Ronnie Burrell Postgame Media | Portland Trail Blazers 93, New Orleans Pelicans 87 | July 15, 2025

Ronnie Burrell Postgame Media | Portland Trail Blazers 93, New Orleans Pelicans 87 | July 15, 2025

How do you feel like you guys performed tonight? Particularly, you know, after a tough third quarter, able to come back and win it in the fourth. Yeah, you know, tough, physical game again, a typical summer league type of game. Uh, I think we played well. I think we bounced back from our last loss and kind of looked like ourselves today. We played our style of basketball. We shared it a lot. Um, I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but a lot of our baskets in the first half were assisted, you know. So, uh, I felt good about it. It was a fun game. It got chippy. It was exciting and entertaining, I hope. How do you feel like your guys dealt with the physicality and the chippiness of that game? Yeah, it was good. We showed I told you guys earlier that even though we had a short mini camp, we spent time together and these guys are bonded, so that you know, they had each other’s backs today. Um, they had my back and it was it was a good vibe. Uh, I’m glad that we got the win in in that kind of uh those kind of conditions. Uh, the play of both of DJ and Caleb today really seemed like having a lot of the scoring tonight kept you guys in it kind of there in the second quarter. Absolutely. There that duo was a tough back court. But I think DJ earned um more minutes and he proved that, you know, the type of player that he is. Um Caleb is has been rock solid for us the whole time. You know, he uh controlled the game late. Uh made some big plays, made some big shots. So, both of those guys I’m proud of their play. The Pelicans obviously with two bigs. How do you feel like Henson did just tonight in general and also dealing with the size that the Pelicans had? Yeah. Know, it’s good. They have a a very unique duo, you know, in Missy and and Queen in the front court. tough matchups all over the floor in their front court. Hansen will have to learn how to guard different types of bigs, you know, and he did that today. You know, he had some some success against them. I’m actually really good, proud of how he used his hands. You know, he’s quick hands. He’s strong. Um moves better than people may think, you know, so he’ll be able to guard different types of players moving forward. So, this was a good experience for him. Three-point shot tonight was working for him as well. Yeah. Well, he’s urged to shoot. He has really soft touch. You know, when he’s open, shoot the ball. And we told all of our guys that, you know, we want to shoot threes as much as possible when they’re open. No hesitation. So it’s good on him. Um we saw Messi and Derek Quinn got their position under the basket and Hansen make more three shot than before. So how important to have a big guy like that to stretch the floor when it’s really hard to get inside. Yeah, it’s a it’s a it’s a very unique uh you know gift that we have to have a versatile big like that. So yeah, there are guys that he’s going to be able to stretch the floor against. He’s going to be one of those types of centers that can mix in rolling to the basket and popping for three, you know. So, I think that that is um part of his learning process is to mix when do both and uh because they’re both beneficial to us, but he has that skill set. So, it was good to see. I’m glad that he shot the ball today without hesitating. Do you like the celebration poster he gets? Yeah, that’s that’s that’s him having fun and that’s what this is about at the end of the day. Hey, what do you think the biggest Sorry. What do you think the biggest thing is that he’s learned from now from the start of summer league to now? Like what do you think the biggest jump you’ve seen from him? You know, that’s a great question to ask him. I’m actually interested in it myself to see what uh what he’s had to adjust to the most. You know, I expected it to be the physical play and the pace of play and I think he’s doing that. I think he has a ways to go to adjust to to pace and and of the game as well, but he’ll get there and I think that this is the reason why he’s here and he’s doing it. So, I’d be interested for you to tell me what he thinks and I’m going to ask him tomorrow what he’s picked up the most over these first three games. But from your own observation as his coach, what is the thing that you think he’s like gotten the most better at over the last? I think the physicality, you know, and I think him defending physically as well. You know, he uses his hands, he moves his feet well. Um, and he’s been rebounding the ball a bit better. So, I think just physical play in general, he’s getting used to. What do you think about him, Yang, and um, Caleb loves like chemistry together since since the game till now. You know what what makes those guys a good duo together is they’re both very smart players. You know, so when they play and pick and roll together, they have success and it’s a pleasure to watch so far. Hopefully those guys will become a pretty good back court in the future. Actually Hansen had some like turnovers at the beginning of the game like a few. So I was wondering were you worried about Hansen didn’t won’t play like perform very well tonight and uh so that’s why you you know you switch him down and no he performed well and it was the same as as last game that I told him and I was asked about his turnovers. He’s a he’s a player that passes the ball a lot and has the ball in his hand so that you know there will be turnovers that happen and I’m not really hard on him about it because his his intent is good. He’s an unselfish player and it’s part of a learning process. You know, so he’s also very hard on himself and I don’t want him to put too much pressure on himself. So I want him to still pass the ball freely and play his game and not worry too much about the turnovers. You know, you guys are two and one still conceivably that you can make the tournament. Have you guys talked about wanting to to make that tournament and setting that as a goal for yourself? No, that that we talked about it as a staff. You know, what I wanted those guys to do is just come out here and play every game as hard as they can, show well for themselves, and be a unit. And and they’ve done that so far. Now, the results, as we get down to the last, you know, week or so of summer league where the results are starting to matter, now we can take a look at our standings and see what our possibilities go are going forward. All right. Thank you. Thanks a lot, coach. Appreciate it.

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