Newton put in a lot of time this summer studying film and learning more about playing point guard and about basketball in general.
"“I watch a lot of film,…There’s going to be times where you’re going to be put in a position where you get into the lane and I’m just going to score because that’s what I do. I averaged like three assists last year, but I want to get that number up to five or six so that’s probably going to cut down my scoring a little bit, but I’m still going to be effective scoring and passing. What that will do is when another team is scouting you they don’t know what to do, ‘When he gets in the lane we don’t know if he’s going to pass or shoot.’ So that’s basically what I want other teams to think that when they’re scouting, ‘Ja’Quan is the type of guy who’s going to get his teammates the ball, but he can score.’ So they don’t know what to do."
Newton continued to discuss how his game will evolve from last season to this year. He explained he will be more versatile. That will force teams to guard him differently.