Kings Coach Dipesh Mistry outlines how defensive identity helps Sacramento improve to 3-0 in Vegas
closest one so far. Uh, winning it with that defensive identity. Just what did you kind of think of your guys’ performance? I thought it was going to be a fight. That’s a good team right there, you know, and they challenged us and we responded to the adversity and it was great. I thought it was amazing. I I like how they got challenged, but they when things went rough, they got together and I really really enjoyed watching that. It seemed like Nick specifically recognized those moments when there’s big runs in this game and stepped up. What do you think of his creation, him recognizing those? He knows it. He sees it. He feels it. He senses it. And guys know it, too. And he just he takes the ball and he makes things happens for everybody, you know, if it happens for himself, too. But I just like how he controlled the game. What do you think of his self-creation ability? You see him facing up some rip through jumpers that touch in the mid-range. Yeah. Yeah. I know. He’s got a variety of ways to score and a variety of positions to score from, you know, and it’s exciting. His is difficult to guard. Yeah. Yeah, and I think you held them below 40%, but there’s the turnovers, offensive rebounds. What do you feel like cleaned up there? Yeah, it’s the offensive rebounds. You know, they probably had over 20 second chance points. Um, I think Tomlin had like seven offensive rebounds in the first half. That was like a major focal point. We got to hit somebody. A lot of the shots were coming from threes and it was long shots. You go long rebounds. So, that ball was going everywhere, you know. So, it was tough, but we have to put a put a bow in someone’s chest, you know, and create the umbrella and let the ball fall in front of us and go get it, you know. So, we let a couple guys get loose and that’s where they got their offensive rebounds. And then with Max back out there today, you’re seeing him uh what what have you thought of his switch ability? You’re seeing him go on to some guards there. And what do you thought of his first? No, I thought it was great. You know, he does a great job of communicating and keeping bodies on bodies. And then when he switches, it’s really good, you know, because he keeps a hand up so guys won’t shoot on him. They see a contested three and he can contain and move his feet. He even picked up fullourt, you know, I love seeing that, you know, and that’s where we want to kind of just experiment and see what can he do, you know, and challenge him. and he did. Isaiah Stevens closing the game out there instead of Crawford. What did you see from Isaiah? It’s just it’s just like when Isaiah’s out there, he’s a point guard, you know, and he can get us settled down. He can handle the pressure, put guys in the right spots, and I thought he was picking up really well, you know. I just felt like we needed that for this game to take care of the ball. And we our goal is to always hold him under for ourselves under 15 turnovers. We had I think 14, but team 15. So, I thought that was our goal and we accomplished it in four games under the belt. Devin, I know it’s point guard by committee, but with Deon sort of leading the show there, what have you thought of the job he’s done? I thought he’s doing an excellent job, you know, and he’s attacking pressure when he needs to. He’s setting up guys when he needs to. He’s kicking in ahead when he needs to, you know, and his leadership in the timeouts, it’s been unreal. And Tyrese Proctor over on the other end had a big game. Obviously, you guys come away with the win, but how impressed were you with them? I’m very impressed. I mean, that guy is very talented, you know, and we known that we saw him in the draft work, too. I was like, “Wow.” Um, but he he was really good. He had a great night, but we did a good job of trying to even it out. Still got to wait and see results. I think point differential, whatever the tiebreers are specific, but uh pretty excited for an opportunity to play for that championship. Yeah, I didn’t mention it to the team. I didn’t want them thinking about that. I just said he get the win and then wherever the chips land, the chips land. What’ you think of Isaac’s impact in the first quarter, especially with the scoring and run the floor? Yeah, and that’s a huge fight. I keep telling him like you like if you didn’t get the rebound, just run and then you’re a big target. So we hit you and then it’s going to be very difficult for guys to stop at the rim because most of the time there’s a guard getting back. It’s not a big right. So it’s like 68 versus like a 65 guy and I think that’s where our where his advantages. This group seems really together. Like two weeks ago you guys were just kind of learning each other’s names. What do you kind of attribute the the togetherness to? Uh it’s just like the overall vibe. They they really like each other as a group, you know, and then when we’re at practice, they they’re coming early. They’re getting up shots. They’re they’re vibing with each other. And that is probably it, you know, and also winning does help, you know. Of course. How much do you feel like playing in into this defensive identity also helps guys uh for their translation to that next level? Yeah. It’s just like the the reality is if you want to make the NBA, right, you’re going to have to play some defense right now. And for our team especially, that’s our mindset. That’s our that’s what we expect from every position. So these guys are playing it. They’re showing it. And that’s what’s going to help them make that leap. I just had a few questions kind of related to Las Vegas. I know kind of talk about his expansion as you’ve seen here Vegas in the summer league and you know being around the NBA. Just how do you feel like Las Vegas is a possible expansion if the league were to go to 32? I mean I think it’d be amazing. You know Las Vegas got a great fan base. You saw it in the hockey right when they won I think they won a championship the first year and even with the uh the Ace right they got a great fan base. I think it’d be amazing to have the Vegas team over here, you know. Um, just when we come play an away game here, we got to be careful. That’s the only problem. So, they might have the advantage on that one. When you come here, do you have do you have any like go-to spots, restaurants or or activities or things you like to do when you come to Vegas? Um, I usually do, but I’ve been pretty locked in and locked in my room for this because when you’re the head coach, you kind of have to like really dial in. But yeah, you know, we I took my family out to Italian restaurant the other night. It was really good, man. Yeah. Good.
Sacramento Kings Summer League head coach Dipesh Mistry spoke with reporters Wednesday afternoon following their win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, improving to 4-0.
He discussed Nique Clifford’s coming up big, their defensive identity paying off, and more.
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