Q. Brian, care to tell us your starters for this evening?
BRIAN KEEFE: We are making a lineup change. I won't give you the full starters yet, but Jordan Poole is going to be coming off the bench for us. Decision was made on what is better for the collective good of the team. Been utilizing him a lot off the bench in his role and wanted to expand that more as an initial ball hander for our team. So that's the change for tonight.
Q. Assuming it will be either Corey or Bilal, that's the assumption? What do they add to the new starting group?
BRIAN KEEFE: Again we were looking at this how do we play a full 48 minutes. So are looking to change different combinations so we can play a longer stretches of better basketball. They have shown that recently, but we are trying to make little tweaks here and there so it can be a little more balanced in our attack.
Q. Can you explain to Jordan, what was his reaction?
BRIAN KEEFE: I'm not going to speak for Jordan, but Jordan was professional. Jordan has been professional and Jordan has been that way and I've gotten to know him since I've been here. I expect him to be that way but he was totally professional, put his head down and got to work.
Q. Before the All-Star Break, there was some uptick in some numbers that hopefully I'm assuming you want to carry over. What is the defensive rating number since you've taken off-season, especially the last couple of games? And also the amount of threes that you're giving up, is that some carryover that you want to see improve?
BRIAN KEEFE: Sure I think I addressed that early. Defensive identity was going to be the No. 1 focus for us. I think we have shown some growth and that is something that we are going to have to build every day. That's not something that we are going to say, hey, we are not there. We have not arrived.
We have to keep building and stack days, and maybe this is something that's a habit for us and not something we're going to be focusing on.
Q. With Deni now, how much does he get an increased opportunity in terms of ball handling? And what he did in New Orleans, what did you see in that game for him moving forward?
BRIAN KEEFE: As you can see I've used Danny as more a balance handler for us, an initiator. That's part of why we wanted to expand different rotations and see different things and allow guys to flourish a little bit more in different lineups. You're going to see him doing more of that. He's shown growth of that but Deni has been doing it on the defensive end, too.
Q. Looking at these, let's say, next three to five games, you talked about the defense not being where you want to be but still improving. What's the biggest area that you want to see the guys really focus on in these next three to five?
BRIAN KEEFE: Doing it for the full game. I think we are seeing stretches within the game that we are pretty good, but we still have some points where we can have some lulls. We are looking to build something that's a little bit more sustainable and closer to 48 minutes.
Q. What do you see from Jordan, aside from ball handling and trying to expand him that way? What else does he bring to this second unit in this rotation change that you really want him to focus in on and be another leader for those guys?
BRIAN KEEFE: I think one of the things that people don't realize about Jordan since I've taken over, he has been one of our leaders in net rating.
So I think some of that is because of using him the way I have and being an initiator, being the primary ball handler, I wanted to see more of that. By giving him a longer run and a longer stretch with the basketball I think is going to help our team because everybody covers him. Everybody, he's a threat out there on the court, and I think he can really be an initiator for us going forward.
Q. Is the altitude an issue for you? Do you ever mention it to your team?
BRIAN KEEFE: I don't mention it to my team but I used to play in a conference, the Mountain West. So I can remember here playing myself. I just go play.
We don't talk about it. It's not something you even bring up. But obviously everybody knows about it.
Q. I think even when you're explaining it, people kind of looking in would see this as a demotion for Jordan, but as I understand it, it's not necessarily that you guys have lost faith in him. Can you speak to that aspect?
BRIAN KEEFE: Not even close to a demotion. With the positive impact he's already had on our team, we just wanted to look at how do we best utilize the whole group and how do we best maximize lineups and how do we get more out of him.
I think we have seen some good progress out of him, even those numbers might not exactly show it. But the impact he's had on the team, that's been tremendous for us. By putting him in this position to do that, I think we see even more growth and it allows other guys to step into some new roles and might allow us to play closer to a 48-minute game.
Q. If it's not a demotion and he excels in this role, can you go back to him in the starting lineup or is this something you want to see the rest of the season?
BRIAN KEEFE: I think everything is fluid with our team. This is something we are going to look at for a little while. But I'm not going to say today this is cut and dried exactly what we are going to do.
We are still growing as a team. We are learning our roster and we are learning all of our players. I think this is an opportunity, this last 28 games to develop our roster and to find out strengths and weaknesses and what best lineups work together.
Q. In those minutes where he has played the with second unit already and now this shift, do you think that his previous role at Golden State coming off the bench allows him to know how to navigate the system with regards to this new change from him?
BRIAN KEEFE: The one thing about Jordan is, like I mentioned, he's a total professional. This guy is dedicated to his craft. I never worry about him being ready or what unit he's going to play with. It's just about him having more opportunities in uses with the ball. It's to leverage the growth of our whole team.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports