Tyrone Corbin and Kevin O’Connor talk Alec Burks, and other off-day bits

Public Service Announcement: If you’re reading this post because of the title, the Alec Burks quotes are at the bottom.

Paul Millsap
** Was it strange being on the bench during the 4th quarter of the Denver game? It wasn’t strange. I mean, it was the second time. (laughs)

** On whether he sees not playing as motivation: I don’t know about having a chip on my shoulder because of that, because we won the two games. But it does make me better. You know, it lets me see things from different perspective. And, I mean, just continue to do me, man.

[Did you expect to be playing fewer minutes knowing Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter would be getting more minutes, or were you caught by surprise?]

I mean, it kind of caught me by surprise a little bit. But I mean, it worked. You know, can’t really complain when something works. So, my role is just to be a leader on the court, be a team player, and that’s what I am.

Craig Bolerjack
** Unintentional Dirty Quote Machine (UDQM), on tweeting: Maybe I’ll surprise you and shoot one out here in a minute.

Bruce Bowen
** On Jerry Sloan: [My relationship with Jerry Sloan] was fantastic. I respect him a great deal. I mean, you look at the consistency of what he did in Utah. He’s the biggest player’s coach. All he wanted you to do was go out and play to the best of your ability, and let the chips fall where they may.

That’s how Bryon Russell was able to have such a great career there, because it wasn’t about names and “Oh well, we got this guy so we’re going to give him more time.” You know what? Bryon earned his right to play there. You look at Raja Bell. You look at everybody that’s been there at some point, and possibly come back.

It’s because of what Jerry Sloan saw in them, and giving them an opportunity. Mo Williams as well. Ike Austin…Howard Eisley. It’s a lot of guys that have been able to benefit from the tutelage of Coach Sloan.

Mo Williams
** On the Jazz’s depth at point guard: I tell people all the time…Jamaal [Tinsley] was hell when I came in the league and I had to guard him in his days in Indiana. Earl [Watson] was hell, having to go against him in Memphis. I remember him in Memphis and in Seattle.

So trust me, I knew what I had coming into the situation and I was very, very ecstatic about it because it takes a lot of pressure off me, that requires me not to play a lot of minutes. You know, I can be around 32-33 [minutes per game] and be fresh for the long haul…

We all three been in positions where we’ve started, and all three been in position where we came off the bench, so I think we complement each other really well. We three different point guards, and I think that complements our team really well.

** On Millsap: As a player, you go through times when you struggle. But I don’t really think he’s struggling. I think with this team, we don’t expect him to come out and give us 30 points every night. We don’t have that guy on this team…It’s gonna be stretches whether it be myself, whether it be Paul, whether it be Al [Jefferson], where touches might not be there more than usual. Somebody else got it going for a stretch of two or three games.

I think that’s where we gonna be at our best, where we kind of get it from a lot of different players…I just don’t see us as a team where we just roll the ball out and go with a guy even if they’re missing shots and say, “Hey, this is our guy. No matter what, you gonna get your 20 attempts and we gonna need you to take those 20 attempts.” We don’t have that guy on this team.

Kevin O’Connor
** On the Jazz’s poor road record: First of all, I would say to you that it is a little bit of a youth thing. The other night, Gordon Hayward has 23 points and makes the, the game winner, and you know, Derrick Favors goes 16 and 14 in 28 and 29 minutes, which is, you know, I mean, you don’t, you can’t make those things up. And then the next night, they go 1-14 from the floor and get about 7 rebounds total. That’s youth. That’s a 22-year-old and a 21-year-old.

** What does Alec Burks have to do to get minutes? You know, just keep competing. Just keep playing hard. You know, he, he got a chance in Denver and went 1-9, you know, and, and that’s not, that’s not indicative. You don’t just give a guy one chance…

I think our, our lineup is such that we’re, we committed to, to playing Randy [Foye] a little bit more “two.” We’re, he could’ve played “one” at times. So he’s gonna have to, he’s gonna have to wait his turn a little bit. But the other thing is, he’s out there right now. So if he continues to work, if he continues to do the things that he, he does, he’s got good talent. We expect him to be a good player for us…He needs to get stronger.

** Not bloggisists but… Some of these guys on the Internet, and boggers* and everything else, I mean, they have no accountability. And with that, they can be reckless.

* Not a typo.

Tyrone Corbin
** On Millsap: He’ll work his way out of it. He’ll continue to come in and work, and work, and work, ’til he figure it out…you just gotta work your way through it, and I’m sure Paul will.

** How do players get out of slumps? Work. Working. Keeping your head strong, and just going back to work. And not pressing yourself too much, not trying to make things happen. Just kind of letting it happen. It’s difficult to do when you’re struggling or when you’re not having the success that you want to have to let it happen. You want to make things happen. And Paul will do fine. It’s a long season and you go through stretches where you’re not playing your best basketball, but he’ll work his way out of it.

** On Al Jefferson: We do have guys we feel comfortable going to, and Al is one of those guys. When we need a basket, we can get it to him on the post. We feel good about him against anybody there…If we can get in the situation where we can go to the post, Al’s capable of scoring against anybody.

** On Big Al’s defense: He’s far better than what he was when he first came here a couple of years ago, and he’s continued to work to get better. And he want to be better there, and he understand that he’s gonna be in pick and roll situations. So he’s working his butt off to get better.

** On what makes Big Al so effective when the game is on the line: He’s so versatile. His footwork is impeccable. [Against Denver], he made some jump shots from the 15- to 16-foot range. And then he put the ball on the floor and he put pressure on them to stop him at the rim. And then he was able to get to the free throw line a few times there, but he was also able to get across the lane and make shots. He just gave them a variety of moves where it was difficult for them to stop him.

** Do you like the way the coaching staff is functioning right now? Oh, absolutely. These guys are working extremely hard, and they work well together to make sure we preparing the team to be as good as we can be. And they all have been tremendous about giving input about where we are, where they think we are, and what we need to do to continue to get better, and they putting in a lot of time working with guys individually on their game to get better.

** Are you satisfied with team chemistry? Oh, absolutely. It’s a great bunch of guys, man. They’re good people, and one of the things about having good people, it gives you a chance, because the guys have great character. So they understand what it would take to continue to get better by staying together as a group…It gives you a chance to continue to grow as a group because you know the guys are thinking about the right things.

** On the Jazz’s road woes: We think where we are right now in our development, our record should be better than what we’ve demonstrated thus far. We’ve been in some games on the road. We just haven’t been able to finish them off. So we wanna get better. We wanna get better sooner. So we have to make sure we understand that the things that’s holding us back now, and how do we grow and fix things from here going forward.

** On Alec Burks: Alec has worked extremely hard, man. I have a feel for who he is. He just need to continue to play. It’s not him, it’s me, why he’s not getting in the game. It’s just the way the rotation is right now. I feel bad because I haven’t found more minutes for him on the floor, but he deserve to play. He’s working extremely hard. He’s doing things and I think he can help us at times when he play, but I, it’s just because of the rotation right now, just not enough minutes for everybody to get on the floor.

** Which Jazz player most likely has a future career in coaching: I think I have two in, a decade from now, I think Earl Watson may be a guy that can be a coach. I think Jamaal Tinsley [also]. Their knowledge of the game and their age right now and their experience in this league and the way they approach this game. I think they’re two of the guys I think will have an opportunity to be a head coach in this league.

(KALL)
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