Nasty Nati's Marquez Letcher-Ellis Post-Practice
Nasty Nati's Marquez Letcher-Ellis Post-Practice
Transcript
00:00 >> What's the last few days been like, being able to get some rest and
00:02 prepare for this next round?
00:04 >> It's been great.
00:05 Three games in a row like that, one day between, it's tough on your body.
00:10 Every game is very, very physical, every possession is physical.
00:13 So, be able to kind of decompress a little bit and
00:16 get our bodies right is really gonna do us well.
00:19 >> How much of an advantage is it being able to scout a little bit and
00:21 watch these games heading into Monday?
00:24 >> It's great.
00:25 A lot of our games were one game scout, two game scout.
00:28 So, to have a decent amount of games and a decent amount of time to prepare,
00:33 I think we're gonna do great.
00:35 Especially off of one day turnaround that we had, the amount of scouting,
00:38 the amount of stuff we knew just off of a day.
00:41 Seven days is a lot of work.
00:43 So, it's a lot of work that we can do ourselves and
00:46 others we can prepare for wherever we face.
00:48 >> Coming off a game of six blocks, obviously a lot of timing goes into that,
00:52 a lot of just being able to be in the right place at the right time.
00:55 Is that a product of the scout, of you putting in the time over the 12,
00:59 13 hours you have on game day to get ready?
01:02 Is it a product of just natural timing on the floor, just in the heat of the action?
01:06 Where's that come from?
01:07 >> It's a little bit of both.
01:08 Knowing who you're guarding, you can't keep everybody.
01:10 We were playing Xavier, I was guarding Treyvon Blue, who can really shoot the ball.
01:14 So, I had to kind of limit my opportunities when I was gonna go up and stuff.
01:18 But certain games, you have certain matches where you know that you
01:23 can kind of risk your teammate closing out late or something, so you can go help.
01:26 So, just knowing kind of the scouting report and who I'm guarding and
01:30 what situations I'm in, it does help a lot.
01:33 >> And obviously your defensive impact's been great so far.
01:36 And if that offensive impact could spark up a little bit, can heat up,
01:41 do you feel like you have a ceiling with this team that you can keep breaking through?
01:44 >> Yeah, yeah, yeah, most definitely.
01:46 I haven't had as many offensive opportunities as somebody would like.
01:51 But just making things happen, I don't need the ball in my hands to be effective.
01:54 So, just knowing that I can still go score in other ways really helps this team a lot.
02:00 But it might be a game where I have to be that guy to score the ball,
02:05 have the ball in my hand a little bit more, and I'm prepared for that.
02:08 I work on my game a lot, I'm really confident in myself.
02:11 I just know that right now, I'm on my road with this team.
02:12 We have two great scorers, we have a great point guard who leads the team.
02:15 So, I'm not really worried about going to go score right now, as of now.
02:20 But when it happens, I'm always prepared for my opportunities.
02:22 >> Six blocks, like I mentioned, is there an in the zone feeling on defense?
02:26 Obviously, there's an in the zone feeling when you're shooting the ball,
02:28 you're hot there.
02:29 You get hot defensively?
02:30 >> Yeah, I think so, I think so.
02:32 You be in the groove, just timing is perfect.
02:34 You're just timing everything, and in the right place at the right time.
02:37 That's a big part of it, just having the feel for the game.
02:40 Once you start seeing how guys attack and
02:44 what they're trying to do when they get down there, you start to get a feel.
02:48 You start kind of figuring things out.
02:50 It's kind of like the same thing on offense, when you're getting rid of them.
02:52 You're like, I can score from here, I can score from there.
02:54 Same thing defensively.
02:56 >> Which one of those six was your favorite from the other night?
02:58 If you got the chance to watch the guy hunting again?
03:02 >> Yeah, definitely, I did.
03:03 I've watched the game three times already.
03:05 So, I think all of them, but I think probably the one right when Eli Menem
03:11 started and I kind of got it off the grass a little bit.
03:14 We tried to get him a floater.
03:15 And everybody was like, let's go.
03:16 And I was like, no, I've been doing that for years.
03:18 So that's kind of the funniest part.
03:19 We got guys like, let's go.
03:21 And I'm like, it's not my first rodeo.
03:23 So those are probably my favorite ones.
03:25 >> With the fever rules, you mean?
03:27 >> Yeah, fever rules, just in general.
03:29 Everybody was like, no, the ball's coming down.
03:32 But I know I have a great instinct of reaching it at the peak,
03:35 like right before it's dropped.
03:36 So when guys were like, no, let's go.
03:39 I'm like, no, I can get up there.
03:40 So those are kind of my favorite ones for me, when guys really get upset.
03:45 >> You and Doo fight off each other really well.
03:47 What's it gonna be like, hey, I'm gonna got like Trey Scott into that group.
03:52 >> It's gonna be crazy, it's gonna be crazy.
03:53 Me and Doo do a great job in our roles.
03:58 Trey brings the same thing and other things too.
04:02 So to be able to just have versatility, more depth is always great.
04:05 You have another guy who does that, there's no drop off.
04:08 He's a great player.
04:09 Trey's a T-league, he's an excellent basketball player.
04:12 So to have another guy in the front court like that,
04:15 it's gonna make us ten times better.
04:17 So for us, it's actually like, all right, cool.
04:20 We wanted him to be here anyways, we had some things going on.
04:24 We planned on him being here, didn't happen.
04:26 He's here now, a few more games to go.
04:27 So why not get better?
04:30 Things get tougher, get better.
04:31 >> You've talked about the excitement there to play with Trey.
04:34 Obviously, you just gave him a lot of accomplishments there.
04:37 Just talk about how excited you are to play with a guy like him and
04:39 really stretch the fourth yourself and mom and dad.
04:42 >> It's great, it's great.
04:43 Like I said, it's another guy that really does exactly what me and
04:45 my mom and dad does.
04:47 He does that at a high level too.
04:48 So you have three guys like that in the court that you have to worry about at all
04:51 times around the basket, making the right plays offensively,
04:54 getting the right spots offensively.
04:56 Just doing whatever it takes to have the team win.
04:59 At the end of the day, we're three games away from a million dollars.
05:01 So everybody's here is really, really locked in, really bought in.
05:05 So having another guy like that,
05:07 it does nothing but make you better, make the team better.
05:10 Makes them look forward to playing even more.
05:12 >> You've kind of been the forward facing view of the length on this team so far.
05:17 Watching the games, it's clear, in the Zabar regional at least,
05:21 that you guys were arguably the longest team out there.
05:23 Do you guys really feel that and feed off that?
05:26 When you can see that when you're playing connected defense,
05:28 there's gonna be a lot of deflections, a lot of blocks, as I mentioned.
05:31 Just a lot of ways to get out in transition and keep the advantage going.
05:34 >> Yeah, definitely.
05:35 We scored great in transition, getting steals and getting blocks.
05:39 Forcing bad shots, throwing rebounds.
05:41 You got Jacob and Jaron who do a great job in transition.
05:44 You got Troy who does a great job of feeding everybody in transition.
05:47 So we know it's an easier game for us if we speed people up.
05:52 We force turnovers, we play with energy.
05:54 So that's the easiest thing for us to do, to make offense easy.
05:57 So it's kind of easy, both ways.
06:00 You get stops, you get buckets.
06:01 That's the easiest way to play the game.
06:03 So you don't have to worry about too much if you can do that.
06:06 So as long as we play with energy, keep being active,
06:10 just keep making things hard for everybody.
06:12 Everything else is gonna take care of itself.
06:14 >> The other night you guys talked about how the final play you guys win against
06:17 Daeshawn, that shot there to try to lock in $9,000.
06:20 Asi was the only one wearing the Pumas that night.
06:22 You look around the gym today, you guys all got them on.
06:25 So talk about that a little bit.
06:27 >> First, we're a little skeptical of the Pumas.
06:29 But they told us, bro, these are real comfortable.
06:32 So I was like, all right, try them on.
06:34 I was practicing one day, I was like, I kinda like them.
06:36 And then another day, I was like, yeah, I think I might wear these.
06:38 So it was kind of funny how it happened, cuz we were all really just sticking to
06:42 what we, our regular shoes.
06:44 And Dave was just like, try them.
06:46 I was like, all right, I like them.
06:47 So shout out to Puma, Briana Stewart, and all these.
06:50 >> Are you a guy that gets super superstitious at all about your shoes?
06:53 >> Not really.
06:54 I just play basketball.
06:56 I mean, I probably will start the game in my regular shoes.
06:59 But just in case we do need to bring these out for the Eli Minning,
07:02 we'll be prepared.
07:03 >> Speaking of Eli Minning this last week, how would you like that?
07:07 A guy who's played in a lot of different basketball,
07:09 a lot of different basketball settings.
07:10 Do you think the Eli Minning's a great thing for the sport?
07:13 Do you think it's got a life maybe outside of the TV team?
07:16 >> I think so, I hope so.
07:17 You have to win the game.
07:18 There's no foul games or nothing like that.
07:21 You have to win the game.
07:22 Every possession counts.
07:23 So I think it really makes it interesting.
07:25 You can be up 12, but everybody knows 20 to 5 run is possible,
07:30 or 30 to 5 run is possible.
07:31 You never know what can happen.
07:33 I like how every possession matters, literally every single possession.
07:36 Even if you think it's garbage time, those are the ones that matter the most,
07:40 but you gotta close the game out.
07:42 So I like it.
07:43 It brings extra pressure, added element to the game that sometimes you don't always get.
07:48 >> Awesome, thanks, man.