 - He gave good minutes tonight
03:41 and he had sustained minutes tonight.
03:43 He hasn't played this much lately.
03:44 So I thought, especially in the first half,
03:47 he had his foot on the gas.
03:48 He played with really good pace,
03:49 which was a point of emphasis when he went to the blue.
03:52 And I thought he'd get that into the game tonight.
03:53 He guarded Halliburton quite a bit, which is a tough cover,
03:57 but I thought he was ready to play.
03:58 And I thought, you know, with the scheduling,
04:01 I thought the bench guys, you know,
04:02 I thought Favors, Tao, and Poku specifically
04:06 gave us a lot of energy in that game,
04:08 especially in the first half to kind of bridge us
04:10 to halftime, which is important
04:12 when you're kind of in this pocket of the schedule
04:14 and you've had other guys log a lot of minutes.
04:18 - Anyone else in the room?
04:19 All right, we have one question on Zoom, Coach.
04:21 Daniel Bell, go ahead with your question, Daniel.
04:24 - Yeah, Coach, I know this year you talked about
04:26 how you wanted Trey to take more shots
04:29 and get more comfortable.
04:30 In the last two games, he's taken 17 and 18 shots.
04:34 I know there's more opportunity with Shay out
04:37 and Dordow tonight,
04:38 but how do you like his confidence the last two games?
04:41 - Love it, you know?
04:43 And I was impressed, you know,
04:44 he didn't shoot it well last night.
04:45 He missed some good looks.
04:48 And, you know, he came out
04:49 and was just as aggressive tonight.
04:50 And even, you know, some of his makes came later
04:52 in the game, so like there was different parts
04:54 of the game where he probably wasn't shooting very well
04:56 and he just stayed aggressive.
04:58 And, you know, that mindset,
05:00 he may not get 19 shots when we're kind of at full tilt,
05:05 but that mindset is the mindset he has to play with.
05:07 You know, when he's on the court,
05:08 he needs to make teams deal with him, with his offense.
05:11 And so I liked his floor game tonight
05:14 and his aggressiveness the last two nights.
05:17 And really the Dallas game as well,
05:19 obviously he had a really big game there.
05:20 So this is a good opportunity for these guys,
05:23 a good opportunity for us to learn about them.
05:24 And, you know, they're doing a good job leaning into it.
05:28 And now we just got to make sure we learn from it,
05:30 reflect on it and continue to improve.
05:32 - No more questions on the Zoom coach.
05:35 - All right.
05:36 - Thank you.
05:37 - Thanks.
05:38 - See ya.