Indy Star Interviews Lawson

Ty Lawson worked out for the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday along with Texas PG DJ Augustin.  According to the report neither did anything really earth shattering but Lawson answered questions from Indy Star reporter Mike Wells following the workout.

The North Carolina guard still hasn’t hired an agent. Lawson said the Pacers are the first of six teams for which he’ll work out, followed by Cleveland, Denver, Washington, Portland and Sacramento.

–(On what Lawson wants to show teams)
“One consistent thing is that I can shoot, my shooting has improved. And things I wasn’t able to show at Carolina, like my dribble penetration, getting to the basket and how hard I work.”

–(On Wednesday’s workout)
“I felt it went real well. They said I shot well. I knocked down a lot of shots. I did well in the one-on-one and the two-on-two.”

–(What he’s hearing from NBA teams about his size?)
“They think it’s mismatch or (isolation) thing, but I’m a strong guard so it’s not like they’re going to back me down and score like that. I feel like the size isn’t a matter when it comes to me playing bigger players.”

–(Pacer coach Jim O’Brien has said defense is important. How do you feel your defense stacks up?)
“On the ball pressure, that’s my real strong suit. I have to work on off-the-ball help, getting into the right positions, but I think defense is one of my strong suits.”

–(On his process of deciding whether to stay in the draft?)
“After the 13th, I’ll get all the information I can. I’ll also see what my teammates are doing and listen to my dad because he hasn’t steered me wrong.”

For me this tends to echo what I wrote about last night concerning Bomani Jones’ assertion that Lawson seems more likely to return or at the very least has his head on straight about it.  Lawson mentions his father as a source of advice and I have to believe his parents have a lot to do with how he is approaching this whole business.

Concerning the basketball, anyone else think Lawson talking about how great his defense is a little…um…interesting?  Now, I am on record as saying I think Lawson was a better defender than the media gave him credit for and he proved that at certain points throughout the season.  It was always a matter of him being interested in playing defense.  That being said, I am not sure I would call it his “strong suit.”  Then again if he thinks he needs to show something of this nature to get a drafted high, I imagine he would go all out at it.

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