Pastner opened up congratulating Jose Alvarado and Moses Wright for the professional careers getting started.
Pastner said he doesn't know a lot about his team yet because they've just been playing each other and it takes a game or two against someone else to figure things out. He thinks the secret scrimmage and the exhibition should take care of that. He said basically he wants to know what they are good at in games and how they play in a game situation.
ADTS has told Pastner it is full steam ahead of full capacity for hoops. He said he is still wondering if they will keep the benchs on the opposite side away from the students or not. He is waiting to find out.
Pastner said the non-conference schedule is harder than it looks because a lot of the smaller name teams like Miami (OH) or Stetson have both good coaches and some super seniors so people have to not pay attention to the names on the front and just look at how teams play because he thinks the mid-majors will be very good across the board this year in CBB.
On his rotation, he said he has traditionally play 7 guys major minutes and then it tails off, but he said because of the center situation he has to get comfortable playing more guys and he said they will experiment with the rotations in the private scrimmage and maybe a little in the exhibition against Morehouse as he tries to get a feel for this team and what works.
On the center position, he said it is tough replacing Moses Wright ACC POY and they've had a good run with one guy being the guy in Ben Lammers then James Banks and Wright last year but it will be more of a committee situation in 2021-22. He said he is looking for like 12 pts and 10 rebounds from that position on a whole and they can win with that.
Pastner said that Rodney Howard has improved and is more comfortable playing. He said they are going to have to count on Rodney more because guys like Jordan Meka and Saba don't have that bank of experience to draw on early in the year. He thinks all three bigs will be good, but there will be some ups and downs with them and they've got to get into a flow with them before ACC play starts and how he uses those three guys. He said right now he has not seen a lot of separation. He said that isn't necessarily a bad thing because they play hard and do their part and each have a unique skillset.
He said that Rodney and Meka are traditional five type guys and Saba even though he is 7'1" can do many different things like moving on the perimeter so it is different. They are not used to posting up all the time for example and may are most used to playing at the elbow. He said what they need is not someone to score 20 per game, but someone to get a putback or hit a simple jump hook and play defense.
Pastner said they have 17 players (13 scholarship (two super seniors Usher and Bubba) and four walk-ons and he said that Jehloni James and Jermontae Hill are scholarship-level guys. He said Jehloni has gotten a lot better and Jermontae was recruited by ACC schools out of HS so that has created an interesting dynamic with how competitive they are in practice.
Pastner said he really likes the freshmen class and he counts Hill as part of it so you have Jalon Moore, Deebo Coleman and Miles Kelly and he said there is a big learning curve for them with how they play on both ends and how complex it is, but he is looking forward to seeing how they do against other teams so he can get a feel for who can help now.
Pastner lamented he thinks they should have more than two warm-up game/scrimmages and he said that in the NFL or NBA you have a long preseason (I thought this was really interesting and something I agree with on) and guys are comfortable in practice but it is different with the lights on against someone else. He said he would like more time and other coaches agree to evaluate the team especially in the transfer portal era.
I asked Josh about the slow starts the last few years in non-conference play, he joked that Ken's son (he is like 8) could've done a better job coaching than him in some of those early games, but not Ken. He said it shows they get better throughout the year with how they've played in ACC play, but it is not good digging a hole early. He said there has been a big emphasis on no starting slow this year and he used the example of sometimes you see weird games early in the year in football like Pitt losing to Western Michigan and then beating what he called a good Georgia Tech football team. He said there were a ton of FCS schools that beat FBS teams this year because those teams have super seniors and are older and he thinks that will be an issue in hoops this year against mid-majors.
On Deivon Smith, Josh said that he is a good player and fast and a quick athlete and he will be a really good defender. He said Julian Swartz used to remind him every day to prepare for life without Jose Alvarado the last few years because he is so accustom to Jose's all-out hustle and diving for loose balls and gritty play. He was hoping they'd get one more year with Jose to mentor Deivon and Kyle Sturdivant. He said that Kyle and Deivon do different things well so they compliment each other, but Jose gave them such an advantage on 50/50 balls and he became a good shooter later in his career. He said that he needs Deivon and Kyle to be gritty and tough and win the 50/50 balls.
It sounded like Deivon has to work to do with fundamentals, "he needs to have his skill match his athleticism and that is the big thing." Pastner also said he has been banged up some, but there is no denying he is a great athlete.
I asked Josh about Tristan Maxwell and his development and it was interesting what he said.
He likes Tristan a lot and they have a lot of guys like him and there are only so many minutes to give out, so he just needs to stay the course because his time is coming. He doesn't want him to leave via the transfer portal and they have a lot of good perimeter guys and guards and after this year a lot of playing time opens up for those players including guys like Tristan if he stays the course. He said Tristan had a really hard time with the transition to college during COVID and that he has turned the corner on that part of it.
On Khalid Moore, Pastner said he has to continue improving and he is a guy who just plays hard and helps win games with defense and he will dive on the floor for balls and he has to be able to make open shots.
On Deebo Coleman, "his shooting range is very deep. He can really shoot it and he has great size for a freshman and he can really shoot it deep." He averaged 30 ppg in HS and was used to being the guy so the transition for Deebo is playing without the ball and moving the ball more to fit in GT's style where he doesn't like a player to give the ball a headache.
On Devoe, he said he made big strides last year just playing his role and playing defense in games like FSU in the ACCCG for example and as long as he buys into embracing his role and playing on both ends he can be a big time player. He said that Devoe spent the summer working with the GT Track and Field team with Coach Page on his footwork and speed as that is something coach Page is an expert at and something they didn't feel like they could teach him at the level he wanted to improve it so he went to a specialist and he has improved his feet a lot and it has been really beneficial to his game. Mike worked out with the track team but didn't compete in events or anything, he was just there to learn and it was a real help.
I asked about small ball and he said he is unsure how the team will look game to game, but they are capable of going small or playing bigger against some of the bigger bodied ACC teams they will face and they have to be prepared to do both and not just be a 4-guards and a big team all the time.
Pastner said he doesn't know a lot about his team yet because they've just been playing each other and it takes a game or two against someone else to figure things out. He thinks the secret scrimmage and the exhibition should take care of that. He said basically he wants to know what they are good at in games and how they play in a game situation.
ADTS has told Pastner it is full steam ahead of full capacity for hoops. He said he is still wondering if they will keep the benchs on the opposite side away from the students or not. He is waiting to find out.
Pastner said the non-conference schedule is harder than it looks because a lot of the smaller name teams like Miami (OH) or Stetson have both good coaches and some super seniors so people have to not pay attention to the names on the front and just look at how teams play because he thinks the mid-majors will be very good across the board this year in CBB.
On his rotation, he said he has traditionally play 7 guys major minutes and then it tails off, but he said because of the center situation he has to get comfortable playing more guys and he said they will experiment with the rotations in the private scrimmage and maybe a little in the exhibition against Morehouse as he tries to get a feel for this team and what works.
On the center position, he said it is tough replacing Moses Wright ACC POY and they've had a good run with one guy being the guy in Ben Lammers then James Banks and Wright last year but it will be more of a committee situation in 2021-22. He said he is looking for like 12 pts and 10 rebounds from that position on a whole and they can win with that.
Pastner said that Rodney Howard has improved and is more comfortable playing. He said they are going to have to count on Rodney more because guys like Jordan Meka and Saba don't have that bank of experience to draw on early in the year. He thinks all three bigs will be good, but there will be some ups and downs with them and they've got to get into a flow with them before ACC play starts and how he uses those three guys. He said right now he has not seen a lot of separation. He said that isn't necessarily a bad thing because they play hard and do their part and each have a unique skillset.
He said that Rodney and Meka are traditional five type guys and Saba even though he is 7'1" can do many different things like moving on the perimeter so it is different. They are not used to posting up all the time for example and may are most used to playing at the elbow. He said what they need is not someone to score 20 per game, but someone to get a putback or hit a simple jump hook and play defense.
Pastner said they have 17 players (13 scholarship (two super seniors Usher and Bubba) and four walk-ons and he said that Jehloni James and Jermontae Hill are scholarship-level guys. He said Jehloni has gotten a lot better and Jermontae was recruited by ACC schools out of HS so that has created an interesting dynamic with how competitive they are in practice.
Pastner said he really likes the freshmen class and he counts Hill as part of it so you have Jalon Moore, Deebo Coleman and Miles Kelly and he said there is a big learning curve for them with how they play on both ends and how complex it is, but he is looking forward to seeing how they do against other teams so he can get a feel for who can help now.
Pastner lamented he thinks they should have more than two warm-up game/scrimmages and he said that in the NFL or NBA you have a long preseason (I thought this was really interesting and something I agree with on) and guys are comfortable in practice but it is different with the lights on against someone else. He said he would like more time and other coaches agree to evaluate the team especially in the transfer portal era.
I asked Josh about the slow starts the last few years in non-conference play, he joked that Ken's son (he is like 8) could've done a better job coaching than him in some of those early games, but not Ken. He said it shows they get better throughout the year with how they've played in ACC play, but it is not good digging a hole early. He said there has been a big emphasis on no starting slow this year and he used the example of sometimes you see weird games early in the year in football like Pitt losing to Western Michigan and then beating what he called a good Georgia Tech football team. He said there were a ton of FCS schools that beat FBS teams this year because those teams have super seniors and are older and he thinks that will be an issue in hoops this year against mid-majors.
On Deivon Smith, Josh said that he is a good player and fast and a quick athlete and he will be a really good defender. He said Julian Swartz used to remind him every day to prepare for life without Jose Alvarado the last few years because he is so accustom to Jose's all-out hustle and diving for loose balls and gritty play. He was hoping they'd get one more year with Jose to mentor Deivon and Kyle Sturdivant. He said that Kyle and Deivon do different things well so they compliment each other, but Jose gave them such an advantage on 50/50 balls and he became a good shooter later in his career. He said that he needs Deivon and Kyle to be gritty and tough and win the 50/50 balls.
It sounded like Deivon has to work to do with fundamentals, "he needs to have his skill match his athleticism and that is the big thing." Pastner also said he has been banged up some, but there is no denying he is a great athlete.
I asked Josh about Tristan Maxwell and his development and it was interesting what he said.
He likes Tristan a lot and they have a lot of guys like him and there are only so many minutes to give out, so he just needs to stay the course because his time is coming. He doesn't want him to leave via the transfer portal and they have a lot of good perimeter guys and guards and after this year a lot of playing time opens up for those players including guys like Tristan if he stays the course. He said Tristan had a really hard time with the transition to college during COVID and that he has turned the corner on that part of it.
On Khalid Moore, Pastner said he has to continue improving and he is a guy who just plays hard and helps win games with defense and he will dive on the floor for balls and he has to be able to make open shots.
On Deebo Coleman, "his shooting range is very deep. He can really shoot it and he has great size for a freshman and he can really shoot it deep." He averaged 30 ppg in HS and was used to being the guy so the transition for Deebo is playing without the ball and moving the ball more to fit in GT's style where he doesn't like a player to give the ball a headache.
On Devoe, he said he made big strides last year just playing his role and playing defense in games like FSU in the ACCCG for example and as long as he buys into embracing his role and playing on both ends he can be a big time player. He said that Devoe spent the summer working with the GT Track and Field team with Coach Page on his footwork and speed as that is something coach Page is an expert at and something they didn't feel like they could teach him at the level he wanted to improve it so he went to a specialist and he has improved his feet a lot and it has been really beneficial to his game. Mike worked out with the track team but didn't compete in events or anything, he was just there to learn and it was a real help.
I asked about small ball and he said he is unsure how the team will look game to game, but they are capable of going small or playing bigger against some of the bigger bodied ACC teams they will face and they have to be prepared to do both and not just be a 4-guards and a big team all the time.
