What Purdue Coach Matt Painter Said in First Media Availability Since April
For the first time since April, Purdue coach Matt Painter met with reporters. The longtime leader of the Boilermakers is working with his team through summer workouts and provided plenty of thoughts after the first week of practice.
Here's what Painter had to say.
On what he expects the offense to look like ...
Painter: "Not really that far down the line. Obviously, working on more just execution, angles of screens, reads, things of that nature. A lot of breakdown stuff. Just trying to get into the flow, trying to get a lot of shots, a lot of decision-making and reads within things, more than anything.
"Then you get them to be able to conceptualize everything, depending on what's going on. Whether you're playing through the dribble, or playing through the post-up, or playing through ball screens, or playing through the ball or screens away from the basketball. So, just the overall understanding of what you want to do offensively.
"Obviously, we'll do a lot of the same things in the past. We won't have as much in certain areas as other years but (we're) pretty open to it. You just let the competition take you to where it's gonna be. Obviously, the people that have been highly successful that have returned, you have your feel and your understanding of the ball in Braden Smith's hands a lot. Fletcher Loyer's gonna get more stuff for actions. Trey Kaufman-Renn has proven he can score with his back to the basket. I think he can do a little bit more than that and he didn't get that opportunity with the talent level that we had with the different guys we had. His usage, I think, would go up.
"Then we have some young guys who are very talented. We have some guys that played roles last year that those could increase. I don't like to really talk about somebody's role in June. I think it's something you earn and something you work towards. Kinda get things figured out.
"Everybody's a rebounder. Everybody's a sprinter. Everybody's a defender. So, there's no difference along those lines, even though there's some differences in how you have to guard people."
On getting creative with Camden Heide and Myles Colvin ...
Painter: "Yeah, you can run different stuff. Stuff for lobs, pindowns. I think their ability to do other things will help us more. Just kinda the in-between things of games. Sprinting the floor, getting on the offensive glass, getting 50-50 balls. Just using what the lord gave you. Like, you can't sit there and be long and athletic and not be able to rebound. You gotta put it to work. Those are the type of things.
"Both of those guys can shoot the basketball and make some plays for us offensively, but it's gonna be the other things that complete them as a player that's really gonna help us."
On Trey Kaufman-Renn having "more space" to work offensively ...
Painter: "Yeah, depends on who he's with, too. Sometimes, not having enough space, but then you don't have the same attention. So, the spacng's not as good. So, while Zach was on the floor, they really weren't too worried about him, right? Now, they're get more worried about you. It changes a little bit as they might double a little more on you, or scrape the ball-side with you.
"But, I think it depends on who he's with. If we ultimately go small and he's our center, then I think he has a lot of space. If he's in there and he's with Will Berg or Daniel Jacobsen, one of those bigger centers, he's right back into the fold of the way it was before.
"I think he's got a chance to have an all-conference type season. He can really score the basketball. He just hasn't been as consistent because he didn't have consistent minutes. Obviously more this past year — he started — but you're still not playing through your mistakes as Braden does or Fletch does or Zach did or the guys that played 25 to 30 minutes."
On the benefit of Daniel Jacobsen playing for USA Basketball ...
Painter: "It's no different than going to Brewster (Academy) and starting for Brewster and playing one of the best schedules in the country and knowing that you belong. I think that gave him a lot of confidence to go to USA to compete and play. And then to be their starting center and make the All-Tournament Team, that just gives you more confidence to know you're one of the best players in the world at your age.
"We're excited about it. It's on the up and up. He's very athletic, he's got a good competitive wire to him, he can really block shots. His offense has really improved. He can make threes, he can score around the basketball. Just learning everything and keep getting stronger, keep getting better and keep working. There's a lot of positives there."
On if there's a difference between learning through success vs. failure ...
Painter: "Sure, no question. But it's also like, you get a taste of it and you're able to win your league back-to-back years. That shouldn't make you not want to try and win your league three years in a row. I always say that if I walk in the locker room and somebody's upset after a win, you're messed up — I'm not (upset). You have to be able to take a win, even though it might not be perfect, and feel good about it.
"When you have success, you've also gotta be able to keep that edge. That's your job as a coach, try to do everything in your power to keep them on edge, to keep that carrot in front of them and keep fighting and keep getting better. Because we have a lot of new guys. But we also have, in comparison to everybody in college basketball, we have a lot of experience returning. Like, how can you have both? But, in today's landscape, we kinda do have both.
"Maybe not as much as last year, but still, to have as many players play as many minutes as we have, we're different. We're a lot different than other people in college basketball. Nobody's visiting and signing five guys and having six visits. Really, it was signing six guys and having seven visits and then not taking anybody in the spring. Only taking two guys in the (transfer) portal in four years, nobody in college basketball is doing that except us. So, you have both of those scenarios there that kind of shows you that I think we have something pretty special just in the combination of the people at Purdue and the education at Purdue to go along with great basketball tradition."
On having all the freshmen at practice ...
Painter: "Well, we don't have all of them. Obviously, Gicarri (Harris) is trying out for Mexico to hopefully play in the Olympics. And then Jack Benter has been sick, so he hasn't gotten going yet. But it's great, it's good Daniel and Raleigh (Burgess) and CJ Cox, all those guys.
"They're good players, but sometimes your best doesn't come out until you know what you're doing. So, I think that's our job. I've always taken summer practices as not workouts, but as practices. So they understand our system, they understand what they're supposed to do, and now when you start in the fall, now you just didn't do workouts and the real practice starts. We've already practiced, so I think that helps our freshmen.
"Everybody that comes in wants to play. You do everything in your power to give them that chance and that's what this summer does for them."
On Kanon Catchings' last-second decommitment from Purdue ...
Painter: "I want people to want to be here. He asked out of his letter and we granted it, so it's not that big of a deal. If something happened, it would be one thing, but nothing happened. It's just one of those deals where, he was concerned about his role and just wanted out of his letter. Went back the next day and said everything was good, and was just like, nah, probably better if we just part ways. You're questioning things before things start.
"I think every freshman coming in has those uncertain thoughts. But you compete and earn your way into a role. I can't anoint a role to somebody out of thin air. Zach Edey didn't have a role. Fletcher Loyer didn't have a role. They came in here and they earned what they got. That's the way it is.
"I think more than anything, it's just the happiness of your players and the happiness of your team. Like, it's competition and it's difficult. But if right away you sense you're starting off on the wrong foot and somebody wants out of their letter, it's probably best to go separate ways. We wish him good luck and hope everything works for him."
On Purdue's culture and success ...
Painter: "Your culture is something you work on every day. It's something that can go away pretty quickly. But I think it starts with the character of the people you have on your team and the people you have on your staff. You're not perfect, but for us, we have to keep it at a highly competitive standpoint and keep getting better and keep improving.
"If you have the right people, you can make a lot of mistakes and you're gonna be OK. If you have the wrong people, it just isn't gonna work. So, we feel like we have a locker room right now where everybody's on the same page, they're competing. But we also know everyone in that locker room is not gonna play. When that happens and that crumbles, that's where you kinda find out.
"Don't lose your time right now in June, July and August. Don't look at it like it's just a summer workout. Like, try to get in front of guys. Even though your teammates and you love them and you gotta go to battle with them, you gotta get in front of somebody. You gotta beat the guy in front of you. So, you still have to have that element, along with other things to have that culture and have that growth more than anything."
On if Purdue needs to be a program known for developing talent ...
Painter: "They're all culture guys, in my opinion. The greatest talent that's ever played is Michael Jordan and he's a culture guy. So, you can't look at culture guys like they're just guys who are under-recruited and tough and gritty and do the little things. Everybody is a culture guy if you're about winning.
"And so I think that's the piece Zach's improvement led to his physicality. He put a lot of work behind it and he was very competitive. So, he's a great story. That's what you want. You want to see guys get better and grow each year. But in terms of recruiting, I want to get the same guys we're getting. I don't want to get a different guy. I think sometimes when you start to win more, you think it's going to start to propel your recruiting.
"They'll go and rank them and people will say something to me. I don't really have a high opinion of the people that are ranking them. Like, they've never coached. So, the people that know what they're doing, they shop for groceries and they make the meal. That's what we do as college coaches. You know what I mean? These people that are ranking them are people who have never coached, are people that failed at coaching or are people that kinda pseudo do it.
"So, they rank you low, you want to be mad at them. When they rank you high, you're happy about it. I'm neither. I could care less, I like (our players). Being able to trust yourself and trust your process and trust your eyes and what they see. But also pay attention to stuff. Like, pay attention to the make-up of people, but also pay attention to the people around them. I think that's an important piece. Because I need help with each one of these guys. If something goes down and there's some trouble, I need someone to trust me to know we can get together and make decisions for that person."
On clarifying Ethan Morton and Mason Gillis transferring ...
Painter: "So, to kinda clarify that — a lot of people put things out there. So, last year in the spring I got with those guys and said whoever had an extra year, I'll hold a scholarship for you. But if you don't want me to do that, then I'm gonna go use that scholarship. But I made them make that decision in late April and May.
"Then, with Ethan, he didn't play as much, so he wants to play. That makes a whole lot of sense. Then, with Mason, he's gonna go to the G-League or go play overseas. I just thought financially it made a whole lot of sense to get in the portal. Just because he's such a great piece of the puzzle. He can put himself there and make whatever.
"But that, to me, was just a really good decision on his part."
On how the team's personality has changed with new leaders ...
Painter: "(Braden and Fletcher) They were leaders on the team last year, too. Anytime you have the ball as much as Braden does, you have to be a leader. It's like having a freshman or sophomore quarterback in football, like they have to. You have the ball so much. I think Braden has made a lot of strides in those areas and he needs to keep doing it. I think Fletch has been a really good leader.
"But anybody that's been there and played — Caleb Furst, Trey Kaufman-Renn — anybody who's been there. But anybody who's also gonna play a lot. No matter what their year is. You gotta do your job, you gotta lead by example and that's always helpful."
On his thoughts regarding NCAA Tournament expansion ...
Painter: "Yeah, I think if it happens — I really don't have to much thought. My knee-jerk reaction is don't mess with something that's been pretty special. But, if it does go up and there's more teams, I don't think it's gonna be a bad thing. I don't think it's gonna be that much more — four more or eight more teams or whatever.
"To get more people in there, as long as it doesn't mess with the structure and the beauty of everything. Obviously, we've had some really tough losses, but that's the NCAA Tournament. That's part of it. You gotta play better. That's the magic of it.
"I don't like low- to mid-major teams that win their league then don't win their tournament and don't get in. I'm not saying both of them should get in, but I like the league winner getting in the NCAA Tournament. You're getting a better team in there. They've proven over 18 games who they are."
On preference of leadership style ...
Painter: "I don't really prefer a style, I think you have to be yourself more than anything. Just be yourself. Most people are going to be able to say the right things, but you have to do them, too."
