AUDIO: Interview with Simon Giovannoni, coach of WSU recruit Dexter Kernich-Drew
by Jeff Nusser on May 25, 2010 10:41 PM PDT
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It's amazing what a little e-mail can get you.
In my (largely fruitless) hunt for information on WSU's newest basketball player, Australian Dexter Kernich-Drew, I decided to take a flier and send an e-mail to his club in Melbourne and see if anyone would be willing to jump on the podcast.
Turns out, Kernich-Drew's coach Simon Giovannoni was more than willing to get on the phone for a half an hour from halfway round the world and talk about his player. We discussed how Kernich-Drew ended up at WSU, what his strengths are as a basketball player, what's realistic to expect in terms of contribution this year, and what he needs to work on.
As an additional bonus, Giovannoni was Brock Motum's coach for two years at the Australian Institute of Sport, so he was able to provide some perspective there as well.
There's a ton of information in this interview that you won't find anywhere else. Enjoy! (We've been saying that a lot, haven't we? But it seems appropriate.)
As usual, you can listen to the audio via the player below, or visit our podcast page for myriad ways to subscribe to all of our audio. You can also find us in the iTunes directory under keyword "CougCenter," or simply click this link. The advantage of subscribing? Besides having the audio directly delivered to your player of choice, I often upload the audio to the podcast site before posting it here.
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excellent info
Sounds like he’s a project and a good year away from helping us. Not a replacement for Aden if he doesn’t qualify.
Good at taking it to the hoop…good on the break……athletic enough to be a good defender but not interested at times. Sounds familiar.
..
by SDCoug on May 25, 2010 11:20 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
Not implying Aden WON'T qualify
Just want to specify that I believe Aden will be on campus in the fall, and my comment included the words “IF Aden doesn’t qualify”.
My understanding is that he is taking summer school classes & they hope he will qualify by the fall. So, with him on campus, I can see them RS’ing Dexter to give him the year the coach refers to adapt to college ball.
Agreed and hopefully Aden gets it in order
I’m not sure Bone will RS Dexter, though. He doesn’t seem to have a tendancy to RS guys and it may be beneficial to throw Dexter to the wolves and let him get acclimated to the game right away. We all remember the last freak athlete from NZ that redshirted.
by Brian Floyd on May 26, 2010 12:11 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Freak athlete from NZ
You’re talking about Baynes, right? If not I want to have words with you.
I think you're joking
But if not, this guy: http://jronfire.blogspot.com/2010/01/nbl-dunk-of-year.html
Also, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNy5tVbtRUk
I stole it from you
And watched the FT dunk over and over after you posted it
by Brian Floyd on May 26, 2010 10:50 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
"When he gets unconcious, he's pretty comatose."
I don’t care what happens from here on out, that line was money. Also, his name is Dexter. Dexter is my favorite show, and this is definitely a good omen.
Also, he looks like he’s related to Darnell from My Name is Earl. So, there’s that.
I made a Dexter reference in the previous post about him
It is a great show and last season with John Lithgow was the best. And the season finale was outstanding with his wife murdered and his baby in the same situation as he as a youngster.
Spoiler alert?
Yikes. Some of us wait ’til the DVD-set is released.
Uncool Coug1990
Im just starting the third season…. Totally not cool haha
by Fightfightfight on May 26, 2010 1:07 PM PDT up reply actions
I am sorry guys. I thought every one watched.
Shame on you for waiting. The final was absolutely outstanding. Sorry again.
I'm not exactly proud of myself for waiting this long
Being a college student without cable sucks haha.
by Fightfightfight on May 27, 2010 12:01 PM PDT up reply actions
Great interview
What a great interview of Dexter’s coach. It was nice to hear what abilities Dexter has, and what he needs to work on. I wouldn’t be suprised if he plays next year instead of RS. This will enable him to get ready for full time playing by his sophmore year.
Personally I would like to see him RS
I know its uncommon in basketball. But honestly I highly doubt he will be ready to play Pac 10 quality ball next year, especially better than the 10 or so players already on the squad that look to get significant time. Baynes needed time, Motum needs time, I have a feeling that Dexter won’t be ready off the bat.
Especially considering the guys at his position (Klay, Capers, Aden, Lodwick, Simon to an extent) it is hard to see him getting in a lot. Taking the RS spreads out the Schollys a little bit and gets him a likely much needed year of development and acclimation.
by Fightfightfight on May 26, 2010 1:11 PM PDT reply actions
I know redshirting helps spread it out
Butn I’m not sure just practicing will get him acclimated to the game. It’ll help with the schooling aspect, but nothing will help him adjust like live action.
by Brian Floyd on May 26, 2010 1:16 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Depends
If he’s going to end up like Brown and not even be on the travel squad, no. If he’s going to get Motum-like minutes (5ish a game) then yes. The worry I have is bringing him across the globe to have him sit for a year. I think redshirt stunts development, although it may be necessary in some cases.
It sounds like this kid is behind Motum in his development
Agree that if he doesn’t make the travel squad he definitely RS’s, but I think even if he’s a fringe 2-3 minute kid he should as well. With Brown you played him because a) Bone still didn’t know if someone might go down and/if he may end up getting a little more time than anticipated, and b) he’d use his RS to transfer if things didn’t work out.
Like Abercrombie, if this kid doesn’t work out he’d go back to Australia anyone, saving a RS for a transfer is not necessary. Thomas sat because he needed to in order to have any hope contributing; the same goes for this kid.
I disagree – in many cases redshirting does not “stunt” development. Motum played international ball; this kid hasn’t played D1 competition at all. Practice gives him that opportunity. And physically he needs to find out what a weight is!
If he ends up blossoming early then you play him, but based on what we heard in that interview I think a RS would benefit him BIG TIME.
I'm on the fence about it right now
Obviously we don’t know much and won’t until he shows up. If he is good enough to crack the rotation, even as the last man, or can add depth then he should play.
The reason I say stunt his growth is he still wouldn’t see any live action and would be seeing his first next year. Practice is one thing, but it doesn’t do justice to the physical nature and speed of Pac-10 ball. If he can play even small amounts, I think it would jumpstart his development and would prove valuable in 2011, if that makes sense. Again, if he shows up and looks in over his head, sit him. We all saw Motum, who is probably further along like you said, struggle with the adjustment at times. At the same time he should be much improved next year because of it.
by Brian Floyd on May 26, 2010 6:37 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
And I just realized I sound like Paul Wulff commenting on the Tuel RS situation
by Brian Floyd on May 26, 2010 6:43 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
It appears that he currently has one special skill
and that is shooting from behind the arc. If that is true, then there is room for him to play and contribute during certain times in games.
This is a good point.
I actually meant to ask him about that during the interview, but it got lost in the shuffle. Sometimes guys are able to get off cleaner looks against lesser competition, leading to higher shooting percentages. Heck, even Klay had a difference in performance from the early-season competition to the Pac-10.
by Jeff Nusser on May 27, 2010 10:45 AM PDT up reply actions
Or Harthun or Lodwick.....
Both are outstanding shooters & were in HS, but have a tougher time creating space and shooting against higher level competition. Some of it is simply confidence & comfort, but part of it is simply having a difficult time adapting to a quicker pace & taller opponents. Would guess Dexter didn’t have too many 6’3’+ quick kids guarding him in Australia.
Unfortunately the ability to shoot from beyond the arc in HS doesn’t necessarily transfer over to the PX.
One of the reasons I support the RS
is because of what I call the “Harthun Syndrome.” Harthun was never ready to play at this level, and would get thrown in and then yanked because it hurt our team to have him out there. I don’t want this to happen to Dexter.
by Fightfightfight on May 27, 2010 12:04 PM PDT up reply actions
on the flip side
do you really want a 5th year of a player who isn’t going to pan out instead of having an open roster spot to recruit with?
redshirts rarely make sense in basketball, and there are obviously exceptions, but if i were a coach, i’d never use one. just give everyone 4 years to figure out who they are and move on to the next class.
Thats the thing
I do believe Dexter will pan out. He seems to have the skills to be an effective PX player, but those tools need honing and his body needs some serious growth before he can handle PX athletes.
I agree that redshirts in basketball should definitely be the exception, not the rule. With an International player who has never played this caliber of ball, I believe the exception should be made. While practice is not the same as a game, practicing against players who have played more physically their entire lives should have a marked effect on Dexter.
by Fightfightfight on May 27, 2010 12:24 PM PDT up reply actions
Bennett also has a different philosophy than Bone in that regard
Bone didn’t seem to have a quick hook, while with Bennett players were looking over their shoulder after a bad pass or poor shot.
by Brian Floyd on May 27, 2010 12:48 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Funny that you write that, because one of the things that Thames said about Bone is that he thought he had a quick hook
Said Thames, "Coach Fisher lets you play your game. If you make a mistake, he’s not going to just pull you out."
I agree with you, that he generally didn’t have a quick hook any more than most coaches.
You'll get arguments on that..
A few players on every team will say their coach has a quick hook.
With Tony, if you screwed up on D’ or took a bad or quick shot or forced something, etc, and match-ups didn’t make it impossible to pull you he’d have a quick hook. Nik, Daven & maybe a few others were victims of that, while others, like Kyle, D-Low, Taylor, etc would have an extremely long leash, no matter what mistake they made.
With Bone he rarely pull you for a lack of D’, but if you made certain offensive errors you’d get yanked as well. Several instances where someone was in the game for only a minute or two, made an error, and was yanked. Thames, Capers, Motum and Abe were among the victims, while Reggie & Klay had very long leashes. Nik benefited from this as well, and it paid major dividends.
Ultimately it comes down to how long a coach can live with a certain line-up, given these “errors”. I believe with most coaches you EARN the length of your leash; how they define “earn” may differ though.
I think most coaches would say that being able to stay in the game when a mistake is made
is something that is earned. There are exceptions to the rule of course, but I generally think that to be true.
Thats true and the length of the leash is earned by players
I felt in general Bone was slower to yank guys which was even lamented here at times. At the same time they did have two different styles and reasons to pull guys. I do remember Bone yanking the entire lineup in Tri Cities for lack of offensive effort.
It’s different, like you said, so I’m not sure whether it would slow a kid like Dexter, who is in the Abercrombie mold, down.
by Brian Floyd on May 27, 2010 4:49 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
I think Thames perception of having a short leash is one of the main reasons that he left
Thames was a nice player while he was at WSU and I wish him good luck in San Diego.
Im also not sure his perception was reality, either
Thames earned himself quite a bit of playing time. If I had to guess, the style of play and being blocked at the position he wanted to play contributed to his leaving. Players will say a lot when they leave, it’s tough to know what’s true.
by Brian Floyd on May 27, 2010 5:10 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
By watching them, especially Lodwick
I think that confidence had more to do with it than anything. Harthun was supposed to be an all around player, but he was not quick enough start at the Pac 10 level and that affected everything he did. Even when he was wide open his confidence was gone. Lodwick’s was supposed to have a special skill of shooting behind the arc. He has missed a lot of open shots that he should be hitting, especially when he has been open because the other team is double teaming Klay.
Other teams will make Dexter prove his shot before they start really guarding him. So, if he hits from the outside, it will open it up for other players.
I have one question for all of you.
Why does this post not have more recs? The man interviewed someone in Australia!
CougCenter WSU's second main blog
Recs are grossly under used here
That needs some changin’.
by Brian Floyd on May 26, 2010 6:43 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
im a rookie
So will ask, what’s a rec?
by SDCoug on May 26, 2010 11:03 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
A "rec" is when you recommend someone read something.
It’s kind of a cool way to let people know if a particular post, FanPost, FanShot, or comment is really funny/intelligent/worth reading.
Click on the “actions” button and two buttons will pop out. One is “Rec” and you should use this whenever I post, because frankly, I’m awesome. The other is “Flag” and you should use this post whenever we get trolls from another site that shall not be named. Flagging someone’s comment is the opposite of giving it a Rec. It lets the Mods know if someone is out of line or being inappropriate, or just failing to adhere to the Community Guidelines.
Jeff, Craig, Grady, and Brian all work really, really hard to make CougCenter as amazing as it is. So when people that are new come here with the intent to cause problems and scream “Fire Wulff!” or “Fire Bone!” or anything you’d read on CF.C on a regular basis, we need to Flag that so they know about it. Usually they’re on top of it regardless, but perhaps during a Game Thread when things are moving much more quickly, they might miss something.
When a post receives a certain number of “recs” (I think it’s 3 here, and 5 at LL), it will turn green to make it even easier for everyone to see.
Basically, a green comment is awesome, so therefore, you should read it.
by Kyle Rancourt on May 27, 2010 4:05 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
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