 Kevin, how has it been just with this one-day stopover with the unpacked-to-pack? How would you just describe how unusual it really is kind of in a stretch at the season like this? Yeah it is unusual to break up a road trip like this but I think we got what our players early on in the season and they preferred to do it like this so we're gonna we're gonna obey they wishes on this one and it was just probably good for them to get home and spend some time with their families or spend some time with their pets whatever they do on off just to get away from basketball a little bit and enjoy that back home in Brooklyn. How needed was this practice? How needed was just this practice and just how good was it to kind of get here to not get a practice assignment but also some time to see Cam Johnson? Yeah it was great to see Cam here I miss him a lot. He had a good workout with Capes the day before and then he had a good workout today and then we get with our medical staff and see if his availability is right for tomorrow. You want to make the trip or it would still be be determined? He'll make the trip yeah but it's still determined if you're a player or not. Did you say earlier that it was player's decision to come back to Brooklyn? That's what I heard. I wasn't in those meetings I wasn't privy to those meetings but that's what I heard but it could not be it could be false too so don't write that. You know Cam how do you evaluate his season up to this point because he's had all these not minor injuries but injuries that have kept him out for bits and pieces of the season? Yeah I mean it's unfortunate but I think he's handling it very very well and you know I know he wants to be out on the court and help us win and help our team keep building this culture that we're starting to establish and I think he wants to be out there so just him understanding the injuries a part of it and how he bounds back how he'll respond is is about being a pro and I think he's doing that to his best of his abilities following his regiment his rehab regiment and I think he's ready to go hopefully he'll be able to play well meaning we got 17 with 17 left hopefully he can play all 17 and more and more after that so. When you look back from the Cleveland obviously you mentioned the effort was there the the attention to detail was there how does that now carry over to these next games especially where Lino considering that was another kind of turning point for you guys where they kind of as Nick said kind of pumped you guys I guess is what he said not mine. Did I say that? Nick said those okay okay yeah but they did punch us and we didn't we didn't counter punch that game but I think our guys are resilient they'll bounce back they did bounce back but now we have to be more consistent with our effort and that can't be wavering from game to game I'm not talking about wins and losses I'm talking about the process of it and I thought our process was right even in Cleveland when they made some shots our rotations was right we didn't hang our head when they did make shots and that's that's what I want them to do is fall in love with the process of getting better each and every day not wearing about a playoff spot and nothing like that we weren't about getting better every day and I thought they did that in Cleveland now the big challenge is carrying it over and I think we'll have the mindset of carrying it over we'll see but I really believe in this group that they have that mindset of getting better each and every day and we'll bring that on on the road trip and then with Nick too obviously offensively he's been kind of on the road I think the last four games he's had to double double but it seems like he's getting more and more comfortable on the offense and what are you seeing from him that's able to unlock that a little bit more I love that word you know that's one of my favorite words unlock I want us to be unlocked on the offensive end unlocked on the defensive end I mean we was in film today and he's just speaking up like the leader he's supposed to be telling the guys what he wants on defense and challenging the guys even in our film sessions so I just see him growing and this is only the tip of the iceberg of his leadership and what he can be as a man first and foremost and as a basketball player. Do you see anything different with him offensively? Is he demanding the ball more just being in position? See it he ducking in two feet in the paint I said he got two feet in the paint and he established paint a place in the paint and he's right there you got to throw it to him and he has that position and we get into him but I do like Dennis Ashrota like court mapping like understanding the court mapping knowing what players are using as like chess pieces and manipulating the defense he had a one play where he re-screened and made Cam being a single tag. Cam was hot so they wasn't going to come off the single tag got pick and roll got got um Nick to the rim so just him being able to court map is really good and kind of understanding pattern recognition as well and we talked about that today kind of knowing what Cleveland's going to do pattern on defense and having that recognition I think and our guys are starting to get that so we can play more unlock basketball I'm still my word. What do you seem from uh Dennis you know Ashrota it's I think it's 14 games now he's been here what have you seen from him just in terms of running the offense as that kind of studying presence at point guard and also just a voice on the team. Yeah I seen his leadership um first and foremost he challenged you know all of us uh to be better we challenged him um I just love his intensity on the defensive end he's picking up 94 feet I call it being in the frame and it's contagious through our group um when he picks up like that and keeps his man in front it's just great for us it gives us a presence out there and teams feel us and I need him to continue to do that and like we just was talking about his court mapping how he's manipulating the defense is great um and being extension of me on the court because I can't play in him understanding what I want and him out there transferring is great for our offense and defense. Speaking of uh flax getting in the pain those post entry passes how have you as a guard kind of seen the progression of guard skills kind of drop the art I guess of post entry passing because there have been a few plays where he hasn't gotten the ball and you know it's a much talked about skill over the last 20 years that guards don't practice that as much have you seen that over your career um yeah to a certain extent um this became you know more three pointers and then big's not down there demanding the ball they're picking and popping now so you know it's that art is not as much as when we was playing when we had big centers and it was prominent that we had centers down there but the game is is changing and I just want Nick to be down there I sure I have Nick coming out picking roles at one of our first plays was Nick coming off a picking role so you know I want him to be unlocked I don't want him to be in the box offensively um and I want him to do all kind of things on the court because he's doing everything on the defensive end for us blocking shots rebounding so we need to throw him the ball but he has to demand the ball as well so you know I'm telling our our guards we got to reward the big fella because he's doing a lot of cleanup for us on the defensive end so when he do have two feet in the paint and he's established that he should be getting the ball and have you been pleased with his overall effort in trying to integrate himself into the offense since oh yeah over you've been mentioning that yeah yeah you know you got to transfer it and you know he got to have confidence in himself I'm I call him my hub he's the hub we have our delay game in five out we throw it to him and he and I want to have all the players to orbit around him and he's the hub and he makes the decision so he's essentially the point guard so I want him to play like that and have a point guard mentality that's watching more film that's watching his players and what they do good and what they don't do good and and our cutting has been very very good and that's the one thing I want to distress our high cutting off the top um off the 45 degree angle where they can just load at the nail getting those guys out of there and then we are unlocking the empty elbows and that's kind of where my offense is predicated around our offense is predicated around Kevin I have a non-basketball related question I've noticed the kicks for you they're always nice kicks but today are today today stands out would you call yourself a sneaker head and how do you think your sneaker collection ranks up to some of the guys sneaker head what is it guys you have Louis Vuitton on your feet right now so I think the sneaker head should be considered yeah I like shoes um I start my office with the shoes first so that's what I always did I got that from my mom so she was pretty snazzy dresser with her soul up in heaven right now but I just got it from her so um if I'm a sneaker head it's all right but I got a couple back there but I think Trevor Hendry got us all Trevor on the coaching staff he'd be having the dunks on the nikes on so you need to check his footwork out too so yeah what's the go-to kicks for you or do you have a favorite I like boots though seriously yeah I like boots a lot but um yeah yeah you haven't seen that but I like boots and um I do like sneakers um Travis Scott's are my are my go-tos yeah yeah Kevin do you believe that cam thomas deserves to be mentioned among the league's most improved players this year oh I definitely do that um you know seeing his his growth I know he's been out with some injuries and and stuff like that but hopefully he can continue to have this stretch next 17 games and what he did the other day I think that was one of his best games and not just the scoring the rebounding and we watching film in there he's being back he's touching guys he's hitting guys he's he's not running out the pain on the defensive end talking so it was amazing to see his growth um since I got here how he's retaining things that we want him to do and 80 percent of basketball is not having a ball in your hand so how can you impact the game that 80 percent when the ball is not in your hand and he's starting to do that and once he starts doing that I mean I think that a lot unlock a lot of things where people talking about him in the higher echelon of not just a score but a complete basketball player