At the end of practice Sunday, assistant coach Jeff Watkinson was armed with a padded shield and a foam rod, looking like a participant in a live-action role-play scene that you might see in Liberty Park on a nice Saturday afternoon.
Newly healthy attacker Dante Exum would come off a practice screen with the ball in his hands and attack Watkinson at the rim, trying to finish over the additional strength and length provided by the coach’s tools used to mimic the league’s best rim protectors. Together, the pair of men worked on a variety of finishes: reverses with either hand, quick flicks over the outstretched arm, and more.