Excerpts from this interview appear in the print edition of this week’s Flyer. Note: This interview was conducted last Thursday, before Marc Gasol suffered a sprained ankle on Sunday.
Beyond the Arc: Looking back over these 10 years, it seems like the good Grizzlies teams have had a clear identity. Hubie’s playoff team was about the 10-man rotation and a scrappy, opportunistic defense feeding the break. Fratello’s playoff teams were about surrounding Pau Gasol with shooters and running a halfcourt offense through him. Do you think this team established an identity last season with the Marc Gasol/Zach Randolph combo?
Lionel Hollins: I would say that. That’s where we hung our hat last year and where we made our improvement. We were 30th in rebounding the year before Zach came and last year we were fourth. We were first in offensive rebounding and first in points in the paint and first in second-chance points. So I think that’s definitely our identity. We want to play hard-nosed defense, rebound the ball, and run. But get it inside to our post people in our halfcourt offense, and even in early offense.
Obviously that frontcourt duo is surrounded by some talented and high-profile perimeter players. Do you think they’ve bought into the notion that emphasizing the inside game is what this team needs to do to win?
Well, obviously they did [last year]. But we posted Rudy a lot and other guys have the opportunity to do their thing. That’s the balance we have. If we have to slow it down, we go inside. But if we have the opportunity, we’ll run — and I hope we have more opportunities to run this year because we’ll be a better defensive team.
