Jrue Holiday Media Availability – July 10, 2020
On Nicolò Melli and how he has improved with the help of his teammates’ support:
“I think it was a little bit of that, but just getting into a rhythm. Probably coming from the Euro League where he played and being a different type of game, coming here and some of those open shots that he would get out there, they’re different here. So the shot that he gets, and even if guys are closing out on him pretty fast, we want him to take those shots because he’s that good of a shooter and I feel like once he kind of got that rhythm down and knew that mentally, he started excelling like we knew he could.”
On being back together with his team:
“It was good. It was cool. I feel like this is what you miss, being away and quarantining. For me, I love my family and I love seeing them, but when you come back into the locker room or just to come back and see the guys and kind of hangout and do all that is something that you miss about the game.”
On finally knowing that Alvin Gentry was traveling with the team to Orlando:
“I think I started to realize that once he didn’t know ahead of time, that he was probably going to come with us. So just having our head coach, I feel like for us, it isn’t an advantage not having him, but definitely a disadvantage. So to be able to have him here and be with us and be on the court (is great). We’re taking precaution with him because we know he’s a little older, but just the fact that he brings the energy and he loves being here means a lot to us.”
On how today’s practice went and want type of mentality you have to have during practice when having little time to get back into shape:
“I think as a team we’ve done a pretty good job staying ready throughout this quarantine. Being able to keep our bodies right, mentally not get to far from the game. I think coming into today, we had a great first day. We definitely locked in when we started playing 5-on-5 and I think we did a pretty good job.”
On his excitement level of practicing as a team for the first time in a while:
“It was fun. It was definitely fun. Again, I think the team that we have and the chemistry that we have makes it what it is. Obviously, it’s a good time, but we definitely lock in and we try to get the job done, so a little bit of business with a little bit of fun always works.”
On what it’s like not having Jeff Bzdelik or Jamelle McMillan in Orlando with the team:
“Definitely an adjustment. I think for the most part, especially towards the beginning of this quarantine, toward the end when we were stopping, we started to get into a groove defensively. I’ll tell you I feel like we tried to pick it back up. But we know that but being here (without Jeff and Jamelle) and not having them is kind of weird, but I feel like we adjusted well today and did a pretty good job.”
