Everything From Josh Pastner's Preseason Press Conference

Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner spoke to the media before the start to the season

Jackson Caudell | Nov 2, 2022

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Next Monday, Georgia Tech basketball is going to begin another season under head coach Josh Pastner and the Yellow Jackets will be looking to get back on track after a down season in 2021-2022.

The expectations for this team are low heading into the season and there are a lot of questions about the direction of the program under Pastner.

On Tuesday, Pastner spoke with the media ahead of next week's season opener, and here is everything that he had to say.

Opening Statement:

"A couple of things. One, looking forward to starting basketball season. We kick off on Monday and our guys are looking forward to that. They have had a great summer and fall, and we have really emphasized a few different things that we believe will be good. I really do believe we will be better than what people think. Obviously, we have to go do that on the floor. We have a good group of guys and I am excited about our team. You will hear me use this phrase a lot, the star of the team is the team. I repeat myself a lot, been repeating that quite a bit as well, the star of the team is the team. Looking forward to really focusing on that, that has really been part of our, all summer and all fall and we will continue to do scrimmages and we continue to do some things that are really positive in those scrimmages, obviously, some things that we have to clean up and work on and get better at."

"Good thing is we scored the ball in both games and shot the ball really well and I really think that is going to be a strength of ours. You know, that is going to be important for us to play well based on our personnel, we might not have that individual that, as I mentioned, the star of the team. The star of the team is the team. The star has gotta be the team and so far we have done a nice job offensively. We had a fan day on Sunday, which was great. Both of the men's and women's team were there which was really cool."

"So yeah, we kick off on Monday and I am looking forward to it. Our first two games, we play Clayton State... a good fun fact, we play Clayton State on Monday and then at Georgia State on Saturday, both are in the USG system, so it is great for the USG system in that, so two cool games for the state. Hopefully, we can start off well Looking forward to getting on the court."

1. On if he feels comfortable playing zone this early in the season...

"Yeah, I mean everyone knows who watches... the funny thing is, a couple of people came up to me this summer, your zone is kind of the new John Chaney of the zones of Temple you know, in a sense, it is just hard to play against. So, obviously, that is a great complement, Coach Chaney was one of the great coaches to ever coach, but also one of the great zone defensive coaches. But our zone is unique. It is one of the unique defenses and it has helped us win a lot of games. But, it is best when our guys have been in the program for a while and know the rules and the rules based on it. However, the strategy, the system or the systematic approach to it, the rules to it, really takes secondary to the motor to it that is required to play in that type of defense. Now, one of the areas that we... because of the defensive situation, we do get a little bit stretched out, which allows some offensive rebounds to the opponent, second and third chances."

"Two things with that. One, we have spent a lot of time trying to clean that up. Now, when you are in as much stretch as we are, sometimes the shooting has changed in this day and age, guys are shooting it deeper, 1-5 can shoot it, so that has changed some of the zone offenses, so our defenses can get a little stretched. That being said, we have given up some offensive rebounds stretches that we get in the zone. The other thing is that we are fortunate that we did not have this last year, in my first five or six years, we were so good at blocking shots, we always had a great rim protector, which makes the zone really dynamite. Last year we did not have that rim protector. so we have had to adjust some things going into this season to hopefully make it a little bit better, to protect ourselves, based on not having that elite rim protector that we are used to having, so we'll see."

"But look, we have multiple defenses and we have to be good defensively, we hang our hat on the defensive end. The good news is in both of our scrimmages in the summer and the fall, we have shot the ball well, hopefully, that continues on moving forward as we continue to play our first games on Monday."

2. On Deivon Smith...

"Deivon has been really good and towards the end of the season, he was really good for us. Unfortunately, he did get that head injury and that hurt us toward the end, it cost us wins. We have talked about in the offseason, not having Bubba Parham and that cost us... not having him late cost us and that is part of having a good team. You have to stay healthy with your main guys and that is key for us."

"You know with Deivon, he is a different player. There are some... I was pretty hard on him early in the season to make sure that he was doing what he need to do and we tried to get him to understand that for him to become the best basketball player and he has really turned the corner. Really proud of him. He has been really good this offseason, he has been really good in both scrimmages. So there's been... excited to see his continued progression moving forward, starting on Monday. But he has been really good. Been good all fall, in the scrimmages and his athleticism is really high level. His rebounding has been great for us so we are really proud of Deivon's progression and improvement."

3. On Rodney Howard...

"You know Rodney... Rodney has made a lot of improvements. Now, one of the things... one of the areas... it is not that he hasn't improved, it is just that it is maybe not a natural instinct of becoming an elite shot blocker. He has gotten better at some things, but what he can do, is he can move his feet defensively, he can cover ground, so we have to use that to our advantage, so maybe he is not flying all over the floor, but able to protect the basket. So we have to use Rodney's strength to our advantage defensively."

"But he has improved. He has gotten better offensively. He is just a better player than he was last year and there is some games late, like at Pittsburgh and at Syracuse and some other games where he was really good and you could see that he was starting to turn the corner. So, I think the key for Rodney is consistency from start to finish and him hurting his foot during that stretch and not being able to turn that corner, that hurt us too. So this is another thing that I am thinking too, everyone knows I like to play less guys, I am a small rotation guy, but I don't think I am going to do that this year, I think I am going to try to have a larger rotation. What I mean when I am saying that is for two reasons. We have enough depth to do that but two, when we do get in that situation, guys have had good experience that were not you know able to... hopefully there is no dropoff if God forbid, you know knock on wood, there is an injury or something, but that is just... there is no doubt that he has gotten better."

4. On Miles Kelly...

"Miles, Miles is a really good player and he has shot the ball well in both scrimmages and has shot well through the summer and fall. Miles is highly talented and makes a big jump. You know what is interesting is... you know and it is just the climate of and speaking for men's college basketball and the ACC, we had so many young guys and I said this last year so many times: the bad news of playing so many young guys is you are playing so many young guys in the ACC. We lost a lot of close games. The good news is a lot of those young guys got a lot of experience and it should pay off for this year. The interesting point of that in the ACC is that there are so many guys in this league up and down, that only two years ago, would not have came back and a lot of guys in the league have come back, one, most basically, because of the NIL, and two, they had the additional year of COVID, so, where usually you are looking at these guys leaving, leaving, leaving, there is a lot of guys around the league that have come back. So one guy like Miles, who is going to make a huge jump from freshmen to sophomore year and should pay dividends in the league, you look around and there is a lot of fourth-year and fifth-year guys that are usually in the NIL, pre NIL, that would not have come back, so it is a really interesting dynamic with a guy like Miles Kelly, who we are going to depend on to really produce for us and to be good."

5. On if he has a starting five...

"We really have more than five guys that can start and I am not dodging the question, it is just, the one thing about our team this year is we might not have that superstar, that does not mean that guys can't emerge, but the star of the team is our team. So, I just think we have really good depth and balance from start to finish, from top to bottom and that is a great thing for our team and how will it all work itself out? Do we stay with the same, set starting lineup from start to finish... I don't see that, I think things can evolve and change, I just think that is one of the many positives that our team has... we have different guys that can do different things and we have more than just five starters based on our balance of our team."

6. On the team's identity and the goals for this team...

"I think we've got to... our identity is to, has always been to compete. We are going to fly around, I always use the terminology, you gotta play with your hair on fire, you are flying around and as I have mentioned earlier, as much as the scheme or systematic things that we do, that is secondary strategy to how hard you play. I think that is really important for Georgia Tech, I mean you wanna see diving on the floor, first to the floor, offensive and defensive rebounding, if your job is to be back in transition defense, make sure you are sprinting back, make sure you have a blue-collar mentality which mirrors what Georgia Tech is about so, that is our identity."

"Now, goals, our goals are, we want to get to the NCAA Tournament, that is what we want to do, we want to play in the postseason, so whether that happens, I think if you ask all 365 teams in the country, that is their goal. We are in a heck of a league and we have a great schedule, but in order to do that, you have to do the best that you can to try and get as many wins as you can, but more so than just the wins, we want to see us get better and improving and our teams have always gotten better, which is a great thing. we have always gotten better as the season progressed, we just have to be better at starting earlier, at a better rate, so hopefully we are able to do that this year."

7. On transfer Lance Terry...

"Yeah, Lance Terry is a transfer from Gardner-Webb and he is a really good basketball player, I think he is a really good sleeper, one of those guys that yet again, I think... one of the things that we have done really well here is evaluation and have been able to do a good job of evaluating and getting guys better player development and Lance is one of those guys that, I think he will have the type of year that guys will say "how did he slip through the cracks?" Where did he come from? So I am excited about Lance. He has been good, has had a good summer and fall. Wht is interesting is he is 21 years of age and that goes back to the question, you know with recruiting, a guy like him and a guy like Ja'von Franklin, the transfer from South Alabama, both guys are good players, both guys are 24. You know, how many high school kids do you take compared to you wait in the portal, just because of the age difference and just when guys are older it makes a big difference, having them understand coming in that yes, you do have to learn the system, but the understanding of college basketball is just a different feel for a freshman."

8. On Ja'von Franklin...

"You know, Ja'von Franklin can... he is a really good athlete, he can jump well off the floor, can be used in opportunities for a small ball five in a sense and offensive rebounding is all about anticipation, it is all about, rebounding is all about... not having a fist fight, but having a foot fight, having a foot battle and defensive rebounding is kind of having a hit first mentality, you want to make the first contact, and he is quick off the floor. We spend a lot of time about trying to be better about defensive rebounding and we have to be better than that. Hopefully when we do play our zone, it does, it can get stretched and because of the long shots and long bounces, the ball can move at different positions so that is something that we have tried to be better about and Ja'von will have to help us in that area."

9. On how the freshmen have looked so far...

"Yeah, we have had two freshmen, we signed two freshmen, and both guys are international young men and international students. One is from Canada, Cyril, he is a legit seven footer, 245, I think he is going to be really good, but you have to remember in August, he was playing high school basketball and in late July, was playing AAU basketball and we had to beat out good schools for him. Wisconsin, Ohio State... he is going to be really good, I just think he is a little bit behind right now, just based on, he just... this is new for him. The speed of the game... but I do think by the time that he is a sophomore, that doesn't mean he can't happen now, or January, or February, but when he is a sophomore, he is going to be really good."

"And the other kid from Latvia, Freds, the same thing. Can really shoot it, can really really shoot it, but, you know he is physically not ready. Defensively and this is the first time in his life he has really lifted weights and he obviously missed all summer and showed up here in the fall as well too. Both guys are good prospects, both are good players, you need guys like that in your program that can continue to get better so as guys graduate or move forward, they keep moving balance with your team and so both guys are going to be really good, but both guys are going to be really good more probably their sophomore year than they can help us this year, based on understanding our system, and everything else."

"And that is where I go back to can Lance Terry, who is 21, or Ja'von Franklin, who is 24, can such a difference compared to Cyril and Freds, Cyril and Freds are going to be good players, but both of them are 18 and those guys being in their 20's it is is just... it is hard to describe the difference of it and we all would understand the difference in an 18-year old and someone between 21 and 24 year old, it makes a big difference."

10. On the thinking behind doing the secret scrimmages...

"I did the two secret scrimmages... I have done a scrimmage and an exhibition game and this year we did a two secret scrimmages... they are called secret because there is no fans are allowed and we played two good teams and I thought it was good for us and I treated the exhibition game, even though it is a countable game, the first game of the season, so yes it counts, but I wanted to get those two in and we were to play Clayton State in the exhibition, but I just do that as the first countable game so I just felt based on our scheduling it was best for our team and try to help us be the best we can and start better and I felt playing two good, unique division one teams, that are different in how they play was the best... trying to be the best way to help us to be better in the start. Like I said, our teams have always gotten better as the season and improved, improved, improved, we just have to be better at starting better, so my approach to that is thinking, how to be better starting earlier, than how we have started in the past."

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