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What’s your expectations on what the Jamaican national team can do going forward? Norman Powell: “It’s about retooling and seeing what we need to do. We have a lot of interest from NBA guys – Devin Vassell, the Thompson twins, the Champagnie brothers, Isaiah Stewart and a couple of other guys that want to play. So it’s about figuring out how we can get as many NBA guys and top-talented guys that are a part of the team. Jamaica is in a tough spot because they have that rule with FIBA where you have to have your Jamaican citizenship or passport the time you’re 16 to 18 years old. We’re trying to get FIBA to get the rules changed. A lot of the guys that have Jamaican descent or heritage are being penalized for something that their parents didn’t do or their grandparents moved away from Jamaica. They didn’t know the national team was a thing since it’s been 15 years since we first played a game. So we’re trying to work with FIBA to get it changed or altered. It’s putting a damper on what Jamaica is able to do with being able to compete at a very high level because a lot of these guys’ parents didn’t get their dual citizenship. That’s tough.”
Tom Petrini: Devin Vassell: "First off, to the fans, just thank you guys so much for supporting us, especially in my journey, being here six years from where we started, from the 20 wins that we were at to being in the Finals, they've been loyal, and I just want to say thank you to them, because without them, and the noise, and them having our backs, we're not in this situation, we're not in this position. So, just thank you to them."
Defensively, should the Knicks put OG Anunoby on Wemby? Coach 1: “Yes, I like that a lot. But one thing interesting with that is where do you put Towns? And I think the simple thing would be to put him on [Julian] Champagnie. But the Knicks don’t like to crossmatch that much. Good, bad or indifferent, they like to let Towns play through normal pick-and-roll coverages. I don’t know if he’s in shape enough to expend himself like what [Isaiah] Hartenstein was just doing with the Thunder — where he was bodying up Victor and also having to guard the pick-and-rolls and navigate screens and stuff like that. Karl has to be really disciplined if he’s guarding Champagnie. If you watch him to start these games, Champagnie gets crossmatched in transition quite a bit and gets wide-open 3s. And he’s a plus-40 percent 3-point shooter. You got to make sure you’re disciplined. I think they would probably put Brunson on [Devin] Vassell, and then [Mikal] Bridges and Hart on [De’Aaron] Fox and [Stephon] Castle.”
“Definitely happy for him,” Spurs guard Devin Vassell said. “The impact that he’s had here has been tremendous. I mean, he’s challenged everybody to be better on the defensive end. He’s holding us to a certain standard. You know, I wish him all the luck.”
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"I was tossing and turning a little bit for sure," Vassell said Saturday morning at shootaround at the Paycom Center. Adding to the pressure: Vassell expected a lot of noise to be coming from Scissortail Park close to the team hotel. "I (knew) I got to get good sleep because I (knew) they were going to be playing music out there at that park trying to keep us up. I was trying to get as much sleep as possible," he said.
Tom Orsborn: Devin Vassell said he's "more excited than anything" with Game 7 of the Western Conference finals just hours away: "We have a chance to do something special...We're just going to come out and be aggressive and be physical and be the first one to punch."
Tom Orsborn: Devin Vassell on how he slept last night: “I was tossing turning for a little bit, but I know I got to get good sleep because I know they’re going to be playing music out there at that (Scissortail) park trying to keep us up. I was trying to get as much sleep as possible.”
Tom Orsborn: Vassell on Sweeney getting Orlando job: "Definitely happy for him. The impact he's had here has been tremendous, challenging everybody to be better on defensive end, holding us to a certain standard. I wish him all the luck, but right now we're focused on him being here now."
Devin Vassell averaged 13.9 points per game this season with a usage rate (17.6%) that ranked sixth on the team. His teammates talk about him as if he rejected a part in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to play a supporting character on a prestige TV show. What he is doing now "has more substantive value to it," Spurs wing Julian Champagnie said, than averaging 20-plus points on a cellar dweller.
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On a team stacked with ballhandlers and short on spacing, though, he does most of his damage off the ball. "I know my game," Vassell said. "And I know I can get to my spot whenever I want to, I know I can get a shot whenever I want to. But for the betterment of the team, sometimes that's not what you need."
He knew coming in that he'd be in this kind of role. The challenge was figuring out how to be most effective and how to remain aggressive in it. He has to cut and come off screens hard. He has to make quick decisions. He has to be a threat at all times. "I can't sit there and just be passive when I get the ball or, if I have a shot, turn it down because maybe I didn't have the ball for the past couple of minutes," Vassell said. "I still gotta be ready whenever the ball is thrown my way. It might not be for a shot for me, but to get somebody else an advantage."
There was the long robe that the San Antonio star wore to his home arena on Thursday night, done to celebrate an Islamic holiday but also reminding some of his look last summer at a Shaolin temple he visited while seeking physical, mental and spiritual growth. There was the freshly cropped hair, another sign that he was all business. “I’d seen a picture pregame,” Spurs guard Devin Vassell told NBA TV afterward. “I knew he was locked in from there, for sure.”
