Bobby Manning @RealBobManning
about 24 minutes ago
Asked Joe about rebuilding C's defensive identity. Said he can do better job emphasizing it. He explained that he views defense as mandatory, "an admission ticket," and it didn't strike him previously as something that needed emphasis.
Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
about 25 minutes ago
Joe Mazzulla: "Defense is what gets you in the door. Defense is the admission ticket." He forgets to tell the team, cause it's obvious: "Maybe it’s cause I sucked at offense, so I had to play defense. Nobody had to remind me to play defense because I couldn’t do anything else."
Jay King @ByJayKing
about 25 minutes ago
Joe Mazzulla said he didn’t necessarily emphasize defense enough because the need to guard was always so obvious to him. Said he learned last year that he needs to stress even the things that are obvious to him, because they might not be obvious to everyone.
God, I forgot how much I hated this guy in front of a microphone.
An NBA coach just didn't realize that it was important to emphasize defense? It basically slipped his mind? And even now, he seems to have the message that it needs to be talked about, but will he actually practice it? Will he break down the lack of defense on film?
It's such an odd, stupid thing to say. I mean, he's got eyes, right? He sees the guys not playing D properly. He didn't think to say anything?
Couldn't Joe have just skipped today, and allowed some of us to continue flying high after the Jrue deal?