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Raptors and Rico Hines are the perfect match

Player development coach Rico Hines says it was a natural fit when the Raptors inquired about bringing his skills to Toronto. Hines says that Pascal Siakam is 'addicted to being great' and ranks the 28-year-old's mentality amongst the best in the game.

Video Transcript

- What made coming to Toronto something that he wanted to do and sign on for?

RICO HINES: Yeah, just the organization as a whole. They really big and player development. That's something that I'm big in to. And the whole culture that they built here over the years, I wanted to be a part of. You know, I've been fortunate enough over the past few years to spend a lot of time with them in the summers, and I had a great relationship with the whole staff, from the top of the organization to all the coaches to everybody here.

So I already had a good rapport with them, and you know, I always wanted to be a part of it, and that's what made it really special for me to come here.

- How does what you do in terms of player development and the way they do things-- how are they different, and how do they complement each other?

RICO HINES: We're not thinking complements. I think it fits like a glove, you know what I mean. And here's why, it's because they believe in hard work, they believe in development, they believe in doing everything in the house, and I'm a big fan of that. It's all about hard work and not skipping the step.

We always talk about not skipping any steps and having a great plan all summer. And even throughout the season, having a plan as well, and I think I fit well with that because I'm all in on it. I'm all in on it, I have a lot of passion for it, and you know, I have a great relationship with a lot of the guys already, and it was just easy. It was an easy transition for me.

- When do players-- with the game-changing where players have to do so much shoot, dribble, pass. How has development changed?

RICO HINES: Well, I think the game is always changing. That's a good question. I think the game is always changing, but the fundamentals stay the same.

The fundamentals of basketball never change. So all you do is just try to keep up with how the game is changing from a technical standpoint, but those things that you just talked about shoot pass dribble that never changes. All right, you might have to rep something up, rep something more, rep something less, but the fundamentals of basketball never change. You just have-- just have to have a vivid basketball imagination, yeah.

- You have to put it all in one package. Play right.

RICO HINES: Put it all into one package and, at the same time, make that fit to what the team wants and needs. You know what I mean, you don't ever want to veer off from the ultimate goal, which is always trying to win, so it always has to fit in to what your head coach and what your organization wants, what Nate Nurse want-- I mean Nick Nurse wants. Fit everything in that into one box. That's it.

- Where did your passion for a player coaching come from?

RICO HINES: I've always had it, man. I've always had it since I was a player. When I played at UCLA, I always knew what I wanted to do. I always wanted to coach.

So I had some injuries early in my career, and I just started coaching early. And I was very fortunate to get a start with Coach Don Nelson, who taught me a lot. And then my mentor, Tim Gingrich, who was like the mentor of the whole NBA. You know I had a chance to be with him and spent a lot of time with him early in my career, and I take a lot of stuff from him.

Just always being passionate and always, always, always about the players. Always working with them. I don't care if you're the first man on the bench, the last man on the bench, we'll figure it out, and we'll work hard, and we'll come back at night, and we'll continue to just improve. Some kind of way we'll improve.

- What kind of hours does your job require?

RICO HINES: Oh, it's 24/7, 365, it never stops, and I'm very blessed to have it.

- Quite literally though, like have you--

RICO HINES: Yeah.

- --before practice and then like--

RICO HINES: Very. Like I said, 24/7, 365, I mean that. It never stops.

I haven't taken a vacation. I can't tell you the last time I've taken a vacation, it's always all summer, you know what I mean. This summer, I had a chance to go to Rwanda, Africa, and do some great things with those people out there, man, and it was awesome. And I took two days at the end to kind of vacation then I came straight from Rwanda here. So that's just who I am, and I believe in it, and I'm very thankful and grateful for it.

- From the other side, what makes a player coachable, a good player coachable?

RICO HINES: What makes a good player coachable? For me or for like anybody?

- For you. For you.

RICO HINES: Well, I think for me, man, like I've had the chance to work with so many great players, man, so many great players over time. And it's built the respect of the respect that people know that I care about, and I genuinely want them to accomplish their goals and dreams, and I want them to be great, so it's easy for me. You know, it's easy for me to have the respect of the guys because they know it's coming from a pure place, and them wanting to do well.

So I would think there's just a pureness of a player wanting to be great, wanting to be the best person and the best player that they could possibly be. I told somebody today, I said you prayed all your life to make it to the NBA, now I'm here. So now you know why should I be upset or mad about anything. I should just work as hard as I possibly can and let the chips fall where they may. So I think it's just the conversations that you have with guys, and they'll feel your pureness and your passion for them.

- What's the number one rule like at the Rico Hines [INAUDIBLE]

RICO HINES: [GIGGLE]

- --when guys want to show up, what's the one thing they'll do that will get them kicked out of the gym?

RICO HINES: Not running two minutes at the end. The rule is you have to be at least either you have played 15 years in the NBA or five-time All-Star or six-time All-Star, other and that you have to run at the end. I don't care who you are. You know what I mean? You have to go under two minutes. And that was the rule that came from Magic Johnson long before me.

So that gets me-- gets me-- that's the only rule you have to do. You have to run at the end of it. At the very end, you have to push yourself and run the 2 minutes at the end, and they all do it.

- It's a side-to-side?

RICO HINES: It's the full court.

- 17?

RICO HINES: Yeah, full court for two straight-- they all do it, they love it, man. And younger guys help the older guys because they try to push them and vise versa, you know what I mean. So if it's a vet in there who's been playing a while and he get a young college guy around him, you know, I tell them to pair up and run beside each other, and then have conversations. That's how this thing keeps building, man. Conversations are everything, and it's a great vibe, and it's a great vibe, and it's a great tradition, and it's a wonderful place to be.

- Haskell's been talking about wanting to push his game up another level. He mentioned top five on media day. As somebody who knows him extraordinarily well, how close do you think he is to his ceiling, and what would you like to see him-- what are you hoping to see more of this year?

RICO HINES: Yeah, I just want him to keep getting better, man. I think he can continue to improve. I want him to continue to improve on all aspects of his game. And I think if you talk to him, I think he would say the same thing.

He wants to always get better. That's the best thing about him. He wants to improve on his overall game, and we're all here to help him out, and he's had a great summer, a phenomenal summer, you know, he works his butt off. And so I when it comes-- I want to see him improve on his overall game, continue to make winning plays, and continue to be a leader, that's it.

- Is it possible-- when you say overall game, I'm just wondering, is it possible to work on too many parts of your game at one time or just saying?

RICO HINES: No, I'm just talking about just your overall game--

- Yeah.

RICO HINES: --you know what I mean. To make-- when you work on your overall game, that's whatever it takes to win. That could be rebounding, that could be dribbling, that could be passing, it could be playing defense, whatever it takes to win the basketball game. It ain't just about-- development just doesn't come with a comb or a stick, you know what I mean development is conversations and your mentality and working on your overall game it's not just dribbling and just-- you know it's the overall game.

- When did he open?

- His work ethic--

- Sorry.

- Sorry. Can I jump in? His work ethic. We just got finished talking with a couple of his teammates, and one just said he doesn't even eat breakfast. He thinks he comes to the gym and he starts work it. Is it been that good since you got him in?

RICO HINES: Ever since I've known him. And I first had him when he came from pre-draft. When they brought him to me for pre-draft, he's always had that work ethic, and he's always tried to make winning plays, and he's always been a great guy. And sometimes I have to tell him we can't come back to the gym. He works-- I've work with a lot of people, and he's right up there with as far as the hardest workers that I've ever been a part of, and it's a credit to him and who he is as a person and his family.

He has an infectious-- he's a-- he has an infectious personality who he wants to be great, he wants to squeeze every part of ability that he has, he wants to get it out, you know what I mean. And we're all here to just help him out with that.

- Who's in that class for you? That work ethic class [INAUDIBLE].

RICO HINES: Baron Davis was up there, in Monte Ellis was up there, those guys worked hard. Al Harrington was a really, really hard worker. It's a ton of guys, man that I've had the pleasure. Kevin Durant works hard.

There's a ton of guys that I've had the pleasure to be around that works extremely hard, and you know, I put Pascal right at the top of that list, man, because he is over here early. I mean, he's over here two hours before practice, and he's in a full-- he's in a full a sweat drench before we even started practicing. That's just who he is. He's always worked that hard.

During the Summers, we go three times a day, pretty much, and he goes early in the morning, then he goes and plays in our runs all day. I mean, those things are tough, that's two hours. Then he shoots after that. So he's built for this, man, and I'm proud of the person that he's becoming. Hope he's going to continue to work, and we'll see what happens.

- So when he says top five, you don't even bat an eye, right? You just--

RICO HINES: I want him to continue to work, man. I want him to continue working and all that stuff. For me, I want him to be the best possibly Pascal Siakam he could be. I want our team to be the best team that we could be, and I want him to work as hard as he possibly can. And at the end of the day when he's career is done, then we'll see what happens.

- Where have you seen the biggest difference in him from when you started coaching him?

RICO HINES: Just this mentality. His mentality. He's always been a nice guy but now he's becoming a little bit meaner, you know what I mean, and that's good. We want him to continue to grow in that aspect, you know, because that's what it takes for to be one of the elites it's just his mentality, you know what I mean. That's been a big thing is it's just this mentality of being addicted to being great, you know what I mean.

And we talked about that a lot here and not just being addicted to being great and it--

[CHANT]

--being addicted to that feeling of being great. And that's the biggest growth that I see in him.

- Is it kind of like a selfishness--

- Oh, let's go, let's go, let's go to party, come on, let's go.

- --or is it--

RICO HINES: What are you say--

- You know what I mean?

RICO HINES: [LAUGHING] Is that him?

- Yeah.

RICO HINES: Yeah. What did you say?

- Is it almost like there's almost like a selfishness you got to have to be at that peak level where you--

RICO HINES: Yeah it's a fine line.

- --you know?

RICO HINES: It's a fine line. It's a fine line because, at the end of the day, it's about winning. But you know it's not-- that's selfish, not the word, you know what I mean. I think it's more of being like a tough MFer, you know what I mean. Selfish, he doesn't have a selfish bone in his body, so he'll never be that, but just being addicted to being great, being the tough MFer that we just talked about and I think he's trying to be that.

- When you say meanness is that-- do you see that mostly during the runs, do you see that mostly?

RICO HINES: Just with everything.

- Yeah.

RICO HINES: His whole personality as a person. It's just everything. Just-- he's growing up.

- Yeah.

RICO HINES: You know what I mean. He's just like any other person. You know he's starting to figure out who he is as a man, and I think the best years are ahead of him.

- Rico, what are you looking for with the young guys who are trying to do the same Ric, what comes to mind, Ric?

RICO HINES: Continue to understand what this organization is. Understanding what they stand for and what they stand for from a player development standpoint. And what I mean by that is hard work, not skipping the step, being here, double day, three times a day, whatever it takes. Just following the game plan of the organization already. Because this place has a great great great system set so, just follow the blueprint don't try to change it.

- Being through--

- You have Pascal for a bunch of years now. This is obviously your first in the Raptors, but from what you've seen from the outside, is this maybe the best built around him in terms of the teams that he's played on? Do you think this team is well built around him because that's how it's been in the past?

RICO HINES: I think the team is good. I think they always done a good job of getting good talent with around him, around Kyle, around Fred, around Kawhi, demart-- like I thought they always done a good job of building a great great team out here, you know what I mean, looking from afar. And I think they did a good job this year as well. I think we're deep as a team, and like I said, we just got to continue to work and go out there and see what happens.

- You had most, if not all, of these guys in your gym this summer working together and playing together. Three or four days in now, like are you seeing the fruits of that labor kind of carry over into the season?

RICO HINES: Yeah. I don't question, man. Like it's not like the first day of school.

- Yeah.

RICO HINES: You know what I mean. These guys have been with each other all summer, so now it's not an awkward situation when you get to training camp because everything seems the same, you know what I mean. And Masai and Coach Nick or big on the team being together and always having conversations and playing together. And it hasn't been awkward as far as they've been together all summer, so now it's like, hey, man it's just another day coming to work.

- Did you take a--

RICO HINES: Yeah.

- Sorry, did you take a lot of satisfaction I think it was the one year he really, Pascal I'm talking about, really kind of gained a lot of notice at least on social media at [? Yuransis ?]

- 18.

- And then the year after--

- It's [INAUDIBLE]

- --he goes, and this ends up--

RICO HINES: Yeah.

- --you know NBA.

RICO HINES: No question man.

- I mean, it's got to be good for the team.

RICO HINES: Yeah Yeah Yeah, no question. Like, I have the same feelings for all our guys that come in there, though. You know what I mean? I have a-- have the same feelings for a guy like Kevin Punter who you guys don't even know who plays for Partizan now, who went from making 30,000 in Polland, you know what I mean, to now being making a million and a half in Euroleague with Partizan.

So, yeah, I felt-- I feel that good about him, but I feel that good about all the guys that come in there throughout the summer, man, because I love them all. And I tell them all the time, all these guys that come in there with me in the summer, that I love them and I hope they accomplish their goals and dreams and I'll be right there for them and have their back.