More interesting quotes from Willie about next year

[Sooner23]

This is from the Carlson Q&A........

JC: How do you look back on last season? Success? Disappointment?

WW: I would say last year was a satisfying year for me as a freshman. I have bigger goals next year as a sophomore. I have bigger goals in mind for this team next year. I feel like we can be a better team than we were last year. A lot of people look at losing the best player … but you could say that Blake slowed us down. I feel like we’re more of a run-and-gun team this coming up year because of our guard play. We have so many threats at the guard spot, I feel like we can wear a lot of teams out. I don’t see a lot of teams deep at the guard spot where they can just sub a new set of guards every time. We can have three guards in, and then we can sub in three more guards who can score just as well.

JC: So, what are you up to this off-season?

WW: Just working out. Trying to develop different aspects of my game. Making sure all our players are working hard. Making sure they know how important the off-season is individually because we don’t have a Blake Griffin, a Taylor Griffin, an Austin Johnson coming back to our team.

JC: Are you in more of a leadership role this summer?

WW: Blake was the captain last year. He was the best player. The best player has to be the leader. You can’t have the best player being the laziest guy on the team because other people are just going to follow, so I have to be a leader this year. I’m willing to take up that role.

http://blog.newsok.com/jennicarlson/2009/06/20/more-from-the-qa-willie-warren/

 

[BigTime]

Some people are going to take what he said about Blake wrong. I can't be certain, but I am pretty sure by "slowed us down" he literally meant slowed us down, not that Blake hindered the team in any way from a basketball standpoint.

I have heard really good hearsay to back up his last answer, and it is great news to hear that he is taking his leadership role seriously.

 

[OULad]

I love his last answer. To be a great team your best player has to set an example and work harder than anyone else.

 

[tomkar98]

Willie Warren - Leader....


..... Check

:willie:dancinwillie:wwisudunk

 

[gspence]

Not the smartest thing to say, the phrasing just was not very intelligent. Anything can happen next year, Willie has the potential to be an All American, maybe even the player of the year. But I don't like that comment. I know Willie probably learned a lot from Blake, but Blake would not have made a comment like that. It's not a huge deal, but I hope he backs it up next year!

 

[skyvue]

Not the smartest thing to say, the phrasing just was not very intelligent. Anything can happen next year, Willie has the potential to be an All American, maybe even the player of the year. But I don't like that comment. I know Willie probably learned a lot from Blake, but Blake would not have made a comment like that. It's not a huge deal, but I hope he backs it up next year!

He's just talking about the pace of play, not the level of success -- there's no way that was a dig at Blake.

 

[Sooner23]

He's just talking about the pace of play, not the level of success -- there's no way that was a dig at Blake.

Exactly.

 

[FaithfulSooner]

Willie didn't mean anything negative towards Blake. He was just talking about the team haveing to get into it's half court sets more because we played to our best players strengths, which is the smart thing to do. One of the keys for next years team is to play good defense, so that they can get into transition faster to push the ball. Willie and TMG will be able to do this well with the rebounding of Tiny and Fitz. BOOMER SOONER BABY!!!

 

[SoonerNorm]

I completely disagree that Blake had anything to do with slower play. If anyone contributed to slower play it was AJ, and Willie to some extent. Blake was pulling down a ton of rebounds per game (which is a prerequisite to faster play) but that didn't speed up our tempo very often. Guards normally control the tempo once the ball gets in their hands, not a center.

The times that Blake brought the ball upcourt, he was normally doing so in a full run.

 

[sanguinetti]

i don't see the quote about Blake as a big deal. it's true, Blake ran the floor as good or better than any post in the game but we did run the ball through Blake on the block in the half-court.

 

[BigTime]

i don't see the quote about Blake as a big deal. it's true, Blake ran the floor as good or better than any post in the game but we did run the ball through Blake on the block in the half-court.

Its not a big deal, but as gspence pointed out, it was poor wording. Willie will learn to stay away from phrases that can be taken the wrong way as he gets more and more media time. Blake was always excellent with the media imo.

 

[skyvue]

It wasn't that poorly worded in context. One has to read it rather carelessly to take anything negative from it.

 

[Cheno]

I completely disagree that Blake had anything to do with slower play. If anyone contributed to slower play it was AJ, and Willie to some extent. Blake was pulling down a ton of rebounds per game (which is a prerequisite to faster play) but that didn't speed up our tempo very often. Guards normally control the tempo once the ball gets in their hands, not a center.

Completely agree.
I don't think Wille meant a dig at Blake either. But to think Blake slowed the team down is silly. Blakes strength was rebounding and running the floor.
If anything if OU would have pushed it more they would have been playing to Blake's strengths. The team was more suited to play fast last year than this year, IMO.

 

[Gutter]

I completely disagree that Blake had anything to do with slower play. If anyone contributed to slower play it was AJ, and Willie to some extent. Blake was pulling down a ton of rebounds per game (which is a prerequisite to faster play) but that didn't speed up our tempo very often. Guards normally control the tempo once the ball gets in their hands, not a center.

The times that Blake brought the ball upcourt, he was normally doing so in a full run.

Ya, I don't think it was at all a dig at Blake, I just don't think it is true. As far as big men who could get up and down the floor and catch the ball on the run, Blake is right up there with the good ones.

 

[SoonerfanTU]

I completely disagree that Blake had anything to do with slower play. If anyone contributed to slower play it was AJ, and Willie to some extent. Blake was pulling down a ton of rebounds per game (which is a prerequisite to faster play) but that didn't speed up our tempo very often. Guards normally control the tempo once the ball gets in their hands, not a center.

The times that Blake brought the ball upcourt, he was normally doing so in a full run.

Agree. I would actually add Crocker to that list as well, he is not good in transition, other than spotting up.

I still don't think next year's team will run as much as some think, but we'll see.

 

[elmocarp]

I think sometimes fans and players can both overuse some terms. When Willie says that about slowing things down, I think what he meant was the pace of the offense in general...once it got into the half court. You know Capel wanted them to be deliberate and make sure that Blake got his touches.

Next season they are likely to run a lot more dribble-drive stuff...pick and roll, pick and pop, open sets where the big goes to the short corner. Whether or not they get a shot up with more time on the shot clock isn't really the issue...they will be playing a lot faster.

Willie is saying a lot about playing "run and gun" and I think we read that and think he is saying that Capel is going to do a Billy Tubbs impression. But like many have said already, rebounding and shot blocking are as important to transition offense as creating turnovers or having great athletes. Who knows how often next year's team will be able to run...I don't think that has any bearing on what Willie is really saying: that OU will be playing a very different "style" of offense next year that will play a lot "faster."

I think it will be the first team that will really look like what Capel wants from his teams. I am really looking forward to it...

 

[SoonerNorm]

Agree. I would actually add Crocker to that list as well, he is not good in transition, other than spotting up.

I still don't think next year's team will run as much as some think, but we'll see.

TU, the more I think about it, the more I agree with you.

1. This isn't the first year we have heard "we are going to run more". It hasn't happened yet.

2. We had a prolific rebounder and didn't run a great deal. We will probably drop off in the rebounding edge which will have an effect on being able to push the ball.

3. All 5 players off last year's team could run the court and that didn't increase tempo.

4. The only thing which might make some difference is the replacement of the PG.

As you said, we'll see.