Jackson Gatlin

Ime Udoka's comments on Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard as point guards: "When you look at [Amen] and Reed, that's not their natural position that they've played. Amen has had the ball in his hands a ton. Reed has played more off ball coming off the bench at Kentucky. With [Rob] Dillingham, he didn't even play the point. We looked at it coming into the draft, he had 16 pick and rolls as a freshman at Kentucky, so he's more off ball, movement -- even going back to high school it was a motion offense where he didn't just dominate the ball. And so their growth, we knew they were going to take some lumps with it, some ups and downs. They both progressed and showed potential at times, making the right play, whether it was to score, make the pass, pocket pass, skip pass, those things. But I look at it like if you have a rookie quarterback in the NFL. He's played quarterback before. He was drafted to play quarterback. It's different than bringing two guys to play the point guard that really haven't played that spot -- and the rookie quarterback is still going to struggle. So of course, if you have guys out of position, they're going to take some ups and downs, but it will benefit us all going forward. So for Amen, I think it was just that understanding of balance. The last two months of the season, you kind of saw his numbers take off, and his comfort level take off there, and his understanding take off. The paint touches were evident, not shooting in the crowd, or finding his outlets, he became more consistent. Couple that with Fred coming back, and you don't have to rely on Fred like we did our first two years for turnovers and getting in our sets, because you have Reed and Amen that grew in that area."

Ime Udoka on if the offense will be different next year -- he says he expects to play differently offensively next year just based on the personnel that was missing (Fred, Adams, KD at the end). He says he does not see any changes to the coaching staff.

Ime Udoka on if the offense will be different next year -- he says he expects to play differently offensively next year just based on the personnel that was missing (Fred, Adams, KD at the end). He says he does not see any changes to the coaching staff.