The Daily Helmsman caught up with Memphis coach Josh Pastner before the start of the 2014-15 season. Pastner, in his sixth season at the helm, and the Tigers tip off the season on Nov. 12 against Christian Brothers at FedExForum. I caught up with Pastner to talk about the upcoming campaign.
Q: Does it feel like you have a new team this season with the loss of so many guys from last year’s team?
Pastner: You know what, it is a brand new team. It’s starting from ground zero. Besides Shaq Goodwin and Austin Nichols, who were two starters last year for us, all-league and rookie of the year, respectively, no one else has played meaningful minutes. Nick King got in on the second half of the season, but other than that, it’s a brand new team. These guys have no game experience. Even Kedren Johnson hasn’t played in over a year, so this is, literally, starting from ground zero. And that being said, that’s why we can’t put a lot in because we have to master step A before we get to step B. As much as I like to get to step F, we got to get step A completed before we get to B, so I can’t even get to C unless I get A and B done. It just takes a lot of time to get each step mastered before we can move to the next step.
Q: Is that the toughest coaching challenge with this group?
Pastner: Probably so, but the thing we’ve spent the most time on is conditioning. I really believe we have to be in better shape, which I think we are in better shape at this point in the year than any of my time here. And the second thing is, we have to better in the half-court defense. Last year, we just were not effective in the half court defensively, and that has been a point of emphasis and reinforced every single day. And that is not going to change moving forward.
Q: Is there and increased sense of urgency this year with such a front-loaded schedule?
Pastner: Here’s the thing we’ll know about our team. People always ask me what I think of my squad. I got no clue. I love our guys. I love coaching our team, but I have zero clue on our squad. And I won’t know until we actually play games. Due to the toughness of our non-conference schedule in November, obviously we’re opening up with Wichita State and then in a couple of weeks Baylor, we’ll know early and often about our team, but I think that will be a good thing because we’ll be able to make the adjustments we’ll need to make to allow us to get better and improve in the areas we need to improve upon.
Q: Is it weird not being ranked?
Pastner: This is actually the first time we’re not ranked since my first year. I’d prefer to be ranked. I want to be ranked preseason No. 1. Of course, the goal is to be postseason No. 1. That being said I’m also a big believer in production. No matter what you’re ranked in the predictions or something else, you have to go out and earn it on the floor.
Q: Is it always a good thing to have guys like Shaq and Austin ranked to the all conference preseason first team?
Pastner: Yeah, it shows that the guys have been developing the right way. The progression has been there, but key is to be the first team in the postseason not just the preseason.
Q: What’s it like to see those guys you’ve coached in the past making a paycheck playing basketball in the NBA?
Pastner: I’m so happy for them. It’s a great thing for those guys to play basketball for a living. It’s neat seeing those guys play after having an opportunity to coach them. You get to see the infancy of their development then you get to seem them grow, grow and progress to reach their ultimate individual dream.
Q: How has the transition been with the two new coaches (assistant coach Keelon Lawson and strength coach Evarist Akujobi)?
Pastner: Everyone has been good. We’ve had good staff camaraderie and staff chemistry. We’re all on the same page. I mean, that’s important too. Everyone talks about team chemistry and player chemistry, staff chemistry is important because, if you’re not locked in as a staff and don’t see eye to eye as a staff, the players can sniff that out. I love our staff. We’ve got a great staff.
Q: How important was it to get Calvin (Godfrey) and Kedren (Johnson)?
Pastner: Calvin and Kedren were important because, as inexperienced and the amount of youth we have, those two were not that. Now, they’ve still got some work to do, but they give us guys who have been through high-level game experience.
Q: Have any of the new guys exceeded your expectations?
Pastner: This team has been great to coach, and I’ve loved everyday going to practice. I don’t know until we actually play. That’s going to be the barometer for us when we actually get into the game for us to really understand about our team.
Q: What area is the biggest question mark for this team?
Pastner: I think there’s three areas. I think one, we’ve got to be much better defensively in the half court. I think that’s very important. Secondly, we’ve got to make open threes. We’ve got to shoot better than we did last year from 3-point range and at the free-throw line. And also, we’ve got to be way better at taking care of the basketball. We’ve got to take care of the ball. We’ve got to handle the ball properly, take care of it and try not to give it away. We have to look at it as 24-karat gold.
