Talking about the Flash
With the Utah Flash holding media day Tuesday, we had the chance to chat with coach Brad Jones. The Flash open their season Nov. 28 at Austin and play their home opener Dec. 1 against Bakersfield. They already have one NBA-assigned player in Boston rookie (and first-round draft pick) J.R. Giddens and could soon get another in Bill Walker.
Q: What can you tell us about Dontell Jefferson? You obviously traded a pretty good player [first-round draft pick Denham Brown] to get him?
A: You know, Kevin Kruger was planning on coming back all the way up until the last minute and then he got an offer overseas in Bulgaria that he just couldn't pass up. And I even told him, "I can't blame you." It kind of put us in a position where we were a little bit scrambling going into our draft because you know how obviously important with the Jazz system having a good point guard is.
Dontell is a proven guy in our league and they had a situation up in Dakota where they kind of had three guys that needed to play point in order to try to prove that they could get to the NBA. He was one that we targeted and we actually knew before the draft that we were going to make the trade. We'd already signed an agreement so they told us who to pick. Having said that, we're very excited to have him.
Q: Is he an NBA-caliber guy?
A: He was with the Clippers in training camp, was with the Grizzlies last year in training camp. He averaged 17 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in our league last year. The feedback we've gotten is, and he's gotten is, that NBA guys would like to see him be the guy at point. Up in Dakota, they had Maurice Baker and they had Blake Ahearn and then they had him, so he played some point, but he didn't have enough minutes at point. We obviously had a fit needing a point when Kruger left, so he's our guy. We'll see how it works out. It's been good so far in the first two days.
Q: Local fans will remember J.R. from his college days. What do you expect from him?
A: I expect great things. They sent him down Saturday, so he was in our initial team meeting, he's been in everything we've done so far, which is unique, and the Celtics actually wanted him to be here for it, so he could get a feel of how we run things. He's been terrific in practice. Golly, he's a talented guy. He's a terrific defender, he's got a great body. Offensively, he can really rise up above people and make shots, which you have to be able to do in the NBA game. Now the reason he's here, obviously, is to kind of complete himself and learn how to play this pro game. But the thing he does is he really works hard, and because of that he'll be able to get better quicker. Sometimes we get guys and we have to teach them how to work harder, more consistently, but that's one thing I haven't had to worry about so far.
Q: What has Danny Ainge told you that he'd like to see him work on?
A: You know, it's interesting. Danny and I have had good conversations, but they've done something different this year. The NBA and the D-League have a new thing where you can send an NBA guy from their team, an assistant coach or in this case an assistant general manager. Dave Wohl, who is their assistant general manager and has been in the NBA for years, is actually here with him and he sits in on every one of our meetings. He works with us and he works with J.R. after practice, so we have very connected information on what they want him to work with.
Once again, one of the things that they feel like he needs to do is he's got to work at being able to play pro basketball and not college basketball. Because he is such a great talent, I'm telling you he could basically rise up and score over anybody any time he wanted in college. But now he's got to be able to learn the nuances and the intricacies, and basically the ball-handling stuff too, they want him to work on that.
Q: Playing day after day at this level, that's part of it for a kid coming out of college, too, isn't it?
A: Oh, yeah. You go from playing two games a week to playing three or four. For instance, our first road trip, we fly down on Thanksgiving day, we play Friday night in Austin and we have a 7 a.m. flight, which means it's about a 4 a.m. wake-up call, and then we get there about 1 in the afternoon down to Rio Grande and we've got to play at 7. So that's part of the reason [the Celtics] wanted to do it early is they looked at some of our early schedule and the back-to-backs just to see how he would respond and be consistent.
One of the things that we've had with all our NBA guys who have been assigned is one night they're great and the next night you look, you think, ‘Wow, where are they?' That's been a big focus on J.R. this year and hopefully he'll be able to compete at a consistent level.
Q: From Year 1 to Year 2, anything different as far as the make-up of the team?
A: We still have a really young team, we have seven rookies on this roster. But yet we did try to get a little bit more experienced because we found that in the D-League, if you're real, real young . . .
Q: [interrupting] Idaho was really experienced.
A: I think pound-for-pound we probably had as much talent as them, but they just had the experience factor. We tried to get a mix between still the core value of what we think the D-League is, but also some guys that maybe have been out [of college] three or four years. Dontell's a great example. He's been on the cusp, but now he also has played pro basketball, so he gets it on at least how to play pro basketball.
Q: When you draft, how much do you factor in the players the Jazz may or may not be sending to Orem?
A: Our first way that we have to do it is we have to draft as though we will not have any assignees. That's the way we approached it. But then when you get into any draft, when you start looking at, ''Well, should we take this guy or that guy?'' then secondarily it came into, ''OK, well, we may have this guy, we may have that guy.'' It's both, but yet the first one is we've got to draft assuming that we may have none of them.
You look at the situation now with all the injuries and whatever with the Jazz, I don't know when we'll get any of those guys, if ever. It might be one of those years where you've got to keep them there to have bodies. I hope not for the Jazz's sake. We went strictly on what we have to do to be successful and then when it got down to splitting hairs, we took that into consideration.
Q: Last season, with the Celtics assigning Gabe Pruitt and Brandon Wallace, did you get a championship ring? Did you get a T-shirt? Did you get anything?
A: No, I got to hold the ring when we were up in Boston this year. They were sizing them and they gave it to me and I looked at it and the ring is about as big as my dang hand."
--Ross Siler
Q: What can you tell us about Dontell Jefferson? You obviously traded a pretty good player [first-round draft pick Denham Brown] to get him?
A: You know, Kevin Kruger was planning on coming back all the way up until the last minute and then he got an offer overseas in Bulgaria that he just couldn't pass up. And I even told him, "I can't blame you." It kind of put us in a position where we were a little bit scrambling going into our draft because you know how obviously important with the Jazz system having a good point guard is.
Dontell is a proven guy in our league and they had a situation up in Dakota where they kind of had three guys that needed to play point in order to try to prove that they could get to the NBA. He was one that we targeted and we actually knew before the draft that we were going to make the trade. We'd already signed an agreement so they told us who to pick. Having said that, we're very excited to have him.
Q: Is he an NBA-caliber guy?
A: He was with the Clippers in training camp, was with the Grizzlies last year in training camp. He averaged 17 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in our league last year. The feedback we've gotten is, and he's gotten is, that NBA guys would like to see him be the guy at point. Up in Dakota, they had Maurice Baker and they had Blake Ahearn and then they had him, so he played some point, but he didn't have enough minutes at point. We obviously had a fit needing a point when Kruger left, so he's our guy. We'll see how it works out. It's been good so far in the first two days.
Q: Local fans will remember J.R. from his college days. What do you expect from him?
A: I expect great things. They sent him down Saturday, so he was in our initial team meeting, he's been in everything we've done so far, which is unique, and the Celtics actually wanted him to be here for it, so he could get a feel of how we run things. He's been terrific in practice. Golly, he's a talented guy. He's a terrific defender, he's got a great body. Offensively, he can really rise up above people and make shots, which you have to be able to do in the NBA game. Now the reason he's here, obviously, is to kind of complete himself and learn how to play this pro game. But the thing he does is he really works hard, and because of that he'll be able to get better quicker. Sometimes we get guys and we have to teach them how to work harder, more consistently, but that's one thing I haven't had to worry about so far.
Q: What has Danny Ainge told you that he'd like to see him work on?
A: You know, it's interesting. Danny and I have had good conversations, but they've done something different this year. The NBA and the D-League have a new thing where you can send an NBA guy from their team, an assistant coach or in this case an assistant general manager. Dave Wohl, who is their assistant general manager and has been in the NBA for years, is actually here with him and he sits in on every one of our meetings. He works with us and he works with J.R. after practice, so we have very connected information on what they want him to work with.
Once again, one of the things that they feel like he needs to do is he's got to work at being able to play pro basketball and not college basketball. Because he is such a great talent, I'm telling you he could basically rise up and score over anybody any time he wanted in college. But now he's got to be able to learn the nuances and the intricacies, and basically the ball-handling stuff too, they want him to work on that.
Q: Playing day after day at this level, that's part of it for a kid coming out of college, too, isn't it?
A: Oh, yeah. You go from playing two games a week to playing three or four. For instance, our first road trip, we fly down on Thanksgiving day, we play Friday night in Austin and we have a 7 a.m. flight, which means it's about a 4 a.m. wake-up call, and then we get there about 1 in the afternoon down to Rio Grande and we've got to play at 7. So that's part of the reason [the Celtics] wanted to do it early is they looked at some of our early schedule and the back-to-backs just to see how he would respond and be consistent.
One of the things that we've had with all our NBA guys who have been assigned is one night they're great and the next night you look, you think, ‘Wow, where are they?' That's been a big focus on J.R. this year and hopefully he'll be able to compete at a consistent level.
Q: From Year 1 to Year 2, anything different as far as the make-up of the team?
A: We still have a really young team, we have seven rookies on this roster. But yet we did try to get a little bit more experienced because we found that in the D-League, if you're real, real young . . .
Q: [interrupting] Idaho was really experienced.
A: I think pound-for-pound we probably had as much talent as them, but they just had the experience factor. We tried to get a mix between still the core value of what we think the D-League is, but also some guys that maybe have been out [of college] three or four years. Dontell's a great example. He's been on the cusp, but now he also has played pro basketball, so he gets it on at least how to play pro basketball.
Q: When you draft, how much do you factor in the players the Jazz may or may not be sending to Orem?
A: Our first way that we have to do it is we have to draft as though we will not have any assignees. That's the way we approached it. But then when you get into any draft, when you start looking at, ''Well, should we take this guy or that guy?'' then secondarily it came into, ''OK, well, we may have this guy, we may have that guy.'' It's both, but yet the first one is we've got to draft assuming that we may have none of them.
You look at the situation now with all the injuries and whatever with the Jazz, I don't know when we'll get any of those guys, if ever. It might be one of those years where you've got to keep them there to have bodies. I hope not for the Jazz's sake. We went strictly on what we have to do to be successful and then when it got down to splitting hairs, we took that into consideration.
Q: Last season, with the Celtics assigning Gabe Pruitt and Brandon Wallace, did you get a championship ring? Did you get a T-shirt? Did you get anything?
A: No, I got to hold the ring when we were up in Boston this year. They were sizing them and they gave it to me and I looked at it and the ring is about as big as my dang hand."
--Ross Siler
2:29 PM
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