Everything Lamont Paris said after week two of summer workouts

Lamont Paris spoke with the media Monday afternoon to assess South Carolina’s second week of summer workouts. Here is everything he said.

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Lamont, 11 newcomers, is everybody here healthy, ready to play? Also, what’s the health of Meechie Johnson?

“Yeah, everybody’s here, other than one, we’re still waiting on one guy, that, just due to some international rules and protocol, it just didn’t make sense to have him here quite yet, so he’ll be joining us a bit later.”

Who is it?

“That’s Christ (Essandoko). But he’s working out this summer, doing some good stuff. He’s been back around here a couple times, spent some time with his teammates.”

On Meechie Johnson

“He’s had some tightness in his back, and so we’ve just been holding him out of the workouts. And so he is maybe another couple (of) weeks, we’ll see what that looks like.

But he feels good. He’s at all the workouts and practices, and his voice is a very powerful voice, and he’s, you know, he’s demonstrating great leadership, even though he’s not in which was a bummer for him, because he was really looking forward to getting into the drills and and leading by doing. But this, this works well for him and for us also.”

With 11 newcomers on the team, Is there any way to speed up the process of building chemistry, or is that possible?

“We’re trying to manufacture some, some off the court activities and scenarios that involve, you know, a combination of communication and sometimes, in some ways, just the proximity of being around each other more often, and all the things. You know, two years ago, we had the trip to the Bahamas, which you can only do once every four years, a foreign tour. And that was extremely helpful for us. It afforded us 10 extra practices. But then, more importantly than anything was just the time that we spent in transit, at the hotel, I think a couple of them were at the casinos from time to time, I heard, but I don’t know how they did.

But that kind of stuff is important for these guys, just to get to know each other, learn how to communicate with one another. That’s a big part of it, in real you know, we talked about that today, in today’s workout, you know, I think how to communicate with a person so that they receive the message well. And as coaches, we’ve had to do this too. Kids change from generation to generation. I feel like the last three years it has been two generations worth of change. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but anyway, so how you communicate, how you present something, how the message hits. And so they have to learn that also, because that’s one area where there’s room for a ton of growth with young people, I’ve learned this day is, is how the message that they want to get across actually sounds to the person receiving it and inspires them to take that information.

So we’ve tried to do some things. We’ll have some activities that we’ve done. We’ve already done a couple of things. You’ve probably seen some of them on social media, had a little cookout and pool party. And, you know, we’ll do a lot of activities. Some will be smaller things. Other things, we’ll do a couple of more significant things in the summertime to try to expedite that process.

But some of it happens in the recruiting process, too. Some of it is, who did you recruit? Are they receptive to this? Are they comfortable with who they are and what their role (is) probably going to be on your team? Or are they always trying to prove something? You have 15 guys trying to prove something to the coaches and to one another instead of to the world. I think that’s a good thing, trying to prove something to the world. But if you’re trying to prove something to the ones that are in your circle that love you already, then I think that’s where you have some disconnect. And so trying to recruit the kind of guys that are more likely to be receptive to that.”

What have you seen of Eli Ellis so far?

“Well, I mean, so far, I’ve seen Eli doing Eli stuff, and I say that in all the best ways. He’s extremely competitive, incredibly competitive. That’s the that’s probably the understatement of the year. And he does that in a way where he channels it in a manner that allows him to then be a more productive player because of it. So he’s a hard worker. You know, for a young guy, he just is really confident in what he does.

Like offensively, some guys when they shoot, even when they shoot often, it seems like they’re shooting a whole lot. He can, and this happens from time to time, some guys just can find a shot without searching for a shot, if that makes any sense. And so he’s that, he’s very unselfish guy also, but he’s confident in his abilities, and so just trying to get him to learn what we’re looking for from trying to generate offense for others, and then, as a byproduct, there’ll be playing offense for him as well.”

What’s it been like with all these new players?

“I mean, it’s a challenge. But, I think I’m on record probably saying this, that this is my favorite part. My favorite part of this whole job is the relationships and the development of players. It’s, by far, my favorite part of this job. So, where does that happen when you’ve got a lot of teaching to do? And then you’ve got a lot of new faces, you’ve got 11 guys? So when it was flipped and you only had maybe three or four new guys, you taught pretty much the same things, and then there was a lot of carryover from the older guys teaching it to the younger guys. Now, you have to do a lot of the teaching and a lot of the demonstrating to 11 new guys. And so, it’s a challenge, but it’s a type of thing that I think is the longer you’re in this, you love. You like that kind of thing. You like that kind of challenge in teaching and guys that want to learn.

And, you know, there’s so much learning that’s going on already. You see guys locked into what you’re saying and trying their hardest to do what they’ve been taught, and be willing to fail and all that kind of stuff. So all that gets wrapped up into this whole thing that I call development. And to me, that’s still a big part of what this job is, developing guys as players, developing them as humans, developing them as employees, one day for somebody. So it’s been, it’s been challenging, but I’ve been looking forward to this. I mean, I’ve been waiting for this. (The) last couple (of) weeks, couldn’t have gotten here soon enough for me and for my staff. We really enjoy this part of it.”

What have you seen from Jordan Butler and Cam Scott this summer?

“These are two guys that are still learning how to impact a basketball game positively at this level. You know, everyone learns at a different rate. You can’t force the learning to happen any faster.

You know, when the training wheels came off when I was a little guy, I’m sure my parents probably thought it would happen a lot earlier. It probably took me a long time to get the training wheels to come off, but you can’t make it happen because you try to force it. And so just allowing these guys to be in situations, to learn and to learn what competing looks like, and to learn what defending at this level looks like for a team that’s going to win a lot of games versus, I think there’s in this culture, there’s a lot of ‘okay, it’s my turn now, because that guy graduated, and regardless of what the outcome, of what our team ends up doing, whether we win or we lose, it’s my turn to be the guy that now plays those 25 minutes.’

And so flipping the switch from that mentality to ‘Okay, this is what we’ve done in the past, we’ve won a lot of games. How do I now that it is my turn? How do I impact our team’s ability to do the same thing?’ And so just learning. I think they’re just learning and trying to improve on their individual skills, and learning what really competing at this level or a winning team really looks like.”

On evaluating last season

“Self-reflection and evaluation of what you’ve done is, I think it’s so important in this profession, whether you won 26 games or 12 games. I think you need to do that.

And I think it was more challenging this year than I’ve ever been around, or at least in a long time, because you had other factors at play. You had a year in this conference that was unlike any year of college basketball ever, with the depth, the average age of teams, (and) the overall ability of teams. I mean, I don’t think it’s any secret that our conference was setting the trends in terms of the NIL market. And so not only were teams talented, and not only were teams old, but they were talented and old with experienced guys within that system. So all these things happen at the same time. So it’s easy to look back and say, ‘Well, we didn’t do this very well,’ but we didn’t do that very well relative to this very unique group of teams that we had. So what you want to do is change a lot of things potentially, or evaluate whether you should change some of these things.

But as I went back, you know, I looked at our Arkansas game. I watched that probably three times in the off-season, the last game that we played. And just for fun, if you ever have really nothing else to do. Go back and look at that first half of that game, and look at the quality of the situation that was generated in that game, like to a man, every single possession, sans the turnovers. Look what the possession actually looked like.

Alright. Well, so what are you going to change in those scenarios? Well, guy’s got to catch the ball there. This guy’s got to put that one in the basket. You get the free zone line, you got to make those, like, this is wide open shots. So that was that process was a little more difficult this year than what it ever has been because, certainly, you want to be open to changing all the things necessary to make the things happen that you want to happen.

But the same time, some things we needed to just do better, some things we needed to do better, and concentrate on those things more. And so, you know, but that process is ongoing, and you know, we spent a lot of time in the off-season doing that.”

On Mike Sharavjamts:

“Mike’s feel for the game, it stands out amongst guys that have (a) good feel for the game. I mean, he’s a really, really skilled guy. His decision-making has been good. If you look at his assist numbers, he’s always had good assist numbers. He sees the game through a very reliable lens, and that lens happens to be similar to the lens that I see the game through, too, which is why he’s even a better fit for us.

But he can do a lot of things. He can dribble the ball. We’re going to explore some other things, like he hasn’t really done a lot of like scoring in the mid-post. If you watch the NBA, every offensive guy, whether it’s Kyrie (Irving) or Joel Embiid, does some sort of scoring in the mid-post. Mike, with his size, just with his length relative to other guards, is going to potentially have the opportunity to do that.

But he can come off ball screens and make reads. He can make all the reads, pocket passes, throwback to shooters, score for himself in those situations. So he’ll be in a lot of situations where he’s making decisions. And the more decision makers you can have, good decision makers you can have on the floor at any one particular time, the better it is for your offense.

And so, I anticipate at times, being able to go back to, if you look two years ago, very basic stuff that we did, and then guys had to make decisions. And you had a lot of guys that could make decisions, a lot of guys. And so I think we’re more suited to have guys that have shown that decision-making is a strength of theirs. And so my anticipation would be, we’d be a little bit more like that. But Mike’s such a versatile player. He’s also extremely talented.”

What impact have you seen Meechie Johnson have this summer compared to the group from last summer and how have you seen him grow when you compare it to two years ago?

“Yeah, you know, it’s hard to compare this year just to last year, but I will say, this guy, he’s been so excited about getting here and being here. I think as we all get older, we’re more experienced and we’re probably a little more in tune with what that means, whether that’s you’re in your first year being a parent or your fifth year of being a parent. I think most people would probably say they’d do it differently five years down the road. Some may say I gave up five years later, but I think you’re probably a little more seasoned at that.

And so I think this is a guy that says, ‘This was a great situation for me. I got a guy and a staff that believes in me totally, I have a fan base in a community that supports me totally, and I’m really excited about being back. I know what my role is already. I know what this is going to look like. I’m familiar with these things. I’m very comfortable with those things.’ And so I think he’s probably a little more intentional from a leadership standpoint, he’s intentional about it, but at the same time, it happens more naturally. So that’s him.

And then, you know, I think that’s probably more like, compared to when he was here before, it was his second year here. And you know, you’re bringing in new pieces, and we had a lot of new faces coming in. You’re still trying to prove some things. I think he’s beyond that. I think at this stage he’s not trying to be, I alluded to this, he’s not trying to prove anything, not to not to anybody that matters in his basketball world, not to any of these people here. You know, he’ll be trying to prove that this team can win a lot of games, is what he’ll be trying to prove. But he’s very comfortable, and he knows why he’s back here, right? He knows why he came back here, and he knows why we wanted him back here, and he knows what his role is, and there’s a comfort that comes with that in just how you move from day to day.”

You have one open scholarship. Are you planning to fulfill that for this season?

“In some way, shape or form, yes. You know, I mean, a lot of things that go into that. So in some way, shape or form, we will most likely add another person to the roster.

But, you know, just with this, with the whole Collin (Murray-Boyles) thing, there were so many decisions you had to make and you had to get to a certain place.

And just so for full disclosure, but as we did it, and I spoke with Collin as he was in the decision-making process, you know, I wanted to create a team that, because you had to make some decisions. So, do you take a guy to replace what Collin’s doing, and then, if so, is he similar to Collin? And then if Collin comes back, and those two play together, or who do you have to say? Well, you know, Collin came back, you’re not gonna (play), so we tried to construct the team in a way that we would have our team essentially without Collin. But yet we were built in a way that if Collin did decide he was going to come back, we were even better as a group.

And so I think we did that. So I don’t think we’re on some search right now to find the savior for this next year’s team. The piece would have to make sense. We talked about team chemistry and all that, and so it needs to be a person that’s going to enhance that part. Because we’re a couple (of) weeks into this at this point, and so stay tuned.”

I mean, we’ll probably try to do something, but I don’t know that it’ll be, you know, I don’t want to say too much. I don’t want to say too much about what type of player will be, but it’ll be someone that fits in really well and seamlessly. And again, we’re not at a point right now where we’re looking for the savior. At this point, we’ve constructed the team that we want, that we want to construct, and we’d only look to add a piece that makes, makes complete sense.”

On Collin Murray-Boyles as an NBA Prospect in Wednesday’s NBA Draft

“You know, I just had a conversation two days ago with a team that told me they were going to potentially be in a position to trade up to where they would be in his draft window, and I looked really smart because that just happened.

And so, you know, they may or may not take him, but the conversations I had is was about who he is as a player, and this guy is going to owe me a percentage of his of his salary when this is all said and done, if you could hear these conversations that I had with these guys. But the beauty of that is that I tell them the truth, and I think that’s why they continue to call me, because they know I’m not in the business of gaslighting at all. I want them to trust what I say and so, but I tell them the truth. And what I continue to tell all these teams is that, you know, it’s always you’re drafting guys on ceiling and you know they a lot of times they do they want to draft a guy that maybe one day, even if he’s a higher risk guy, maybe one day he’s got a chance to be MVP of the league. You know you’re looking for that.

But I recommend these guys to draft Collin, not on his ceiling, but draft him on his floor, because his floor is, it would surprise me, now, this is, this is saying a lot, because I watched last night’s game, and Hartenstein was at the free throw line, and they said he was in the G League finals, and he made eight threes and had a triple double and was the MVP. And then he’s got a small offensive role for Oklahoma City, (a) big role in general, but a small offensive role. So I say this with a grain of salt or three, but like, once Collin learns, and I don’t profess to know the NBA like that, but once Collin learns how to move in the NBA, what the rules are, the rule changes, once he learns those things, I think any team that gets him is going to be shocked at how viable an option he would be to actually put in the game pretty early on.

Now, if you’re taking him to say, ‘we’re going to take him, he’s going to score 20.’ Then that’s ceiling. And I don’t think you take him for ceiling right now. I think you take him because if you need him to play in a game at some point relatively soon. I think he’s going to be able to do that. I do think he’s rugged, sturdy (and) strong. He defends at an elite level, and then he knows how to play basketball at such a high level

…You guys know I talked about I had to make him shoot sometimes last year, right? Here’s the problem with some guys transition to the NBA is that they score 22 in a college game per game, and then they get in the NBA and somebody asks them to score six points a game, stand in the corner and make this when they double team Steph Curry. And that role, it can be hard to make that transition mentally. It’s just going to be hard. But, that’s who Collin is already. I mean, he already is a servant, as a teammate. He just happened to be our most talented guy, and he had a servant mindset, also. So I think that part of it translates well to the NBA.”

How good is it to see Myles Stute back, and what have you seen from him?

“I’m so happy. And just so happy. It gives you a feeling of joy that you see him able to come out here and play and compete again. And then when you see his level of appreciation, which there will be very few other ways to manufacture that level of gratitude and appreciation for what this opportunity is, other than going through all this stuff. And so it’s great. You know, he’s working on some things from a timing standpoint, but he gets it. He understands us, just he understands we speak the same language. That’s a real value.

And he is so emotionally sound in terms of, guys tend to operate in highs and lows and playing basketball or any sport, really, but Miles is so even-keeled that it’s very great to see him out there doing his thing, sharing knowledge. There’s another guy that’s maybe not as vocal at it as Meechie, but he’s been in so many situations that he’s sharing his knowledge with some of these young guys, and it’s just great to see him out there.”

What can you share about the conversations about Cam Scott’s transfer portal process?

“I mean, we just, you know, we had a lot of conversations with him and his group, and, you know, we’re here to support and help and teach and believe. Obviously, we still have a lot of belief in Cam,

It’s a funny world that we live in. I talked to Nigel Hayes the day before yesterday, who was a really good player for us at Wisconsin. And in Nigel’s same recruiting class, we had a guy by the name of Vitto Brown who hardly played at all as a freshman and as a sophomore, and then he was a starter for a Sweet 16 team as a junior, and he was a starter for a Sweet 16 team as a senior, and that was his path.

Everyone’s path is different. Everyone’s timeline is different. So that’s the only reason why we’re asking this is because there was some sort of ranking, and there was an expectation that someone has of what Cam Scott should be able to do, right? And that’s perpetuated by an article that someone writes, or an ESPN ranking, or whatever that does. And then there’s real life, that’s a day-to-day, like, okay, the ball got thrown in the air, and then what are you good at doing? And what do you need to learn how to do better? And that’s where every young guy has to go through that.

And where Collin Murray-Boyles, it’s a perfect example. I don’t know what was Collin’s rankings, he was ready right away to impact winning on a team that was experienced and really good. And some guys have more work to do. And so Cam’s still trying to figure it out like any normal young person. A lot of young people have to do that. So his timeline is his timeline. When he’s ready, he’s ready. (It) Could be today. It also could be tomorrow, or whenever that is.

You know, we’re here to support and to teach. I like it. I like teaching. I’ve said that, and so we continue to believe in him, and all the guys are on our roster. That’s why they’re here, because we have belief in the fact that someday they will be a really good player for us. And the one thing that I know I’m not in control of is when that some days, but I continue to teach, and these guys continue to learn, and they continue to grow.”

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