An interview from the interim head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers.

I was very impressed by this interview. There are many good things that Hughes said that really made me excited for the game tomorrow night. (Keep reading)

First and foremost, I like the fact that Hughes says the team is going to run. He respects Dunleavy at a very high level- calling Dunleavy’s plays “very good plays” and emphasizing that Dunleavy likes to call a lot of them. However, I really liked how he phrased the fact that he’s going to be more free flowing and going to make the team run.

He said that the reason he’s going to be more free flowing is because:

1. He doesn’t know as many plays as Dunleavy knows

2. The players don’t want him to call many plays.

That second one was huge. So huge that we’ll talk about it first. As much as Hughes respected Dunleavy, and admired the plays that Dunleavy ran, he subconsciously admitted to the fact that the Clippers players HATED how much Dunleavy ran plays- and basically told us that he won’t be making that mistake that Dunleavy did.

The first one- he doesn’t know as many plays? That’s a cover up. Not only has he been working up close with Dunleavy throughout the years, but this guy is a professional or else he wouldn’t have this job. There’s not way that he doesn’t know too many plays. He does- he just doesn’t want to use them because he knows that the reason Dunleavy wasn’t succeeding was because of all the plays he was making them run.

I also liked the fact that he said Baron will be running the plays, and that he talked to Baron about it already. I’m really excited to see how Baron responds in the games.

Another thing, I’ve noticed he’s very lenient. A player’s coach- as one would say. He said that when they’re huddling and he’s calling a play and a player suggests a better one, he’s all for it. This is subconsciously hinting that Dunleavy never did that, and forced the plays on the players whether they wanted to or not.

He also mentioned another one of Dunleavy’s mistakes- forcing the ball to Kaman when he’s missing his outside shots. Hughes recognizes that when Kaman’s missing a few outside shots (he said 2 or 3), he needs to go inside. Brilliant idea, looks like the man has done his research.

I think also him talking about toughness and playing hard was very interesting. Not to mention that he said they’re going to cut down on the film sessions and practice times. More Dunleavy mistakes, perhaps? This is exactly what I was looking forward to. Less intelligence, and more simplicity, toughness, and hustle. I’ve always said that the Clippers overthink things- and destroy opportunities and plays. They overthink and run a super complicated play when a normal pick and roll would have done the trick.

All in all, Kim Hughes is really impressing me with how he talks. He has a humbleness to him- and yet he also doesn’t expect anything, he doesn’t shoot for anything in the future, he focuses on the present. He also admires Jerry Sloan and Greg Poppovich (as do I) and I think that he’s going to be a great interim coach.