Ivan Rabb, Jabari Bird, Grant Mullins quotes 10-25-16
“Yeah, yeah, most likely. It wasn’t anything serious, just precautionary. So, I’ll be right back.”-Ivan Rabb on the boot/injury to his left ankle
“Yeah. Somebody actually landed on my leg and my foot.” –Ivan Rabb on whether or not the injury happened in the scrimmage and if so, how
“I just want to accomplish, I just really want to win games. Improve as far as becoming an all-around player and also improve my leadership because I think that’s something that last year’s team kinda lacked a little bit and I think me stepping up and being sorta one of the leaders, will help us. We’ll benefit a lot from it.”-Ivan Rabb on his goals and why he came back
“Actually I think I’ve been doing a really good job about that. Just whenever I get the ball I look to score first before I do anything else and it’s been working, so it’s definitely something I want to translate to the season.”-Ivan Rabb on being more assertive
“I kinda just talked to Coach Martin, my mom and my brother and just pretty much the family closest to me and I got that information from the NBA, from Coach Martin and it kinda just took, I had to do a lot of thinking on my own more than anything. Most of all I just tried to avoid thinking about it for as long as I could and when people kinda cornered me to talk about it then that’s when I started thinking about it.”-Ivan Rabb on who he talked to when he was making his decision
“I mean, I was coming to him. I wanted him to stay and also to make the best decision for him and his family. I mean, when you’re that talented to have the chance to be a one and done player, I think that’s a great opportunity to have but obviously, Ivan wanted to stay here and work on his game, and I’m just happy to have him back.”-Jabari Bird on Ivan Rabb coming back
“These guys have all been really good at kind of accepting me. As a new guy I can imagine it’s kind of different having a grad transfer coming to your school, I never had one. But they’ve all been great, so it’s been a pretty smooth transition.”-Grant Mullins on adjusting to Cal
“It’s pretty cool to have Nick Kerr around being a coach. He’s always had a good basketball mind so seeing him out there with the staff it’s a little weird, well it was weird at first, but we’ve adjusted pretty well to that. It’s cool.”-Jabari Bird on having Nick Kerr as a graduate assistant coach
“I agree he was already like a player’s coach last year. Like he said, he’s a great basketball mind and it was kind of weird at first but now I’m getting used to it.”-Ivan Rabb on Nick Kerr
“Marcus Lee is an exceptional player. He’s actually transition seamlessly just like Grant and he’s a great player like I said. Very athletic, a better passer than people know, and he’s working on expanding his game. I’m following his lead and he’s following mine, so we’re trying to push everybody to get better…I just mentioned a lot of his traits, but I mean he just takes up a ton of space and tries to make things as difficult as a possible for myself and also guards trying to come to the basket. Everybody has to be alert when he’s back there. Especially on defense…I’ve been playing him since high school so I already knew what he brought to the table. I was kinda disappointed he couldn’t play this year, but any team with Marcus Lee on it is going to get a lot better, so when he is able to play, he’s going to do great for us and right now going against him every day in practice is getting us all better like I said. So, he’s a very important piece to the puzzle.”-Ivan Rabb on Marcus Lee
“Kingsley has made huge leaps just being comfortable with the ball and just playing without thinking so much on the offensive end, we all know what he does on defense, he just clogs up the lane, blocks shots, and rebounds, but he’s been doing a far better job of just catching and finishing and creating plays off the block. Kameron, he’s doing a great job as well. Just getting more comfortable with his body, rolling to the basket, sealing guys under the basket, and extending his range to the 15 foot area and I’m proud of both of them because we all worked hard together in the summer time and we’ve all gotten a lot better.”-Ivan Rabb on the development of Kingsley Okoroh and Kameron Rooks
“I feel a lot stronger. I’m about two-hundred and twenty five pounds now, so I mean it’s made a big difference for me. To start last year, I was 206. During the season I was about 217 and then I dropped a little bit as the season went on but I gained a little bit of weight.”-Ivan Rabb on his weight
“No because they know that will come in time. That’s just something that I want to do to feel more comfortable when I’m playing. I just never want to feel, feel like I wasn’t physically capable, as capable as other guys I was playing against. So, that was my thing.”-Ivan Rabb on why he wanted to gain that extra weight and whether or not it was the NBA scouts that motivated him
“I’m not really sure. I just know that I made progress throughout the whole year. I was never really nervous playing, but I just got more and more comfortable on the floor. Towards the end of the year they kinda looked to me to score the ball a lot more and I thought I was just a big piece to the puzzle last year and I just think I’ll be a bigger piece this year.”-Ivan Rabb on what he liked about his game last year and what he didn’t like
“We’re ready for it. We worked together pretty much in the gym all summer so we put in a lot of time this summer working on everything. Expanding our games and that’s what you prepare for. To be THE player or “The Guy” on the team.”-Ivan Rabb on what he thinks when he hears Cuonzo Martin say the offense will run through him and Jabari Bird
“Yeah, yeah, most likely. It wasn’t anything serious, just precautionary. So, I’ll be right back.”-Ivan Rabb on the boot/injury to his left ankle
“Yeah. Somebody actually landed on my leg and my foot.” –Ivan Rabb on whether or not the injury happened in the scrimmage and if so, how
“I just want to accomplish, I just really want to win games. Improve as far as becoming an all-around player and also improve my leadership because I think that’s something that last year’s team kinda lacked a little bit and I think me stepping up and being sorta one of the leaders, will help us. We’ll benefit a lot from it.”-Ivan Rabb on his goals and why he came back
“Actually I think I’ve been doing a really good job about that. Just whenever I get the ball I look to score first before I do anything else and it’s been working, so it’s definitely something I want to translate to the season.”-Ivan Rabb on being more assertive
“I kinda just talked to Coach Martin, my mom and my brother and just pretty much the family closest to me and I got that information from the NBA, from Coach Martin and it kinda just took, I had to do a lot of thinking on my own more than anything. Most of all I just tried to avoid thinking about it for as long as I could and when people kinda cornered me to talk about it then that’s when I started thinking about it.”-Ivan Rabb on who he talked to when he was making his decision
“I mean, I was coming to him. I wanted him to stay and also to make the best decision for him and his family. I mean, when you’re that talented to have the chance to be a one and done player, I think that’s a great opportunity to have but obviously, Ivan wanted to stay here and work on his game, and I’m just happy to have him back.”-Jabari Bird on Ivan Rabb coming back
“These guys have all been really good at kind of accepting me. As a new guy I can imagine it’s kind of different having a grad transfer coming to your school, I never had one. But they’ve all been great, so it’s been a pretty smooth transition.”-Grant Mullins on adjusting to Cal
“It’s pretty cool to have Nick Kerr around being a coach. He’s always had a good basketball mind so seeing him out there with the staff it’s a little weird, well it was weird at first, but we’ve adjusted pretty well to that. It’s cool.”-Jabari Bird on having Nick Kerr as a graduate assistant coach
“I agree he was already like a player’s coach last year. Like he said, he’s a great basketball mind and it was kind of weird at first but now I’m getting used to it.”-Ivan Rabb on Nick Kerr
“Marcus Lee is an exceptional player. He’s actually transition seamlessly just like Grant and he’s a great player like I said. Very athletic, a better passer than people know, and he’s working on expanding his game. I’m following his lead and he’s following mine, so we’re trying to push everybody to get better…I just mentioned a lot of his traits, but I mean he just takes up a ton of space and tries to make things as difficult as a possible for myself and also guards trying to come to the basket. Everybody has to be alert when he’s back there. Especially on defense…I’ve been playing him since high school so I already knew what he brought to the table. I was kinda disappointed he couldn’t play this year, but any team with Marcus Lee on it is going to get a lot better, so when he is able to play, he’s going to do great for us and right now going against him every day in practice is getting us all better like I said. So, he’s a very important piece to the puzzle.”-Ivan Rabb on Marcus Lee
“Kingsley has made huge leaps just being comfortable with the ball and just playing without thinking so much on the offensive end, we all know what he does on defense, he just clogs up the lane, blocks shots, and rebounds, but he’s been doing a far better job of just catching and finishing and creating plays off the block. Kameron, he’s doing a great job as well. Just getting more comfortable with his body, rolling to the basket, sealing guys under the basket, and extending his range to the 15 foot area and I’m proud of both of them because we all worked hard together in the summer time and we’ve all gotten a lot better.”-Ivan Rabb on the development of Kingsley Okoroh and Kameron Rooks
“I feel a lot stronger. I’m about two-hundred and twenty five pounds now, so I mean it’s made a big difference for me. To start last year, I was 206. During the season I was about 217 and then I dropped a little bit as the season went on but I gained a little bit of weight.”-Ivan Rabb on his weight
“No because they know that will come in time. That’s just something that I want to do to feel more comfortable when I’m playing. I just never want to feel, feel like I wasn’t physically capable, as capable as other guys I was playing against. So, that was my thing.”-Ivan Rabb on why he wanted to gain that extra weight and whether or not it was the NBA scouts that motivated him
“I’m not really sure. I just know that I made progress throughout the whole year. I was never really nervous playing, but I just got more and more comfortable on the floor. Towards the end of the year they kinda looked to me to score the ball a lot more and I thought I was just a big piece to the puzzle last year and I just think I’ll be a bigger piece this year.”-Ivan Rabb on what he liked about his game last year and what he didn’t like
“We’re ready for it. We worked together pretty much in the gym all summer so we put in a lot of time this summer working on everything. Expanding our games and that’s what you prepare for. To be THE player or “The Guy” on the team.”-Ivan Rabb on what he thinks when he hears Cuonzo Martin say the offense will run through him and Jabari Bird
