Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
The league has changed in so many ways. There are no point guards anymore, there are no centers anymore; it's all positionless basketball.
If you have your own taste, you know what looks right and what looks good on you versus someone kind of telling you what looks good on you.
I want to learn how to stick around this league. I don't think there's a cheat code to it. But the sooner you find it out, the better you'll be.
I've been through losing so much in this league, so to finally get a taste of winning and what the playoffs are going to feel like, I'm excited.
When it comes to basketball you always want to put the ball in the hole. You want to get as consistent and get that muscle memory right and be consistent.
Coach Matta recruited me the best, I had a close relationship with him immediately and I saw a great opportunity at Ohio State. Sometimes it's just that simple.
It's almost like going to high school before you got to go to college. You felt a little bit better before you got to college. That's how I feel about Brooklyn.
I did my first winter in New York and that was tough. So to get the opportunity to go somewhere where it's warm again, I think that played a major part in my plan.
Yeah, once you get a taste of the playoffs - I couldn't imagine not making it back to the playoffs. Give credit to LeBron and those guys who do it so many consecutive years.
The coaches that I've had, my teammates that I've met throughout this journey, it's something that you can't take away. It almost feels like a degree. You can't take that away from somebody.
Some players thrive in the open-style, AAU games - the all-star games. But when it comes to playing in an actual system and having to 'think' the game, you see where some guys separated themselves.
I hired a full-time chef, so I wasn't taking that time to order pizzas or eat Wild Wings or stuff like that. I travel somewhere, I'm gone for a long period, I have a chef. I think that elevated my game.
Me being young, I'm going to definitely mess up a lot more than I'm going to make the right play, but I want my teammates to be able to trust me and look at me as a veteran guard trying to run the team.
It can be easy to just be a professional half the time, and you may see half the results, but when you're consistent, you can see your full results and you can pan out to be who you want to be year by year.
When a coach tells you to shoot the ball, it's like a green light for you. You can't want that more than anything. But the catch is you got to be good enough to know that when you're not open, you gotta pass.
I didn't know what it meant or what it took to be healthy and be prepared for 82-plus games... Injuries come with sports. I know that. But you can be prepared, get your body as prepared as it can be through practice and weights.
I really didn't get to experience college. I enjoyed Ohio State, but I didn't feel like I had a chance to live the college life. When some guys got bored, they went out partying or to the student center. When I got bored, I went to the gym.
Guys that get that second year under their belt, get the first year under your belt, you come back with a different swag and a different confidence, a different pace to your game. You can showcase what you've been working throughout the summer.
As far as coming out on top with the right mentality and it molding you into the best human being you can be, I think that's what Brooklyn did for me. I became an All-Star, I got to touch the playoffs. To get a piece of that, I'm forever thankful.
Going around the league, people know, 'Oh, he got in some trouble' or 'He didn't play well his rookie year' or 'He's a bust.' That's the headline. I'm going to have a million more opportunities to create new headlines, and I can't wait. Can't wait.
I just know what I'm capable of. When I don't do it, you can always throw the excuse - you're young, it's a process, this and that - but I know what I can do. Just staying patient and just keep putting in hard work and keep God first and the sky is the limit.
It's hard to be so mentally competitive and when you're not competing you try to turn it off but it doesn't work like that. I don't think you can just turn it off, I think you still find ways to be competitive - if it's playing a video game, if it's playing cards.
Yeah, I consider myself an unpredictable player. A player that's flashy here and there and then is maybe conservative here and there and I think when it comes to dressing, it's me figuring out that balance of when to be flashy or when to be super simple with maybe flashy shoes.
I knew I wasn't going back to Brooklyn... I never knew exactly. I just kinda - you work with these guys every day. You see the same players, you see the same coaching staff, you see the same trainers every day. So when they start to act a little different, you recognize it... I could feel it.
I'm the best player in the draft. I truly feel that way. But I feel like you can ask anybody in the draft and they would have said the same thing. I just feel like I showcased it on many levels and I was put through so many different scenarios where I had to make the best out of it. And I had a lot of success with it.