Jarvis Hayes Wants To Lead

At Nets practice on Thursday, I was able to pull Jarvis aside and ask him a few questions about the upcoming season and his role with the team.  Jarvis practiced in full on Thursday and then played on Friday where he had a solid game (11 points on 4-4 from the field).

Here is the interview in full, transcripts after the jump.

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When Vince left, one of the biggest concerns the fans had was who is going to be this team’s leader.  While your best player doesn’t necessarily have to be your leader, everyone, including myself, looked to Devin to fill this void.  And while Devin might lead by example, it is becoming obvious that Jarvis is going to be this team’s vocal leader, and he is embracing it.  Jarvis has been through a lot on the court this offseason, from injuries to dropping in the depth chart, but it seems that he isn’t sulking about it, which is very big of him and something you would expect from your leader.  Hayes is going to be a veteran presence off the bench to start the season, and his offense is going to be needed in that second unit.


Sebastian Pruiti:  When you set up the open practices,  you stepped up as the leader of the team.  Is that something you felt like you had to do with all of the young guys on the team?

Jarvis Hayes:  Oh most definitely, anytime you lose a hall of famer that was in that role last year we all have to bad together and get that sort of leadership, if not from one person, from a collective group of guys.  When I told everybody that I wanted them to come in, it was with that goal in mind to gain chemistry without Vince.

Sebastian Pruiti:  With Vince leaving, do you see yourself getting the same amount of looks as you did last year?

Jarvis Hayes:  Yeah, I’ll still get them off.  I mean we probably won’t have anybody that can command attention like Vince did last year, but Devin will get a lot of attention himself because he is great at penetrating to the lane.  I know how to get my shots, so getting shots won’t be the problem.  You know, it might be different shots from last year, but I’ll get my fair share.

Sebastian Pruiti:  Is it frustrating not knowing what your role will be going into the season?

Frustrating?  I wouldn’t use the word frustrating you know.  I want to win.  Our roles haven’t been defined straight up, but it will.  It will shake down by the season.