What Rick Barnes said about Tennessee Basketball's offseason, roster build

What Tennessee Basketball coach Rick Barnes said while meeting with reporters Monday morning at Food City Center, talking the Vols’ offseason and roster changes after another run to the Elite Eight:

If he feels like Tennessee’s staff is getting better at managing offseason roster overhauls during the transfer portal era

“Yeah, I do. We just kind of take it one day at a time and knowing that things can change quickly. But you just hope that you’ve done everything that you need to do to be in position when things, the dominoes, fall one way or the other. But yeah, we just take it as it is. And we feel like we stay on top of everything that we need to stay on top of, and then hope in the end that works out the way it should.”

What he views as the biggest positions that Tennessee needs to address at this point 

“Well, I still think the depth at the perimeter would be that. But we’ll be very selective. It’ll be a cultural fit as well, what we look for. But we’re still excited about, obviously, the players that we have. We are really excited about the guys that are coming back and the improvement we know they’re going to make and the commitment they’ve made to the program. And I think they’re going to show great leadership for these new guys coming in. But anything we do, not just now, but it’s got to make sure it fits the culture. But we’ll look at the needs that we need, but it’s got to be right or we won’t move.”

How recruiting has changed in recent years 

“Well, it’s just different. Recruiting rules in my time in the game, it’s changed. It’s forever changing. You just have to be able to deal with it and whatever the rules of the games are, you have to adapt and adjust to it. And that’s what we’ve always tried to do.”

What stood out to the Tennessee staff about Vanderbilt transfer power forward Jaylen Carey 

“Well, he pretty much had his way with us. We thought he was as good a player that had we played against all year in the post, in terms of getting done what that he needed to get done. And the screen, I don’t think we played against anybody that screened better than he screened us all year long. But obviously excited about Jaylen and what he’s going to bring to us.”

Tennessee bringing back three forwards but still feeling the need to get a power forward out of the transfer portal 

“Because we want versatility. We look at Cade (Phillips) as being a hybrid type of player. We think Cade is going to be able to do a lot of different things for us. And you’ve got to always protect. You look at JP (Estrella), his injury. We were shorthanded this year and you got to think about that too when you put this together. But what we like about our front line, we’re not putting any of them in a box. We want to expand all their games. But when you’re putting together a team, there were times this year, you guys saw us, that we had seven guys out there (at practice) going against the walk-ons a lot. And you’ve got to prepare for what might happen, that you don’t want to happen. But we feel good obviously about where we are on the front line. But again, I think Cade’s versatility allows him to do a lot more than just play there (in the post).” 

How receptive Tennessee’s returning forwards were to the addition of Jaylen Carey

“Well, I think it speaks volumes about them that they’re not afraid to compete. I mean, where they all want to go is all about competitive spirit. They all want to be professional basketball players. And I think they all have (a lot of) confidence. And they want to win. And I think that during our conversations with them, and even Jaylen, the fact that he wanted to be here like he did, he loves what how we’ve done things, and the things he talked about with us. But I think it speaks volumes about our guys that they say, hey, we want to win. And they put the team first, they put the program first and they pretty much say, whatever you guys think we need to do, we’re all in with you.”

If they view Jaylen Carey as a player that could develop his shot enough to stretch a defense

“He can. I think the key is you don’t put guys in boxes and you let them see. And you see how hard guys work. But he showed us enough to know that he can do a lot of different things.”

If portal prospects are more open to honest recruitments

“Well, I do think that people like truth. I mean, I don’t want to be misled. I want to treat people the way that I like to be treated. And I think honesty and transparency is the main thing. And I’ve said before, I think one of the reasons that we are where we are today with the transfer (portal), there’s always been a lot of transfers. And I think a lot of it goes back to where coaches misled people. They said things that they hoped might work out, but they didn’t. So I think honesty and transparency is the way to go. And I just really believe that God’s got a plan for all of us.

“And if you tell the truth and it’s going to work out the way it should work out. And if it doesn’t, again, I just don’t want someone to come back on us and say, you told us this, but this didn’t happen. We just want to be brutally honest from the beginning and anytime we’re talking to someone, we’re gonna tell them how we see it, what we think and hope that they see it the same way with us.”

What the on court attributes he wants to add to the perimeter

“Again, the best player we can get, that would be it. I mean, someone that can impact our program in more than one way, someone that can impact us, understands what we want to do. And again, we got a group of guys that I think that truly have bought into wanting to be the best team they can be. And we need someone to come in with that mindset knowing that what their skill level, whatever it may be, what skills they bring fits into what we need. And they have to know that if we’re talking to them it’s something that we’re looking for and what we believe we need to have here to help us improve.”

If JP Estrella is capable of stretching the floor as a shooter

“I think the biggest thing for him is, I think sitting out this year probably gave him a whole different light. And he would tell you that I believe that he would tell you that he saw the game in his way, that he’s a year older and missed it not being able to play. But yeah, JP has the ability to— I mean, he’s a good shooter, a good offensive player, pass the ball. But I think he would tell you too, whatever role that he feels he needs to play to help this team win, that’s what he’s going to do.”

JP Estrella recovery from foot injury, when he could be back full go

“Again, when you have the injury that he had, that’s something that you take your time with and we’ve done that with him and we’ll continue to do that. It’s strictly up to (trainer) Chad (Newman) and the doctors. I mean, they’ve got him on a plan and we’ll stick to that plan right down to the very dot of it because we’re not gonna try to hurry him back. We want it to be done where he doesn’t have to deal with this, he doesn’t want to ever have to deal with it again. And so we’re gonna make sure we take our time with it as we have.”

The importance of landing Ja’Kobi Gillespie early in the process

“I think, I mean obviously when you lose the perimeter players that we did and you want to start there at that position, it was important. And the fact that his love for the state, his love for this university and wanting to come back, I mean one of the last things he said to me when he left here, he said, ‘I’ve been waiting a long time to take up a shot on this court.’ And the fact that he, again, has already done a lot with helping us recruit his teammates and the guys that he liked to play with and knowing the guys here, but that was, to get that one early was a big get for us.”

If recruiting Ja’Kobi Gillespie was similar to recruiting Chaz Lanier, selling an instate kid on coming home

“No doubt. I think, he’s got a great family. I mean, he’ll probably, I mean his grandfather’s, I think, already looked to buy a bunch of seats of tickets. I mean, right off the bat. I mean the people in East Tennessee that I know that are big basketball fans have told me how many people have reached out about tickets. You know, can we get tickets? And so there’s no doubt that he’s excited to be back home.”

What he’s building with the team over the offseason

“Well, you’re right, we don’t have an off season and we’re still trying to put this team together. Which who knows how long that will take and we can say that this will be our team going forward next year. But the real improvement always comes with your returning players and not just what they do on court. It’s their maturity, their leadership and these guys coming back have had a chance to be part of the NCAA Tournament obviously and go deep into it. But the maturity level is probably, maybe more important than the physical part of it because when you bring in a new group of guys coming in, we expect the older guys that have been there, they know what our program’s about, they know how we want to do things, that they really take these guys under their wing early and and say, hey, this is how we do it. This is what we expect on and off the court. And so that really in some ways is what we’re talking about with our returning players. Not just their physical improvement but their mental improvement.”

What’s important for Tennessee guard Bishop Boswell this offseason as he prepares for his sophomore season

“That he continues what he did the last couple weeks of the season. You could feel — we felt it as a staff that he was really turning the corner, understanding what it’s about. I think he had an incredible attitude. If you sit down and talk to him about playing time, he said, ‘Hey coach, we’re a top-five team and we got experienced guys in front of me. I get it.’ He didn’t ever have a bad attitude about that. When he would get upset, it was always about himself not playing up to the standard that he had set for himself. 

“But the fact is, he’s looking at it now that he knows that we need him to make that big jump. He’s worked as hard as anybody on our team since the seasons been over with. He’s probably put more time in the gym than anybody since the season has been over with. It goes back to the previous question about what do we really need: maturity and understanding that it’s the grind that he’s getting into and now he’s gonna go from a guy that sat behind a group of guys that put a lot of minutes in, to where he’s a guy that’s gonna have to be out there and be kind of willing to perform at a high level.”

What stands out about Maryland transfer point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s game on the floor

“He’s obviously a terrific shooter, very unselfish. I thought it was really neat in one of our first conversations, he talked about he had never played much in ball screens until he went to the University of Maryland. At Belmont, they run their four-out motion offense and more passing, cutting, reading those type things. But going to Maryland, they put him in more ball screens and if you look at it for one year, I thought he did a really good job with that. 

“But he’s a guy that would tell you that, whatever it takes. If you need him with the ball in his hand, he’ll play with it. If you need him to play off the ball, he’ll do that too. He’s got just a great attitude about coming back home, being here, being a part of this and wanting to do everything he can to help us to get further than we’ve been in the past.”

How attractive Tennessee is in the transfer portal after two Elite Eights, getting Dalton Knecht and Chaz Lanier

“You would think maybe that, but now with the finances out there, that kind of sometimes overweighs all that, you know, because, you look at some programs are having to come up with a whole new roster of 10, 12 people and you’d think that if it’s just about playing time, you could jump on that real quick, but there’s a lot more of that that goes into it than that. 

“Now, obviously, you know, there’s a dollars that people are gonna talk about and oftentimes we’ve seen it where some people will take less money for the opportunity to grow and be a part of a program, and some people feel like, ‘hey, this is the best time for me to get money and I’m gonna take the money,’ regardless of where it might be. And so I don’t know if there’s any real reason where people make decisions other than I truly believe they have to make the decision based on what they think is best for them at that point in time.”

Having some stability in the starting lineup with Tennessee forward Felix Okpara coming back

“I’m excited about Felix (and) how much he improved this year. I think he’s going to take another big step. I do. He had some great moments and the fact he, again, like our guy returning, they want to be good, but we expect him to take a big jump and he will. There’s no doubt in my mind that he will.”

Which Tennessee players have begun to take on a leadership role

“Well, I think we’ll see that more once we really get back together as a group. I mean, individually when we’re doing our individual workouts right now, they’ve all been terrific in terms of their approach coming in, getting their work done. It’s when you really put the locker room back together and they’re in there, that’s when all that leadership and all that comes back together, and when these newer guys come in.

“But amongst the guys here, I think there’s a great deal of respect for each other and they know that we’ve lost a group of guys that played a lot of basketball for us and it’s their turn. It’s their turn and they’ve gotta be ready to embrace that. They know that. And obviously as a coaching staff, we’re gonna continue to talk to ’em about, you know, where we are, where we want to go. But they know it. It’s just a matter of getting everyone in here together and starting to — that won’t happen until really we get into the first session of summer school.”