Spending time watching practice film with UNLV’s Josh Pastner

The first-year UNLV basketball coach is smack in the middle of an incredibly busy stretch. His new-look Rebels are five weeks into their eight weeks of summer access workouts. He isn’t installing schemes on the court just yet. He’s “instilling a mindset” into his team.

Outside of practices, he’s recruiting all around the valley as tournaments for elite high school players take place. The hustle and bustle of the NBA Summer League is also unfolding right outside of his floor to ceiling windows, and he’s too wired to sit down.

That’s why Pastner suggested we meet in his office. A story pitch to sit with him for part of the pro basketball slate and view the action through his eyes simply wouldn’t have worked. Instead, he offers to play film of UNLV’s most recent practice and talk through what he sees.

“Here’s the thing: I’m not watching the Summer League games,” Pastner explains once he finally takes a seat.

He muses for a moment about how Las Vegas is currently the center of the basketball universe, primarily because of all the agents who are visiting.

“All the players that we’re recruiting have agents — whether you’re going to be in the transfer portal or you’re coming out of high school,” he says. “Some of the best recruiting is being done right now. You’re still going to deal with high school and grassroots coaches. But the facts are the facts. The agents are going to be involved when you’re dealing with players because money’s involved. You’re paying guys.”

Mindset

The start of summer workouts means Pastner is face-to-face with his recruiting methods.

Hired to replace Kevin Kruger in March, Pastner took two months to revamp the roster. Once the recruiting class was complete in May, he said he only signed players he believed would view “winning a possession as more important than breathing.”

But how does that look in practice?

“It’s been good. I think the guys get the message,” Pastner says. “I’ve been very consistent.”

Before he can roll the tape, there’s more context Pastner needs to provide: Offensive systems won’t be learned until school starts in the fall. Right now, he wants the team to grasp something almost intangible.

“I use this phrase a lot: Competitive excellence — that’s motor,” he says. “I know what it looks like. When you watch our team play, you’ll understand.”

Pastner began a visual education of his standards for his players as soon as their first meeting, which featured examples from all over the sports world.

“When I talked about sprinting the floor for my bigs, I showed Usain Bolt,” he says. “When I say sprint the floor or cut, you better do it like Usain Bolt.”

He also showed his team a video of Heather Dorniden falling and still winning the 600-meter race in the 2008 Big Ten Indoor Track Championships, explaining that she never wasted a moment to complain because of her commitment to victory.

“I showed volleyball clips to our guys,” Pastner adds. “These incredible women athletes, they would dive on the floor head first to get the volleyball.”

He has to catch his breath at this point. He’s doing a full physical illustration:

“One jumps on the chairs, hits it and saves it. I said, ‘That’s what I want to see you do on Gucci row.’”

How do you instill that level of effort?

“Every second you’ve got,” he says. “It’s obsessive with me.”

Defense first

As soon as Pastner hits play on the practice film, he notices a problem.

“I’m watching right now to see, are we in the right positioning on the floor?” he says, noting that a guard has the wrong footwork as he defends his teammate at the top of the perimeter.

“The guy guarding the ball determines the toughness of your team,” Pastner says. “You’ve got to be close enough where you can touch his chest.”

Now it’s time for a pop quiz. Pastner pauses before half-court action can unfold and asks who’s guarding the basketball. The player defending the ball handler is the wrong answer.

“All five guys guard the basketball,” he says. “The floor has to be shrunk. The person with the ball has to see the floor in front of them and see a crowd. And then when the ball is skipped or moved, that’s when we start going in on multiple effort plays.”

This is when Pastner’s first meeting with his players comes into play. He cycles through multiple clips of close-outs, followed by another effort to disrupt the play. If Pastner doesn’t see urgency to get to the next spot, the frustration is evident on his face.

He doesn’t understand what would cause effort to wax and wane.

“Every possession is precious. This is my 15th year as a head coach. That’s why, internally, it is hard for me. That’s why I stress. Because I’m like, how?’’ he says, gesturing toward one of the nonsatisfactory clips.

‘Crack em’ and get dunked on

When Pastner’s players hit the practice court for the first time, all the team did was work on transition defense without a basketball. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want his Rebels to be a dominant rebounding team.

On multiple possessions, he pauses to critique players for their technique on the boards.

“Is this a crack or what is this?” Pastner asks.

He’s used the terminology so many times — in place of your classic “box out” — that it’s finally time to ask where it came from.

“I don’t know,” Pastner says. “Just gotta crack them. You’ve gotta go crack their legs. Your butt has to hit their thighs.”

In addition to being disciplined and aggressive when positioning for rebounds, Pastner’s players are expected to never shy away from attempting a blocked shot.

For the final clip of the day, Pastner shows an easy layup that the nearest defender barely contested.

“I remember saying on this play, ‘Are you worried about getting dunked on? You better be getting dunked on there,’” Pastner recalls, adding that every player on his roster should be comfortable getting put on a poster.

“If you’re worried about being cool, casual or cute, it won’t work for me,” he says. “It will get you beat.”

Once the big screen is off, the focus returns to his office. Pastner doesn’t have many decorations, but there’s paper all over his desk.

“Less is more, but when we win games …” he says, implying that hardware and victory game balls will soon become his decor.

Based on how seriously he takes a singular summer practice, it’s hard to imagine that he’s wrong.

Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.