Stackhouse is “balls to the walls” intense, says Trayce Jackson-Davis
[+Looney, video/transcripts/notes/quotes]
Idk if this is gonna be a trilogy and that’s it or if we’re getting prequels and more sequels — just don’t let JJ Abrams or Rian Johnson take over, please — but we got the third installment of “Secrets of Jerry Stackhouse” saga. The previous two? Here and here.
For this third entry, you just gotta watch or read it all. Here are the relevant parts, first here with Trayce Jackson-Davis from practice on Tuesday, the day before the loss to OKC…
01:47 As you continue to learn about them, what are like Terry Stotts and Jerry Stackhouse, on a day like today, in practice, that you guys are going over so much?
01:55 I mean, honestly, their demeanor, how they are, they don't change. They're the same. Stack is balls to the walls, 24-7. He's very intense and Terry's a mastermind of the game. Just, we watched film this morning. It was the little things that we needed to clean up and it wasn't anything about our defense or anything that we were doing necessarily wrong. We just had to execute better and offensively, Terry showed us a few clips of screening, rolls, hitting the right passes, the right man. And so just making a few extra plays, a few extra passes, and that game probably goes differently.
02:31 And what's "Balls to the Walls" Stackhouse like?
02:35 Yeah, man, he's intense. Just always yelling, not in a bad way, but always intense. Screaming, yelling, trying to get everyone pumped up. That's kind of who he is and that's kind of what he brings to the team. And that's what we want to be, defensively. We kind of want to be "Balls to the Walls," running, getting out, scrappy, and stuff of that nature.
02:53 Did he give out grades today?
02:55 Huh?
02:56 Did he give out his defensive grades?
02:57 Yeah, he always does.
02:58 Not good today?
03:01 It was, there was a few negative marks, but I got saved by a three blocked shots, so mine was zero. So I wasn't plus or negative, so it was okay. But I had two missed trap-the-box clips, so I got a little yelled at for that, so it is what it is.
Btw, special shout out to Danny Emerman of the Bay Area News Group for the initial question and Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN for the follow-ups. I’ve also noticed that Kendra Andrews hasn’t been on the beat lately for ESPN. 🤔
Anyways, here’s the video. Below that is Kevon Looney’s take on Stack’s “balls the walls” intensity, which includes a comparison to how Mike Brown held the team accountable on defense (a grading system, whereas Stack uses a plus-minus system including gameday text messages).
Then after that is a full transcript of everything is below that, along with Steve Kerr from that day at practice, just to cover the bases. We’ll see if I get around to the actual OKC game coverage, but all the videos and transcripts are already on the YouTube channel…
08:28 Going back to the defense for a second, what in particular jumped out on film about some of those defensive breakdowns? Like, where exactly do you feel like you need to be a little sharper?
08:36 Our communication wasn't good and we didn't really Rotate and trap the box, how we normally would. Stack talked about us being early, being aggressive and I think we was a half-second late on everything and that makes the world of a difference when you're playing against a team like Brooklyn. And so we got back to just making sure our rotation — just our basic shell wasn't intact. And I think that when our basic shell isn't intact, you're not gonna be able to stop anybody in his league today. So we just got back to the fundamentals.
09:06 Kevon, you just talked about Stotts and Stack being intense. TJD described Stack as "Balls to the Walls" intense. What is Stack like on a day like today in film?
09:19 Today, like a day like today, he's just, he's always intense. I don't think it's — win or lose, he's going to find something to improve on that end. So with him, he's going to hold everybody accountable, from top to bottom. If you think — even if you got the stop, if the principle wasn't right, if the process wasn't right, he's still going to call you out on it, which is a little different. So he's doing that on every game, every play. And so today, he was really intense. We went through a lot of clips and we really locked in on the small things. And so, Stack's intense, but I love it. He brings that — the edge that we need for our team.
09:57 Mike Brown had a grading system, right? And he has a great system. What are the differences between the two?
10:05 So on Mike's grading system, we just got a score and basically it was like a whole — like different things that went into the score. And on Stack's, it's going to show you every play that you messed up on. And then there's going to be a couple of plays that you got good. The steals, deflections, is a plus. And then everything else that you messed up on, principles like that. So you're going to see if it was a plus or a minus, from the game. And then he'll give you like a timestamp on where you messed up at. So, yeah, he's gonna hold you accountable and if you got questions like, "No, I thought I was right," you can go back and watch the clip here, watch the clip with you, and he'll explain to you why you was wrong.
10:42 Is that just for you to see, or is that for everyone to see?
10:45 For everybody. Everybody on the team. I can look at everybody's score.
10:49 On a computer?
10:49 Yeah, on our — we get a text every game day. So, yeah.
Again, here’s Steve and below that, the entire interview with Trayce and Loon…
00:00 Oh, Steve. Hi. Good afternoon. When you look at the game last night, I mean, you guys only committed 13 turnovers, but the Nets are able to score 26 points, which is obviously a really good ratio. I mean, is it just, do you just kind of credit that to them as just having good execution?
00:14 STEVE KERR: They played really hard. I give them a ton of credit. They they deserve that win, especially the way they came back from 18 down, mid-third. Some of it is them playing hard. Some of it is our poor execution. And so we had a good practice today. We needed it. It's the first practice in about a week. And I think the our performances the last two nights reflected the fact that we needed, a lot of work execution-wise. And really, that's it. Both ends. So the margins in this league are really slim. Everybody's got talent, even on a night when the other team's missing players. Everybody's got talent. Everybody's got guys who can make a bunch of threes. They made 20 of them last night. So they earned it.
01:03 What is it with Dennis Schroder's game? He always seems to play well against you guys, no matter what uniform he's wearing.
01:07 Plays well against everybody. He's a really good player. He's gotten better with age, as his shot has improved. He's very confident. He's in control of the game with the ball, but also emotionally. He's an excellent player.
01:25 Steve, when you mentioned you had a good practice today, I'm wondering, what's the ratio like today in terms of how much do you spend on video exam and how much do you spend on the court?
01:35 Yeah, we probably did 45 minutes of film and then about an hour on the court. So we needed a lot of both. And that's, it's a common theme in the NBA these days that you have to catch up because it's pretty much game every other day, all season long now, the way the schedule plays out. So it's hard to have a really physical practice. You're not doing a lot of physical stuff. You're not doing a lot of contact, but you have to go over the basics and fundamentals at both ends. And when we do, it shows the next game. So that's been the pattern all season. I expect that to show up tomorrow.
02:23 Yeah, last night you beat yourself up a little bit. You said something along the lines of how you gotta be better execution than that, "That's on me." But, I mean, were there real, actual things that you looked at and said, "Ah," and didn't have to see?
02:35 Yeah, oh yeah. There's always — when we lose, there's always stuff that I look at and, after the fact, in hindsight, I should have done this. Last night I wish I'd taken a timeout at the end of the third when we had the 2-for-1. I had a timeout to burn. I could have used the timeout, gotten us a little more organized. Maybe we close the quarter better. That's two games in a row where the third quarter has ended badly and it's set up the momentum. So that's on me. That's — as a coach. I've got to fix that. And during the game, I probably could have managed that better.
03:15 Steve, watching, going back on the film, what have you seen that might be not a trend, but something that was similar in these last two games? You talked about not having enough juice toward the end, but anything execution-wise that you saw that like, "We need to fix this"?
03:29 Yeah, for sure. Defensively, just lack of focus on our rotations. They were getting to the rim and there was nobody there five, six, seven times last night, where it's an automatic rotation from that low-man defensively that, we've been making all year. But the last two games, we haven't made it consistently and that just opens up the cookie jar right there. So it's clear what we need to do better defensively. We messed up some guard-guard screens, communication-wise, and in the third, we had two of them, two mistakes that led to two threes. So it's clear as day when you watch the tape, which is actually encouraging, because the body of work so far is much more on the positive side than on the negative side. So offensively, getting into stuff, executing stuff with more pace and force, not having as many random offensive possessions, those are the things that showed up on tape.
04:30 On that offensive thing, is it more you guys, the movement and the cutting is just not there, or is it what defenses are trying to do to you guys?
04:39 Well, it just depends. Every game is different. They were switching everything last night, so they disrupted us some. But we know how to execute against switching. We went over some of that today. And I'm confident we'll be better against that tomorrow.
04:57 Last thing, how's Kuminga doing?
04:59 He practiced today, so he looked fine.
05:02 Steve, you guys' plus-minus this season, the second half with Steph on the floor, you're something like plus-80 and then like minus-20 without him in the second half. What needs to happen? What's the message to make sure that the offense doesn't get stagnant when he's not out there?
05:16 Well, I think those numbers have really shifted over the last, maybe, four or five games, I'm guessing. Because I know early in the season that was a real strength of ours, the non-Steph minutes. So I try to look at these things from a macro perspective. What's happening right now compared to early in the year, I would say the execution has suffered the last couple of games. We're not making as many shots. We started out the year, I think, shooting the ball really well. So you have to be able to win games when the ball is not going in, and when guys are struggling a little bit. That's the most important time for execution. When you're not getting a bunch of easy stuff in transition — and the last two games we've hardly forced turnovers to create easy looks in transition, and our offense has suffered because of it. And we're not executing as well in the half court.
06:13 To kind of follow up on the macro, I mean, last night you even said, like, "Hey, this isn't a time to overreact, it's two games, right?" Where do you kind of strike that balance with the team as far as, "We have to correct these things, but in the grand scheme, it's an 82-game season, let's not overreact to all this"?
06:26 Yeah. And what's disappointing is the last two games were very winnable, right? Big leads on the road in San Antonio, home last night. Those are games we should close out. And obviously we're facing a daunting schedule ahead. So it's disappointing. But it's 82 games and we're gonna be facing all kinds of stuff, whether it's tough schedule, injuries like we have now, people out. Doesn't matter, nobody cares so it's our ability and every team's ability to win games in the midst of difficult stretches, to play through the bad stretches, to not get too down. You trust that over the course of the 82, if you have a good team and you're committed and you're playing with energy, that the record's gonna end up pretty good.
07:20 BP hasn't been himself lately, even, it seems like he's even lapsing into some over-dribbling at times. I mean, what do you, what's your message to him besides, "Just get through this"?
07:30 Yeah, just play hard. Just do your thing. I mean, he's such a good basketball player. He still makes important plays for us even when the ball's not going through the hoop. He took the charge last night. That was a big play. Made a couple of great passes. He's an impactful player. He wins. He's a winner. And he's a young player, though. And when you as a young player, you go through tough stretches, you have to figure out how to get through those stretches. And that's his challenge right now.
07:58 Steve, when you're sort of making this calculus about how to best use, say, Stephen, Draymond for the number of minutes you want them to play, is there ever a consideration of, like in baseball, they say you bring in your best guy during high-leverage situations. If something starts to drift like it did last night, is there ever a temptation to just say, "Well, he can sit the last five, but he should play now while we take care of it"?
08:24 Yeah. I mean, it's a good point. I think it's something we do in the playoffs, for sure. In the regular season over the course of the 82, you want to build trust with groups. You also want to develop patterns and rotations because guys are very comfortable and dependent on routine. And so it's a little dangerous to start bringing guys in in different times, especially in the regular season. It is a consideration, depending on the game and the importance of the game and and all of that. But it's, yeah, we think about these things all the time. We try to balance the scope of the entire season with, “How much are we disrupting our patterns?”
09:17 OKC obviously is without Chet, but Hartenstein's back. How does that make them different than what you last saw from them?
09:24 Yeah, when we saw them when Chet went down, it became a small game the rest of the game. So now it's very different. Hartenstein's back. He's a high-level player. I think he played 30-plus minutes the other night. So it changes things. When he goes out, they're still injured in the backup roles. So it'll become a small game when he's out. But when he's out there, he becomes a pick-and-roll player, a good passer out of the pocket, a finisher, and a hell of a rebounder. So it changes things at the rim. They have a lot more force and size there.
10:00 The list of what Shai does really well is kind of long, but when you watch him, I mean, what are the two or three things that you can pick on and say, "These are the things we really have to try and limit or make sure he doesn't get going on"?
10:12 Yeah, we can't foul him. That's the number one thing when you play them. If he gets to the line twelve times, that's six possessions you're taking the ball out of the net, playing against a set defense. And I think they're the No. 1 defense in the league, if not one, they're right there. But the fouls are the killers. He's gonna make tough shots, you can't give him the easy stuff in transition and you can't give him the free throws.
00:00 What have you taken away from these last couple games where you guys were in a pretty good position and then faded away?
00:08 TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Just gotta finish. We gotta close out. Obviously, playing 12 guys, getting a lot of different lineups, we just gotta continue to play together, learn each other's strengths. Only game 16, 17. So, 82 games is a long season. But yeah, we just gotta execute better down the stretch and we had a great practice today. And so, clean some things up, but that's the gist of it.
00:34 You guys are going to see a different OKC team tomorrow than when you saw, Chet's not there and Isaiah's there. Can you already tell the difference between those two guys or do you feel the difference between the two of them?
00:44 Yeah, didn't really get to play against Chet that much because, obviously, the injury and then playing against Isaiah last year. Big rebounder, he loves playing in that pocket, getting those quick touch finishes, but I think an underrated ability of his game is his passing. And so we just gotta be able to play one-on-one, me and Loon and Dray, and then we gotta choke the shooters and make sure that we cut off passes And so they got a great team. I'm pretty sure they're No. 1. We're No. 2. So it's gonna be rocking tomorrow. Can't wait.
01:13 How much do you guys also feel that the last two losses, that serve as kind of a wake up call, especially just this last game, because you guys were at home and you played against a Nets team that was under-manned?
01:23 Yeah, it's a — at the end of the day, it's basketball. We let two drop, but the great thing is, it's 82 games. We got another game coming up, so can't get too high, can't get too low. Obviously, we want those two back, but there's a lot of opportunities in the future. And after this great day of practice, I'm confident that we're going to get it done tomorrow.
01:47 As you continue to learn about them, what are like Terry Stotts and Jerry Stackhouse, on a day like today, in practice, that you guys are going over so much?
01:55 I mean, honestly, their demeanor, how they are, they don't change. They're the same. Stack is balls to the walls, 24-7. He's very intense and Terry's a mastermind of the game. Just, we watched film this morning. It was the little things that we needed to clean up and it wasn't anything about our defense or anything that we were doing necessarily wrong. We just had to execute better and offensively, Terry showed us a few clips of screening, rolls, hitting the right passes, the right man. And so just making a few extra plays, a few extra passes, and that game probably goes differently.
02:31 And what's "Balls to the Walls" Stackhouse like?
02:35 Yeah, man, he's intense. Just always yelling, not in a bad way, but always intense. Screaming, yelling, trying to get everyone pumped up. That's kind of who he is and that's kind of what he brings to the team. And that's what we want to be, defensively. We kind of want to be "Balls to the Walls," running, getting out, scrappy, and stuff of that nature.
02:53 Did he give out grades today?
02:55 Huh?
02:56 Did he give out his defensive grades?
02:57 Yeah, he always does.
02:58 Not good today?
03:01 It was, there was a few negative marks, but I got saved by a three blocked shots, so mine was zero. So I wasn't plus or negative, so it was okay. But I had two missed trap-the-box clips, so I got a little yelled at for that, so it is what it is.
03:16 On a day like today, when you guys spend time on video and also on the court, which one helps you the most?
03:23 Helps me the most? I think I'm a more visual learner. So getting to see the film and just being able to watch myself and see the right plays that I need to make, I think helps a lot, something that I did from my junior year to senior year in college. And I think that's really where it really made a jump in my passing, just tendencies defensively and stuff of that nature. But yeah, I think I'm a visual learner. So just watching the clips, having guys or coaches come up to me, showing me clips, what I can do and making those right reads in the right place.
03:55 So you guys had a pretty good practice, according to Steve and Trayce. What would you say today's mood was like?
04:03 KEVON LOONEY: I think today's mood was intense, but it was still just fun to be back in the practice gym, back at home. It was locked in on the small things and so, if we messed up, they made sure we did it all over again. So it was a test that we needed to go back over the details, small things can cost you games. And I think we just really locked in on those.
04:26 When you look back at these last two games where you guys had good leads in the third quarter and faded down the stretch, what are the things that stood out to you as where you guys went, fell short?
04:36 Just our execution when teams made they run, we weren't able to stop it. We weren't able to rely on just our simple basic fundamentals to kind of get us through those type of games. And was just like turnovers doing a small thing, trapping the box, running our offense and getting to our right spots on the — in transition, different things like that, that we've been focusing all season, all preseason, that we did kind of slipped up the last couple of games, especially when we got a lead. We kind of just took our foot off the gas and got a little lazy on both sides of the board. I think we just locked in on it today.
05:12 On a day like today, what's film study like?
05:15 Film today is intense. At the game like yesterday, we all know the mistakes we made. The thing about Stack and Terry, them guys, they call it out. They done call every single one of them. So our defensive clips, Stack let us have it a little bit about our rotations and getting back to ourself and just sticking to who we are. Sometimes we get away, we lose a couple of games, you start to think about your identity. He just wanted to let us know that we are a great defensive team, if we do what we do. And so we locked in on the basics.
05:48 Last one from me, you guys saw Oklahoma City not too long ago, there, won there. Chet got hurt, he's out, Isaiah's in. What — how did that change them a little bit, to you?
06:01 It's gonna change them. Last time we played them, they didn't have any bigs when Chet went down. So having him gives them some different lineups. That game, they had to go straight small-ball and we kind of matched them. So I don't know how we're going to do it this time. I didn't get to see a lot of them with Hartenstein. So I know who he as a player, he's really elite as a rim-protector, as a roller and offensive rebounder. So we gotta match his physicality and it's just gonna change the look. They're a different look when they got their big out there. So it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be a challenge for us. And especially at the losing two in a row, we want to get back on the right track.
06:38 Just getting back to last night's game. Did you guys feel that you guys sort of got too comfortable when you got that lead of 18 in the third quarter?
06:46 Yeah, I guess you could say that. I think we played hard. We still played, but it was just the details. They, them guys, Brooklyn, kept playing hard. They punched us in the mouth and we weren't able to turn their water off. They kept hitting the threes. They got their confidence. And we kind of just was on our heels the rest of the half. We're at our best when we're attacking teams and we putting the pressure on them and they're responding to us. And I think they put us on our heels.
07:11 Is it also just one of those things, too, once in a while, when a team is like just making shots? They just fall? Looks like you guys — obviously, there was a point where you guys were kind of trading back and forth.
07:19 Yeah.
07:19 But they would make shots on their end and you guys, unfortunately, wouldn't.
07:22 Definitely. They got their confidence. Even the guys missing them, them guys, Brooklyn, is a great offense and they've been showing that throughout the early parts of the season and it's our job to make them go miss and we didn't do a good job of that. We didn't, like I said, we didn't put them on their heels. They had us in scramble mode the whole — from middle to third on and our defense is best when we got guys uncomfortable and I think we didn't do a good job of that. So we got back to our basic principles today and hopefully we can do better against Oklahoma City.
07:51 I know — there's one more for me — I know games are games, but when you look at tomorrow being OKC No. 1, you guys are No. 2 in the conference, I mean, how big is that for you guys?
08:01 It's big. This is just a good test for us, big for just to get on the right track. You want to be a great homecourt team, and we already lost two. So we want to, coming off two in a row, just get back on the right path, get to playing our style of basketball. We want to put our identity on the game. So it's gonna be a good game. Should be a fun environment. It's a good place to test us, see where we're at.
08:28 Going back to the defense for a second, what in particular jumped out on film about some of those defensive breakdowns? Like, where exactly do you feel like you need to be a little sharper?
08:36 Our communication wasn't good and we didn't really Rotate and trap the box, how we normally would. Stack talked about us being early, being aggressive and I think we was a half-second late on everything and that makes the world of a difference when you're playing against a team like Brooklyn. And so we got back to just making sure our rotation — just our basic shell wasn't intact. And I think that when our basic shell isn't intact, you're not gonna be able to stop anybody in his league today. So we just got back to the fundamentals.
09:06 Kevon, you just talked about Stotts and Stack being intense. TJD described Stack as "Balls to the Walls" intense. What is Stack like on a day like today in film?
09:19 Today, like a day like today, he's just, he's always intense. I don't think it's — win or lose, he's going to find something to improve on that end. So with him, he's going to hold everybody accountable, from top to bottom. If you think — even if you got the stop, if the principle wasn't right, if the process wasn't right, he's still going to call you out on it, which is a little different. So he's doing that on every game, every play. And so today, he was really intense. We went through a lot of clips and we really locked in on the small things. And so, Stack's intense, but I love it. He brings that — the edge that we need for our team.
09:57 Mike Brown had a grading system, right? And he has a great system. What are the differences between the two?
10:05 So on Mike's grading system, we just got a score and basically it was like a whole — like different things that went into the score. And on Stack's, it's going to show you every play that you messed up on. And then there's going to be a couple of plays that you got good. The steals, deflections, is a plus. And then everything else that you messed up on, principles like that. So you're going to see if it was a plus or a minus, from the game. And then he'll give you like a timestamp on where you messed up at. So, yeah, he's gonna hold you accountable and if you got questions like, "No, I thought I was right," you can go back and watch the clip here, watch the clip with you, and he'll explain to you why you was wrong.
10:42 Is that just for you to see, or is that for everyone to see?
10:45 For everybody. Everybody on the team. I can look at everybody's score.
10:49 On a computer?
10:49 Yeah, on our — we get a text every game day. So, yeah.
10:53 Wow.
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