Four months into his first year on the job as coach at Georgia Tech, Damon Stoudamire knows exactly what type of player he’s looking for to help build the program back to a national level of prominence.
“I want guys that just know how to play,” Stoudamire said. “You got to know how to play with good players, guards got to know how to screen, bigs got to know how to play in space. Everybody has to be able to make a play, and that’s what I’m looking for.
“I’m looking for guys that want to be coached. I’m looking for guys that have solid IQs. You don’t have to have a great IQ, but you have to have a solid IQ. And (I want) guys that I can invest in that can get better.”
Stoudamire joined the NBA’s livestream of the Nike Peach Jam on Saturday to give a bit of insight into the progress of his program. A former NBA standout, Stoudamire was there to scout and recruit potential future Yellow Jackets in between working with the current squad in Atlanta.
That squad has been getting to know their coach, Stoudamire’s staff and each other in what is the beginning of a new era of Tech hoops. Stoudamire, who most recently coached Pacific before becoming an assistant with the Boston Celtics, said he hopes his first team in McCamish Pavilion will be quick to showcase an identity.
“Cliché, but we’re going to play hard,” Stoudamire said. “I think we’ll play up-tempo. I’m not saying we’ll come down and shoot the first shot, but what I’m saying is you’ll see a lot of dribble, pass then shoot, setting screens, playing in space.
“A lot of the concepts I learned when I was with the Boston Celtics, that’s going to be big for me as I move forward in college. Some things translate, some things don’t, but the things that do I definitely want to implement.”
Stoudamire also was asked about the opportunity that awaits him to be the coach at Tech and said he couldn’t pass up the chance to coach at a great institution, in the city of Atlanta, in a hotbed of talent and in the ACC.
“Tech is a great spot,” he added. “I just look forward to it.”
Murphy added to roster
Tech added Carter Murphy to its official roster.
A 6-foot-4, 200-pound guard originally from Phoenix, Murphy spent the past four seasons at the Air Force Academy, where he played in 70 games, averaged five points and shot 30.7% on 3-point shots. His career-high of 19 points came March 8 against UNLV in the Mountain West Conference tournament.
Murphy, a non-scholarship player enrolled in a graduate program at Tech and already practicing with the Jackets this summer, was considered a three-star prospect in the 2019 signing class and reportedly had scholarship offers from Air Force, Army, Hartford, Northern Arizona and South Dakota.
