Before the start of the season, Stanford redshirt sophomore small forward Jaylen Thompson shared his thoughts with the media about how practice has been going and what he expects from the Cardinal.
VIDEO: Stanford SF Jaylen Thompson likes the intensity to start the season
Thompson said practice has been super intense, especially for preseason. They’ve been developing the defense a lot. He feels like it’s been going really well. Personally, he has been working on his consistency, defense, and three-point shot.
I asked Thompson about the differences between former head coach Jerod Haase and new head coach Kyle Smith. He feels like analytical-wise and paying attention to the little things, there’s been more of a focus on that under Smith. He’s really enjoyed the feedback he’s gotten from Smith and feels like it’s been more detail oriented in that sense. Thompson tries to use the feedback as motivation for what he needs to improve on. It’s not a case where the analytics makes him think too much.
On not getting to play much so far during his Stanford career, Thompson said it’s just more motivation. You definitely want to get on the court. It hasn’t been easy. Dealing with injuries last year on top of that wasn’t easy. It creates more motivation and makes him more humble.
On “Nerd Ball”, Thompson wasn’t familiar with the term, but we were able to explain it to him a bit. Just the analytical system that Kyle Smith is running with them. He feels like it helps the team figure out what they need to work on. It helps the coaching staff make the right kind of adjustments.
Talking about his relationship with fellow redshirt sophomore Ryan Agarwal, Thompson said they were roommates during their first summer at Stanford. He feels like their relationship has developed really well. Especially off the court. They feel like brothers. They do a great job of pushing each other to be the best they can be.
What Thompson most like about Smith is how he keeps it real and is honest in his feedback. If you aren’t doing good, he’s not going to sugar coat things with you. That’s something Thompson really appreciates.
On the academic front, Thompson has declared his major in Science, Technology, & Society. He’s really excited about doing that. He’s taking a construction and design class right now. Making 3D models for houses and things like that. He thought that was pretty cool. That’s the most interesting class he’s in. He’s also in an entrepreneurship class with point guard Jaylen Blakes. They’re enjoying that, too.
Touching more on Blakes, Thompson said his consistency has been really impressive. A guy who brings great energy on offense and defense. Just a guy who gets after it on both ends of the floor. Thompson feels like they needed a guy like that.
Ending with the move to the ACC, Thompson said it’s going to be exciting to play in the big games that they have coming up. He doesn’t know about the travel, but otherwise it’s exciting. Thompson said he’s talked to some of the fall sport athletes about the travel. He said they commented it’s a tiring process, but he feels like they enjoy it at the same time. Thompson is excited to play Duke and North Carolina, but playing Miami at home will be a lot of fun for him.
Takeaways: The biggest thing that stood out to me about Thompson’s comments is what he said about the intensity of practice. It sounds like things are more intense on that end than last year. Especially with respect to the defense.
Secondly, I thought his comments about Smith being honest and straight up in his feedback was good to hear. Smith seems to be very feedback-driven as a head coach, using analytics and data to point his players in the right direction.
Lastly, Thompson’s comments about Blakes were encouraging. Blakes appears to be a legit floor general who leads by example. It’ll be fun to see what he brings to the program this season.
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