Timofey Mozgov: “I want to play 10 to 15 minutes”
September 6, 2010 @ 3:37 am by Jorge Sierra · Filed under New York Knicks, Timofey Mozgov

Did you have offers from other NBA teams outside New York?

Timofey Mozgov: I had some offers from other teams, but (me and my agent) decided to take the best in our opinion.

Which were the other teams that made offers?

TM: I prefer just to talk about New York, not the other teams.

Why was the Knicks’ offer the best?

TM: Because there’s a very good coach in New York and I like how New York plays.

Have you spoken with Mike D’Antoni?

TM: Yes. I went to dinner with him and he’s a good guy in my opinion. I don’t know how he’s going to be on the court, but he’s tough. He told me “Please, don’t be lazy” and that if I work hard I will play for sure.

You’re expecting big minutes already in your rookie year?

TM: Yes, yes, yes. I want to play 10 to 15 minutes for sure. I don’t know what the coach’s decision is going to be, but I would like to play.

Are you excited to play in New York?

TM: It’s two sides. On one side, for sure I’m excited because New York is New York. It’s not a village. It’s a big city. On other side, it’s a big dirty city (laughs). So it’s two sides.

Do you feel you can get distracted in a city like New York?

TM: My girlfriend will help. She promised she will help me a lot.

Would you rather win a ring with the Knicks or a gold medal at the Worlds with Russia?

TM: It’s a difficult question because the NBA is the best league in the world. But here at the World Championship… I prefer both: the medal and the ring.

smackeddog wrote:

nixluva wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:Great find. I am glad to hear that he has met and talked with D'Antoni and that D'Antoni has spoken positively about him. Hopefully he gets some minutes next year.

I think the criticism Mike got about not playing Darko and Hill works in Timo's favor. He's not gonna do that again and risk the ire of the fans. It's just a good spot for Timo in that sense.

Ha- I liked D'Antoni's plea of "Please, don't be lazy"

I think he gets unfairly criticised for not playing Darko and Jordan Hill- I think that one of the things D'Antoni won't tolerate is laziness and lack of effort, and I think he's completely right not to. I think he was unimpressed with what he saw effort wise from Jordan Hill and Darko and thats why they never worked their way into significant minutes- remember that piece by, I think Alan Hahn, when he saw possibly the least intense practice he'd ever witnessed when it was Darko Vs Hill. I don't know when people changed their attitude, but to me if a player isn't putting in the effort then they should sit on the bench until they do, regardless of their 'talents'.

Back in the day, players would respond to a benching by working harder to prove their worth, but unfortunately last year players like Darko, Hughes and Curry just responded by complaining to the media, sulking then giving up. Pathetic- that's why I'm pleased to hear most of this years team are already working out together- If you look at their twitter pages AR, Gallo, Turiaf, Amar'e, Mason Jr, Ewing Jr and especially Chandler are working out with each other often twice a day, heck their even going to Liberty games together:

http://www.wnba.com/liberty/news/knicks_libs2010.html

so hopefully chemistry will be good this year, we'll have a hard working team and a lack of complainers. I'm a bit concerned we've heard nothing from Raymond Felton and Bill Walker though.

My issue with him was his playing Duhon over Tony Douglas- it was pretty obvious Duhon gave up in the midst of his slump and it sent a bad messge to the rest of the team because TD was working his a** off- it made it look like favouritism was more important than effort.

CrushAlot wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

nixluva wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:Great find. I am glad to hear that he has met and talked with D'Antoni and that D'Antoni has spoken positively about him. Hopefully he gets some minutes next year.

I think the criticism Mike got about not playing Darko and Hill works in Timo's favor. He's not gonna do that again and risk the ire of the fans. It's just a good spot for Timo in that sense.

Ha- I liked D'Antoni's plea of "Please, don't be lazy"

I think he gets unfairly criticised for not playing Darko and Jordan Hill- I think that one of the things D'Antoni won't tolerate is laziness and lack of effort, and I think he's completely right not to. I think he was unimpressed with what he saw effort wise from Jordan Hill and Darko and thats why they never worked their way into significant minutes- remember that piece by, I think Alan Hahn, when he saw possibly the least intense practice he'd ever witnessed when it was Darko Vs Hill. I don't know when people changed their attitude, but to me if a player isn't putting in the effort then they should sit on the bench until they do, regardless of their 'talents'.

Back in the day, players would respond to a benching by working harder to prove their worth, but unfortunately last year players like Darko, Hughes and Curry just responded by complaining to the media, sulking then giving up. Pathetic- that's why I'm pleased to hear most of this years team are already working out together- If you look at their twitter pages AR, Gallo, Turiaf, Amar'e, Mason Jr, Ewing Jr and especially Chandler are working out with each other often twice a day, heck their even going to Liberty games together:

http://www.wnba.com/liberty/news/knicks_libs2010.html

so hopefully chemistry will be good this year, we'll have a hard working team and a lack of complainers. I'm a bit concerned we've heard nothing from Raymond Felton and Bill Walker though.

My issue with him was his playing Duhon over Tony Douglas- it was pretty obvious Duhon gave up in the midst of his slump and it sent a bad messge to the rest of the team because TD was working his a** off- it made it look like favouritism was more important than effort.

Interesting that both guys did much better when they were moved and given minutes. I am hoping for change with the coach but as a fan I have been very frustrated with him so far and thought that he mailed it in last year.

Darko didn't deserve one second of playing time when he was there, because of the way he opened his mouth. I wouldn't have given him any time either, and neither would any good coach. As for Jordan Hill, he had the talent and athleticism, people don't deny that. He definitely would have been productive, but everytime I saw him play, he had a lot of lazy moments or brain farts and that's definitely why he didn't get much playing time. Don't you think that if he played hungrier and more consistent on the court and in practice, he would get more playing time? I would have to think so.

I can't question Mike on these two moves.

CrushAlot wrote:

Allanfan20 wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

nixluva wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:Great find. I am glad to hear that he has met and talked with D'Antoni and that D'Antoni has spoken positively about him. Hopefully he gets some minutes next year.

I think the criticism Mike got about not playing Darko and Hill works in Timo's favor. He's not gonna do that again and risk the ire of the fans. It's just a good spot for Timo in that sense.

Ha- I liked D'Antoni's plea of "Please, don't be lazy"

I think he gets unfairly criticised for not playing Darko and Jordan Hill- I think that one of the things D'Antoni won't tolerate is laziness and lack of effort, and I think he's completely right not to. I think he was unimpressed with what he saw effort wise from Jordan Hill and Darko and thats why they never worked their way into significant minutes- remember that piece by, I think Alan Hahn, when he saw possibly the least intense practice he'd ever witnessed when it was Darko Vs Hill. I don't know when people changed their attitude, but to me if a player isn't putting in the effort then they should sit on the bench until they do, regardless of their 'talents'.

Back in the day, players would respond to a benching by working harder to prove their worth, but unfortunately last year players like Darko, Hughes and Curry just responded by complaining to the media, sulking then giving up. Pathetic- that's why I'm pleased to hear most of this years team are already working out together- If you look at their twitter pages AR, Gallo, Turiaf, Amar'e, Mason Jr, Ewing Jr and especially Chandler are working out with each other often twice a day, heck their even going to Liberty games together:

http://www.wnba.com/liberty/news/knicks_libs2010.html

so hopefully chemistry will be good this year, we'll have a hard working team and a lack of complainers. I'm a bit concerned we've heard nothing from Raymond Felton and Bill Walker though.

My issue with him was his playing Duhon over Tony Douglas- it was pretty obvious Duhon gave up in the midst of his slump and it sent a bad messge to the rest of the team because TD was working his a** off- it made it look like favouritism was more important than effort.

Interesting that both guys did much better when they were moved and given minutes. I am hoping for change with the coach but as a fan I have been very frustrated with him so far and thought that he mailed it in last year.

Darko didn't deserve one second of playing time when he was there, because of the way he opened his mouth. I wouldn't have given him any time either, and neither would any good coach. As for Jordan Hill, he had the talent and athleticism, people don't deny that. He definitely would have been productive, but everytime I saw him play, he had a lot of lazy moments or brain farts and that's definitely why he didn't get much playing time. Don't you think that if he played hungrier and more consistent on the court and in practice, he would get more playing time? I would have to think so.

I can't question Mike on these two moves.

I think Hill was a guy that needed to know he would get minutes and not worry that if he got 4-8 minutes and didn't produce that he would sit for 5-15 games. D'Antoni did wrong by Hill and I think he did wrong by Darko. Darko was a good role player before and after his tenure with D'Antoni. When Hill went to Houston Shane Battier said that he was a good player but it was like he lost an entire year of development. That is on the coach. I hope Timofey has a different experience but that would require the coach to change and up to this point D'Antoni has been consistently rigid. I am hoping that last year was a year where D'Antoni mailed it in and he is going to be an effective coach this year but I doubt that is the case.

As a coach, if a player isn't giving it his all, sorry, you need to COACH them to try harder. Seems like that part of being a coach is below D'Antoni.

If Hughes and Darko quit on Mike, why didn't they quit on their next stop?

Yes, you could say neither were in our long term plans, but as a coach, you say, guys, I know you don't have a future with the Knicks, but use these games to show other coaches and GMs what you can do, and the best way to do that, is to buy in to my system, play hard, and win.

I keep thinking the biggest question mark on this season is not the players, but the coach.

(or at least, you shouldn't have to)

franco12 wrote:

As a coach, if a player isn't giving it his all, sorry, you need to COACH them to try harder. Seems like that part of being a coach is below D'Antoni.

If Hughes and Darko quit on Mike, why didn't they quit on their next stop?

Yes, you could say neither were in our long term plans, but as a coach, you say, guys, I know you don't have a future with the Knicks, but use these games to show other coaches and GMs what you can do, and the best way to do that, is to buy in to my system, play hard, and win.

I keep thinking the biggest question mark on this season is not the players, but the coach.

not saying mda did all things correct but i also know from my own coaching and managerial experience that it's not so clear this always works for all people. some may respond better to your style than others, and some just never respond to most coaches at all.

larry brown is considered a great coach but he couldn't motivate eddy curry or stephon marbury to do the right thing.

hughes has had a reputation for being difficult to coach for his entire career. why has he been traded so much or could never really stick to any team then?

i also think he tried to find all kinds of ways to motivate nate, starting with positive building of his strengths (saying nate should lead the league in steals) to turn his energy/athleticism away from trying to block shots.

you need to have the right team of staff that fits together. darko was not considered a long term investment so why go waaay out of your way to try and get him to buy in. darko is not all that, sorry. obviously he was not ready for the situation, which is not to say mda necessarily handled it perfectly, but i head zip from anyone other than a few folks here who think that the handling of darko was some kind of super indication of his poor coaching skills.

however, i do think that the team is more constructed with guys he probably wants, so yes, he is more on the spot this year. the last few years have been a purging process of isiah's roster and getting into a better situation with the nba's cba.

this is when i start to hold him more accountable. barring serious injury problems, i expect a playoff birth. anything other than that is a disappointment.

i doubt mosgov will be treated the same as darko, and he has to know he's not automatically going to play without proving himself and working hard.

hughes and darko seemed to think based on their abilities that he should have automatically played. nate was determined, but he also lacked poise on the court, which a poor to mediocre team cannot afford as much as a team filled with veterans and stars fighting for a title (hence why he perhaps did better on the celtics).

as for hill, he has potential, but the team initially may have thought he'd be around longer, so they didn't want to rush him into games. this was even more likely the case since last year the knicks felt pressure to win games to be attractive to lebron, etc. and maybe some of the 1 year deal guys they had to come back on the cheap. clearly, he did not impress THAT much on a consistent basis, and maybe the tension that existed with all of those 1 year deals made it hard. the knicks bit on the t-mac deal to get a shot at two max fa's, and must have felt hill wasn't showing enough to warrant not including him, especially since at that point the team was not doing as well as they had hoped.

i think that's why walsh bit on a "bad" deal as some have called the t-mac trade. the knicks were struggling and felt, we can't attract one fa with this team. let's get t-mac, who could still turn us around if he panned out, and then if not, we have enough space to get two fa's because one on their own (especially james, who was the main target) was not going to join the team as is.

of course, miami trumped the knicks in being able to get 3 fa's, which i never heard discussed once before the summer as plausible. of course, the fix may have been in, but anyway, the knicks landed amar'e so one came as is, but he was probably the backup plan. fortunately, we got it, and walsh has assembled a better team than last year anyway.

again, mda, imho, is more on the clock this year, yes.

PresIke wrote:

kam77 wrote:It's often said; You can't coach EFFORT

(or at least, you shouldn't have to)

exactly. it has to come from within. coaches can motivate from there and find skills to build from, but if you aren't both mature enough (nate) and determined enough (hughes/darko) then guess where you wind up unless you have amazing skills and can get away with lack of such attributes. a fringe rotation player, at best.

I agree and this is especially true in Pro Basketball. In everything else if your perfomance slides your coach/manager/mentor can threaten to get rid of you, in pro basketball you can rot in hell and still get paid every dime in your contract. And then if you sit these idiots for more than two games you will have half the fan base up in arms against you. The problem is there is no incentive for lazy players to NOT be lazy once they get a contract. And no there is no tool in the coach's hand that he can use to change that.