Exclusive Q&A With Marlon Garnett: Part 2 - Bouknight, Kai & McGowens

Kai Jones adapting, Bouknight maturing and McGowens getting downhill

Hornets Assistant and acting Summer League Head Coach Marlon Garnett spoke to James Plowright of AllHornets.com sharing his thoughts on the Charlotte Hornets Summer League team. In this multi part series Marlon discusses Charlotte’s incoming rookie class and the returning rostered players. In Part Three Marlon discusses what he saw from Charlotte’s returning players James Bouknight, Kai Jones and Bryce McGowens.

On James Bouknight…

JP I imagine James Bouknight didn't have the summer league that he was maybe hoping for. After missing most of last summer with an injury, could you speak about some of the work that you've seen him putting in over the off season?

MG I actually just left the office a couple hours ago and. He was the guy that had just finished his workout. We are two weeks removed from summer league and he's already back in the gym, working at it and trying to prepare his body and prepare his mind. We chatted for two or three minutes, and he seems like he's in a really good place. But yeah, he probably didn't feel like he shot it as well, but I think as a group, as a whole, we didn't shoot it all that well.

From his position, I thought he rebounded it well. He averaged just under six rebounds in the four games that he played. He only missed one free throw, but only took five. That's an area I would've liked to see him, you know, get downhill a little bit more. Maybe get to the line or finish at the rim.

He had some really good plays in transition, but in the half court to try and get by guys. He has the ability to be able to do it and not settle as much. I think his shooting percentages are probably a product of the him probably took some difficult ones that. He is capable of making them, but I'm not sure that those are the shots that you want to bank on.

Once we sat Brandon Miller down and Kai Jones down, there was a few more opportunities offensively for those guys (Including Bouknight) and I think that was the New Orleans game when he had a pretty big night.

JP What growth have you seen in James Bouknight as a professional and as a person?

MG Well, I'm not around him enough to speak on that fully 'cause I'm not assigned to him. But I do have a really good relationship with Bouk. I can say with the relationship that I do have with him from afar, I've seen some strides in the right direction from a maturity standpoint. So hopefully he continues to move in the right direction.

On Kai Jones…

JP Of the returners, did any of those guys step up from a leadership point of view?

MG I think it was great experience for all of them. It was the third time around for Kai, I thought he made some strides in the right direction of kind of playing how we want to see him play.

JP Could you discuss what exactly you mean by that exactly?

MG It’s just simplifying what we need him to do in the role that he has. With Mark not playing, obviously we used him strictly as a five, which I think is fair. I think he has a skillset that can fit that. The emphasis and focus for him was, we wanted to get his motor up, which we know he has. We wanted him to get up running the floor, be a screener, focus on the screening angles that he's setting and, then as a roller so we can really put pressure on a rim using his athleticism.

Obviously, the rebounding piece was something that we talked to him about. Trying to impact the game in in those areas. Defensively being a rim protector and polishing his footwork, polishing his positioning, his pick and roll defense because those are areas where, if he does get a chance to play in the regular season he can actually help us.

I thought it was good to see him buy into it. If you make the comparison between this summer league and summer league last year. From a positive standpoint, he intentionally tried to do what we asked.

I don't know if you remember the nice lob play that he had, it was a screen and roll situation where he ended up catching a lob and dunking on Victor (Wembanyama). Hopefully that's the type of thing, type of play he sees as a result of the work he’s put in and his mindset. So, we'll continue to try to hone in on polishing and improving those areas of his game so we can start seeing some production going forward.

JP Kai Jones appeared to struggle with his defensive rebounding this year. What is it exactly Kai needs to focus on to improve his defensive rebounding? Is it simply strength or is it more complicated than that?

MG I think it's a combination of things. The strength aspect maybe has a layer of it, but that probably isn’t shown up completely in Summer League, and that's not in offense to the, the competition that's out there. But obviously when we're playing in the regular season, think about the fives that we have in our league. Yeah, they’re strong guys. Another part is, is technique. Part of it is just the commitment and the discipline to actually doing it the right way. Not relying completely on your athleticism, but sometimes you have to go hit a guy on their body to create the space that you need. Wedge out so you can go track and trace the basketball. I mean, it takes a little bit of skill, but that skill you can improve upon as you improve upon your technique.

On Bryce McGowens…

JP I thought Bryce McGowens role seemed to be a little bit different this year at Summer League. This year he seemed much more focused on getting downhill, getting paint touches as opposed to focussing on his outside shot. Was that an area of focus for Bryce going into Summer League?

MG He’s another player that I don't work with directly, but I can allude to. I think both (Shooting & Driving) were areas where he wanted to focus on. He got downhill quite a bit, he probably wanted to finish a little bit better at the rim. But I think there's something to be said for the fact that he was able to manufacture space enough to be able to get downhill, which is encouraging to see.

And again, the shooting as a whole with us as a team, we didn't really shoot it all that. I wish we could have done a better job of manufacturing better shots similar to the last game that we played. I think we ended up with 34 assists breaking the Celtics assist record (33). The ball was moving, guys were getting downhill, making the right read. If they had a rim decision where they can finish they were taking it. If not, they were swinging it and the ball was moving. So we were able to create more catch and shoot opportunities that were non-tested. Rhythm threes as opposed to, very hard ones off the bounce.

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