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Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/405025
28 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2 f Gold and Black: How comfortable at this point in his career are you counting on A.J. Hammons for as much as you're going to need from him? Painter: "Each year, he has made strides, but I think his biggest stride will be his effort to help us win games, especially close games. Any time you are that guy that has a lot of responsibility, your most productive guys should have the most responsibilities. It is really on his shoulders. I feel he has the ability to average dou- ble-digit rebounds, and he should average a rebound every three minutes and play about 30 minutes a game. He has all the pieces to be one of the best big men in the country, let alone in your league. It is all there for him to be successful." Gold and Black: Are you going outside your comfort zone in playing zone and trying different things? Painter: "Well, we haven't run zone yet. I think we have some lineups that are conducive to playing man- to-man. I think our lateral movement is below average with a couple lineups, but we would be very skilled and very cerebral, which is a huge part of the game. And having ultimate size, and a guy protecting the rim in a zone, it makes sense for us to put some things in. "And I don't think that it will be what we do, I don't think it will be our (primary) defense, but it will give us something to play other lineups, and it will give us a change of pace. I think having a change of pace for ultimate size really helps, but it also keeps (big men) at home more and that has been part of my thinking when you have two 7-footers. I think that is a big part of the defensive scheme now through ball-screen defenses, those guys get really stretched out there too much. This way, obviously you can set ball screens against a zone, but it keeps them at home. That made sense for us." Gold and Black: How do you know when you have a good locker room? Painter: "When you win close games, when there is no trouble off the court. When you do not to worry about guys being late, or how they handle themselves off the court, it just leads to winning those close games. When you are constantly having issues like that and fighting people, it just leaks into your locker room. It just does." Gold and Black: When you look at this team, is it as simple as if they don't make mistakes, if they co-exist well, if they have chemistry, things are go- ing to work? Painter: "I think that about every team. It does not change for any team as long as you have the talent level. Having that voluntary coopera- tion is so important, doing what we say to do. When we are not there, they have to still do those things. That is what makes a winner, what makes a champion. That is the differ- ence, in my opinion. "But time will tell. That's the way we have certain things in our program set up. Just take care of your business, just do your job, do what you are supposed to when you are supposed to and at a high level and do it right all the time. It's not hard, but it is for some. When you keep things simple, man, it makes thing easier." Gold and Black: What's the ceiling then for this team if it does all those things? Painter: "We will be pretty good. Those are the teams who are consistent. Those are the teams that win." j