I watch a lot of different players guards bigs and I always whenever I see a move that I think I can you know add to my bag not every move but moves that I think I can pull off and moves I think I can add I try and take it you know whether it's from it could be from Kyrie or it could be from you know Dirk wh here appreciate you joining the show my man yes sir your first highlight is in the first game of your career yeah walk me through what you were thinking uh yeah well we had just got the rebound and I se we had an advantage so my teammate threw it ahead and uh it was just two-on one and uh I had my mind made up I think when I got to like couple steps past half court close to

the three-point line that I was going to dunk it and then I see him set up for a charg I didn't think he was going to step in front of me though uh when he did I just knew I was going to have to go up and finish over him this was your first game how nervous were you before the game I really wasn't nervous I think I got all my nerves out during uh during preseason I had a couple rough games in preseason um but then the last two or three I think I did good so going into the first regular season I was uh I was already kind of comfortable and um I think it showed just with the way I played I felt very under control and really just was kind of it was another game and then after the game I didn't

really realize you know how many points and everything I scored and then you know everybody was kind of having a crazy reaction so that's just what I remember about it when you're playing against a player that you've seen growing up maybe it's Steph Curry LeBron James Kevin Durant any different emotions going on through your head uh I mean yeah no my rookie year definitely you know you have just a you know those are the guys you've grown up watching your whole life Katie Steph LeBron um and you know those are the guys that you look up to you want to be like and so when you get on the court with him your rookie year it definitely is I think takes you back at first um you know nerves get out you start

hooping once that gets out the way but um I think once you start seeing them though it becomes regular and you realize like these guys are you know they're cool you can talk to them and um stuff like that so can you walk me through the moment um on the start of this at what point do you know you're going to do a crossover and kind of attack the basket uh yeah so if you read or if you go back I kind of came off and Reeves was on me then he kind of Switched Off and it was br and he was sagging off a little bit and uh he was honestly standing a little straight up and so I thought you know I could hit him with a move and get back to the Baseline cuz Reeves had just cleared

out M and then uh once I got past him I saw ad and then uh I knew if I finish on the right side he would go up and block that so I wanted to kind of take his uh body out of it and finish on the other side and kind of use the rim as protection did that one feel a little special because what we just talked about uh no I mean I would be lying if I said I didn't feel like that it was dope because it was against Bron and AD you know what I'm saying but um yeah sometimes I mean you just get those type of plays you know we had a good win that game and uh it was a pretty good game for me so definitely was a memorable game you know and the shoes I had on that game were like a

special pair of shoes when you're working out with Kevin Durant we've seen it in the summer what's the biggest learning that you had during the summer when you're working out with him the biggest learning I would say it was just his attention and detail MH uh how serious he takes his workouts um each and every day every rep and uh it really just kind of showed me that you know that's the level you got to be able to get to um eventually and so it just you know lit a fire under me you know cuz that's where I want to be and working with him you know I feel like it uh took me to another level in a way is there anything from his game that you're trying to add to your own uh I would say yeah just his

footwork and his ability to get to his spots you know without taking uh you know a bunch of dribbles he's very efficient and how he gets to his spots how he rises up how he scores in general and um that's something that if I was able to even get you know half of you know that it would be uh it would be scary just with my size and strength so you know it's a way different game than college guys are way faster quicker smarter like just in every way you know it's it's a better um much harder competition so you have to just raise your level um of concentration of work um just to keep up you know just to um you know survive and then if you want to be great you got to you know times All That by five so uh it's a it's

the best league in the world though I love what I get to do yeah um the game winner against the Bulls car on the clock Paulo B Caroll inside for the lead got it to go with point four we still have aot was the play drawn up for you yes the play was drawn for me and so what are you trying to keep in mind as you get into the paint here and you have cruso guarding you but there's also so many bodies yeah no I was honestly expecting to double so I'm looking at Zack LaVine the whole time you know I caught it and I'm staring at Zach as soon as I saw that he wasn't coming to double I knew that I could back Caruso down Caruso is a great defender he always gives me trouble on the perimeter but I know I have the size Advantage um to be

able to get in the paint and rise up over the top so uh it was kind of an awkward shot like I shot it kind of with my you know turning the other way yeah but uh when I when it left my hands I knew it was going in I even when it hit the rim I knew it was going to bounce in cuz it felt good and how did it feel once the shot went in man it was a relief you know that was a tough game uh that was a grinded out game both teams under 100 um I didn't start the game well but I think I scored like 14 or 12 points in the fourth quarter um and got gone and then so to finish off with that shot and just that tough win uh it was great now the Highlight against the Pelicans like the move caral slick move as well on the

hter I'm curious when you were watching tape and you were growing up who were who was a player you were trying to emulate cuz this isn't something you see from a normal big man yeah uh man I would say my two players were um Carmelo and LeBron um just in general like you know from the headband to the way they shot like the way they Carri themselves that's stuff I always pay attention to growing up but honestly like I watch a lot of different players guards bigs and I always whenever I see a move that I think I can you know add to my bag not every move but moves that I think I can pull off and moves I think I can add I try and take it you know whether it's from it could be from Kyrie or it could be from

you know Dirk noisy um it really doesn't matter can you walk me through this play in particular like how much of this was just instincts taken over what did you see um that made you kind of attack the basket and also did the crossover yeah this was just like you said instincts um flowing down kind of in semi transition and uh wanting to get off the dribble I think that's one of my best abilities to be able to get downhill and be my Defender one-on-one and so I kind of got him off balance with the cross step and then went into a twen cross and then once I got past him I knew I had one more Defender to finish over and uh wanted to rise up and finish strong and that was the first preseason game of the year so

kind of wanted to set the tone just for the team and for myself I'm just curious when you look at yourself over these last 18 months uhuh maybe even two years I guess what's the number one thing you've improved on I would say uh I would say my shooting M um shooting and ball handling um I always been good with the ball and able to shoot a fair amount but I think I've taken it to another level especially from three um you know I think from my rookie year to this year um I took a big step and then I think playing with USA helped me also work on my defense and um rebounding as well so I've really um you know looked back at you know stuff I had to work on for my rookie year and try to attack it in the offseason and really work

on it you know to improve for year two last question the question we ask everybody is you have highlights where you've done both would you rather break someone's ankles or dunk on them I think a dunk on just for me being a forward I think a dunk dunking on somebody kind of means more uh for me it's more satisfying you know you break a guy's ankle sometimes and you know you never know you might you got to make the shot or you might pass it and the teammate may or may not make the shot so then it's just like a cool move but dunking on somebody's two points you know might be a foul and it's a more kind of an in-your-face type thing yeah Pa thank you so much for the time man really appreciate the ins man