Q. How did you better yourself this off-season?
TYRONN LUE: It was tough, man. Like I said, I've never been out for this long and not making the Playoffs as a coach. Just had a lot of ideas, a lot of different things I thought we could work on, but it was just like all over the place.
You've got so much stuff, you don't know how to put it together. It's hard to put it together because you've got so many ideas. I learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot about our team, about what we got done, and probably a week later everybody was in the gym working out, trying to get ready for this season.
It just tells you a lot about our team and what we believe in and how hard these guys work every single day.
It's been tough, but now I'm ready to get back going.
Q. How about yourself during that time off?
TYRONN LUE: To be more patient. I think not to be so hard on myself, because I'm my biggest critic. I think you always have room to grow and improve.
Just being able to take some time away from the game and kind of understand myself, kind of understand some different things I can do, trying to find a release instead of when the season starts just diving straight in and staying down until it's time to come back up.
It's been great, but it's been a long off-season, and I'm ready to get back going again.
Q. We were listening to some of your other players earlier today. You have a mixture of really wonderful personalities, and knowing your personal background in coaching and in playing, you played on teams that had a mixture of great personalities. How big a part do personalities play in winning a championship?
TYRONN LUE: It's huge. I think you have different guys, like you said, with different personalities, which makes a team and makes a family. So everybody is not going to be the same. If it was, it would be boring.
We have a mixture of great guys and different personalities, but they're all great guys, great human beings.
That's what's important, having a mixture, having guys that do different things, believe in different things, but can come to one common ground, and that's winning, and our team is all about that.
Q. You've mentioned this summer that you really wanted to make sure that your message in the preseason to the guys was look, we know we have Kawhi and PG back, but we have to put in the work to make this thing come to fruition. What did you see from the five and a half months of off-season work that makes you think guys are following that?
TYRONN LUE: They definitely put the work in, like you said. A week, a week and a half after we got finished playing, guys were in the gym working on their body, working on their game. I thought it was a little too early to get started, but that just showed the dedication.
Like I talked about this summer with you, it's not going to happen because Kawhi is coming back healthy or PG is coming back. We still have to put the work in and then go from there. It's not going to happen overnight. It's not going to be easy.
It's going to be a process because we have a deep team with 11, 12 guys that deserve to play, and we know we can't play that many guys every night. It's going to be tough, but we're up for the challenge, and I'm excited about the group we have.
Q. When the NBA schedule was released and you saw the first matchup of the season is an away game against the Lakers, what was your reaction to that?
TYRONN LUE: I kind of figured that. I kind of figured that. The NBA is smart. They know how to get the ball rolling right away. What better game than playing against the Lakers? I expected it.
Q. You got these two games in Seattle; why is it important to play those games in Seattle, and what are you hearing about that city's NBA future?
TYRONN LUE: I don't know about the NBA future. I just know that going there, Portland's team, their owner lives in Seattle, and of course Mr. Ballmer is in Seattle. It's a city I like and? I haven't been there since I played in 2008 I think it was. Just go back there and Mr. Ballmer, kind of see his offices and how he lives and a chance to get to see his owner.
And then being with my best friend I think would be a great common ground, so I'm excited to go there.
Q. What do you think will be the strength of this team, and what type of pace are you guys looking to play at?
TYRONN LUE: Strength I think is going to be our numbers. I think our numbers will be considered our strength because we have a lot of guys that can step in and play, and our younger guys got a lot of experience last year, playing in big games, having big minutes down the stretch, and they were able to produce and perform.
That's going to be huge for us.
What was your second question?
Q. What type of pace are you looking to focus on playing this year?
TYRONN LUE: I think with John, adding John, his pace is tremendous. That's going to allow us to get easy baskets. Guys get open threes, easy shots, him getting downhill, getting to the basket changes our team dramatically. His pace, the way he plays, brings a different dimension to our team.
Q. What's the focus for training camp and for the season?
TYRONN LUE: I think the style of play, how we need to play to be successful. I don't think it's about plays right now this early in the process. I think it's about how we take advantage of switching, how we take advantage of double teams, how we take advantage of coverages, blitzes, things like that.
When you know how to play, then you can add the plays, because when it happens, you already know how to play.
That's going to be our main focus to start camp.
Q. Lawrence said that Kawhi is cleared for everything. What's the plan with Kawhi as far as how much you see him practicing and playing in the preseason?
TYRONN LUE: I really don't know. We've got to be smart about the situation, about the process. We know he feels great, which is great news and great to hear. But we've got to listen to Kawhi's body, be able to listen to the medical staff and make sure we're doing the right thing for Kawhi.
Like I said, the great news is that he feels great. So we'll know tomorrow. We'll get a better gauge of how he feels when he goes through different scenarios, different situations on the floor, and then we'll just kind of gauge it day by day.
Q. What have you seen from PG this summer and what are your expectations for him this season?
TYRONN LUE: He's playing great basketball. I think the biggest thing for PG was his leadership this year, of getting guys together off-site, getting guys, going and playing in different gyms, taking the guys down to San Diego this summer.
So just taking that leadership role of just getting guys together, making sure we're all on the same page and making sure everyone felt comfortable. So PG has done a great job with that.
Q. You have the best problem a coach could have, and that is a lot of players that can really play. Tell me, when does it start for you to talk to the players that maybe aren't going to get the minutes that they probably deserve, and how much do you lean on your leaders to help deliver that message, as well?
TYRONN LUE: It started yesterday. But you never know. Like you can go through camp, something could happen, God forbid, but just all our guys being ready. You hear me say it time and time again, it's just sacrifice, and our team has shown over the years that they do sacrifice.
We can't play 11 and 12 guys every night like I said earlier. Guys sacrifice minutes, guys sacrifice games, touches, shots. So if we want to be successful, we want to win, those are things we have to do.
Q. Does it help at all that you know probably going into the season that back to backs will be available for some of those players? Does it help that sales pitch for you?
TYRONN LUE: I don't know. I think as a player and as a competitor you always want to play. That's how it is. You wouldn't want guys on your team that didn't want to play.
We've just got to make sure we bring everybody along and let them know the truth. I think the biggest thing is just communication. Just communicating to these guys, letting them know when you have an opportunity to play, when you're going to sit. As long as you have that communication and you have that dialogue, I think it makes it a lot easier.
Q. Did you have any KC's pizza this summer?
TYRONN LUE: No, I didn't. I'm sorry, I didn't get any.
Q. When we talked to you at various points throughout last season, because of roster turnover due to COVID, due to injuries, you name it, you weren't able to use as much of the playbook as you wanted. You just had to roll the ball out there and let guys figure it out. But the team returned 13 players from last year. Do you think that continuity kind of helps guys pick up things a little bit faster, whereas if there was a little bit more turnover they might not?
TYRONN LUE: Yeah, I think so. I think the new addition with John and I think Norm only playing four, five, six games last year, I think those two guys will have to catch up a little bit more.
But having the same group of guys for two, two and a half, three years has been great for us.
It's kind of difficult because when you have a team this talented with so much talent, do you give them a lot more or do you give them less and let them play? It's going to be my job and our coaching staff just to make sure we give them the right amount of things to do and what's too much and what's not enough and kind of go from there.
Q. Marcus mentioned that his knee feels good. Zub talked about his ankle feeling fine. Kawhi talked about being ready to go tomorrow. Is there anybody who can't start off tomorrow that you know of injury-wise?
TYRONN LUE: Everybody will be ready.
Q. When you look at what you were looking at for training camp this week, you've got practices, you have a game on Friday. What do you want to see from this team? You talked about competition not just for starting spots, rotation spots, but just to even be on this team? You've got a guy like Moses who is your only seven-footer, but he's not guaranteed. What are you trying to see just collectively and specifically for some guys as far as competition that you need to see going into this week?
TYRONN LUE: I think our whole team is full of competitors. We know that the situation where is we've got a lot of guys that deserve to play, but they're not going to be able to play every single night.
The competition is going to be great. I'm more so just worried about our focus. Like just make sure we're focused every single day, having playoff and championship practices every single day, and having that mindset of just coming in, understanding that it's going to be -- training camp, especially for veteran guys, is tough to do, because it's all stuff you start over from day one and just kind of going through everything we've got to go in, but you can't get bored with the process.
So just having our focus and not getting bored with the process is going to be one of my main focuses going into camp.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports