Here are Cuonzo Martin's quotes from Tuesday.
Cuonzo Martin on who has stepped up during these past two weeks: “I think Kingsley and Kameron have done a really good job of getting better in the post, scoring the ball, post sealing, dunking, and being aggressive. The first three or four practices I didn’t see a presence from them around the rim, but I think those guys are imposing their will so to speak around the rim and being physical and playing hard.”
Cuonzo Martin on Jordan Mathews’ inside game: “He’s worked on his ball handling quite a bit, but he’s a guy that can make shots and you don’t want to lose that. What he does is he’s done a great job of getting separation and getting open with a shot fake and then he’s making plays off the dribble. He’s shooting his pull up and he’s attacking the rim in that way, but he’s not coming down where he’s making plays off the dribble, that’s really not his game. He’s gotten better making plays because of his shot fake.”
Cuonzo Martin on how much Stephen Domingo helps with versatility: “When you’re talking about Stephen Domingo, Jabari, Jordan, they’re guys who can make shots, so they have a reputation of making shots, they’re ready to catch and shoot it. They’re threats every time they step on the floor. So in his case, he’s a guy that can play the two, three, or four for you. Just posing different threats, especially when he’s at the four position. You got a bigger guy defending him because you can run him in a lot of directions, put him in a lot of situations to be effective. Now you have to defend that. Most big guys can’t defend that.”
Cuonzo Martin on Jabari Bird handling the pressure and expectations: “Well, I don’t think the pressure will ever be off him because that’s the pressure he put on himself to be a great player and there’s nothing wrong with that. But from us as a coaching staff, we want him to be aggressive, to have fun playing hard and compete. Be ready to catch and shoot and attack off the dribble, all the stuff we worked on. But again, he’ll always put pressure on himself just to be a good basketball player, but again he knows what he has to do, but I think we have more guys that helps him be who he needs to be.”
Cuonzo Martin on Sam Singer’s development: “He spends a lot of time in the gym working on his shot and again Sam can make the three point shot, but I don’t think that’s Sam Singer. Sam’s game is getting to the rim, making plays, being a great defender for us, getting assists, facilitating the offense then the three-point shot presents itself, but he’s not coming down shooting too many threes a game. That’s not what he does well. One of things we talk about to our guys is do what you do well and do what you feel good at doing. Now he can make shots, yes he can make three-point shots, but in order for us to be successful at a high level, Sam needs to facilitate that basketball, get to the rim, hopefully he can get eight or nine assists a game, maybe 5 or 6 rebounds, and if the three falls it falls. But we don’t get consumed with Sam about whether or not he makes or miss threes because he brings other things to the table.”
Cuonzo Martin on whether or not he has a starting five figured out: “No I don’t. I really don’t. I don’t have a [starting] five at all. We might mix it up. We might have four different lineups. But we don’t. We haven’t talked about it as a staff. We might go with four guards; we might go with a case where Ivan Rabb is at the center position. I mean we don’t know, we haven’t said anything about it. We got nine core guys that could play at any time.
Cuonzo Martin on who has stepped up during these past two weeks: “I think Kingsley and Kameron have done a really good job of getting better in the post, scoring the ball, post sealing, dunking, and being aggressive. The first three or four practices I didn’t see a presence from them around the rim, but I think those guys are imposing their will so to speak around the rim and being physical and playing hard.”
Cuonzo Martin on Jordan Mathews’ inside game: “He’s worked on his ball handling quite a bit, but he’s a guy that can make shots and you don’t want to lose that. What he does is he’s done a great job of getting separation and getting open with a shot fake and then he’s making plays off the dribble. He’s shooting his pull up and he’s attacking the rim in that way, but he’s not coming down where he’s making plays off the dribble, that’s really not his game. He’s gotten better making plays because of his shot fake.”
Cuonzo Martin on how much Stephen Domingo helps with versatility: “When you’re talking about Stephen Domingo, Jabari, Jordan, they’re guys who can make shots, so they have a reputation of making shots, they’re ready to catch and shoot it. They’re threats every time they step on the floor. So in his case, he’s a guy that can play the two, three, or four for you. Just posing different threats, especially when he’s at the four position. You got a bigger guy defending him because you can run him in a lot of directions, put him in a lot of situations to be effective. Now you have to defend that. Most big guys can’t defend that.”
Cuonzo Martin on Jabari Bird handling the pressure and expectations: “Well, I don’t think the pressure will ever be off him because that’s the pressure he put on himself to be a great player and there’s nothing wrong with that. But from us as a coaching staff, we want him to be aggressive, to have fun playing hard and compete. Be ready to catch and shoot and attack off the dribble, all the stuff we worked on. But again, he’ll always put pressure on himself just to be a good basketball player, but again he knows what he has to do, but I think we have more guys that helps him be who he needs to be.”
Cuonzo Martin on Sam Singer’s development: “He spends a lot of time in the gym working on his shot and again Sam can make the three point shot, but I don’t think that’s Sam Singer. Sam’s game is getting to the rim, making plays, being a great defender for us, getting assists, facilitating the offense then the three-point shot presents itself, but he’s not coming down shooting too many threes a game. That’s not what he does well. One of things we talk about to our guys is do what you do well and do what you feel good at doing. Now he can make shots, yes he can make three-point shots, but in order for us to be successful at a high level, Sam needs to facilitate that basketball, get to the rim, hopefully he can get eight or nine assists a game, maybe 5 or 6 rebounds, and if the three falls it falls. But we don’t get consumed with Sam about whether or not he makes or miss threes because he brings other things to the table.”
Cuonzo Martin on whether or not he has a starting five figured out: “No I don’t. I really don’t. I don’t have a [starting] five at all. We might mix it up. We might have four different lineups. But we don’t. We haven’t talked about it as a staff. We might go with four guards; we might go with a case where Ivan Rabb is at the center position. I mean we don’t know, we haven’t said anything about it. We got nine core guys that could play at any time.
