Quote of the Day: “We’ve got a lot of [power] forwards on this team, and I’ve told them: If I have to play your position, something is wrong.” — Rudy Gay, after I asked him if he thought he’d see significant minutes at power forward again this year.

He was smiling when he said it, but was also serious. What I got from his response: He isn’t thrilled at the idea of playing the four, but more importantly is confident enough in his role as a team leader to apply friendly but firm pressure to teammates.

Consensus of the Day: That O.J. Mayo is not to be trifled with. If there was a pattern to responses today — from players and other team personnel, on the record and off — it was this: Mayo has an intensity, swagger, and work ethic that is highly unusual for a rookie. When Mike Conley was asked if he thought Mayo might struggle to make a big splash on the team as a rookie — since Conley himself and Rudy Gay both struggled their rookie seasons — Conley smiled and said, “O.J.’s a different guy. He has the swagger right now. It doesn’t matter with him [that he’s a rookie].

Further testimonials continued from a number of non-player team insiders. One said that after Mayo’s team lost in an unofficial pick-up game last week, Mayo spent the next day stewing about it, a story Mayo himself confirmed. This source also said Mayo has been “making everything” in recent team pick-up games.

Another said that he’d heard Mayo had gotten into it with pretty much everyone on the team, but in a good way, including chastising one teammate for being 10 minutes late to an informal shooting practice. Asked if he thought Mayo had crossed the line from being a leader to a problem, this source said no: “We’ve never really had guys take control like this. We need it.”

A third source confirmed Mayo’s suffer-no-fools demeanor and said he thought Mayo would make an easier rookie transition than Rudy Gay because, as someone whose been under the microscope since middle school, he’s better prepared, and because his superior ball skills will allow him to be more effective earlier.

Other player-by-player notes:

Rudy Gay: Rudy’s presence and ease was really impressive today. With the departure of Pau Gasol and now Mike Miller, this is his team and he seems to have embraced his role as team alpha dog. When one reporter asked what he thought about playing alongside the first Iranian player in the NBA, Gay scrunched his face in a quizzical look and deadpanned, “Hakim’s Iranian?”

Asked about his role as team leader, he said, “I think my mindset changed in the middle of last year” and then said, “This is fun to me. I want to see what we can do. I’ve been thinking about it all summer.” He also said that’s he’s seen a different dedication level this summer among the young core — everyone working on their games and then coming into camp early to work together.

Mike Conley: Conley isn’t necessarily quotable, but still strikes me as the most real, most thoughtful person on the team. He talked about his determination to be more assertive in his second season after “feeling his way” as a rookie, but also allowed that it’s challenging to do that on a team that’s going to be so perimeter focused — with a two guard (Mayo) and small forward (Gay) who are going to need the ball a lot. He also talked about needing to improve his spot-up shooting to make himself more effective off the ball when Mayo is bringing it up.

Darko Milicic: Darko seemed in good spirits today, and I always appreciate his candor. Asked if he’d changed his approach this summer in terms of preparing for the season, he said that his goal — which he’s met — was to come in lighter, partly in anticipation of seeing some minutes at power forward. To do so, he concentrated on running and shooting and less on the heavy weightlifting he did last summer. “It was a stupid approach for me last year,” he said about bulking up, and allowed that it may have contributed to some of the foot problems he had last year.

Darko said that he took two weeks off to heal his Achilles injury, but that he’s good to go for training camp. As for having countryman Marko Jaric on the team, Darko didn’t make too big of a deal about it, but did say he’s known Jaric since he was 15.

Antoine Walker: Walker was going strong with the veteran platitudes, but I tried to get something else out of him. I asked if he was going to be a one-position guy — power forward — at this point in his career. He gave lip service to still being able to play the three, but allowed that the four was probably his primary position. He made the case — a legitimate one, probably — that his three-point shooting can create match-up problems and give the team another dimension at the four.

I pointed out that the other two power forwards on the roster — Darrell Arthur and Hakim Warrick — are both young players and asked Walker if he sees them more as players he would serve as a mentor for or competitors for playing time. Walked wasted no time choosing the “competitor” option: “I’m coming to play,” he said with a smile.

Hakim Warrick: Warrick talked about this as the first year where he has a strong claim to a full-season starting job coming into camp, a “chance to go out there and show what I can do.” He talked about “having to fight my way back in” last year, but allowed he needs to improve his defense and rebounding to keep hold of a starting job.

I asked about his sudden discovery of a three-point shot a year ago, and he allowed that that was a facet of his game he was trying to develop to make himself a more complete player.

Marko Jaric: Jaric came across as smart and cordial and someone who knew the drill: Asked about his versatility, he said that his preference is to play the point, then shrugged, implying he knows that’s unlikely on this team. Asked about his relationship with Darko, he said that there was a generational difference between the two and they hadn’t really played together that much.

“He’s one of those guys who pisses you off, he’s so talented,” Jaric said of Darko. “He’s a good player now, but I think he can be a lot better.”

Hamed Haddidi: I peered over a scrum of reporters trying to interview Haddidi through a translator and it seemed to be rough going, so I moved on. My goal of engaging him in a conversation about Iranian cinema will have to wait for another day.

Marc Gasol: Gasol was the only person in the building who has seen Hadaddi play an actual game in person, so I asked for a scouting report: “Great hands. Understands the game. Moves pretty well for a 7’2” guy. Plays great defense. A good rebounder.” Sounds good, Marc! I talked to Gasol a while about the Olympics, but none of it made my notebook or was particularly memorable.

Quinton Ross: Ross talked about adding a defensive presence to the team and said he really didn’t see his cousin Darrell (Arthur) all that much growing up, but kept tabs on him.

Submitted by Chris Herrington on Tue, 09/30/2008 - 1:42am.
Chris Herrington's blog | add new comment | email this blog