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Suns.com: One-on-One with Marc Iavaroni
Posted: July 28, 2004
Marc Iavaroni will be returning for his third season as an assistant coach with the Suns this fall and took another turn in the top spot when he coached the Summer Suns to a 7-2 record in summer league action. A highly respected teacher of big men, the University of Virginia product won an NBA title with the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers, and was an assistant under Pat Riley in Miami and Mike Fratello in Cleveland before joining the Suns’ staff in 2002.
Iavaroni shared with Suns.com his thoughts on the club’s summer league performances while on his way to San Diego for some well earned vacation time with his family.
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Suns.com: What are your overall thoughts on how the team performed this summer?
Marc Iavaroni: Winning is never secondary, but I think the primary goal was to get our players feeling good about the way they can work together and a continuous process of moving towards becoming the best they can be during this phase. Unfortunately, there wasn't much practice time, but I give all the guys on the team credit for doing what we asked, given they had only "chalk-talk" and video sessions. I was very pleased with the way they played together.
Suns.com: How pleased were you with the effort and enthusiasm of the group as a whole?
Iavaroni: When you play nine games in 11 days, you have a decision to make. Where are we going to lay it all on the line. I thought they had a very good five sessions (in Phoenix) before we went to Vegas. They went to Vegas focused and they achieved results. It was a pleasure to be with them to see them dig their way out from being down 17 points and beat Cleveland in Vegas. Then we lost two in a row to start the Rocky Mountain ***** and they could have gotten down on themselves, but we didn't allow that, and they didn't allow it. We came back with four wins in a row.
They had a good time, they played together and I got some very positive feedback from several of the players. One said to me that normally when he's in this type of scenario, people leave hating each other because they're competing for attention and they walk away dissatisfied. That was not the case here. People felt good about working together and that was the way they were going to achieve ultimate success, and would in fact show their best.
Suns.com: Leandro Barbosa was named to the All-***** team after posting averages of 17.8 points and 6.9 assists. What did you think of his efforts?
Iavaroni: He was able to, not only use his speed, control and finishing ability, which looked really good; he looked a lot like George Gervin on some of the finger rolls and runners that he put into the basket. And I was very pleased with the way he was vocal. He was calling sets and getting people into spots, and playing much more like a point guard.
Anytime you have someone who speaks very little English spend a year in your country getting used to, not only the language, but the culture, as well, it's quite a jump when he does start to figure it out and become comfortable with the language. More importantly, there was a trust that we had in him. We wanted him to make decisions. We don't want him to just look over and be a conduit from what the coach wants. Yes, I did make play calls, but at the same time I told him that I wanted him to call our offense on the fly or have the faith in running a fast break. I thought Leandro looked much improved in that area.
Suns.com: What were your impressions of Casey Jacobsen's play and leadership qualilties?
Iavaroni: Casey looked comfortable, not only in the basketball areas, but in the leadership areas. He was vocal when he needed to be vocal, he led by example when he needed to lead by example. He provided something the Suns will need in the regular season and that is toughness and the ability to make open shots. He drove to the basket very well and hopefully that will transfer when he plays against bigger competition at the basket. He's going to continue to work on his mid-range game and I also like the way he posted up.
Suns.com: That's not something we've seen a lot of out of Casey.
Iavaroni: No, and he looked very confident. Sometimes it's hard to transfer that when you know you're going to be going up against Tim Duncan and Rasho Nesterovic with the Spurs, Chris Webber or Vlade (Divac) now with the Lakers. There's going to be some long people in there, so we'll see how he transfers that.
Suns.com: What were your impressions on the play of rookie Jackson Vroman?
Iavaroni: I liked his activity level, his ability to run the floor, his ability to cover his teammates on defense and showed a nice passing touch. The last game he made a couple of real nice jump shots. He just seemed to be all over the court and have a great instinct for the game. He was a very pleasant surprise, if not the pleasant surprise of the entire experience.
He's not a player that you're going to look at the stat sheet and say that he played really well. You just get a feel during the game that this guy is someone who deserves minutes and, at this level at least, is going to help you win. Those are the most important feelings a coach wants to have for a player and thus leave him on the floor.
Suns.com: The staff had him ranked higher than where he was drafted. Does that appear to have been justified at this stage?
Iavaroni: We were happy that he was still around at 31 (overall). Every year I've been here, the person we wanted has been there and that's luck, in addition to great scouting by our scouts.
Suns.com: What is your evaluation of how Maciej Lampe performed?
Iavaroni: The most important thing for Maciej to realize is that, not only is it a numbers thing, but it's a also a team concept thing. He'll always put up numbers. He can shoot better than what he shot at 37 percent. But, he has the ability to stretch the floor. I thought he improved on his defense, I thought he improved on his rebounding. He's still a young player and he's still learning that the game doesn't revolve around his shot; it evolves around who's going to get the best shot.
Suns.com: What are the things he needs to work on most at this point?
Iavaroni: Probably making shots. I thought he had some open jump shots that he could have knocked down. And understanding spacing in the low post when people are on top of him. He needs some work on his passing. It's the little things right now. He's got a lot of potential in terms of scoring prowess, but he's also got to be patient in that he's a relatively young player at this level.
Suns.com: Who among the free agent invitees stood out above the rest?
Iavaroni: A guy who you look at and think that there would be no way he could help us is Yute Tabusi. But he certainly was a crowd favorite and he grabbed our eye, too. Derrick Dial was a proven veteran and he gave us a lot of stability, and certainly can make shots. Jerry Holman, Arthur Johnson, each player down the line was ready to play. There are still decisions that have to be made as we move forward, but those guys, in addition to Brett Blizzard, another guy who was ready to go, and Austin Nichols. So, you really can't say that one or two really stood out. I think they were all ready to play and, in fact, did help us.
Dick Van Arsdale and (assistant director of player personnel) David Griffin did a very nice job of selecting talented players willing to perform as a unit the way we expect our team to play.
Suns.com: What are the chances that one or more of those guys could land in camp?
Iavaroni: I couldn't tell you right now. No one has sat down and discussed it. With the free agent resolution coming up on Thursday, many things still need to be decided.
Suns.com: How was the experience for you overall?
Iavaroni: You have an opportunity to be creative. You have an opportunity to put out there what you want to see. Mike (D'Antoni) was very generous to let me run the camp and to make it my show, but it was actually the staff working together every day as a team. It was tough, because you want to play people and give them a fair shot to show what they could do, and at the same time you're there because it's a competition and you're there to win. So, for me it was tremendously satisfying because for the most part we achieved both goals. It's very exhilarating. I like to be in control during the game. I rely a lot on the preparation abilities of the staff and the feedback we get from the players. It was especially challenging because we did not have a lot of practice.
Suns.com: What does your schedule look like from here?
Iavaroni: My family and I are going to spend some time in the San Diego area, and then we'll be attending a camp in Las Vegas that's run by coach (Tim) Grgurich. In August, we'll see who's coming in and finding out the various schedules for arrival, and before you know it September's going to be upon us and we'll be meeting as a staff daily to decide what we have, and what we need to do with what we have.
Posted: July 28, 2004
Marc Iavaroni will be returning for his third season as an assistant coach with the Suns this fall and took another turn in the top spot when he coached the Summer Suns to a 7-2 record in summer league action. A highly respected teacher of big men, the University of Virginia product won an NBA title with the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers, and was an assistant under Pat Riley in Miami and Mike Fratello in Cleveland before joining the Suns’ staff in 2002.
Iavaroni shared with Suns.com his thoughts on the club’s summer league performances while on his way to San Diego for some well earned vacation time with his family.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suns.com: What are your overall thoughts on how the team performed this summer?
Marc Iavaroni: Winning is never secondary, but I think the primary goal was to get our players feeling good about the way they can work together and a continuous process of moving towards becoming the best they can be during this phase. Unfortunately, there wasn't much practice time, but I give all the guys on the team credit for doing what we asked, given they had only "chalk-talk" and video sessions. I was very pleased with the way they played together.
Suns.com: How pleased were you with the effort and enthusiasm of the group as a whole?
Iavaroni: When you play nine games in 11 days, you have a decision to make. Where are we going to lay it all on the line. I thought they had a very good five sessions (in Phoenix) before we went to Vegas. They went to Vegas focused and they achieved results. It was a pleasure to be with them to see them dig their way out from being down 17 points and beat Cleveland in Vegas. Then we lost two in a row to start the Rocky Mountain ***** and they could have gotten down on themselves, but we didn't allow that, and they didn't allow it. We came back with four wins in a row.
They had a good time, they played together and I got some very positive feedback from several of the players. One said to me that normally when he's in this type of scenario, people leave hating each other because they're competing for attention and they walk away dissatisfied. That was not the case here. People felt good about working together and that was the way they were going to achieve ultimate success, and would in fact show their best.
Suns.com: Leandro Barbosa was named to the All-***** team after posting averages of 17.8 points and 6.9 assists. What did you think of his efforts?
Iavaroni: He was able to, not only use his speed, control and finishing ability, which looked really good; he looked a lot like George Gervin on some of the finger rolls and runners that he put into the basket. And I was very pleased with the way he was vocal. He was calling sets and getting people into spots, and playing much more like a point guard.
Anytime you have someone who speaks very little English spend a year in your country getting used to, not only the language, but the culture, as well, it's quite a jump when he does start to figure it out and become comfortable with the language. More importantly, there was a trust that we had in him. We wanted him to make decisions. We don't want him to just look over and be a conduit from what the coach wants. Yes, I did make play calls, but at the same time I told him that I wanted him to call our offense on the fly or have the faith in running a fast break. I thought Leandro looked much improved in that area.
Suns.com: What were your impressions of Casey Jacobsen's play and leadership qualilties?
Iavaroni: Casey looked comfortable, not only in the basketball areas, but in the leadership areas. He was vocal when he needed to be vocal, he led by example when he needed to lead by example. He provided something the Suns will need in the regular season and that is toughness and the ability to make open shots. He drove to the basket very well and hopefully that will transfer when he plays against bigger competition at the basket. He's going to continue to work on his mid-range game and I also like the way he posted up.
Suns.com: That's not something we've seen a lot of out of Casey.
Iavaroni: No, and he looked very confident. Sometimes it's hard to transfer that when you know you're going to be going up against Tim Duncan and Rasho Nesterovic with the Spurs, Chris Webber or Vlade (Divac) now with the Lakers. There's going to be some long people in there, so we'll see how he transfers that.
Suns.com: What were your impressions on the play of rookie Jackson Vroman?
Iavaroni: I liked his activity level, his ability to run the floor, his ability to cover his teammates on defense and showed a nice passing touch. The last game he made a couple of real nice jump shots. He just seemed to be all over the court and have a great instinct for the game. He was a very pleasant surprise, if not the pleasant surprise of the entire experience.
He's not a player that you're going to look at the stat sheet and say that he played really well. You just get a feel during the game that this guy is someone who deserves minutes and, at this level at least, is going to help you win. Those are the most important feelings a coach wants to have for a player and thus leave him on the floor.
Suns.com: The staff had him ranked higher than where he was drafted. Does that appear to have been justified at this stage?
Iavaroni: We were happy that he was still around at 31 (overall). Every year I've been here, the person we wanted has been there and that's luck, in addition to great scouting by our scouts.
Suns.com: What is your evaluation of how Maciej Lampe performed?
Iavaroni: The most important thing for Maciej to realize is that, not only is it a numbers thing, but it's a also a team concept thing. He'll always put up numbers. He can shoot better than what he shot at 37 percent. But, he has the ability to stretch the floor. I thought he improved on his defense, I thought he improved on his rebounding. He's still a young player and he's still learning that the game doesn't revolve around his shot; it evolves around who's going to get the best shot.
Suns.com: What are the things he needs to work on most at this point?
Iavaroni: Probably making shots. I thought he had some open jump shots that he could have knocked down. And understanding spacing in the low post when people are on top of him. He needs some work on his passing. It's the little things right now. He's got a lot of potential in terms of scoring prowess, but he's also got to be patient in that he's a relatively young player at this level.
Suns.com: Who among the free agent invitees stood out above the rest?
Iavaroni: A guy who you look at and think that there would be no way he could help us is Yute Tabusi. But he certainly was a crowd favorite and he grabbed our eye, too. Derrick Dial was a proven veteran and he gave us a lot of stability, and certainly can make shots. Jerry Holman, Arthur Johnson, each player down the line was ready to play. There are still decisions that have to be made as we move forward, but those guys, in addition to Brett Blizzard, another guy who was ready to go, and Austin Nichols. So, you really can't say that one or two really stood out. I think they were all ready to play and, in fact, did help us.
Dick Van Arsdale and (assistant director of player personnel) David Griffin did a very nice job of selecting talented players willing to perform as a unit the way we expect our team to play.
Suns.com: What are the chances that one or more of those guys could land in camp?
Iavaroni: I couldn't tell you right now. No one has sat down and discussed it. With the free agent resolution coming up on Thursday, many things still need to be decided.
Suns.com: How was the experience for you overall?
Iavaroni: You have an opportunity to be creative. You have an opportunity to put out there what you want to see. Mike (D'Antoni) was very generous to let me run the camp and to make it my show, but it was actually the staff working together every day as a team. It was tough, because you want to play people and give them a fair shot to show what they could do, and at the same time you're there because it's a competition and you're there to win. So, for me it was tremendously satisfying because for the most part we achieved both goals. It's very exhilarating. I like to be in control during the game. I rely a lot on the preparation abilities of the staff and the feedback we get from the players. It was especially challenging because we did not have a lot of practice.
Suns.com: What does your schedule look like from here?
Iavaroni: My family and I are going to spend some time in the San Diego area, and then we'll be attending a camp in Las Vegas that's run by coach (Tim) Grgurich. In August, we'll see who's coming in and finding out the various schedules for arrival, and before you know it September's going to be upon us and we'll be meeting as a staff daily to decide what we have, and what we need to do with what we have.
