Wolves Unfiltered: Jonny Flynn
By Stephen Litel
December 6th, 2009
Timberwolves rookie Jonny Flynn has already had a crazy ride in the NBA. Although his early stats show he will have a fine career as a professional basketball player, he has received a decent amount of criticism for not being a “true point guard.” Of course, during his time at Syracuse, Flynn was also used to winning games regularly, so adjusting his personal mindset to developing and growing as a team, rather than winning has been a challenge.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Flynn in the Timberwolves locker room last week to discuss with him some of his thoughts on his still young career.
Stephen Litel: What has been the easiest adjustment to the NBA for you?
Jonny Flynn: The easiest thing? Wow. That’s the tough one. The easiest thing has been just going out there and playing hard every night. Coming from a conference like the Big East conference, every night you have to play all out because any team could beat you. I think going out there with the same level of intensity every single night has been the easiest thing, just going out there and playing hard every night.
SL: So, of course, flip it and what has been the most difficult adjustment?
JF: Everybody is a great athlete on this level and everybody is thinking what you’re thinking on this level, so the things that might have been open in college or some of the decisions you may have made in college are way different in the NBA. People are on the same page as you. Point guards are thinking exactly what you are thinking and can make decisions at the same pace as you. So, just knowing what’s open and what’s not open and some decisions I need to make has been the tough part.
SL: Have you had the cliché “Welcome to the NBA, rookie” moment?
JF: Yeah. I think it might have been when we played Boston here. We played a good game against them and I went to the hole. Kevin Garnett knocked me on the ground, but blocked my shot too. He just stood over me. He didn’t say anything, but just stood over me and looked at me. I think that was my “Welcome to the NBA” moment right there.
SL: We’re only a little over a month in, but in your mind, what is the highlight of your brief career to this point?
JF: I think the way we came back in the first game that we won. We were down something like 18 in the fourth quarter and just the way we willed ourselves to a victory. We came out there in the fourth quarter and really took the game back and that was just great from the standpoint of it only being the first game of the season, but we had that much will and determination to win that game.
SL: Obviously, as far as wins and losses, it’s been a rough start to the season. With the losses piling up right now, what is your focus when you’re on the court? Learning, adjusting to the league, etc?
JF: You definitely go out there and are competing to win every game. That’s one thing that’s never going to change, but also, you’re trying to get better as a team. Just like you said, it’s a tough stretch that we’re going through right now and it’s an easy time to get negative, but going out there every day and trying to get better, taking a lot of the positive things out that we’re doing during the games…that’s our main focus, along with winning games.
SL: With the rough start, how difficult is it to stay upbeat? How are you and your team able to remain positive and continue to work, develop and fight?
JF: I think we have a good locker room. We have a good locker room and a good coaching staff that won’t allow us to walk around and be down about what’s going on. It’s early on in the season and there’s a lot of time to turn it around. We just have to take the positive things out of what we’re doing. It’s tough to say that with a bunch of competitors and we want to win every game, but if we sit down, look at some of the things that we do and try to expand on them, you can see a lot of positives.
