ForumsThis installment of the VN Interview takes us to Durham, NC. Duke Associate Head Coach Chris Collins is heading into his tenth season on the Blue Devil bench. Thanks to Matt Plizga for his invaluable help in coordinating this interview. I hope you enjoy.
VN-How critical is it for Nolan Smith to assume a significant role on the offensive end this season?
Collins-Nolan is an extremely important part of this year’s team. We have two key guys returning in Singler and Scheyer, and we will need Nolan to emerge as a consistent star player as well. We are going to need for him to be an elite guard in our league in order for us to be as successful as we would like to be. On the offensive end, Nolan will be one of our focal points. He can score in a variety of ways and is at his best when he is in attack mode. We will do a lot of different things to get him the ball in positions where he can be a dynamic scorer for us. Nolan has had a great summer and we expect him to make a big jump in his game from last year to this year.
VN-Does Kyle Singler’s versatility help alleviate some of the problems brought about by the lack of true guards on the roster?
Collins-With us bringing in a lot of size on the frontline, it has allowed us to transition Kyle Singler to the perimeter on a full-time basis. Obviously, with the losses of Gerald Henderson, Elliot Williams and Greg Paulus in the backcourt, sliding Kyle down to the guard position was a natural move. His versatility at that position will help us a great deal. He has great size and strength for a wing player and is a tremendous outside shooter. His best traits as a player are his ability to be in constant movement and his relentless desire to win. He has worked hard on his ballhandling, lateral movement and decision making to help make this transition to the wing a little bit easier.
VN-In what facet of the game will Gerald Henderson’s loss be felt most?
Collins-We will miss Gerald Henderson in a lot of ways. By the end of last season, he was as good of a wing player as there was in the country. He was our best athlete and a guy that could make something happen on both ends of the floor at any time. He was our go-to guy on the offensive end, and in many games, would also guard the other team’s best player on defense. I think that the thing we will miss the most is his swagger on the court. He gave his teammates a lot of confidence, especially in big games, and that is something that Kyle, Jon and Nolan will have to take over going forward.
VN-How smoothly has Andre Dawkins’ transition to college life gone to this point?
Collins-Andre Dawkins has made a nice transition to college so far. We knew that with him not having the opportunity to be here during the summer, he was going to have a little bit of crash-course training in the pre-season. He has worked very hard to get up to speed with what we are doing and what we expect of him individually. Adding Andre to our team late in the summer was a big boost to our team. Andre has a ton of talent. He is an explosive athlete and can really shoot the ball from deep. He gives us great firepower to bring off the bench and also gives us the added depth in the backcourt that we sorely needed.
VN-How much has the staff taken from its international experience the last few years and implemented at Duke?
Collins-As a staff, we have learned alot about the game from being involved with Team USA. Just being around great coaches like Coaches Boeheim, D’Antoni. and McMillan on a daily basis and picking their brains about different parts of the game. I was like being at a great coaches clinic every day. Everyone sharing ideas and philosophies about different situations you might see on the court. We also learned things from watching the international teams. Some of the different offensive and defensive schemes that we saw and had to play against were sometimes unique to things we see here in the US. Being at an event like the Olympics made us see just how global that the game has become. Finally, it was fun to learn from the players. To watch the approach of guys like Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade and LeBron James was such a great thing for us to bring back to our team. All of our players aspire to get where those guys are, so to be able to pass along different stories about their preparartion and work ethic is invaluable.
VN-How significant a role do you anticipate your freshman post players assuming in ‘09-’10?
Collins-We are excited about the potential of both of our freshman post players, Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly. They both have tremendous skill to go along with their size on the frontline. It gives us a lot of options inside that we haven’t had over the past few years. They will really complement each other well. Mason is a terrific athlete. He can really run and plays well above the rim. He has a good IQ for the game and good ball skills. The sky is the limit for Mason’s potential. Ryan will be an outstanding faceup forward. He’s such a smart player. He is a great outside shooter and has a real nack for scoring the basketball. As he adjusts to the speed and physicality of the college game, he will end up being a tough matchup for opponents with his ability to play inside and out. Both if these guys will be key contributors to this year’s team. The good thing is having veteran big men in Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek to help ease them with their transition and learn the ropes of the college game.
VN-Does having an experienced nucleus of players allow you to implement aspects of your offensive and defensive systems more quickly?
Collins-Normally, I think having a core nucleus of players back would help you with putting in your offensive and defensive schemes early in the season. However, our personnel makeup is so much different this year, which will change the way we do things a little bit on both sides of the ball. We will go from being a smaller, quicker guard-oriented team, to now being one of the biggest teams we have ever had. Coach K always puts in a system each year to tailor it to our personnel and that is what we will do with this group. Obviously, there will be a period of adjustment that goes on with these changes. I think the main advantage of having a lot of veterans is their ability to to create a winning culture amongst the team. They will set the tone for our practices, game preparation and possess a sense of urgency to be at our best every day. That should be a great example to our younger players.
The VN Interview series will be back with another installment in the near future.
