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'There is no loss in the message': Thaddeus Young on players remaining confident in coaching staff

Raptors forward Thaddeus Young discusses the small margins between wins and losses, the teams chemistry and why slumps can't change the impact of performance.

Video Transcript

- You've been around a lot of veteran teams in your 16 years. Are you not-- you can't be surprised at how the Lakers have sort of found themselves in the last seven or eight games after a rather slow start because they're-- they know what they're doing.

THADDEUS YOUNG: Yeah. I mean, they have a veteran-- a great veteran leader, Bron, obviously AD. So having those two guys and then having other guys out there that's actually played in the league for a little bit, it helps, Russ obviously. So when you have three of some of the greatest players that have played this game, things'll shift. Things'll start going in your favor because you have guys that know how to play.

So for us, we've just got to go out there and just make sure that we impose our will on the game and make sure we try to take two of the three out of the game. But for those guys, things will always shift in their favor because they have so much veteran experience and veteran leadership.

Arguably, they're playing with the greatest or, if not, the top three greatest player in the game. So things will always kind of like shift because you have somebody like that on your roster.

- Even with a guy like Davis, who's doing a lot more rolling instead of popping, he's sort of remade his game to fit in for 2022, right?

THADDEUS YOUNG: He's been amazing--

- Yeah.

THADDEUS YOUNG: --this season so far. He's been going out there and playing some great basketball. I think he's been a little bit more aggressive than he has been in the past couple of years. But another thing too is he's healthy. He's going out there. He's able to play.

And when you don't have a healthy AD, then the whole landscape of your team changes. But when you have a healthy AD, it's a little-- it's a big difference. But he's been playing amazing so far this year. He's been playing with a lot of aggressive nature, a lot of tenacity, rebounding the basketball, blocking shots, scoring the basketball from a variety of ways, not just jumpers but going out there and making sure he imposes his will on the basket.

And I think that has always made him who he is as a player. He puts so much pressure on the rim that it makes it better for the team overall.

- Thad, do you think there's anything to the idea that it's sometimes harder to do it in the second year with a young team?

THADDEUS YOUNG: Say that again.

- That it's sometimes harder to do it the second time around with a young team, where the first year, everything is new, and everything is really exciting, especially for the younger players. And the second year, some of that stuff becomes harder to replicate?

THADDEUS YOUNG: Yeah, for sure, for the simple fact of like now, teams understand you. They understand who you are. They understand what your identity is. So they try to take away those strengths and make you play to your weaknesses.

So for us, like I said, it's all-- but it's always, for us, is just going out there and imposing our will on the game. Some games, we try to kind of like coast into it, and we can't do that. We don't have the leeway to actually do that. We have to come out and impose our will on the game.

We have a big, strong, physical team, not the biggest as far as centers and stuff. But across the board from the forward position, we have a lot of guys that are the same size guys, 6' 8", 6' 9", athletic guys they can go out and rebound the basketball, be physical, be a force. And we just have to impose that will on the game. And if we do, then it puts us in a way better position to win.

- Thad, Pascal was saying that you guys are kind of missing out on the little details right now.

THADDEUS YOUNG: Yes.

- And your focus could be a bit better. Do you attribute that to some things like guys being in and out of rotations and adjusting to that, some inexperience still? What would you attributed--

THADDEUS YOUNG: I mean, I think it could be all across the board, a little bit of all of that stuff that you just said. But at the end of the day, it's still something that we have to come back and get to the drawing board on and look at.

When we see the small details-- one thing about the film sessions, they don't lie. They can't tell us a lie because it's what you're doing out there live at that current moment. So for us, we have to pay attention to the small details, do the small details because those things, if you have 25 small things, those lead to 25 points or 50 points.

So just small details that we have to really pay attention to and buckle down on and limit our mistakes-- I think transition killed us a little bit on both sides of the basketball. We didn't get the stops in transition, nor did we convert in transition. So limiting those type of things, and then our assists-- we've got to get our assists up a little bit more.

We're making the passes. But sometimes they might be-- it might be too much of a last second pass or we might dribble the ball one or two more times than we should have. So we have to get good passes, good assists, make sure that we're converting in transition on both sides of the basketball, getting stops, and scoring the basketball and then just continue to impose our will defensively, paying attention to the small details.

- Is one of those details even bench celebrations and helping guys off the floor? When you go back and watch the film, it was really evident with the Celtics. They were doing that on almost every play. Is that something that could improve on this team as well?

THADDEUS YOUNG: I mean, I wouldn't say it has to improve for the simple fact of, I think guys are cheering. You just have some teams that's not as up as much as other guys. But we're cheering. We're talking to each other. We're helping guys through.

You might see me talking. You might see Malachi talking to somebody. You might see Dalano talking to somebody. Guys are talking and cheering. Guys are clapping. Guys are still up and upbeat about the situation at hand, especially when we're going on the run or we're getting ready to come back, stuff like that.

But I don't think that has an effect. I think the factor is that the small, little things throughout the course of a game is killing us. And we have to figure out how to plug the holes and make sure that there's no leaks.

- Where's the message getting lost? Is it the coaching staff?

THADDEUS YOUNG: I wouldn't say the message was lost at all. There's no loss in the message. We know what we have to do. I think the biggest part is just going out there and doing it. The one thing the coaches can't do, they can't go out there and play for us. We have to play for ourselves and play with some aggressive nature and play with tenacity and make sure that we're doing the things that we need to do.

They're putting-- giving us a game plan. We just have to go out and execute to the best of our abilities. But no message is lost. They're giving us the message. We're taking it. And we're going out there and doing it-- trying to do it. But there's no message lost. We all know what we need to do.

- You mentioned getting the assists off. And just by the nature of the way you guys play, there's a lot of isolations, a lot of mismatches on transition. It's not really heavy pick-and-roll, heavy side to side to side sort of offense. So how do you get the assists up within that style?

THADDEUS YOUNG: Just continuing to move the basketball to the right areas. Sometimes we might make a pass. And like I said, it might be too late. Or we might make a pass, and that pass is not the actual read that we needed.

But the thing about it is, guys are actually passing the ball. We're moving the basketball. It's just sometimes we might move it too much or too little. And against a team like the Celtics, you have to be just right because they're not going to kill themselves. We have to make sure we impose that will to make them kill themselves.

So small details, small things we can-- it's all correctable stuff. And we've just got to correct it.

- What-- sorry. What, I guess, can a team do to get comfortable with pressure moments? We saw that third quarter burst in Boston, you rose to the occasion. But then even the Lakers overall, the season starts the way that they don't want it to go, but then they turn things around. What separates a team from good to great in those moments?

THADDEUS YOUNG: Just staying poised throughout the good moments and the bad moments, being able to fight adverse situations. That's one of the things that you're always going to be faced with throughout the course of basketball because it's so much trial and error in basketball. But just being able to fight through an adverse situation and just making sure that, when you're out there, you're taking advantage of the moment and the opportunity and just making sure all five guys are on the court.

But one of biggest things is also communication. Our communication level has to be there at all times for us to overcome any battle.

- Can you remember a time in your career where you went through some sort of extended slump?

THADDEUS YOUNG: Yeah. I mean-- [LAUGHS]

- What does that feel like? And are you--

THADDEUS YOUNG: I mean, a 16-year career, you have a lot of those.

[LAUGHTER]

- How do you get out of that, though? What does that feel like?

THADDEUS YOUNG: You just get out of your own head and just play. But for me and how I play, my biggest thing has never been just predicated on-- we talk about slumps. And everybody looks at slumps from, oh, he's not scoring the basketball.

For me, it's always been, I don't need to score the basketball to impose my will on the basketball game. It's been games this year where I've had 0 points, but I've had 8 rebounds or 4 or 5 assists or 4 or 5 steals, stuff like that. So just making sure that you're always going to be there and your presence is felt throughout some type of part of the game, it doesn't always have to be scoring, and I think that's how the new league is now.

Everybody has to score the basketball. And there's-- and sometimes you don't have to score the basketball in order to win a basketball game. And it's been proven.

- With Fred, who is relied on for a fair bit of perimeter shooting on this team-- I mean, he has such a track record. When he's in a stretch like this, is it like, oh, Fred's really struggling right now? Or when it goes out to him, are you like, oh, Fred, that's our best shooter, he's going to knock this one down? What does it feel like?

THADDEUS YOUNG: We still have the confidence that he's going to knock every one of them down. Just because he's not having the best night doesn't mean that he isn't the best player that we need to have on the court for us. Fred brings a lot of attention to himself as far as having-- getting guys to double him and them having to guard screen and roll.

And he's able to make plays for other guys. He's a smart basketball player. He's one of the best basketball players I've played with and one of the best minds I've played with. So at the end of the day. If he's not having the best game, it's still better than what we had probably had on the court at any point in time because of the simple fact of he brings so much attention to him.

And that helps us out because now you have two guys guarding Fred and then some guys open on the court. And he's going to find and make the right read and make the right play.

- What's the most unique thing you've tried to get out of your own head when you're in a funk?

THADDEUS YOUNG: The most unique thing?

- Yeah.

THADDEUS YOUNG: Shit, I don't know.

[LAUGHTER]

I'd probably just say just the fact that I don't need to score the basketball in order to be efficient, just those type of things. I might miss three or four shots and be in my head. But then I start thinking about it, I'm like, OK, get back on defense, and get a steal, get it back for us, or get the rebound. Get it back for us. Or if I miss a shot, get the offensive rebound, get a kick-out, and get somebody else a good shot or a great shot. So those type of things that I try to put in my head if I'm not having the best game scoring-wise--

- I guess I meant more away from the game to disconnect, stop thinking about it, that type of thing.

THADDEUS YOUNG: Oh, like what do I do to get away from it?

- Yeah, yeah.

THADDEUS YOUNG: Oh, I've got kids at home. So--

[LAUGHTER]

I've got kids and a wife at home. So when I'm going home, like, yeah, I'm thinking about basketball, but then when I see the smiles on my family's faces and I'm having a conversation with them, I'm able to talk to my kids about different things and talk to my wife about different things, that's my getaway.

And you always need something to kind of get away from it. And that's my getaway, my family.

- Thad, do you feel like you're almost in the right place at the right time right now just in terms of being with a really talented team but one that needs some veteran direction, and you're kind of-- do you embrace that right now?

THADDEUS YOUNG: Yeah, I mean, I embrace whatever role that a team has for me. As long as there is the communication and they're talking to me about what they need from me, then I'm going to try to do it to the best of my abilities.

But obviously, we had a string of injuries. And I had to step into a different role. And it gave me an opportunity to really show my value to this team and what I can do. And I took advantage of it. And it still is to this day. But I think for me, it's just going out there and just making sure that, whatever time that I do get, I'm imposing my will on the game and I'm making my presence felt and I'm doing things that's going to help us win.

- Thanks, Thad.

- Thank you, Thad.

- Thanks, Thad.

THADDEUS YOUNG: Yep.

-Appreciate it.