Wizards Training Camp - Notable Quotes From Day Three
After the third consecutive day of training camp, Washington Wizards head coach Eddie Jordan was nice enough to speak to the media. Also, the two point guards who will pick up the slack in Gilbert Arenas’ absence, Antonio Daniels and Dee Brown said a few words as well.
WIZARDS HEAD COACH EDDIE JORDAN
On the scrimmage this morning:
“I liked that we competed even though we were a little fatigued. It was a long practice; a very physical practice. The effort was there.”
On different backcourt combinations behind Antonio Daniels and DeShawn Stevenson:
“(Juan Dixon and Dee Brown) are there at the same time a lot. We also liked Juan and Nick (Young) together. We liked Dee out there with the starters too. With Juan and Nick, although you don’t have a prototypical point guard, you’re a threat. Dee can play with any group because he pushes the ball. He also picks up (well on defense). Juan picks up too, so there are different combinations that can give us different strengths and different looks.”
On Washington’s multiple seven-footers:
“With Andray (Blatche), JaVale (McGee) and Pech (Oleksiy Pecherov) with Brendan (Haywood) and Etan (Thomas), you have a lot of seven-footers across the board with different skills. Andray is multi-skilled. Pech can step out to the (three-point line), and he’s very physical inside. He liked to front the post. Obviously Brendan and Etan are veterans for us inside, fighting and clawing their way. JaVale is a long rookie that goes after every shot, so it’s a lot of fun to watch them all battle in the paint.”
On Antawn Jamison’s participation in practice:
“He did a lot of shooting and moving around in practice, but we just don’t want him to bang right now.”
On if he’ll use Caron Butler at the ‘two’ position (shooting guard):
“No. He’s an All-Star at the three-spot, so why screw around with that? We have capable ‘twos’. DeShawn is a solid ‘two’ that can really defend ‘twos’. I like the fact that Nick can come off the bench and defend ‘twos’ and score like a ‘two’. Caron is a ‘three’.”
WIZARDS GUARD ANTONIO DANIELS
On his injury:
“I bumped knees with Andray (Blatche). He got me on the side of my knee pretty good.”
On his status for tonight’s practice:
“I am not going to sit out. I don’t plan on it. We are banged up enough as it is, so if I can practice, I will.”
On individual defense:
“In the morning when we have our meeting the first thing we talk about is individual containment of the basketball. The better we do that individually, the better we will collectively on the defensive end as a team. We are doing a lot of individual containment drills, so I definitely think they will be beneficial to us in the long run.”
WIZARDS GUARD DEE BROWN
On the offense:
“As a point guard you have to get everybody in their positions and you have to know how to make reads. It is not a lot of penetrating and kicking the ball out. It is more of reading the defense and coming off of cuts.”
On being a leader:
“That is my game. I have been leader and that has always been one of the main focal points of my game. I am always vocal and positive towards my teammates. It comes naturally to me ever since I was in high school.”
On his play:
“I just want to continue to hit my open shots, run the offense well and do everything that Coach (Jordan) wants me to do at 100 percent.”
This article was written by:
Rashad Mobley - who has written 69 posts on Hoops Addict.
Rashad Mobley graduated with a B.S. in English Education, from Hampton University in Hampton, VA in 1996. He is a government consultant for the Department of Justice in Washington D.C., where he currently resides. Rashad is will be covering the Washington Wizards for HoopsAddict.com during the upcoming NBA season.