Josh Shipp talked Thursday about the beginning of practice.
On overview of first
several practices:
“I feel good for the most
part. There is not any joint pain in my hip, mostly just muscular stuff that
comes from getting back into basketball shape. Overall, practice is going well
and I’m getting back into shape. I’m feeling good about it.”
On
improving his game:
“I’ve worked on
everything. I take pride on being an all-around player. I don’t want guys to
focus on just one part of my game. This past year was kind of hard. I was doing
a lot of rehab, and I wasn’t able to get out there and do a lot of the
individual stuff that I wanted to do. But we’ve been working on little things in
practice, just shooting and dribbling and creating for others. In every aspect
of the game, I just try to get better.”
On emphasis on defense
versus offense:
“Our emphasis is on the
defensive end, and that’s what we do first and foremost. Every night we will
play defense – our shot might not be falling sometimes, but first and foremost
is defense. If we add our offense and shoot along with that, it’s definitely
going to be a hard night for the other team.”
On Lorenzo Mata-Real’s
first practice today after sitting out with an ankle injury:
“He cut it a little short
(today in practice), but when he was out there he looked really good. I was very
impressed with him. He’s coming back into shape, and I’m not worried about him.
He’ll be OK.”
On Chace Stanback :
“Chace is looking good.
He’s a freshman, so coach is riding him, but he needs that. At the same time,
that is helping him out a lot. He’s learned a lot of the little things, and
he’ll be good this year. I’ve definitely seen a lot of progression with him. His
overall game has really improved. His ability to shoot looks really good, and
he’s able to create and do things for other players. Playing against him is a
little different – I’m used to playing with him on my team. At the same time,
it’s fun. I like playing against good players. Plus, we come from the same
neighborhood, so we have that little rivalry going, so that’s good, too.”
On playing with Kevin Love:
“We’re definitely going to
try and fast break a lot more with him in the game. He is great at throwing the
outlet pass and the guards are looking to get out early and catch those outlet
passes. With him in there, we will try to fast break a lot more. With Lorenzo,
he’s going to be good at getting it out. Darren is quick and can also get the
ball up to us. We’re still going to fast break either way.”
On Darren Collison:
“Darren is looking really
good. He’s so quick, that he creates things for others. That’s so key for us in
this offense. He steps up in a leadership role for us. I think he’s looking
really good, and he’s had a great first week of practice."
On Darren
Collison and Shipp stepping up as leaders:
“We definitely feel that,
and we’ve stepped into that role. Arron Afflalo was a great player for us last
year, and we lost a lot of things when we lost him. Darren and I have been
working hard, and it’s our time now to prove that we are great players and great
leaders out there.”
On preseason hype:
“I don’t really read those
[preseason magazines]. They don’t mean anything to me. We have to go out and
prove every night that we are the No. 1 team. It doesn’t matter to me. It’s not
going to make or break my day if somebody doesn’t say that we are No. 1.”
On Luc Richard Mbah a Moute working on his shot:
“Luc has improved a lot. I
didn’t have as much room for improvement. My shot was always there, just a lot
of in-and-outs and stuff like that. I think that Luc has done a great job
working on his shot. He’s a lot more consistent. I’m shooting the ball well,
too.”