Speaker 1: Welcome to All the Smoke, a production of The Black
Speaker 1: Effect and our Heart Radio and partnership with Showtime. M
Speaker 1: Welcome back to All the Smoke. First in person interview
Speaker 1: of my brother. How are you? You're looking real rich today? Man, Hey,
Speaker 1: you got me rich? So it is your father boy
Speaker 1: right there. Man, we got one of the best young
Speaker 1: talents in the league. Unfurt. He's been sidelined for a
Speaker 1: little bit, but man, hopefully he's back soon. Man, Welcome
Speaker 1: to the show. Jamal Murray, appreciate, thank you to appreciate
Speaker 1: you being him looking Jack's ass earlier in college. Dude,
Speaker 1: I'm still I'm still putting bandages on right man. Knives
Speaker 1: he threw at my face his motherfucker's beaten jacket in
Speaker 1: a gun game with a knife. Anyway, Man, Happy New year. Man,
Speaker 1: let's get right to it. Uh A c O injury?
Speaker 1: How has how since you went down? How's life been?
Speaker 1: Kind of basketball for the first time for an extended
Speaker 1: amount of time has been taken away from you. How's
Speaker 1: how how is your world been since it's been different? Um?
Speaker 1: Definitely a change, so many different emotions, so many things
Speaker 1: that my first no major injury. That's keept me sideline
Speaker 1: like this UM senior team out there. You know, not
Speaker 1: being that competitive spirit never happened. You know, you go
Speaker 1: to the gym, locking in, you have a routine. You know,
Speaker 1: I can kind of step with my routine right now
Speaker 1: and not do whatever, But I gotta have a mental
Speaker 1: capacity to be in a competitive mode. So I've just
Speaker 1: been chilling, working my ass off, um every morning, go
Speaker 1: to rehab, UM, take care of myself, trying to find
Speaker 1: a new routine, trying to come back with a new
Speaker 1: spirit for when the time come. What do you learned,
Speaker 1: um about yourself in this process again the first time
Speaker 1: kind of being away from basketball due to a major injury.
Speaker 1: What have you learned about yourself? Nothing specific? Did you
Speaker 1: learn a lot of things when you take a step back,
Speaker 1: you see things with your perspective when the like when
Speaker 1: you're in the game, you know when you're in the play. Um,
Speaker 1: I was comparing things the basketball when when you're in
Speaker 1: a play, you might not see the help, you might
Speaker 1: not see what was actually going on. But when you
Speaker 1: step back and look at film, it's like, Okay, this
Speaker 1: is how it's going. So I gonna have like a
Speaker 1: bigger picture of everything of how I want to come
Speaker 1: back of how our team is built, of how the
Speaker 1: league is, how the league is changing, and I'm just
Speaker 1: taking all those things into consideration for when I come back,
Speaker 1: and just like I said, come back with a new
Speaker 1: life and a new spirit. Speaking of coming back, everyone
Speaker 1: who's gonna watch this, yep, wants to know when is
Speaker 1: that going to happen. I'm too far to tell, honestly. Um,
Speaker 1: I was supposed to start doing contact around this time,
Speaker 1: coming up soon, so I'll be exciting, But um, too far.
Speaker 1: So I haven't started playing one on one yet. So yeah, yourself,
Speaker 1: do you feel like you're ready for contact? I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure, But you know, if I do something, I'm
Speaker 1: sure for the next three days. So I'm sorry to
Speaker 1: it's hard to gauge you know what's coming up, But
Speaker 1: I mean think, I think what's beautiful is obviously we've
Speaker 1: come so far in medicine and a c L used
Speaker 1: to be a major injury. It's not a major injury
Speaker 1: anymore per se because the success rate after this. But
Speaker 1: you know, we just got a chance to see Clay
Speaker 1: come back, um Alfhin a c L and Achilles. We
Speaker 1: saw k D come back and leave the League in
Speaker 1: scoring offen Achilles. You know, so I'm excited, especially because
Speaker 1: you're younger than both those guys, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So as long as you stick with the process Man,
Speaker 1: and make sure you're fully healthy before you come back,
Speaker 1: then we're definitely excited to as fans, Man see you
Speaker 1: out there, rocket Man. Becauld you really I feel like,
Speaker 1: in the last two two and a half years, like
Speaker 1: really put yourself on the map man, and and kind
Speaker 1: of be taken down in the midst of that. I
Speaker 1: know that's gonna be, but it's also making you hungry.
Speaker 1: How hard has it been to see you know, I said,
Speaker 1: the game is so mental? How hard has it been
Speaker 1: just kind of having to be around it and watch
Speaker 1: it and you know know that you know, you guys
Speaker 1: lose some close games where you would have been there
Speaker 1: and it would have been a whole another story few
Speaker 1: oh man plenty. Um It's it's it's stressful of times. Um.
Speaker 1: I actually went to Canada for like the holidays, for
Speaker 1: like five six days just to get away from it,
Speaker 1: just because it's different when you're you know, like I said,
Speaker 1: in in Denver all the time and watching the routine
Speaker 1: and the grind of the season. But when you're not playing,
Speaker 1: it's a whole different story. And it sucks to watch
Speaker 1: not watch that, but to watch it every day and
Speaker 1: go to practice and have to be in the environment
Speaker 1: all the time. So it was good for me to
Speaker 1: go home and take a break and um looking forward
Speaker 1: to all start baking. I get to go home again,
Speaker 1: see my family. Click your mind. What has your rehabbing process?
Speaker 1: It looks like six days a week, seven days, seven
Speaker 1: or eight days. Um, going in the morning, a lot
Speaker 1: of lifting, a lot of choal work. UM, just trying
Speaker 1: to engage my pain with how much I can do. UM.
Speaker 1: Obviously not rushed nothing, but I'm just trying to get
Speaker 1: a feel for my body. UM, feel for it again
Speaker 1: and make sure it's it's comfortable doing stuff that I
Speaker 1: used to do, adjusting to them doing gym, doing a windmill,
Speaker 1: dunk see me out here. I was so for like
Speaker 1: seventy two hours after that. So getting this first, what
Speaker 1: you feel like? Yeah, so like I'll have like four
Speaker 1: good days of good lifting and good you know, good tending.
Speaker 1: Um what's it called tenant routine? And you know for
Speaker 1: those next few days, I'm like, okay, I'm good, like
Speaker 1: I can basically play um and I'll go do a
Speaker 1: dunk or two, and then I'm played up playing cole
Speaker 1: with my leg up some ice. You know, is it
Speaker 1: your knee or everything around it or I just it's
Speaker 1: just like simple stuff is difficult, Like you know, going
Speaker 1: up the stairs. I gotta be conscious about going down
Speaker 1: the Stairs'm conscious, but because I've been so conscous about
Speaker 1: it for so long. So it's just those little things,
Speaker 1: a little reminders to always keep me my balance because
Speaker 1: some days I'm like, yo, I can't run up the stairs,
Speaker 1: trying to take the trash out man, trying to just
Speaker 1: trying to get up there. And um, yeah, I'd like
Speaker 1: to give our fans kind of that, you know, that
Speaker 1: look inside and like you said, things you take for granted,
Speaker 1: you know, coming back to right the easy stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the only current team. And coach, how you feel
Speaker 1: about to have team this year? I think you've done
Speaker 1: really well all things considered. Um, we have so many
Speaker 1: guys out, um injuries, COVID, I'm out. Um, it's just
Speaker 1: been tough. It's been a tough year. That's a big
Speaker 1: it's a big chunk right there. I'm out. Different sometimes
Speaker 1: mean you'll cut there. I feel like we have a
Speaker 1: chance to win anybody. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, y'all prove
Speaker 1: explain it different between him when you met him to
Speaker 1: now the same guy. The same guy, Um, goofy funny. Um.
Speaker 1: He's just gotten so much more comfortable playing at the
Speaker 1: pace that he wants to. And he's shown that year
Speaker 1: after year. Um. And I still think he's the best
Speaker 1: as you have to come. He just sees the game
Speaker 1: at at a different level than everybody. Yeah. I can
Speaker 1: tell he likes to live life. I've seen in the
Speaker 1: video him to working. Yeah stories, you gotta ask him
Speaker 1: about that. I don't know. I saw that. What unbelievable.
Speaker 1: But but he's I mean he to me, he's one
Speaker 1: of those unique talents. You know, you would look at
Speaker 1: him and think okay, but then when he gets out
Speaker 1: there and plays, I mean, there's there's no holes in
Speaker 1: this game. When you guard him, you don't know what
Speaker 1: you're gonna get you, right, you know, if he's gonna
Speaker 1: post up, spin pass, look you off. At his own
Speaker 1: pace though he always had his own always sick. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he got two brothers, two brothers that are with
Speaker 1: the ship too. Yeah, they're with the ship. Two brothers
Speaker 1: is with the ship. But everybody with the ship though
Speaker 1: till the ship come. Yeah you know what I mean, Hey,
Speaker 1: every everybody with the ship and the ship come. Talk
Speaker 1: about your upbringing? Um in Ontario, your dad was an athlete. Um,
Speaker 1: Where did you develop your love for sports, in particular basketball? Um,
Speaker 1: I'm always very competitive. I think that's where it starts,
Speaker 1: um with basketball track my two main sports love abouts
Speaker 1: from from a young and I was playing since before
Speaker 1: I could walk, and that I just carry that with me.
Speaker 1: I would go and um no, go across the street
Speaker 1: after I've done my schoolwork and just play for like
Speaker 1: six hours, seven hours on the concrete court on double rims.
Speaker 1: And that was just like my home to me. That
Speaker 1: was like my hobby is my only hobby. And uh,
Speaker 1: I just took that around with it and you could
Speaker 1: switch on the double room. You got a Jimmy man, man,
Speaker 1: you know where or two I'll be in the snow
Speaker 1: as well. I know I hate the code man that
Speaker 1: I don't like to call it. I'm just used to
Speaker 1: talk to us about when mental hung foo UM means
Speaker 1: to your father and steal that to you? Can you
Speaker 1: speak because obviously so much of this game is mental.
Speaker 1: Obviously you're going through a physical injury, but it wears
Speaker 1: on you mental. What is mental? Hung foo and just
Speaker 1: durability mentally to be able to go through whatever you're
Speaker 1: going through. Um. Not to rely on others, um, you
Speaker 1: know how to rely on yourself. I do a lot
Speaker 1: of meditation before games, and I want to wake up
Speaker 1: in the morning or when I'm going through something just
Speaker 1: like take time to myself and be able to be
Speaker 1: honest with myself. I take it out of time to
Speaker 1: look in the mirror and be like honest with myself
Speaker 1: and stuff. I want to accomplish how well I've done,
Speaker 1: how bad it done, um, and just move forward from
Speaker 1: that moment. I like that. I like that mental kung food.
Speaker 1: I didn't put some mental kung food on some mother
Speaker 1: Bucks before my life. Male or female both okay, both
Speaker 1: have vanessed. A couple of niggas have some bags. It's
Speaker 1: the women out there on that money. Yeah, you're right,
Speaker 1: my bad. Uh. What were some of the people you
Speaker 1: idolized growing up? And some of the people you modeled
Speaker 1: may have monited your game after. I've always tried to
Speaker 1: create my own name, especially come from Canada, you know
Speaker 1: all these guys with the YouTube mixes in the highlight tapes.
Speaker 1: I always wanted to create my for myself, and that
Speaker 1: was one of the reasons why I picked number twenty seven,
Speaker 1: because nobody has twenty seven. Um it's now when I
Speaker 1: see little kids and stuff for the number, it brings
Speaker 1: me back. Um. But I used to watch a lot
Speaker 1: of Jordan's obviously, um Vince Visiness my favorite player growing up,
Speaker 1: and I always loved Rows from Afar, his game, the
Speaker 1: way he gets the rim um, his explosiveness. Yeah, Jones,
Speaker 1: you committed to Kentucky to go play with John CALIPERI
Speaker 1: What was that recruiting process? Like? It was cool. I
Speaker 1: was getting a lot of schools, but my dad said
Speaker 1: were still one or two schools that I hadn't got yet,
Speaker 1: and Kentucky was one of them. And that's how I
Speaker 1: knew that was on a scale that I needed to
Speaker 1: be at. Um Dether Schools, Deller School was going to
Speaker 1: go to. It was Oregon. I was actually leaning towards Oregon,
Speaker 1: but it was just too far and coming from Canada,
Speaker 1: I don't want to be away from my fan for
Speaker 1: the first year. So Kentucky was the easiest choice. What
Speaker 1: are the schools are recruiting you besides are going to
Speaker 1: get Missouri, I mean syrik Us, Michigan, all the all
Speaker 1: the mains. Yeah, we're surprised that are easy to cottage.
Speaker 1: The cottage level game was and it came to you.
Speaker 1: That was my first time playing the two. So I
Speaker 1: was playing the one while up into college and then
Speaker 1: we had Tyler us UH Briscoe, and so I was
Speaker 1: only shooter out of them. I was only shoot at them.
Speaker 1: So um, I said the two. I didn't really handle
Speaker 1: the ball like that. Um. But I wasn't surprised at all.
Speaker 1: I was just going sirictly off jump shooting for the
Speaker 1: most part. Two thousands, sixteen seventh overall picked to Denver.
Speaker 1: What was your first thought going there? Not nothing about Denver.
Speaker 1: I don't nothing about that for I didn't do an
Speaker 1: interview for them. I don't work out for them. I
Speaker 1: worked for four teams, and once I once I went
Speaker 1: past those four teams on draft night, I was like,
Speaker 1: oh man, I don't know where, I don't know who.
Speaker 1: Where did you work out for? I worked out for Boston,
Speaker 1: New Orleans, UH, Minnesota, and Phoenix. So when Ingram and
Speaker 1: when oh no, my bad, when Simmons and went Ingram,
Speaker 1: Jellen Brown, Dragon Bender, Chris Dunne, Buddy Hill. I mean,
Speaker 1: what do you think who was the general managers back then? Many?
Speaker 1: Probably not the same. Yeah, he probably at home, but
Speaker 1: general man it was probably the same facts, yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: any funny stories um about draft night? Funny stories. Nah,
Speaker 1: I don't think that cool, calm night. I'm a family
Speaker 1: with me. It was pretty chill. So yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: speaking of your family, how proud of you? Was your
Speaker 1: family and particularly your father that night? It was proud,
Speaker 1: but we knew that it was just the first step
Speaker 1: in and what I wanted to to do an accomplished.
Speaker 1: So it wasn't like the end goal. It wasn't that
Speaker 1: wasn't that I made a moment for me, you know,
Speaker 1: it was I stopped more than different. I told you, boy,
Speaker 1: I told you. I told you it's all you need
Speaker 1: to have. That sure, it was like definitely a big factory.
Speaker 1: Two part question, welcome to the NBA moment and then
Speaker 1: man opponent to date, Welcome to the NBA moment. I
Speaker 1: got a few, man, I got a few. I didn't
Speaker 1: talk to us about him. Well, I didn't I miss
Speaker 1: my first seventeen shots, which is almost a record coming
Speaker 1: into league. So five games later I made a shot.
Speaker 1: Um that was kind of welcome to the NBA because
Speaker 1: I was like my first real doubt where I was like, damn,
Speaker 1: like nothing's going away. Not just one or two games,
Speaker 1: but like nothing's going on going down for me. Um.
Speaker 1: Another time was with Mike Conley what me He had
Speaker 1: like and fifteen on splitting pick and rolls and finishing floaters,
Speaker 1: and I was like, I'm like, yeah, I can't hang
Speaker 1: with this guy. Um, you Holiday picking my pockets seven
Speaker 1: times in one game. Welcome I could used to that
Speaker 1: page though, Yeah, Tennessee's I didn't know what anything wanted
Speaker 1: to do. But you know, with all due respect to
Speaker 1: those players he mentioned, it's not the superstar. Mean, you
Speaker 1: know what the superstars do, but everybody could really, you mean,
Speaker 1: like Peo wouldn't think like Mike Conley was a killer.
Speaker 1: Holiday is one of the best two way, but it's
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, It's just some people don't
Speaker 1: know about I think of Staff and Lebron and k D.
Speaker 1: But like everybody, you gotta be ready for everybody talking
Speaker 1: about how difficult and learning to patient rookie year? What
Speaker 1: best did you are? Lano Drew Arthur um Nelson was
Speaker 1: my ill Will Ill Will Orlando, good little bit Will Chamber,
Speaker 1: that's my guy, shout of We're got a squad though
Speaker 1: it was my rookie year. It was me and Mike Miller,
Speaker 1: Jamir d a Ill Will Gallo and somebody else are
Speaker 1: missing Kenneth so we had just fall off the place
Speaker 1: of the Earth. Well, I don't know, he's been working
Speaker 1: to get back in the league. That's my Muslim brother.
Speaker 1: I don't know. He can help some team with that
Speaker 1: athleticism and his energy. You know what I'm saying. He
Speaker 1: can help somebody, you know. Yeah, Well you got to
Speaker 1: the Rising Starts Challenging All Star Weekend and went and
Speaker 1: one m v P at that game. You feel like
Speaker 1: that was when you really start to everybody to realize
Speaker 1: you seriously and you hear to stay. I mean I
Speaker 1: didn't take that that's serious. Yeah. I always took those
Speaker 1: games serious. But it wasn't surprised me because when I
Speaker 1: went to join the brand and when MVP went to
Speaker 1: Hoops Something MP, when I went to any Bile still
Speaker 1: in Canada and MVP so like I was always, I've
Speaker 1: always showed up for those events. Um, so it's just
Speaker 1: called a put on, like on on the biggest stage
Speaker 1: I've been in. So you come to play in those
Speaker 1: type of games. Yeah, yeah, I'm known for I'm known
Speaker 1: for the bread lights playing the bread lights me too.
Speaker 1: To any other memorable moments from Ostar, just that game. Um,
Speaker 1: I think after after that game, I was out. I've
Speaker 1: always wanted to be in the three point contest, so
Speaker 1: I want to do that. So that's coming, that's coming.
Speaker 1: That's coming. So after not making the playoffs eighteen nineteen,
Speaker 1: you guys finally make the playoffs. What's that feeling like personally?
Speaker 1: And what was the vibe like with that team? It
Speaker 1: was fun. Um, we didn't really know we were getting
Speaker 1: ourself into and we never heard the crowd get like that.
Speaker 1: So I remember play the Spurs game one and we're
Speaker 1: at home. Uh, they win, the tip, crowd as loud
Speaker 1: as crazy. They try to throw the ball in the post.
Speaker 1: I think to Aldrich and I steal it off the ball.
Speaker 1: My man threw the ball and I try to steal
Speaker 1: it as soon as I still, I ran up the
Speaker 1: court from like the logo and just pulled straight backward.
Speaker 1: I say, it was all excited just to be really
Speaker 1: took from the logo to try to start this off
Speaker 1: of the bank, but just good to be there though.
Speaker 1: It was just there. Yeah. Uh this second around, you
Speaker 1: guys had a historic game with the Trail Blazers quadruple
Speaker 1: over time. Um, talk about that battle. That was fine,
Speaker 1: that was fine. Going to the Damon c j um
Speaker 1: how was like our first real test um sant toilzar test.
Speaker 1: But we felt like we were about them Portland. They
Speaker 1: had little mark experience and um, they had some killers
Speaker 1: on the team. The trip overtime game was crazy. You
Speaker 1: guys watch that one. Yeah, that was crazy. Um, it
Speaker 1: was up and down the whole series. But you know
Speaker 1: we get them. If we get them, now you know
Speaker 1: what you do. Yeah, we know what to do with him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was just down. Yeah. We was just young. We
Speaker 1: was just young, That's all it was. After game six,
Speaker 1: you spoke up and got emotional in the postgame interview
Speaker 1: where you address racial injustice as well as Ana and
Speaker 1: jar Floor, which I appreciate. Appreciate my brother and Brianna Taylor,
Speaker 1: as each of their pictures were on your shoes. I
Speaker 1: think I I think I told you I appreciate that.
Speaker 1: What was your thought process when all that was going on?
Speaker 1: And uh, to to think to do to put it
Speaker 1: on your shoes. I had those shoes for for a
Speaker 1: while actually, um or plan on get them done a
Speaker 1: while ago before that game, and I just want to
Speaker 1: I only wanted to bring him out when when I
Speaker 1: needed them. UM. I didn't want to just you know,
Speaker 1: wear them whenever. UM. And it was always on my
Speaker 1: mind because it was universal. It's a very common thing,
Speaker 1: um racism, and we were in there for a reason,
Speaker 1: not just because of COVID, but they want to use
Speaker 1: basketball as a distraction. And those shoes were away of me,
Speaker 1: keeping myself locked in, and I just I just used that.
Speaker 1: I just went off off that. I said every fifty
Speaker 1: ball and those I had forty two and the game
Speaker 1: before I just so like once I had that good game,
Speaker 1: it was like, okay, these these these means something where
Speaker 1: they take something out of me to you know, and uh,
Speaker 1: I just want with that. And after the game, you know,
Speaker 1: we won the game, and there's so many different motions.
Speaker 1: Because you're winning, you to think about the next one.
Speaker 1: But I couldn't get past that I couldn't get past
Speaker 1: the why I was. I was there, you know, so
Speaker 1: that really resonated with me, and everything after that was
Speaker 1: just pure. It's some family members from George for Ambriana
Speaker 1: Taylor that probably never see you, but I guarantee you
Speaker 1: they they wish they could tell you and hug you
Speaker 1: and tell you appreciate that. But you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: because you know, a lot of people see what's going on,
Speaker 1: but those people are really dealing with pain that's real Tills.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying to see somebody on the
Speaker 1: level you at to. You know what I'm saying, to
Speaker 1: stand up for their children. That mean a lot, Bro,
Speaker 1: A lot of people don't understand how big that was.
Speaker 1: How are you doing from I'm good man. You know
Speaker 1: I doing what I said I was gonna do. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, to take care his daughter and
Speaker 1: her mom and their lives have changed. And at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, Bro, I didn't know what I
Speaker 1: was doing the whole time. We talked about all the time,
Speaker 1: But when it's your real pain, you just leave with
Speaker 1: your heart. You know what I'm saying that Thanks after
Speaker 1: the powerful moment you got you you go on to
Speaker 1: play the Clippers where you fought where you fall from
Speaker 1: a three dead three one deaths? Did did you think
Speaker 1: I was gonna be able to come back from that?
Speaker 1: Absolutely from the moment down three And it was kind
Speaker 1: of like joking about it, like let's do it again,
Speaker 1: but like we really had to do it, and just
Speaker 1: doing it to definitely give you the comference that we
Speaker 1: can do it again. Yeah, because no one expected the
Speaker 1: first one, right, So the second one was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: you can't, you can't count these guys out anymore. Um,
Speaker 1: then another side thing ain't coming back and three one again? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: obviously because it's never been done right. But you know,
Speaker 1: when you're watching the regular season and you used to
Speaker 1: watch guys like Jordan's one thing my dask about Jordan
Speaker 1: was like, even if they're down in the game, you
Speaker 1: still watch the whole game because there's always a chance
Speaker 1: that Mike or is going to bring it back with
Speaker 1: the Bulls and come back from the game. Then with Kobe, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so my once, but it's just that stuck with
Speaker 1: me when my dad said that, and I always want
Speaker 1: to carry that when I'm in the game. So, like,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm known for having those bursts of your
Speaker 1: points just because I believe in what we can do. Um,
Speaker 1: So that really resonated with me, and I just want
Speaker 1: to keep that, uh, keep that going and empowered me.
Speaker 1: Empowered me to take three one your first Western Conference
Speaker 1: Finals ever. In the bubble, how was that? It was cool?
Speaker 1: You lost, So it was I don't really like to
Speaker 1: speak on because we lost, but I'm telling you what
Speaker 1: you what you did miss and we know the home
Speaker 1: and away crowds being in another arena. Yeah, that different
Speaker 1: that I missed that was in the bubble was just
Speaker 1: kind of like pick up from at the best of set. Yeah,
Speaker 1: my hamstring tightened up in the game before the game
Speaker 1: for Game five U that day, it was just wearing
Speaker 1: tear tired. Um, body was exhausted. There's there's a stat
Speaker 1: I was playing. I was taking up for four minutes
Speaker 1: of that game and we were minus eighteen in four minutes.
Speaker 1: So it's just like those things were like it's it
Speaker 1: was real like you had to be out there, had
Speaker 1: to be out there. Guys were locked in on the
Speaker 1: other side. But I mean, that's mentally draining to to
Speaker 1: come back from three Excuse me to three, one down,
Speaker 1: Like you know what I mean, you're back against the
Speaker 1: wall every single game. That's mentally and physically exhausting in
Speaker 1: the bubble. So yeah, right, and until you get into
Speaker 1: the Western Finals versus the Lakers, and you guys feel
Speaker 1: like you guys just kind of ran out of gas. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we just got exhausted, got tired. Um, But it was cool.
Speaker 1: It's still cool to be There's something the team in the
Speaker 1: the organization has done a while, but we's not enough
Speaker 1: enough gas in the tank. Yeah. You dropped fifty in
Speaker 1: one season thirty sixty three, Party three a couple of times. Okay,
Speaker 1: fifty though without the tip of the free though only
Speaker 1: Party history to achieve that tone. Now I need to
Speaker 1: was like it here? It was his locked in its over.
Speaker 1: What was it like that game? Because I mean you had,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously historic back and forth with Donovan Bitchell.
Speaker 1: You guys dropped fifty in the same game. But what
Speaker 1: to like being in that kind of zone. It's a
Speaker 1: feeling like no other. That was the first time we
Speaker 1: had fans in the arena from back from COVID and
Speaker 1: it's just the energy just got to me. Um. I
Speaker 1: had the other fans cheering for for US in Cleveland,
Speaker 1: which is cool, but I mean it's different. I think
Speaker 1: I was like I was five, so I'm as four
Speaker 1: shots the entire game with no free throws, like it
Speaker 1: was just I'm just hitting everything. Um, it was a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. Once it get here, what was I
Speaker 1: get here? I'm straight, it don't matter where I am
Speaker 1: in April. Unfortunately, you go down with an A C
Speaker 1: L versus the Warriors. Uh, within something immediate. You spoke
Speaker 1: a little bit. You said off before you said you
Speaker 1: had a hernie. Uh said that was a monster. That
Speaker 1: was It wasn't it wasn't long. It was just heart
Speaker 1: a lot. So when you when you know, when you
Speaker 1: made the move, did you know it was something bad
Speaker 1: for the most part, Yeah, because when I went down
Speaker 1: to nothing, I can think about else, Like the lego
Speaker 1: the ball and I just dropped leg um and I
Speaker 1: was I was in pain. It was in a lot
Speaker 1: of pain. It was it was really hot. The lego
Speaker 1: was on fire. Coach comes over, um and it's like
Speaker 1: eerie silent in the gym. There's no fans, right, so
Speaker 1: it's like eerie silent. You heard the ref call for
Speaker 1: medic like it was just not a good spot to
Speaker 1: be in. Um. And then as soon as I sat up,
Speaker 1: I'm like, let me see if I can stand up
Speaker 1: and finish the game. Like we down seven, I'm thinking
Speaker 1: about winning the game with the torn a c L. UM.
Speaker 1: But yeah, people like no, no, no, I couldn't do anything.
Speaker 1: I couldn't put no way on it. It was. It
Speaker 1: was on fire. When I say, like like a barbecue,
Speaker 1: like on top of your leg. It was uh. And
Speaker 1: then they told me the news, Um, so it's probably
Speaker 1: gonna be a c L And I got the m
Speaker 1: R I. Right after that, I started my journey back. Man.
Speaker 1: I look back. I still watch it now and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: I know where I want to be in nor I'm going.
Speaker 1: I know the work that's taken to get me to
Speaker 1: this point. Now. UM, I'm just looking forward to coming
Speaker 1: back and come back with a different life. I'm going
Speaker 1: to take a step back for a second. First day
Speaker 1: of free agency. Um, you receive a max deal five years,
Speaker 1: one seventy What did that mean to you? Um? And
Speaker 1: all the hard work you've put in to be giving
Speaker 1: a max contract, that just that just lit bed of dollars.
Speaker 1: And now I combed that debt. Oh man, that just
Speaker 1: littified like my family, I don't really only look at
Speaker 1: money like that already. I'm pretty hum a guy when
Speaker 1: I go When I go home, I actually sleep on
Speaker 1: air mattress to keep my mental to know where I'm
Speaker 1: coming from. When I got a little brother that's watching
Speaker 1: me as well, and I don't have to see that.
Speaker 1: You know, we can get hunger, but you can get
Speaker 1: whatever you want, but you don't take it because of
Speaker 1: why that's like, because there's certain things you have to
Speaker 1: learn and go through. And I'm trying to teach him
Speaker 1: and at the same time teach myself. Um, the money
Speaker 1: isn't everything, and you know, if I didn't have any
Speaker 1: of it, I would still be the same person I
Speaker 1: am today. So that's why I look at it honestly
Speaker 1: from the heart. But um, obviously I'm straight. I can
Speaker 1: do what I want. Um, I'm still fined as one
Speaker 1: of the best scores in the game. Um as longly
Speaker 1: going off for me from there. I just that just
Speaker 1: now I see those names like Katie and stuff, I
Speaker 1: want to put my name next to them as well. Um,
Speaker 1: other than your team, do you follow teams players, certain
Speaker 1: players yeah, Um, because you're active on Twitter when doing
Speaker 1: games and after games. Forgot about that and I'm allowed
Speaker 1: to do that. Yeah, absolutely yellow that I said that
Speaker 1: this year the one game I'm not gonna miss his
Speaker 1: Clays game, And I went back at halftime and just
Speaker 1: watch Clays like first five minutes his first and um,
Speaker 1: everybody was real. Yeah it's just Goose was watching that
Speaker 1: because you know, you know he's been out for through
Speaker 1: similar man, but he's but it's like two of them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: without getting into play, Like you don't have that, you
Speaker 1: forget what it's like to be in that competitive mode,
Speaker 1: Like you really missed that. Um, so I just fell
Speaker 1: fromm and it was really nice to watch him. You
Speaker 1: have to have the game taken from you. Well, at
Speaker 1: first you have to understand and love the game like
Speaker 1: we love it, but to have it taken from you,
Speaker 1: it's a different thing. I didn't have it taken from
Speaker 1: you because of no injury dump ship, but just to
Speaker 1: not be able to do what you love. People don't
Speaker 1: understand how hard and man if like I don't know
Speaker 1: what else to what else to do? Like that season
Speaker 1: is the whole season, eight months, nine months is all
Speaker 1: about basketball and routine and take care of your body
Speaker 1: and hooping and being locked in. Like now it's like, man,
Speaker 1: I can I can eat a chicken burger and I
Speaker 1: ain't gotta worry about you know what. But I'm just joking,
Speaker 1: but like it's really just like that. We don't have
Speaker 1: to lock in. I don't have to go to the
Speaker 1: gym with a focused mentality. I just they're busting jokes
Speaker 1: and stuff, and I miss being in that mood where
Speaker 1: I'm different person. I'm locked in. You know, talk about
Speaker 1: these players, um, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry. I've always I've
Speaker 1: always had stuff as as a target as a goal,
Speaker 1: um Google And in college, I think it was two
Speaker 1: threes away from tying his freshman record and now how
Speaker 1: many threes away from but like he's still that's like
Speaker 1: that's the target. You know. I've show that I can
Speaker 1: keep up in a way. Now it's just for me
Speaker 1: to Now it's on me to see how much I
Speaker 1: love the game and take it to that level. You know,
Speaker 1: I just put on me. But Katie, You've been watching
Speaker 1: a lot of Katie. Just like we're talking about his pace.
Speaker 1: Now you can just catch them on the elbow and
Speaker 1: he didn't got a dribble. You can get a shot
Speaker 1: whenever and get to the spot. Um, that's what that was. Like.
Speaker 1: The tips I'm trying to take back when I come
Speaker 1: back is you know, get the ball on the post
Speaker 1: and and like yokis, don't have to move and to
Speaker 1: see the game at a different level. Um, that's what
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get to and starting for UM. So
Speaker 1: those kind of things I pick away from those guys.
Speaker 1: You're gonna stop posting up more. Oh yeah, I got
Speaker 1: to move my own and trying to move my own
Speaker 1: pace when I come back for Shure. Yeah. I think
Speaker 1: I think Steve Smith told me, um, your game had
Speaker 1: changed when you start posting up, because I was a
Speaker 1: big guard at the two spot and it definitely changed.
Speaker 1: It opened up a lot fin But I can see
Speaker 1: you really taking advantage of a lot of guard, especially
Speaker 1: in the west on that block for sure, even guys
Speaker 1: like That's what I said, like watching Brandon Roy because
Speaker 1: it was just bigger. You take guys and posted to
Speaker 1: the mid range Gilvert Arenas Um at the same time
Speaker 1: be able to play like like Darry Rose the River
Speaker 1: and be acrobatic. Normally you don't get to reflect on,
Speaker 1: you know, what you've accomplished or or been in when
Speaker 1: you're playing. You've kind of got to step away from
Speaker 1: the game, unfortunately because of an injury. But what if
Speaker 1: you you know, looking back on this journey, what has
Speaker 1: it been like so far? Learning experience? Um, everything happens
Speaker 1: for a reason. Obviously would have liked to be playing, Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I wouldn't have learned the stuff I've learned if
Speaker 1: I if I wasn't out just about myself. Um, been
Speaker 1: going to church more. Um, that's a personal one. Uh,
Speaker 1: looking things a different light and meditating more. Um, talking
Speaker 1: to my brother Moore. Just things I didn't get to
Speaker 1: do while I was playing or didn't focus on. I'm
Speaker 1: focusing on now. Um. It's just kind of looking at me,
Speaker 1: myself and I off the court more I feel it.
Speaker 1: What do you want your fans to know when you're back,
Speaker 1: who you're gonna be? Um? Because like you said, obviously
Speaker 1: this took you too through a growing experience mentally and physically.
Speaker 1: But the type of player you feel like you're gonna
Speaker 1: be when you come back, rejuvenated things the word for it, Um.
Speaker 1: Skill is gonna be there, Shooting touch is gonna be
Speaker 1: there playing in the candies though. Yeah, I'm just gonna be.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be. I'm gonna be like a rookie out there.
Speaker 1: I'na be. The game's moving fast. I'm probably gonna shoot
Speaker 1: a halfway shot and hit the straight back where. It's
Speaker 1: because I can't, you know, it's like just just because
Speaker 1: I can't, just because I can't. So I heard you're
Speaker 1: a gamer. What kind of games you grow so we
Speaker 1: don't have to talk about this, we can skip this
Speaker 1: sec What kind of games you grow up playing? Ship?
Speaker 1: We just said something to the lord ten times one
Speaker 1: game where I killed him four times. Ship, that's because
Speaker 1: I was playing around, bro. Yeah, you wasn't using knives
Speaker 1: and sell your bottle caps. Thus she was. Um, I
Speaker 1: played a lot of two k um use yourself for
Speaker 1: other players myself every time, okay every time, just me,
Speaker 1: uh everything and it Um. I played fortnight because I
Speaker 1: got a little brother, so I gotta stay. I gotta
Speaker 1: some times for him because he likes to talk to
Speaker 1: just like kiddy. Call of duty. That's all this kidding
Speaker 1: caller duty, I know, but it's if you play and
Speaker 1: you see like the building and stuff, guys, take it
Speaker 1: real serious as a kid. You know you're different. Um
Speaker 1: Fortnite Card two k Uh, Super Smash Bros. Just down
Speaker 1: Alottle more to Kombat. Um, I play everything man, you
Speaker 1: know Super Smash Process like like Lincoln's OLDA and Bowser. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: it's a throwback name and all those kids. That's the
Speaker 1: rap Jamal Murray. All the smoke you can cast us
Speaker 1: our Showtime Basketball YouTube and the I Heart platform Black Effects.
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