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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: JAZZ v SPURSMay 27, 2007Jerry SloanSALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: Practice Day Q. Can you talk about Deron's development from year to year? COACH JERRY SLOAN: Well, you know, he's a very smart basketball player. He came in here and struggled a little bit last year, but he got better. I thought he was very good at the end of the year. This year starting off, he came out and played very well. He has played some great basketball for us, otherwise we wouldn't be in this position today. Q. When it came to the decision between him and Chris Paul, what made you pick him? COACH JERRY SLOAN: We had to pick someone. It wasn't an easy thing to do. We all liked both players very, very much. Basically it came down to we got to pick somebody. Either one of those fellows would have been a great choice. We just so happened to go with Deron. It wasn't because we knew more than anybody else, we just had to pick somebody. Q. What pushed you toward Deron? COACH JERRY SLOAN: You know, I don't know if you can split the two of them really that much. Q. How much of it is that he came and worked out for you? COACH JERRY SLOAN: He came in and worked out with his own. We didn't have anybody work out against him. We watched Chris Paul work out in Chicago, Kevin and himself. And I think John Stockton was even with us. So it was tough. Ten years down the line, somebody can judge us. Everybody judges us right off the bat. Take what you get. Q. Popovich did the same thing with Tony Parker, to throw a young point guard out there and just say play. COACH JERRY SLOAN: Well, that's one of the differences. John Stockton sat on the bench for 2 1/2 years, and that's where they should be in most cases. They usually go to a team that needs them. There is a need there when you are first or second, third pick in the draft. There is a need for you to put them out there and you have to play them more than they probably deserve because they haven't really earned anything other than the fact they were picked high. I think a lot of players get misled somewhere along the way with a team that's struggling. They realize, I think, winning is the most important thing sometimes -- you get side-tracked with that a little bit. Thinking of individual stuff is more important for a young point guard. Q. How did he accept the challenge of trying to keep Parker out of the paint? How do you think he did? COACH JERRY SLOAN: Well, you are not going to stop those guys. We never feel like we stop them. We try to be a little bit more aggressive rather than just let them go and do what they want to do without any resistance whatsoever. They still had some of those things happen that Deron did when he was trying to play Parker. We got under the screen a time or two. He made his shots. And now you go to something else. You've got to change it up a little bit. The fact we played harder helped us a little bit. I know we are not going to stop them. We just have to play. I thought he did that. And I thought he kept himself going, kept himself motivated throughout the whole game to try to do what he had to do defensively. And it is amazing what happens on the offensive end of the floor when you bust your can on defense. If you save yourself, you will not have anything else. I don't think he saved himself at all. End of FastScripts |
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