Jaxson Hayes Media Availability – July 13, 2020
On how his quarantine was and what parts of his game he has been developing:
“It’s been good. I’ve been working on my shot a lot, and just my handle. Just little stuff like that, and little details when it comes to defense. Just being in the right spot, doing the right things. I know it’s hard to emulate that without being five-on-five, but I was still trying to work on it. Just in little situations with some of my trainers and stuff.”
On attending a Black Lives Matter protest in New Orleans and if he’s seen anything like that before:
“It was a great experience. That was my first actual protest that I’ve been to. It was just a good time. It was a lot of people, a lot of support. Everyone was wearing their mask. Everyone had signs. Then we went to another one, the march as well, so we had great turnouts at both of them.”
On what he has learned from Nicolò Melli’s game and approach to basketball:
“I learned a ton from Nico, because obviously like you said, he’s not a normal rookie. He’s 28 [years old], so just learned a lot of stuff from him. Just little defensive stuff, how to guard guys. Offensive stuff too, just little tips he’s always giving me along the way. Just helping me out whenever I made a mistake, he would just pull me aside and be like, ‘Yo you can do this, it will help you,’ and just stuff like that.”
On how Nickeil Alexander-Walker is handling his rookie season:
“I feel like he’s handled it really well. I mean, we’ve all been in it together. Me, him, and Zion have just been in it together, so we always talk when we have some rough patches and just stuff like that. I feel like he’s been doing really well. He came over a lot of adversity when he stopped playing. He’s always ready.”
On if there was a point where Nicolò Melli really came into his own this season:
“Yeah. I definitely saw a little click during the season. Nico, at first during the season was obviously getting used to playing in the NBA. But I mean, obviously now you can tell he’s been in the pros for 13 years. You can just tell he’s an older guy, and he knows what he’s doing now that he has that feel for the NBA.”
